When, on the morning of the fourth day, work was begun upon the Lawrence and Niagara, every man and boy among us was in a state of the greatest possible excitement. We understood full well how deplorable would be our plight if the enemy should appear just after the guns had been taken from the brigs, for then the two vessels on which we placed the greatest reliance could have had no part in the battle that must have ensued.
Right here let me set down what, as a matter of course, we could not know at the time; but which explains why we were allowed to perform this long task unmolested.
I have seen a letter which Mr. Ryason wrote to my father, and from it comes this extract:—
“The citizens of Port Dover, a small village on Ryason’s Creek, a little below Long Point, offered Commodore Barclay and his officers a public dinner. While that dinner was being attended, Perry was getting his vessels over the bar, and thereby acquired power to skilfully dispute the supremacy of Lake Erie with the British. At the dinner Commodore Barclay remarked, in response to a complimentary toast, ‘I expect to find the Yankee brigs hard and fast on the bar when I return, in which predicament it will be but a small job to destroy them.’ Had Barclay been more mindful of duty, his expectations might have been realized.”
If we of Presque Isle had had this information at the time, it would have saved us great distress of mind, for there was not among all our forces one who thought otherwise than did old Silas.
He said to me despondently, when the order was given to load into small boats the guns from the Lawrence:—
“Now has come the time, lad, when I believe of a verity that our ruin is near at hand. It does not stand to reason that the British commodore can hold off longer, for he knows full well we would set about crossing the bar at the earliest moment, and if he sights us at this work while the two brigs are dismantled, we are undone.”
During the earlier portion of the task the men had labored with now and then a jest or a cheery word; some speculated as to what would be done once the ships were afloat, and all seemed in a certain degree happy, although excited. But now, when we were doing that which would compass our own destruction should the enemy’s squadron heave in sight, every face wore an expression of deepest gravity; men spoke in whispers, as if fearing the lightest sound of their voices might be token of what we were about, and I saw no smile, nor heard an idle word during all that while.
To get the camels into position under the brig was a difficult matter, but finally accomplished, and on the morning of the 4th of August Captain Perry’s flag-ship, with every small boat towing ahead, was hauled across the barrier of sand into the waters of Lake Erie.
Then, while a portion of the force labored at dismantling and making ready the Niagara for the same passage, the remainder set about replacing the guns, reloading the ammunition and the stores, and by two o’clock of that day every man and boy among us breathed more freely, for one of our ships was in condition to give battle to whosoever might attempt to work us a mischief.