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| Tall Ship Replica On Lake Huron (Near Port Huron) - NOT Nancy |
From AN EPISODE OF THE WAR OF 1812. THE STORY OF THE SCHOONER "NANCY."
In the summer of 1789, the firm of Forsyth, Richardson and Co., fur merchants of Montreal, undertook the construction of a schooner for the navigation of the upper lakes.
By 1793, the Nancy had become the property of George Leith Co., and is described as being of sixty-seven tons burden. Sometime before the end of the century, she passed into the possession of the Northwest Fur Company, by whom she was employed in the transportation of furs and merchandise on Lakes Erie, Huron and Michigan.
On July 1st, 1812, when the declaration of war by the United States became known to Lieutenant-Colonel St. George, the commandant of the British Garrison at Amherstburg, she was still lying at Moy waiting for a favorable wind to carry her into Lake Huron, and he at once ordered her to be brought down under the guns of that post to secure her from capture. Some light brass guns with which she had been armed were mounted in row-boats to patrol the river, and the schooner was impressed into the government service as a transport. On July 30 she sailed for Fort Erie under convoy of the Provincial schooner, Lady Prevost. Five days later she left Fort Erie on her return voyage, in company with the armed brig General Hunter, having on board sixty soldiers of the 41st Regiment and a quantity of military stores. The timely arrival of this small reinforcement had considerable weight among the reasons which induced General Hull to evacuate Canada.
During the summer and autumn of that year the Nancy was constantly employed in the important service of transporting troops, stores, and provisions between Detroit and Fort Erie.
On April 23rd, 1813, she was included in the small squadron assembled to transport General Procter's division from Amherstburg to Miami Bay, to undertake the siege of Fort Meigs.
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