Queen Charlotte (1812 ship)

Queen Charlotte was the ship-rigged sloop Adams built at Malden (now Amherstberg), Canada in 1807, and purchased in 1812 for the Canadian Provincial Marine. She was based at Amherstburg, where she served as a 16-gun sloop-of-war. The Americans captured her on 10 September 1813 and commissioned her as USS Queen Charlotte, but never put her into service. They sold her into mercantile service in 1825. She traded on the Great Lakes until her owners abandoned her in 1844.

Naval career
On 15 August 1812 during the Battle of Detroit, gunners of the Provincial Marine set up a battery of one 18-pounder and two 12-pounder guns and two mortars on the Canadian shore of the Detroit River and began bombarding Fort Detroit, joined by General Hunter and Queen Charlotte in the river.

Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry of the United States Navy captured Queen Charlotte on 10 September 1813 following the Battle of Lake Erie. Her captain, Robert Finnis, was killed in the battle.

The Americans used their prizes HMS Detroit (1813) and Queen Charlotte as hospital ships. A gale swept the lake on 13 September and dismasted both, further damaging the already battered ships. Once the wounded had been ferried to Erie, the two British ships were effectively reduced to hulks.

Detroit and Queen Charlotte were taken into Put-in-Bay, Ohio, to prevent their sinking. In May 1814 USS Ohio (1812) assisted in fitting out Detroit and Queen Charlotte at Put-in Bay, and convoyed them to Erie, Pennsylvania. There they were laid up until both were sold in 1825.

Commercial service and fate
Queen Charlotte was sold to George Brown of Erie, who raised her and fitted her out as a merchant ship.

She eventually become a prey to dry rot and the elements. Between 1842 and 1844 she was employed in the stave and timber trade, until her owners, deeming her no longer sea-worthy, left her a dismasted hulk.