"Legend of the Lake: The 22-gun Brig-Sloop Ontarior 1780" (used book)

Legend of the Lake: The 22-gun Brig-Sloop Ontarior 1780

by Arthur Britton Smith

About the book

Used book. Hardcover. Dust Jacket included. Excellent condition

Ontario, Haldimand, and Seneca are portrayed here on the cover at the Carleton Island anchorage in the St. Lawrence River during May 1780. Ontario is setting sail for Niagara on a south wind and has just fired a morning salute from her starboard-bow 6-pounder. Later that year while sailing to Oswego to meet a British raiding party, she foundered in a severe storm. The wreck was discovered near Niagara in 1995.

Haldimand made her last voyage in 1782 and then was moored against the bank on Aubrey Head at Carleton island, serving as a floating warehouse and transit camp for people awaiting passage by bateau or lake-vessel, until she settled into the mud. The wreck can still be seen underwater in Schank’s Harbour.

Seneca, the large vessel on the left of the scene, served for at least nine more years. She delivered many United Empire Loyalists to their new homes around Lake Ontario, The Bay of Quinte, and the St. Lawrence River. Her ultimate fate is unknown, but she was probably condemned at the Kingston dockyard and demolished by Navy Bay.