PERRY'S FLAGSHIP

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 132, 1 December 1938, Page 11

PERRY'S FLAGSHIP

THE FATE OF THE NIAGARA

The Niagara, on whose decks Com■jjriodore O. H. Perry wrote,'""We have met the enemy and they are;tiurs," layrotting on fhe shore of Lake Erie on the' 125 th' anniyers.aty pf., Perry's victory, over the British, skys the "Christian Science Monitor." . •

A proposal of an Ohio committee to tow the.boat from port to port in celebration of the anniversary on-Septem-ber 10 drew attention to the' plight of the historic craft, little larger than a lifeboat of a modem battle-cruiser. Pennsylvania authorities refused to permit its removal in its present condition.. .•' ': : .■. " '■' ■'";■:"■ ■■"■'

The Niagara served as flagship of the Commodore's fleet of -eight tiny vessels after he' boarded it from the sinking Lawrence. ' The Niagara settled to the bottom of. Misery Bay a few years after the battle, but was raised in 1912 arid towed around the lake in 1913 as part of the centennial. observance of Perry's triumph,1 which gave the United States control of the Lakes and forced the British from Detroit.

: Returned" to anchor at Erie, the vessel was forgotten except by tourists and city officials, who were often^ vexed by the navigation . and ; fire hazards brought by the old craft. Souvenir hunters stripped the vessel of iron and furnishings and carried away so muqh timber that pumps were installed to keep.the ship from*sinking. 'The Pennsylvania Legislature appropriated 50,000 dollars (£12,500) in 1931 for. reconstruction of the ship arid - workmen laboured two years rebuilding the hull of the original keel, a task that. took Perry's" men only a few weeks.:' ' '".:'■ .. ' .... '/

The appropriation- was trimmed later to 30,000 dollars and. the work was abandoned with the decks and spars still incomplete, Veteran boat builders said it now would be impossible to complete the work before the anniversary,, even if the money were available. ....