The British Fleet on Lake Ontario: 1755-1756

I found the story of this obscure part maritime history while I was living on my sailboat some years ago. The story reminded me of my time in Afghanistan, another war on the edge of civilization; the deprivation, random attacks and complete failure of higher leadership. I over-wintered in the central highlands of Afghanistan in 2010-11 and I can only imagine what the deprivation and isolation of that far-off place must have been like. I call it the edge of civilization, because in the 18th century it was for all three cultures involved. The British and the French both saw themselves living and fighting in isolation, separated from where they truly wanted to be. The perspective of the natives tribes is best described in my book by Nooke, the ambassador of the Mississauga to Sir William Johnson:

“Nooke was able to see the progression of land tenure and culture as they went into lands occupied by the British settlers, and it troubled him. Native settlements had given way to British settlement, with scattered homesteads along the Mohawk River giving way to small European settlements. Additionally, he saw the progression in his brothers among the Iroquois. Whereas the Cayuga and Onondaga had been free of European culture, save for some weapons and trade goods, the Oneida had begun to adopt both the customs and religion of the British. Among the Mohawk, this was more pronounced, with the principal chiefs giving up life in their communal lodges for timber and frame houses of the European style.”

That story, and the three narratives that I knew it contained, spoke to me and was the impetus to me beginning my journey in writing, which led to the recent publication of my novel, War on the Inland Sea.

In 1755, the British envisioned pushing back against the French incursions into the Ohio River Valley and their broad control of the northern frontier. A three-pronged invasion was planned: General Braddock was to march overland to oppose the French near present-day Pittsburgh; General Shirley was to launch an invasion of the French fort at Niagara; and General Sir William Johnson was to invade the Champlain River Valley. Absolutely nothing went to plan…

A 1756 map of the British forts at Oswego attributed to Patrick McKeller, Engineer Corps

While General Braddock was suffering ambush and defeat in Pennsylvania, General Shirley, the Royal Governor of Massachusetts, had embarked on a plan to wrest control of Lake Ontario from the French. The former trading post at the mouth of the Onondaga River was transformed into a series of fortifications called Fort Oswego, Fort Ontario and Fort George. At the same time, three Royal Navy officers, with no more than one hundred colonial sailors and a few carpenters, built a number of vessels. Initially, two schooner-rigged row galley’s were launched, followed soon after by the larger schooner Oswego and the sloop Ontario.

The plan was to gain control of the lake with this small squadron and then capture the French fort at Niagara at the far western end of Lake Ontario. The setting of the lake made this plan questionable at best: the French had three principal fortifications on the lake, while the British only had Oswego. The French logistical hub was at Fort Frontenac, present day Kingston, Ontario, while the western end of the lake had the French forts at Toronto, in addition to Fort Niagara. Additionally, and crutially as it came to be seen, was that the tribes that inhabited the land along the lake were allied to the French. The Mississauga, largely inhabiting the northern and western shores of the lake were an offshoort of greater Ojibwa confederacy which extended along the shores on the eastern Great Lakes and the Ohio River Valley.

The idea to capture Niagara had to happen in a lightning strike if it were to succeed. However, General Shirley didn’t arrive in Oswego until August and by that time General Braddock, and a significant portion of his force, had been killed at the Battle on the Monongahela. Seeing no other option, General Shirley called off the invasion and had the British troops continue their work building the forts over the winter. Most of the sailors and carpenters had only been recruited for the campaign, so they joined the general exodus from the far north. Commander Houseman Broadley, the commanding officer of the schooner Oswego and the squadron, joined General Shirley in New York in order to recruit more sailors and gather supplies. Commander John Laforey, of the sloop Ontario, was volun-told to stay in the north and take care of the fleet, which was laid up for the winter.

When Broadley returned to the forts and fleet in the spring of 1756 with more sailors and carpenters, one third of the garrison had succumbed to starvation and disease. A meeting of the colonial Governors in Albany, NY had decided to build more vessels on the lake and had added three provincial merchant captains to the Naval contingent as nominal lieutenants: Jasper Farmer, James McPhun and William Bedlow. Three vessels were to be added to the squadron: a twelve-gun sloop, one sixteen-gun brigantine, and an eighteen-gun snow (a type of brig/brigantine).

1760 drawing of the remains of Fort George, Fort Oswego and Fort Ontario

The problem was logistics, as in every war: there were never enough men to man the ships and enough guns to arm them. Despite supplementing the crews with soldiers from the garrison, the British were never able to have more than four of their vessels at sea at one time. The other problem, again as always in war, was leadership. Houseman Broadley’s correspondence survives, having been transcribed in 1914, and it makes interesting reading. The only time that the British squadron had an opportunity to engage the French, he declined the opportunity. Additionally, he sacrificed Jasper Farmer in the small schooner George in order to escape from the French squadron. Granted, the French had all four of their vessels chasing the British, while Broadley only had the HMS Oswego and Ontario (both of ten guns), with the small schooner, which was armed with swivels. Broadley’s seamanship should also have been called into question, when he managed to run the HMS Halifax aground in the mouth of the Onondaga River.

By August, the Marquis de Montcalm had invested the British forts and captured the garrison. Neither the British fleet nor the French played any part in either its defense or capture. The majority of the characters in my novel, War on the Inland Sea, are real men and women that lived in that time. The words I give them may be mine, but they are words based on the actions they take in history. Only my main character, Lt. Robert Marshal and his crew are fictional, only varying from the historical narrative at the end of the book. Much like my own experience in Afghanistan, the entire affair at Oswego was a sorry commentary on military planning and execution, but I still find it fascinating.

For those wishing to learn more, the H. Lee White Maritime Museum at Oswego offers a good overview. It is situated within Oswego Harbor and Oswego's Historic Maritime District at 1 West First Street, Oswego, NY 13126.