Commodore Earle decided in July to capture the _Oneida_, that was lying in Sackett’s Harbor, and destroy the little fort there. Rumors of his coming having reached the station, Woolsey, who still commanded the _Oneida_, prepared to fight in spite of the overwhelming odds against him. A long thirty-two had been sent up from the coast for the _Oneida_ some time before, but it had proved too heavy for her, and it had therefore been allowed to lie half-buried in the mud on the shore of the bay, where, because it lay comfortably in the mud, it was known as “The Old Sow.” This was placed in the fort on the bluff overlooking the channel into the harbor, with a couple of sixes and a couple of nines beside it. Next, the _Oneida_ was moored outside of Navy Point where she could rake the channel, and then nothing more could be done but fight it out as best they might. On the morning of July 19, 1812, the British squadron appeared. It was “a lovely Sabbath morning,” with a head-wind for the British, who came beating up past Horse Island. By 8 o’clock they were within range and a lake mariner, Captain William Vaughan, let drive with “The Old Sow” at the _Royal George_. He didn’t have the range that time and the British laughed and jeered loudly. On their getting nearer, however, the firing from the shore began to tell. The _Royal George_ caught one shot below the water-line and one higher up in the hull. The _Prince Regent_ and the _Earl of Moira_ were struck. The shot from the ships all fell on the beach, save one that landed in the yard of the old Sacket mansion, where Sergeant Spies picked it up, and carrying it to Captain Vaughan, he said: “I have been playing ball with the red coats and have caught ’em out. See if the British can catch back again.” Captain Vaughan loaded the ball into the old gun. At that moment the _Royal George_ was wearing around to fire a broadside and was stern on to the fort. Taking careful aim Captain Vaughan fired, and the shot “struck her stern, raked her completely, sent splinters as high as her mizzen topsail-yard, killed fourteen men and wounded eighteen.” So said a deserter. The British never published an account of their losses that day, and the story is probably true, because Commodore Earle hauled off while a Yankee band played “Yankee Doodle,” and the first battle of Sackett’s Harbor was ended. “Nothing animate or inanimate on shore had been injured in the least.”