Engagements On Lake Ontario - Aftermath

Aftermath

After the Treaty of Ghent which ended the war, a separate pact known as the Rush-Bagot Treaty was signed in 1817, to limit the number and strength of warships which could be maintained on the Lakes. On Lake Ontario, Britain and America could keep in commission one vessel each, of no more than 100 tons, and armed with one 18-pounder gun. No other armed ships could be built, and those already built should be dismantled.

In fact, very few of the existing ships were broken up. The British constructed a storehouse, referred to as a "stone frigate", to keep the rigging and other fittings - the building survives today as dormitory to Hudson Squadron at the Royal Military College of Canada and is still referred to by the same name. In theory, they could have recommissioned their entire squadron within a few days. By 1827 however, all the ships were mouldering, and unfit for service. The stores were auctioned in 1834 and the surviving ships were written off or disposed of over the next few years. Several were sunk in Navy Bay near Kingston.

The American squadron also quickly fell into disrepair. It had been acknowledged when they were built that they would last only five or six years, with their green wood and rough finish. One survivor was the unfinished battleship New Orleans, which was enclosed by a great shed on the slipway. The shed collapsed in 1881 and the remains of the ship were sold in 1883.