Noah Brown and his team of 25 carpenters sped across the frozen lakes and trudged through the heavy snow of New York and Pennsylvania on horse-drawn sleighs bound for Lake Erie. They left Brown’s Brooklyn shipyard on 14 February 1813 and finished their 400-mile trek in only ten days. A snowstorm pounded Presque Isle, near Erie, Pennsylvania, when they arrived. Mounds of snow hid unfinished warships. Brown soon found Daniel Dobbins, a local mariner and shipwright appointed to lead construction on several gunboats. The “shipyard,” however, was little more than a campsite that lacked any accommodations.
Back east, the war with Great Britain was not going well. The U.S. Navy won several noteworthy frigate duels in the first months of the war, but by the time Noah Brown started his race to Lake Erie, the British Navy’s blockade had begun closing its grip on the East Coast.
Now, in a thick forest blanketed in snow at the edge of a frozen lake, Brown and his men unpacked their gear. Their race from New York was just to get to the starting line for the real competition—building warships in the wilderness faster and better than their British counterparts. The fate of the young republic rested on the expedient and innovative methods of ship construction developed by Noah and Adam Brown.
Water Highways of the Continent
The inland lakes of North America were key to the United States’ survival. The open expanses of the Great Lakes, Lake Champlain, and the St. Lawrence River provided avenues to move large armies and their supply chains through the otherwise dense and mountainous wilderness of the northern border. Much of the responsibility of defending the American “backdoor” fell to Captain Isaac Chauncey. Secretary of the Navy Paul Hamilton warned Chauncey, “You will have a number of vessels to build, and the timber is yet to be cut” when he assigned him command of Lakes Ontario and Erie.1
Efforts at Lake Erie began poorly. Chauncey’s selection to command the squadron, Lieutenant Jesse Elliot, and Hamilton’s choice to build the fleet, Daniel Dobbins, disagreed so much that they operated separate building sites. When Chauncey inspected their progress on 31 December 1812, he found both sites lacked skilled craftsmen, and those who hadn’t deserted had no lodgings.2 Meanwhile, the new Secretary of the Navy, William Jones, directed Chauncey to build two brigs on Lake Erie in addition to the gunboats he thought already completed.3 Only three months remained until the ice cleared the lake. Chauncey needed a change, immediately.
‘Build in the Shortest Time Possible’
Chauncey sought Master Commandant Oliver Hazard Perry for command and old acquaintances from New York to lead construction—Noah Brown and his younger brother Adam. The Brown brothers grew up in New York and Connecticut during the American Revolution. Neither had any formal training in ship construction, but they built their first ship in 1804 after years of building houses. By 1806, the U.S. Navy had hired them to build four gunboats. They also worked on the frigate New York until the spring of 1808, when they opened their own shipyard near the modern-day Manhattan Bridge. Before taking command out west, Chauncey had commanded the New York Navy Yard, where he first met and hired the brothers to repair ships. The Browns built privateers, including the highly successful Prince de Neufchatel, General Armstrong, and Warrior, until receiving their contract for Lake Erie.4
Chauncey urged them to make for Erie immediately and to “build in the shortest time possible 2 Brigs . . . These vessels must be so constructed that they can be made to draw not exceeding 6½ or 7 feet water, and at the same time possess the qualities of sailing fast and bearing their guns with ease. Their frame &c. will be left entirely to yourself.” Chauncey wanted a shallow-drafted, fast-sailing, heavily armed vessel—all conflicting attributes—and fast.5
The Browns immediately hired carpenters and arranged transportation. Adam remained in New York to hire more men, forward supplies, and run their shipyard while Noah left for his incredible winter trek.
Presque Isle had a nearly endless supply of timber but lacked most other resources. No ironworks or sawmill existed nearby. No materials for rope, sailcloth, and anchors. No source of ordnance, ammunition, or labor. Everything had to be made there or carried by wagon train. After arriving in the snowstorm, Brown wasted no time. After only a few days, Dobbins reported Brown “appears to be the man that we want at this Place in order to drive the business . . . the keels of the two brigs are laid or Ready to lay and a number of the frames Made and a house built to live in.” Adam Brown kept sending men. By the end of April, they had more than 200, and Noah Brown recalled, “Then we began to drive business with considerable speed.”6
A Frontier Shipyard Takes Shape
Ship construction in the wilderness of Presque Isle followed the same principles as on a proper New York shipyard, but with a great many more challenges. In addition to stocks and scaffolding required for shipbuilding, the men had to build a warehouse, guard house, mess building, barracks, blacksmith shop, and office building. With no sawmill, all cutting, hewing, and squaring was done by hand. To make strong lumber resistant to warping or rotting in the water, builders seasoned timbers by drying them for up to a year. Brown did not have time for this or to select the choice woods for warship construction. Instead, carpenters joined the axemen to select the best available timber to shape into planks that were often added later that day.7
Once the carpenters collected and sorted the timber, they assembled the ship’s skeleton. First, they laid the keel, then attached a bow stempost and an aft sternpost. Next came the rib-like frames along the keel and crossbeams above to support the deck. Workers then hammered in planking over the frames and on the deck. They still had to install a rudder, wheel, capstans, windlasses, and pumps. Then there was building the interior cabins, caulking, and further reinforcing the hull.
The men worked outside in the late Pennsylvania winter from dawn to dusk, and frequently through the night. Brown recalled, “We, all this time, were driving the vessels as fast as possible. It appeared that every man was engaged as if he was on a strife—the enemy often appeared before our harbor and several times came to anchor within three miles of us.” On several occasions when provisions ran short or conditions too severe, Brown had to talk down his men from striking.8
Despite buying “every bar of iron I could find,” Brown suffered severe shortages in iron, oakum, and pitch. He even led a team to ransack a vessel abandoned in the ice. They took “about twenty barrels of pork and a quantity of rigging and cables. We made oakum of them, and burned the schooner and got her iron.” When Brown ran out of oakum to seal the seams between the hull’s planks, he improvised and used lead caulking.9
Master Commandant Perry first arrived at Presque Isle on 27 March 1813. Brown’s progress allowed Perry to concern himself with collecting sails, cannon, powder, and men. The first gunboats launched in April, and the brigs Lawrence and Niagara launched by 4 July. In a four-month period, Brown’s crew built two 20-gun brigs, a small schooner, four gunboats, 14 small boats, all the gun carriages, and the expeditious shipyard.10
But their work wasn’t done yet. The brig’s 9-foot draft kept them from passing over the bar. To lift them, Brown built a set of barges he called “camels.” When flooded on either side of the brig, timbers could run through the gunports to rest on the barges. Once pumped out, the camels raised the brig over the bar. Perry just had to do it without attracting the attention of the British squadron roving the lake. With construction complete, Noah Brown and most his men returned to New York in July. It took a couple days of pumping, but Perry’s men had the brigs over the bar by 5 August.
Shocked, the British squadron commander, Lieutenant Robert Barclay, informed his superior, “The time is now come which I have so long feared; that of being obliged to withdraw from this without supplies. On reconnoitering the Enemy’s Squadron this Morning I found them all over the Bar.”11
Noah’s Brigs, Perry’s Victory
By September, Perry had blockaded Barclay’s squadron in Put-in-Bay. On the morning of 10 September, Barclay’s squadron sought to destroy Perry’s. With more long guns and the weather gauge, the battle began in Barclay’s favor. He hammered the Americans outside their carronade range, but the wind changed and Perry closed with Barclay to use his carronades. When the Lawrence suffered too much damage to continue, Perry shifted to the Niagara. He then broke Barclay’s line and raked the Detroit and Queen Charlotte. The entire British squadron surrendered by the afternoon.
The effects of Perry’s victory were immediate. The British could no longer supply themselves across the lake. This helped Major General Harrison recover Detroit and break up Tecumseh’s Confederacy at the Battle of the Thames. The United States retained control of the lake, which kept Ohio, Pennsylvania, and western New York safe for the rest of the war.
Noah Brown returned to Brooklyn to find Adam building an 18-gun sloop of war in anticipation of a government contract. With designs from the newly appointed naval constructor, William Doughty, the Browns delivered their sloop, the Peacock, in four months.
The Peacock was noted for her speed and considered ideal for her class. She had a similar length, breadth, and armament to those of the Lawrence and Niagara but did not require such a shallow draft. Secretary Jones called the Peacock “a noble and elegant Vessel . . . Her form combines all the properties of fleetness stability and accommodation.” The sloop took more prizes than any other in the U.S. Navy during the war and served as the model for new sloops for decades after.12
Looming Showdown on Champlain
After Lake Erie, Lake Champlain, where Master Commandant Thomas Macdonough commanded the U.S. squadron, became the likely route for a British invasion. Until then, his fleet of gunboats and converted merchantmen had kept the British at bay. But now the British began a building program to remove Macdonough from the lake. Soon, Macdonough’s meager squadron wouldn’t suffice. In January 1814, Secretary Jones approved the construction of a 24-gun ship and four gunboats. Jones, now an admirer of the Browns, informed Macdonough, “Messr. Browns of New York will build her in less time than any other builders.”13
Jones contracted the Browns in late February 1814 to build a 24-gun ship and several gunboats in 60 days. Both brothers quickly joined Macdonough in Vergennes, Vermont, for another season of wilderness construction. The little village sat seven miles up Otter Creek and was not nearly as austere as Presque Isle. Falls provided waterpower, and the nearby Monkton Ironworks produced nails, iron spikes, and other needs. Once there, the Browns’ team built a barracks and began cutting timber.14
Like at Presque Isle, timber was abundant, but time was not. The Browns had to use the shortcuts and methods developed at Lake Erie to have any hope of outbuilding the British. The large work crew and the availability of iron products enabled the Browns to deliver the ship in 40 days—well within the 60 granted to them.
Macdonough wrote Secretary Jones on 11 April 1814 that the corvette Saratoga, “launched this day, being the thirty-fifth day after her Keel was laid, and all her Timber taken from the Stump.” He considered the Saratoga “a fine Ship, she sails & works well.” At 734 tons, 143 feet long, and 36 feet wide, the corvette was the largest ship on the lake. All the while, the Browns built six gunboats and repaired another three.15
As the Browns worked on the Saratoga, Jones sought other options to maintain parity on the lake. He encouraged Macdonough to purchase the steamboat Ticonderoga under construction at Lake Champlain. He hoped it would be the world’s first steam-powered warship. However, after conferring with the Browns, Macdonough reported that “it cannot be done within two months; owing to the Machinery not being complete, and none of it being here;— this delay, and the extream liability of the Machinery (composed of so many parts) getting out of order, and no spare parts to replace.” Instead, the Browns agreed to fit out the Ticonderoga out as a 20-gun schooner in two weeks.16
Even with a complete hull, converting an almost-steamship to a schooner-rigged warship was no simple task. The Ticonderoga was narrow for a ship of her size—120-foot length, 24-foot beam—to accommodate for now-unnecessary side wheels. When loaded with heavy cannon, this made her especially susceptible to hogging, a stress that bends the keel upward. The Browns added 14 inches to the keel depth to stiffen the hull, improve stability, resist lateral drift, and increase longitudinal strength. They also reinforced the decks to support the weight of the cannon, masts, and rigging. After two weeks of work, they launched and rigged the Ticonderoga. Macdonough reported the schooner, “a fine Vessel & bears her metal full as well as was expected.”17
From Exigencies, an Eagle Arises
With their contracts complete, the Browns returned to New York. One newspaper declared, “The Country is much indebted to Mess. Brown, master builders, for their exertions in completing these vessels, in season to secure us mastery of the lake.”18
Macdonough’s superiority on the lake, however, did not last long. His spies and British deserters spoke of arriving gunboats and a keel laid down for a ship equal to or greater than the Saratoga. To Secretary Jones, Macdonough expressed hope “that the Enemy would meet us with what force he had completed,” but worried, “he intends risquing nothing, but will endeavor to out build us.” It soon became evident the new ship would be a frigate that could easily outmatch anything in Macdonough’s squadron. At their current pace, the British would complete the frigate shortly before winter weather would prevent any fighting on the lake. Macdonough had little time to build anything in response. He kept warning Jones of the shifting balance of power and requested to build a schooner or brig. He expected that once construction on the frigate finished, they, “will make a bold attempt to sweep the Lake.”19
Behind the British squadron, Governor General Sir George Prevost had assembled an army of 14,000 men—the largest yet assembled in North America and many of them seasoned from defeating Napoleon. If Macdonough failed, the British troops could march straight to New York with a logistics train supporting them across the lake—and split the nation in two.
On 18 July 1814, a small boat came alongside the Saratoga. Macdonough probably suspected provisions and hoped for much-needed sailors. Instead, relief from his worries climbed over the side in the form of Adam Brown. He carried a contract to build a new brig and had 200 men ready to begin back at Vergennes. Understanding the urgency, he and his crew had left New York within 24 hours of receiving the contract.20
Brown reused the designs of the Niagara and Lawrence to build the new brig Eagle. This project was the culmination of the brothers’ expeditious and expedient shipbuilding methods. The Eagle had green timbers, unriveted keel bolts, and no inner sternpost. Deck beams weren’t reinforced. Most frames’ edges remained unfinished. Some entire faces still had the original tree’s surface. Iron spikes fastened the exterior planks, rather than time-consuming but more resilient treenails. Instead of a proper capstan to wind the anchor cable, Brown fastened a log to bitt posts to use as a windlass. Archaeological evidence shows that, despite the shortcuts and emphasis on speed, Brown and his crew had built a strong and reliable warship. The Eagle launched on 11 August—only 19 days after laying the keel. By 21 August, Brown had the Eagle seaworthy enough to join the rest of the squadron.
Quick Work Saves the Day
Macdonough arranged his defense masterfully. He set his squadron at anchor in line at Plattsburgh Bay. The location forced the British to sail against the wind into Macdonough’s carronade range before they could fire. Additionally, Macdonough set his anchors so he could quickly rotate the Saratoga and bring his other broadside to bear at an opportune moment.
The British had completed their frigate Confiance in early September, and on the morning of 11 September, set sail to remove Macdonough from the lake. The Battle of Plattsburgh Bay ended after only a couple hours with an unequivocal American victory.
The battle was 55 days after the Browns had received their contract for the Eagle and only three weeks after the brig joined the squadron. Adam Brown’s quick work gave Macdonough adequate firepower for his defense and, more importantly, time to prepare his squadron.
If Macdonough had lost, the British would have marched to New York and separated New England from the rest of the country. Many in New England were considering secession over dissatisfaction with “Mr. Madison’s War” during the Hartford Convention in December 1814. Had they been isolated by British forces, it is likely the sentiment would have been more intense. Instead, Macdonough’s victory halted the British invasion.
After the battle, Prevost admitted, “The impracticality of carrying on any operations without a sufficient Naval cooperation has caused me to turn the whole of my attention to Upper Canada.”22 Macdonough’s mastery of Lake Champlain ensured that the United States and Canada maintained territorial boundaries at the end of the war.
Shipbuilding Savants
For self-taught shipbuilders, the Browns’ accomplishments during the War of 1812 seem far-fetched. In addition to everything else, they collaborated with Robert Fulton to build the world’s first steam-powered warship, the Demologos, and a submersible. Despite involvement in so many key moments in the war, they remain, at best, historical footnotes to the victories they made possible.23
Arguably, neither side truly won the War of 1812, but Noah and Adam Brown helped make sure the United States did not lose it. The success of their privateers speaks to their skills, but their work on the lakes should define them. Without their swift and innovative craftsmanship, resourcefulness, and inspiring leadership to make so many work so hard in such miserable conditions, Lakes Erie and Champlain would have been lost. The United States owes Perry and Macdonough for maintaining the nation’s borders—but is indebted to Noah and Adam Brown for enabling them to do so.
1. Secretary of the Navy Paul Hamilton to Commodore Isaac Chauncey, 11 September 1812, in William S. Dudley and Michael J. Crawford, eds., The Naval War of 1812: A Documentary History (Washington, DC: Naval Historical Center, 1985), 1:307–08.
2. Chauncey to Hamilton, 1 January 1813, in The Naval War of 1812, 2:406–07.
3. Secretary of the Navy William Jones to Chauncey, 27 January 27 1813, in The Naval War of 1812, 2:419–420.
4. Noah Brown, “The Remarkable Statement of Noah Brown,” The Journal of American History 8, no. 1 (1914): 104–05; Spencer Tucker, The Jeffersonian Gunboat Navy (Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 1993), 55.
5. Chauncey to Noah Brown, 18 February 1813, in The Naval War of 1812, 2:426–27; Howard I. Chapelle, The History of the American Sailing Navy: The Ships and Their Development (New York: Konecky & Konecky, 1949), 234–5, 241, 305; and Walter Rybka, “We have met the enemy and they are ours: The US Navy Brig Niagara,” in Kevin J. Crisman, ed., Coffins of the Brave: Lake Shipwrecks of the War of 1812 (College Station, TX: Texas A&M University Press, 2014), 19–50.
6. Max Rosenberg, The Building of Perry’s Fleet (Harrisburg, PA: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, 1950), 12, 18; Rybka, “We have met the enemy and they are ours,” 19;
Sailing Master Daniel Dobbins to Chauncey, 14 March 1813, in The Naval War of 1812, 2:440; and Brown, “The Remarkable Statement of Noah Brown,” 105.
7. Rosenberg, The Building of Perry’s Fleet, 34, 37.
8. Brown, “The Remarkable Statement of Noah Brown,” 106.
9. Brown, “The Remarkable Statement of Noah Brown,” 105; Denys W. Knoll, Battle of Lake Erie: Building the Fleet in the Wilderness (Washington, DC: Naval Historical Foundation, 1979), 19.
10. Master Commandant Oliver H. Perry to Chauncey, 10 April 1813, in The Naval War of 1812, 2:440–441; Knoll, Battle of Lake Erie, 22–23; and Kevin J. Crisman, The Eagle: An American Brig on Lake Champlain during the War of 1812 (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1987), 189–190.
11. Knoll, Battle of Lake Erie, 24–25; Brown, “The Remarkable Statement of Noah Brown,” 106; and Lieutenant Robert Barclay, R.N. to Commodore Sir James Lucas Yeo, R.N., 5 August 1813, in The Naval War of 1812, 2:546–47.
12. Jones to Chauncey, 19 September 1813, in The Naval War of 1812, 2:581–82; Kevin J. Crisman, The Eagle, 184; and Chapelle, The History of the American Sailing Navy, 255–260, 356–58, 400.
13. Jones to Master Commandant Thomas Macdonough, January 28, 1814, in The Naval War of 1812, 3:393–95.
14. David Curtis Skaggs, Thomas Macdonough: Master of Command in the Early U.S. Navy (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2003), 88–89, 103, 137.
15. Macdonough to Jones, 11 April and 29 May 1814, in The Naval War of 1812, 3:428, 505; Kevin J. Crisman, The History and Construction of the United States Schooner Ticonderoga (Alexandria, VA: Eyrie Publications, 1982), 64; and Chapelle, The History of the American Sailing Navy, 298.
16. Macdonough to Jones, 30 April 1814, in The Naval War of 1812, 3:429–431.
17. Crisman, The History and Construction of the United States Schooner Ticonderoga, 59–62; Kevin J. Crisman, “Lt. Cassin says there is a new boat near Vergennes: The US Schooner Ticonderoga,” in Coffins of the Brave, 247–270; and Macdonough to Jones, 13 and 29 May 1814, in The Naval War of 1812, 3:480, 505.
18. Brown, “The Remarkable Statement of Noah Brown,” 107; “From Lake Champlain,” The War, 31 May 1814.
19. Macdonough to Jones, 11 and 19 June 1814, 19 July 1814, in The Naval War of 1812, 3:505–08, 538.
20. Kevin J. Crisman, “It has again become necessary to add to our force on Lake Champlain: The US Navy Brig Eagle,” in Coffins of the Brave, 312–335; Crisman, The Eagle, 31–32.
21. Crisman, The Eagle, 33–34, 49, 146, 149, 175, 186–87.
22. Governor-General Sir George Prevost to Lieutenant General Gordon Drummond, in The Naval War of 1812, 3:616–17.
23. Crisman, The Eagle, 91; Adam and Noah Brown to Secretary of the Navy Crowninshield, 15 January 1815, Henry Eckford and Adam and Noah Brown to Chauncey, 10 February 1815, in The Naval War of 1812, 3:686–87, 690.
