HMS Nancy
The Nancy was launched in 1789 as a merchant ship specifically for the fur trade. At the outbreak of the War of 1812, the British government seized the merchant ship. Although she was intended as a supply and support ship, according to the description she could mount six 4-pounder guns and six small swivel guns. However, it is unlikely that she was ever so richly equipped.
The wreck of the Nancy, photo by Will
In 1813, under the command of Captain Alexander MacIntosh, the Nancy was forced to retreat to Lake Huron after three American ships attacked her on the St Clair River. She was refitted and wintered at Sault Ste. Marie. In July 1814, an American squadron set sail from Detroit to blockade Fort Michilimackinac. Lieutenant Miller Worsley, the Nancy's new captain, realised he could do nothing against the squadron and instead hid the tiny ship a short distance upriver at Wasaga Beach. Unfortunately, three American ships, the Niagara, the Tigress and the Scorpion, spotted the ship in August and opened a fierce cannon fire. Worsley was determined to fight back, but an American shell ignited his powder and set the Nancy on fire. She burnt out to the waterline and sank, and her crew retreated into the wooded hinterland.
Lieutenant Worsley knew that Fort Michilimackinac needed supplies. He loaded much-needed supplies aboard several dinghies and rowed 360 miles / 579 km to the besieged island. Not content to sit idly behind the fort's protective walls, Worsley led a boarding party that quickly scaled the sides of the Scorpion and overwhelmed the crew. As the unsuspecting Tigress approached, she too was captured. In one fell swoop, the blockade of Fort Michilimackinac was lifted and American naval supremacy broken.
After the war, the sunken hull of the Nancy disappeared from view as the current overturned the charred beams. Over time, a small island formed above the wreck, completely obscuring the ship. It would be more than a century before the ship resurfaced. In 1925, archaeologists discovered the remains of the ship, which were still amazingly well preserved and largely intact. Interest skyrocketed and on 14 August 1928 the hull was lifted and became the centrepiece of the Nancy Island Historic Site.