Oliver Hazard Perry had been brought up in the naval service. His father was a gallant seaman who had fought in the Revolution and been on the sea ever since. When Oliver was ready he was appointed midshipman on his father’s ship, and had seen since that day service in the West Indies, in the Tripolitan war, and off the Atlantic coast. At the beginning of the War of 1812 he was put in charge of a flotilla of gun-boats stationed at Newport, but he had petitioned to be removed from this retirement and placed in active service, preferably on the lakes. He was summoned in the winter of 1813 to take charge of the construction of vessels on Lake Erie. He found the lake fleet divided. At the Black Rock Navy Yard on the Niagara River lay several vessels, unable to get out past the British fleet and the overlooking British forts. At Erie, Pennsylvania, two brigs, a schooner, and a gun-boat were being built. It was for Perry to unite the two sections of the fleet, to provide them with a crew of able seamen, and to force the British fleet into decisive action. An American victory on the Niagara River on the 27th of May set free the vessels at Black Rock. Perry was on hand to superintend their laborious removal from the navy-yard. Oxen and men worked day after day dragging the vessels against the heavy current of the river into Lake Erie. Once on the waters of the lake the American ships under Perry’s command evaded the British cruisers which were sailing back and forth between Niagara and Erie, with the sole purpose of intercepting them, and reached the latter port in safety. For two months the fleet lay in that harbor while Perry strained every nerve to get the vessels into shape and secure sailors to man them. We get a little idea of his difficulties by the fact that between the last of May and the first of August he cut down his requirements in the number of seamen to one-half his original estimate. On the sixth day of August all preparations were completed and the fleet sailed out on Lake Erie. Commodore Perry was twenty-eight years old; his antagonist, Barclay, was thirty-two. Barclay had met as many difficulties as Perry in getting his fleet ready, and especially in securing provisions for his men. The American squadron had, moreover, cut off communication between Fort Malden and its source of supplies. So in September, even though his best vessel, the _Detroit_, had to be launched unfinished from the stocks, Barclay saw no choice but to fight at once. Early on the morning of September 9, the British fleet sailed to meet the American squadron, which was anchored at the mouth of the Sandusky River. Barclay had six vessels with sixty-three guns, and probably about four hundred and fifty men. Perry had nine vessels with fifty-four guns, and about the same number of available men. His guns, however, were much heavier, and his vessels larger.