Career
Scorpion was launched in the spring of 1813 at Presque Isle (now Erie, Pennsylvania), probably by Noah Brown of New York, for service on the upper Great Lakes during the War of 1812.
Scorpion, commanded by Sailing Master Stephen Champlin, first cousin to Oliver Hazard Perry, operated with Commodore Perry's squadron on Lake Erie during the summer and fall of 1813.
On 10 September 1813, she participated in the battle off Put-in-Bay, Lake Erie, which resulted in the defeat and capture of the British fleet (see Battle of Lake Erie). Scorpion had the distinction of firing the first and last shot in the battle in which she lost two men. At the close of the action, she and Trippe pursued and captured the fleeing British schooners Chippeway and Little Belt.
After Perry's victory, Scorpion assisted General William Henry Harrison's forces operating in the Thames River area, by transporting troops as well as stores and ammunition captured from the enemy.
During the winter of 1813 and 1814, she was laid up at Erie, Pennsylvania. From May 1814 to September 1814, Scorpion cruised on Lake Erie and Lake Huron, cooperating with the army in the Detroit area by transporting troops, staking out the flats through the St. Clair River, and blockading the enemy at the Nottawasaga River and Lake Simcoe.
Read more about this topic: USS Scorpion (1813)
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