Adam Prudhomme
Editor
History repeated itself on the shores of Greater Napanee’s Upper Gap Park on Sunday as members of the Canadian Fencibles reenacted the famous escape of the Royal George.
Dressed in authentic uniforms from the era of the War of 1812, reenactors fired blank cannon fire out onto the lake, aimed at two sailing ships that were playing the role of American soldiers. Meanwhile the actors on the ships fired blank shots towards the British battery set up on land. The pretend siege was a tribute to the very real battle that occurred at that site in 1812.
“On Nov. 9, 1812 an American squadron of seven vessels, under the command of Isaac Chauncey, had come out of Sackets Harbor (New York) and lay in wait of the George at the False Duck Islands,” said David Smith of the Canadian Fencibles, who along with volunteers from the Royal Artillery Living History, helped to organize the event. “The Americans knew that they would potentially see the George, they knew it had been up the lake at York and Niagara, they hoped to intercept her.”
Dressed in uniforms from the War of 1812, actors playing the role of British soldiers fire blank cannons at the American war boats. Photo by Adam Prudhomme.
The Americans had targeted the Royal George in retribution for the ship’s attack on Sackets Harbour some five months earlier in July of 1812.
When the Americans spotted the ship in the open waters between Amherst Island and the mainland, which today runs along side Hwy 33, just in front of the Lennox Generating Station, they began to engage with gunfire.
“Historically there was actually a 68 pound British carronade in the windmill that was about 2 km down the road (from the Gap),” said Smith. “The British (Hugh) Earl was smart, the commander, he brought them by the bluffs on Amherst Island and then he swung them way over here by the windmill knowing that they would come under fire, which they did. Then he was even craftier, he tried to sneak in along the shoals of Amherst Island that come out here on the north shore and he tried to take the Americans over the shoals knowing that they’d probably bottom out at some point.”
David Smith of the Canadian Fencibles goes over the story of the Royal George. Photo by Adam Prudhomme.
The Royal George was able to successfully evade the American attack, arriving to the safety of Kingston’s inner harbour the next day.
A historic plaque celebrating this event has long stood at the intersection of County Rd 8 and Hwy 33 in a small patch at the side of the road without much parking along side the busy highway. The Loyalist Parkway Committee, which included Greater Napanee councillor John McCormack, recently moved the plaque to the Upper Gap Park, a few kilometres down the road from its original spot but in a much safer spot for guests to get out of their car and read the sign.
A plaque detailing the events of the historic escape of the Royal George can now be found at the Upper Gap Park on Hwy 33, just across from the Lennox Generating Station. Photo by Adam Prudhomme.
Smith says with several historical reenactors in town for the School of the Sailor event, which saw several history buffs create a naval encampment circle 1790-1815 at the UEL campsite in Adolphustown this weekend, Sunday was an ideal time to formally unveil the plaque’s new location.