HMS Wolfe

HMS Wolfe was a freshwater sloop of war, launched at the Kingston Royal Naval Dockyard at Kingston, in Upper Canada, in May 1813. She served in the British naval squadron on Lake Ontario during the War of 1812.

After the outbreak of the war, the British Governor General of Canada, Lieutenant General Sir George Prevost ordered the construction of warships to match American ships being built at Sackett's Harbor, New York. One of the new ships laid down at Kingston was first named HMS Sir George Prevost; when launched, she was renamed HMS "Wolfe".

The ship measured 637 tons, and was officially rated as having 24 guns, although rating systems of the time were notoriously loose, frequently omitting carronades. "Wolfe" was completed with one long 24-pounder and eight long 18-pounder guns, and four 68-pounder carronades and ten 32-pounder carronades. She had a crew of 220.

"Wolfe" was the flagship of the British naval commander on the Great Lakes, Commodore James Lucas Yeo. She took part in the Battle of Sackett's Harbor. After several indecisive clashes with the American squadron under Commodore Isaac Chauncey, she was badly damaged by the American ship USS General Pike on 28 August, being partly dismasted. She escaped into Burlington Bay at the western end of Lake Ontario. The Americans did not pursue, and Yeo was able to return to Kingston and make repairs.

During the winter of 1813-1814, "Wolfe" was renamed HMS "Montreal" and rearmed, with her original medley of guns being replaced by seven long 24-pounder and eighteen long 18-pounder guns. As the British had also completed two frigates during the winter, "Montreal" ceased to be the British flagship. She took part in the Raid on Fort Oswego, but there was no actual fighting between the rival squadrons during 1814.

After the end of the war, "Montreal" was recommissioned as a transport, armed with only six cannon. She was laid up in 1817. By 1832, when the dockyard at Kingston was closed and the ships sold off, she had long since been hulked.

The sister ship, HMS Isaac Brock, had been set on fire on the slipway by the British at the Battle of York, to prevent it being captured by the Americans.

References

* [http://www.napoleon-series.org/military/Warof1812/2006/Issue3/c_oswego.html The War of 1812 Magazine]

The HMS Wolfe (Montreal) lays in 60 feet of water near the Royal Military College in Kingston Ontario. GPS N44.13.386 W76.27.631 known by locals for over 20 years as Gaunthier's Wreck. Parks Canada tentatively id'd the wreck in 2006.