By James Heinz
This story is inspired by a memory of long ago childhood visits to the Milwaukee Public Museum. As a child I was intrigued by a life size diorama of a man with a tricorn hat and two Native Americans pointing at a ship painted on a backdrop floating on Lake Michigan and flying the red British Union Jack flag.
The ship on the painted backdrop was His Majesty’s Ship (HMS) FELICITY, the first European ship to visit Milwaukee. The date was November 4, 1779. The place was what we now call Jones Island.
European explorers and fur traders had visited Milwaukee in the past, the first being Father Jacques Marquette and fur trader Louis Joliet in 1673. However, all who had previously visited Milwaukee used Native American style canoes.
Given the time that has passed, the scarcity of written records on the frontier, and the fact that many records may be kept in England, information about HMS FELICITY is both scarce and conflicting
WMHS files state she was launched in either 1773, 1774, or 1775. She was built at the Kings Shipyard at the River Rouge at Detroit, later site of the shipyard that launched the EDMUND FITZGERALD.
She was described as displacing either 55 or 30 tons, and being 57.5 feet long, 16 feet long, with a hold 6 feet deep. She was reported to be able to carry 40 troops or 50 barrels, or 67 people according to another source. She appears to be almost identical to HMS WELCOME, a replica of which was built at Michilimackinac in 1976.
HMS FELICITY was part of the Provincial Marine, a British flotilla of about 16 small ships and about 300 sailors that during the Revolutionary War moved supplies and supported military operations on the Great Lakes.
WMHS files show that HMS FELICITY was supposed to have a crew of 25, but also state that her actual crew size varied between 5 and 12. In addition to the problem of recruiting sailors a thousand miles from the sea, the Provincial Marine paid sailors less than their dockyard workers, so sailors chose to work in their dockyards and not on their ships.
One source says that FELICITY was built by the firm of Phym and Ellice to carry supplies to their trading posts and to British forts at Detroit, Michilimackinac, Erie, and Niagara. She “carried rum, troops, trade items, furs, and sealed communications.” Of these, rum, referred to as “the white man’s milk” was probably considered the most important commodity that she carried.
Another source says that she was built for fur traders Simon McTavish and George McBeath. By 1778 she was owned by John Askin, a supplier to the fur trade who also built the WELCOME.
WMHS files show that her first captain was John Laughton in 1773, which is before other sources say she was even built. Her next captain was Samuel Robertson, an experienced Scottish ship carpenter.
One thing every source agrees on is that she had one mast and was rigged as a sloop. Dictionary.com describes a sloop as “a single-masted, fore-and-aft-rigged sailing vessel, with or without a bowsprit, having a jib-headed or gaff mainsail, the latter sometimes with a gaff topsail, and one or more headsails.”
In 1776 some people on the East Coast decided to go their own way, and England felt the need to acquire additional firepower on the Great Lakes. FELICITY was purchased or rented by His Majesty’s forces in either 1777, or 1778 according to John Askin. As a warship, her armament was described as being either 4 or 6 “swivels”. To me a swivel is a kind of chair, not a weapon.
A “swivel” was a swivel gun, which was a small cannon 3 feet in length or less with a bore of up to 1.5 inches. They could be loaded and fired by one man, and were aimed (or swiveled) with a wooden handle attached to the rear of the barrel. They were primarily used as anti-personnel weapons on sailing ships too small to carry larger guns, which pretty much describes HMS FELICITY. WMHS files show that she was also armed with between 6 and 15 muskets, and “20 spears”, probably boarding pikes.
Why did FELICITY visit Milwaukee? The British commander at Fort Michilimackinac, Patrick Sinclair, was worried that the Patriot commander George Rogers Clark, who had captured British forts in what is now southern Illinois in February 1779, would advance further north.
The purpose of the mission was to assess the reliability of the Native Americans around the Lake and to urge them to stay loyal to England. Sinclair sent HMS FELICITY, commanded by Samuel Robertson, on a tour of Lake Michigan Native American villages and fur trading posts. Robertson was accompanied by two French Canadian guides and interpreter Charles Gautier.
Sinclair was also concerned that the fort was running out of food. Even in those days they knew what happens when the Gales of November come early, but Sinclair felt that the need for food was worth the risk.
According to the book Beyond The Windswept Dunes, HMS FELICITY left Michilimackinac on October 21, 1779. HMS FELICITY sailed down the Michigan shore, a good route to shelter from the dreaded nor’easter winter storms, although the voyage encountered choppy seas, with wind, sleet, and snow.
On October 31, 1779, around 5 p.m. they had arrived at the Muskegon River, where they found a fur trader of African ancestry named “Black Peter” and three Native Americans, but no corn. The voyage resumed around the south end of the Lake through rough seas and hazy weather.
The following is from the 2008 doctoral dissertation “In the pale’s shadow: Indians and British forts in eighteenth century America” by Daniel Patrick Ingram, for the College of William and Mary, available online at https://core.ac.uk Ingram is now a professor at Ball State University.
“On November 3, the Felicity weighed anchor in Milwaukee Bay, but negotiations with Indians and two French traders there produced no corn. The crop at Milwaukee had been poor, and since no traders had been allowed in the area, the Indians saved their corn for trading the following spring.”
It should be noted that the date of HMS FELICITY’s arrival is also in dispute. According to Milwaukee Public Museum curator of historical collections Jackie Schweitzer, the original diorama caption states: “On November 4, 1779, H.M. Sloop O’War Felicity hauled sails and anchored at Milwaukee. Here was a village of several tribes and some Frenchmen whose loyalty to the British was highly suspect”
Exactly where along Milwaukee’s shore did the crew of HMS FELICITY land? It was probably at the mouth of the Milwaukee River, which is not where it is now. Originally, the Milwaukee River flowed south on the west side of what is now Jones Island and then flowed into Lake Michigan about where the south end of the Hoan Bridge and the US Coast Guard station are now.
Although there were about 11 different Native American villages in the Milwaukee area, the largest one was located at the river’s mouth. A missionary noted a village there as early as 1679, and a trading post was there from 1763 on. It would have been the logical place to land.
Beyond The Windswept Dunes says HMS FELICITY arrived back at Michilimackinac on November 6, 1779. Robertson’s voyage produced no information on Patriot activities and no corn.
So, what happened to HMS FELICITY? Once again, the records disagree.
The book Warships of the Great Lakes states that she was part of the Royal Navy as late at 1793 and ended her days in 1796, being used as a gunpowder magazine at Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada. Her final disposition is listed as “laid up.”
WMHS files indicate that in 1782 her condition was reported as “poor”, and she needed a new keel. In 1794 she was owned again by fur trader John Askin.
WMHS files show that she was being used to remove and store 267 barrels of gunpowder from British positions on the now American side of the Great Lakes following American independence. In 1797 she was driven ashore in a storm. A work party of British soldiers removed all the barrels of highly explosive gunpowder, for which they were rewarded with an extra ration of rum. If this was the case, then she was probably simply abandoned where she lay.
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James Heinz is the Wisconsin Marine Historical Society’s acquisitions director. He became interested in maritime history as a kid watching Jacques Cousteau’s adventures on TV. He was a Great Lakes wreck diver until three episodes of the bends forced him to retire from diving. He was a University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee police officer for thirty years. He regularly flies either a Cessna 152 or 172.
Photos:
FELICITY anchored in Milwaukee, Milwaukee Public Museum diorama. Courtesy of the Milwaukee Public Museum
HMS WELCOME courtesy of emmetcounty.org
HMS WELCOME courtesy of emmetcounty.org
Swivel gun courtesy of Wikipedia
Early map of Milwaukee Bay courtesy of PBS
