Perry's courage was rewarded by phenom enal luck. A few m inutes m ore and he would have been force d to surrender, or see the las t of his m en slaughtered to no purpose on a defenseless w reck. As it was, the wind fi lled in again fro m the southeast. With most of its dam age aloft, the Lawrence d ropped back in relative terms as the action m oved to the wes t. To windward, the Niagara was fin ally close enough to fire broadsides a nd sail along the British line. Perry did not know Elliott's intentions -but he had been less than helpful so fa r. Taking fo ur men to row a cutter across to the Niagara, Perry was met by Ellio tt at the rail. We have no agreement on what was said, but Elliott departed in the cutter to rally the gunboats, a superfluo us errand since the wind had carried them into ra nge by now. Perry ordered another downwind turn, bows-on to the enemy, but this time he was sailing a fresh ship agains t heavily damaged ones. Just before the Niagara reached the British line, the British flags hip HMS D etroit, attempting to turn to avoid being raked, was ru n into by the out-of-control Queen Charlotte. Before they could unta ngle them selves, Niagara was upon them, firing raking broadsides of double-shotted guns at half-pistol shot into the D etroit and Queen Charlotte to starboard and the Lady P revost to port. Niagara ro unded up to leeward and delivered another broadside, wh ile the gunboats closed from windward, fin ally close enough to land grapeshot. The British situation becam e hopeless in an instant, and soon a white cloth waved on a pike. W ith in m inutes, the firin g died out up and down the line as the rem aining British vessels struck their colors. All anchored and began the daunting task of clearin g away the shat tered rem ains of men, spars, and guns. In the sudden ea r-ringing stillness, punctuated by the sound of more than a 100 wo unded-without anesthetics-Perry scribbled a hasty note to General H arrison:
"We have m et the enemy and they are ours, two ships, two brigs, one schooner and one sloop, yo urs with great respect and esteem. 0. H. Perry" Few battle repo rts have ever been m ore succinct or memorable. Lake Erie was the fi rst US victory in a fleet action, however sm all and primitive the sh ips. It was the first really good news in a long time, and Perry becam e an instant h ero. The victory on Lake Erie was not the turning point of the wa r; both sides wo uld continue to fi ght to murual exhaustion, which took a nother year and a quarter to achieve. But Lake Erie compelled the British to abandon D etroit and Amherstburg, which w renched the Indians away from their alliance with the British . The true significance of the Bard e ofLake Erie is that it enabled the United States to rega in the territory bungled away at the beginning of the war. In the fall of 1814, when the negotiators m et in Ghent, Belgium, agreeing on the pre-war status quo was m ade easier by the fact that, except for two American fo rts held by the British, the ground occupied by each side was the sam e as at the start. If the Battle of Lake Erie h ad not been fou ght-or been an Am erican lossthere is a very good chance the C anadian bo rder wo uld run along the Ohio-Indiana-Michigan line. .i A native ofBrooklyn, Walter Rybka 's maritime interests were seeded in childhood by frequent visits to the harbor, and his love of history was nurtured by family trips to museums, nationalparks, and historic sites. His career has been divided between historic ship preservation and experiential programs sailing historic vessels. In command of the reconstructed US Brig N iaga ra since 1991, Capt. Rybka resides in Erie, PA. H e has a USCG license as master, auxiliary sail, 1,600 tons, oceans. H e is also the director ofthe Erie Maritime Museum, and is a board member ofthe Council of American Maritime Museums.
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SEA HISTORY 144, AUTUMN 2013
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