The General Pike was built by Henry Eckford of New York City. He
supervised the construction of warships on Lake Ontario, at Sackett's Harbor
9 April 1813. During a British attack it caught fire at Sackett's Harbor,
the unfinished ship was saved and launched 12 June 1813, Master Commandant
Arthur Sinclair in command.
On 21 July she joined Commodore Isaac Chauncey's squadron.. She arrived off
Niagara 27 July. While cruising the lake, she engaged British ships under
Commodore Yeo in an indecisive battle on 10 and 11 August.
General Pike returned to Sackett's Harbor 13 August and provisioned. She
returned to the head of the lake to find British ships. After almost a month
of maneuvering and stalking to gain an advantage over the British, she
joined Chauncey's ships in a brief encounter against the British off the
mouth of the Genesee River on 11 September. On 28 September Sinclair and
Chauncey , and engaged in a fierce, but still indecisive, battle at York
Bay, Ontario. During exchanges of gunfire between the General Pike fought
in sustained heavy action against British ship Royal George and rendered
gallant service throughout the encounter.
Returning to Sackett's Harbor early in October, General Pike supported troop
movements at the lower end of Lake Ontario until mid November when she
returned to the Niagara Peninsula to cover the transfer of American troops
from Fort Niagara to Sackett's Harbor. She remained at Sackett's Harbor
during the winter months.
During the War of 1812, General Pike continued to operate with Chauncey's
squadron. After the British withdrew blockading ships off Sackett's Harbor
early in June 1814, she joined other American ships in a blockade of British
ships at Kingston, Ontario.
The American ships kept Yeo's ships blocked at Kingston harbor. General
Pike cruised Lake Ontario with impunity. At the end of the war's end, she
was laid up at Sackett's Harbor and was sold in 1825.
Sinclair
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