HMS Detroit (1812)

History
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Detroit
Builder:	River Rouge Military Shipyard
Launched:	1799
Acquired:	Captured on 16 August 1812
Fate:	Captured and burnt on 9 October 1812
Notes:	Originally the US Army transport brig Adams
General characteristics
Class and type:	6-gun brig
Tons burthen:	150
Sail plan:	brig
Armament:	6 x 6-pounder guns

HMS Detroit was a 6-gun brig of the Royal Navy. She served on Lake Erie during the War of 1812, giving the British control of the lake. She was briefly recaptured by the Americans, but came under heavy fire and had to be abandoned. Both the British and Americans contested her until her battered hulk was burnt.

Detroit had previously been the brig Adams, a 150-ton vessel built at the United States Shipyard on the River Rouge, begun in 1798 and launched on May 18, 1799. Her official name was the Brig President Adams. She was utilised by the commissariat at Fort Shelby at Detroit, Michigan, to transport troops and supplies to Fort Mackinac and Fort Dearborn. Adams was in drydock at Detroit for repairs and refitting when war broke out, and though launched on July 4, 1812, was surrendered to the British with the rest of the city on Hull's capitulation. The British armed the prize and commissioned her as HMS Detroit. She and HMS Caledonia gave the British undisputed control of Lake Erie and the Upper Lakes.

All changed early on the morning of 9 October 1812 when a boat expedition commanded by Lieutenant Jesse D. Elliott captured the two vessels right under the muzzles of the guns at Fort Erie. Caledonia made it safely to the temporary American base at Black Rock, but Detroit, owing to light wind, was swept away by the Niagara River's strong current and was forced to anchor within range of British guns. An artillery duel ensued. Elliott brought all his guns to his engaged side and continued the cannonade until his supply of ammunition was exhausted. Thereupon, he cut the cable; and the brig drifted down the river. She grounded on Squaw Island (today known as Unity Island) within range of both British and American batteries. Elliott and his men left the ship, and almost immediately, some two score British soldiers took brief possession of the brig. American guns soon drove them out with great loss, and both sides began pounding her with gunfire. The continued heavy Americans and British fire finally set fire to and destroyed the battered hulk.

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