Miller Worsley

Miller Worsley
Born	8 July 1791
Died	2 May 1835
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	Royal Navy
Rank	Commander
Commands held	Royal Navy Establishment on Lake Huron
Battles/wars	Napoleonic Wars War of 1812

Miller Worsley (8 July 1791 – 2 May 1835) was an officer in the Royal Navy, best known for playing a major part in the Engagements on Lake Huron in the Anglo-American War of 1812.

Worsley was the son of a clergyman, and first joined the Navy as a volunteer in 1803. He became a Midshipman in 1805. He was present at the Battle of Trafalgar, aboard HMS Swiftsure. Although he passed the examination for Lieutenant in 1810, owing to the large numbers of officers in the Royal Navy at the time he was still a Midshipman when drafted from Bermuda in 1812 with several other officers (including Acting Commanders Robert Heriot Barclay and Daniel Pring) to serve in Canada. He was finally promoted Lieutenant on 12 July 1813. Early in 1814 he was appointed First Lieutenant of the frigate HMS Princess Charlotte on Lake Ontario and participated in the Raid on Fort Oswego.

He was then appointed to command the Royal Naval detachment on Lake Huron, succeeding Lieutenant Newdigate Poyntz, who had quarrelled with the Army Commander, Lieutenant Colonel Robert McDouall, over the degree to which the Naval personnel should be subject to McDouall's orders.

Worsley made his way overland to the base at Nottawasaga Bay in July and took command of the only naval vessel on the lake, the commandeered schooner Nancy. Before he could sail to Fort Mackinac with urgently needed rations and powder, he was warned that an American force was lying in wait. He attempted to conceal Nancy by towing it some distance up the Nottawasaga River and constructed a blockhouse to defend the schooner. His detachment consisted of a Midshipman and twenty-one sailors of the Royal Navy, nine French Canadian voyageurs and twenty-three Ojibwa Natives.

...
Wikipedia