Abstracts
Abstract
His Majesty’s Naval Establishment for Lake Huron has been portrayed as deriving from a decisive decision, in the wake of the War of 1812, that resulted in a significant, active naval yard being developed on the shores of Penetanguishene Bay. This picture ignores the earlier plans for its development, and the protracted period of indecision that marked its beginning. Once built, the potentially significant establishment was rendered impotent through a continuous series of reductions that left a handful of men in charge of five decaying vessels in ordinary.
Résumé
L’Établissement naval de sa Majesté sur le lac Huron a été décrit comme découlant d’une décision ferme et catégorique, à la suite de la guerre de 1812, ayant pour résultat la construction d’un chantier naval de grande importance sur les rives de la baie de Penetanguishene. Cette théorie ignore les plans antérieurs de son développement et la longue période d’indécision qui a marqué ses origines. Une fois construit, cet établissement de grand potentiel fut réduit à l’impuissance sous une politique de réductions, qui ont laissé une poignée d’hommes en charge de cinq vaisseaux en veilleuse dans un état de décomposition.
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Appendices
Biographical note
Thomas Malcomson, PhD, taught for thirty-two years as a professor in the School of Liberal Arts and Sciences, at George Brown College, Toronto. Thomas has produced numerous articles on naval and maritime subjects, with a primary focus on the final years of the long eighteenth century and the War of 1812. He has presented papers at conferences and public forums in North America and Europe. His latest book was Order and Disorder in the British Navy, 1793-1815: Control, Resistance, Flogging and Hanging (Woodbridge, U.K.: Boydell Press, 2016). Current projects include tracing the stories of individual Black Refugees from slavery to freedom during the War of 1812, and exploring the role of the British navy on the Great Lakes from 1813 through 1834. He is a research associate with the Nova Scotia Museum.