'No Ship Has Been Fought So Obstinately'

Noah Brown, like the Biblical patriarch whose name he carried, needed to build a ship—two snow-brigs, specifically—to fulfill a particular purpose. The reason, however, was not to ensure the survival of species but to enable the United States to contend with the greatest naval power on the globe—Great Britain—for supremacy on Lake Erie. "We want no extras," Brown reportedly said, "plain work is all that is required; they will only be wanted for one battle; if we win, that is all that is wanted of them; if the enemy is victorious the work is good enough to be captured."

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