![]() ![]() ![]() Perry had nine ships versus six, and heavier guns. Despite the difficulties, Perry proved to be a brilliant project manager, ably assisted by lake pilot Dan Dobbins and master shipwright Noah Brown. Shortage of iron meant vessels were held together with wooden pegs. But urgency required using unseasoned “green” timber that shrank and warped. Trees, at least, were abundant – the shipwright’s rule-of-thumb was an acre of oak forest for each gun in a ship’s rating. Tools, rope, canvas, provisions, guns and powder had to be hauled overland from Pittsburgh, 130 miles to the south. “Lake fever” (probably typhoid) was endemic. Perry established his base at Presque Isle (now Erie, Pa., then a cluster of cabins on a bay blocked by a sand bar). His assignment: build a fleet from nothing, and defeat the proud Royal Navy. In March 1813, Oliver Hazard Perry, a 27-year-old naval officer, arrived. Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, the victor of the Battle of Lake Erie. ![]()
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