War of 1812 wrecks need local memorial

© 2025 by Blair Burgess, St. Catharines, Ont.

 

As developers mess around with the character of Lake Ontario’s historic Port Dalhousie, two War of 1812 schooners lay forgotten 90 meters underwater 10 or so kilometres off shore.

 

And no one seems to care – at least locally.

 

American war ships the Hamilton and the Scourge went down off Port Dalhousie in a vicious squall after midnight on August 8, 1813. More than 50 souls were lost. Thankfully, nearby vessels managed to save 16.

 

To the best of my knowledge, there’s not one public memorial to the disaster in Port Dalhousie, the nearest habitation to the maritime disaster. You actually have to travel up the QEW to Stoney Creek to experience a lakeside memorial to the brave American souls who went down in those two converted merchant schooners.

 

Back in the spring of 1990, I was lucky enough to be invited to powerboat out to a barge hovering over the site, exploring the armed wrecks with high-tech submersibles. The underwater survey of the Hamilton and Scourge was supervised by none other than Dr. Robert Ballard, the man who discovered the Titanic and Bismarck wrecks. Also in attendance was Dr. Margaret Rule, a famous British marine archeologist who died only last year.

 

Along with other members of the media, including my former journalism intern and current Facebook friend #TonyPost, we got access to the control room where images of the wrecks were being beamed to TV screens from the submersible JASON.

 

It was surreal seeing the underwater graves of the wooden ships, complete with the image of a beautiful female figurehead on one of the bows. Since then, zebra mussels have attached themselves in the thousands.

 

At one point, remote control of JASON was handed over to school children watching from Sarasota, Florida. It was incredible to hear their excited voices over the loudspeakers.

 

Initially discovered in 1973, the wrecks are the best-preserved examples of their kind, according to Parks Canada underwater archeologists.

 

Currently, there’s an intense focus on Port Dalhousie as officials from all levels of government scramble to fix a condemned pavilion in Lakeside Park (of Rush fame) and condemned concrete piers stretching into the lake.

 

This would be a perfect time to launch a public fundraising drive to erect a memorial in Lakeside Park to the brave American sailors of the Hamilton and Scourge who sacrificed their lives 203 years ago on the perilous Great Lakes.