Amherstburg Royal Naval Dockyard was a

Provincial Marine The Provincial Marine or Marine Department was a coastal protection service in charge of the waters in the Great Lakes, the St. Lawrence River and parts of Lake Champlain under British control. While ships of the Provincial Marine were design ...

and then a

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

yard from 1796 to 1813 in

Amherstburg, Ontario Amherstburg is a town near the mouth of the Detroit River in Essex County, Ontario, Canada. In 1796, Fort Malden was established here, stimulating growth in the settlement. The fort has been designated as a National Historic Site. The town ...

, situated on the

Detroit River The Detroit River is an List of international river borders, international river in North America. The river, which forms part of the border between the U.S. state of Michigan and the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ont ...

. The yard comprised

blockhouse A blockhouse is a small fortification, usually consisting of one or more rooms with loopholes, allowing its defenders to fire in various directions. It is usually an isolated fort in the form of a single building, serving as a defensive stro ...

s, storehouses,

magazine A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...

, wood yard and wharf. The yard was established in 1796 to support the

Upper Canada The Province of Upper Canada () was a Province, part of The Canadas, British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of the Province of Queb ...

Provincial Marine after Great Britain ceded a pre-existing shipyard on the Detroit River to the United States. Amherstburg Royal Naval Dockyard constructed four warships for the

Lake Erie Lake Erie ( ) is the fourth-largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and also has the shortest avera ...

detachment of the Provincial Marine before and during the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...

. In 1813 the dockyard was abandoned and destroyed when the British retreated and never reopened. In 1928, the site was designated a

National Historic Site of Canada National Historic Sites of Canada () are places that have been designated by the federal Minister of the Environment on the advice of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada (HSMBC), as being of national historic significance. Parks C ...

History

In 1796,

Fort Amherstburg Fort Amherstburg was built by the Royal Canadian Volunteers at the mouth of the Detroit River to replace Fort Detroit, which Britain was required to cede to the United States of America in 1796 as a result of the Jay Treaty. Built in the years ...

was chosen as the site of a new dockyard for the construction of

vessels after the former site at

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

was ceded to the United States. It was the only British naval base west of

Kingston Kingston may refer to: Places * List of places called Kingston, including the six most populated: ** Kingston, Jamaica ** Kingston upon Hull, England ** City of Kingston, Victoria, Australia ** Kingston, Ontario, Canada ** Kingston upon Thames, ...

and located on the

, with easy access to Lake Erie and

Lake Huron Lake Huron ( ) is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is shared on the north and east by the Canadian province of Ontario and on the south and west by the U.S. state of Michigan. The name of the lake is derived from early French ex ...

. The dockyard comprised a large storehouse, two

s, a timber yard with a saw pit, and a

wharf A wharf ( or wharfs), quay ( , also ), staith, or staithe is a structure on the shore of a harbour or on the bank of a river or canal where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers. Such a structure includes one or more Berth (mo ...

. The blockhouses flanked the yard, with Fort Amherstburg and the town of Amherstburg on either side, with the dockyard overlooking the channel which ran between it and Bois Blanc Island. The dockyard was further protected by defences constructed on the island which watched over the entrances to both ends of the channel. The establishment of the dockyard was directly linked with the growth of the town of Amherstburg, with many inhabitants working at the dockyard.

List of ships constructed at yard

* ''General Hope'' – schooner * ''Earl of Camden'' – schooner * – brig 1807 * – brig 1809 * – 1810 ship-sloop * – schooner 1812 * 2nd – 1813 ship-sloop

War of 1812

During the War of 1812, the yard was the base of operations for first the Provincial Marine's operations on Lake Erie and Lake Huron and later the

's. However, due to the yard's location at the far end of Lake Erie, supplies for the yard had to be shipped across the lake from Fort George and overland from

Niagara Falls Niagara Falls is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the Canada–United States border, border between the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York (s ...

or shipped to

York York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...

and Burlington Heights, transported overland to Long Point before being transported on the lake again to the shipyard. In May 1813, the Royal Navy took command of all Provincial Marine forces and establishments on Lake Erie. With the construction of superior American ships in 1813, Commander

Robert Heriot Barclay Commander Robert Heriot Barclay (18 September 1786 – 8 May 1837) was a Royal Navy officer who served in the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812. Life He was born in Cupar, Fife, Scotland, the son of the Rev. Peter Barclay DD & Margaret Duddi ...

, the Royal Navy commander of the Lake Erie squadron in 1813, sought to defeat the Americans before they could cut off his supply lines. The

Battle of Lake Erie The Battle of Lake Erie, also known as the Battle of Put-in-Bay, was fought on 10 September 1813, on Lake Erie off the shores of Ohio during the War of 1812. Nine vessels of the United States Navy defeated and captured six vessels of the British ...

, saw the effort fail and the entire British squadron was captured. With the American control of the lake, the British land forces were forced to retreat to Burlington Heights in order to be supplied. The yard was burned and abandoned in September 1813 after the Battle of Lake Erie. In 1814 a new yard was established at

Penetanguishene Naval Yard Penetanguishene Naval Yard was a Royal Navy yard then a British Army base from 1813 to 1856 located at Penetanguishene in Upper Canada (present day Ontario). Land was first acquired in 1798 near Penetanguishene and a base finally built in 1813, ...

National historic site

The site of the yard was designated a

in 1928. The site is marked by a four-sided monument featuring four brass plaques detailing the site's historic significance, located in a municipal park.

Notes

References

* * * * * * *

External links

Canadian Historical Naval Ships and Yards

{{Royal Navy shore establishments Military of Canada Royal Navy bases in Canada Royal Navy dockyards in Canada History of the Royal Navy National Historic Sites in Ontario Designated heritage properties in Ontario Military history of the Great Lakes