|The importance of the great navigable lakes lying between the United States and Canada had not been overlooked by either party to this war. As soon as it broke out, both began preparations to secure the ascendency on those waters--which, besides its direct advantages, would be almost necessary to either in making invasions around the coasts. A large portion of the shores on both sides--more especially, perhaps, on the American side--was at that time a wilderness, and the few open ports would naturally hold out strong temptations to the enemy. The chief advantage was with the British, both because the oldest and largest settlements were on their side of the lakes, and because they had possession of the St. Lawrence River, which made it easy for them to bring up supplies from the seaboard. The Americans, however, had regularly trained naval officers in command of their few vessels on {098}lakes Ontario and Champlain, while the English had not. The largest American vessel on the lower lakes was the _Oneida_, of sixteen guns; the largest British vessel, the _Royal George_, of twenty-two. The enemy also had several other vessels, carrying from a dozen to sixteen guns each, which it would be useless to specify, as their names and character were several times changed during the war. As soon as hostilities were declared, both sides began building new ships and arming merchant schooners. In July, 1812, the British fleet had made an attempt to capture the _Oneida_ and a prize schooner, both of which were at Sackett's Harbor. Lieutenant-Commander Woolsey anchored the _Oneida_ in the harbor, where she could command the entrance, placed half of her guns in a battery on shore, and easily drove off the enemy's fleet, whose performance exhibited very little of the character of serious warfare. In October, of that year, Captain Isaac Chauncey arrived at Sackett's Harbor, with authority to organize a fleet. He brought from New York forty ship-carpenters and a hundred officers and seamen, and a supply of naval stores. He bought ten or a dozen schooners, armed them--generally with long swivel guns--and fitted them up for naval service as well as their character would admit. These, with the {099}_Oneida_, carried forty guns and four hundred and thirty men.