Page:Royal Naval Biography Marshall v1p1.djvu/357

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JOHN SCHANCK, ESQ.
327

Exclusive of the armaments which he had fitted out and equipped for service on the lakes Ontario, Erie, Huron, and Michigan, Lieutenant Schanck had the direction of four different dock-yards at the same time, situated at St. John’s, Quebec, Carleton Island, and Detroit. In all these multifarious branches and divisions of public duty, his diligence and zeal were exceeded only by the strict attention which he paid on all occasions to the economical expenditure of the public money.– A rare, and highly honorable example, particularly at that time of day, when peculation and plunder were charges by no means uncommon, and the opportunities which he possessed of enriching himself, without danger of incurring complaint, or risking discovery, were perhaps unprecedented. His services on this occasion were not solely confined to the naval department; he attended the army under General Burgoyne, and became not only the inventor, but the constructor of several floating bridges, by the assistance of which it’s progress was materially aided, and without which it would have been in all probability totally impeded much sooner than it really was. They were so constructed as to be capable of navigating themselves; and were not only absolutely equipped with masts and sails for that purpose; but, having been built at the distance of seventy miles from Crown-Point, were actually conveyed thither without difficulty, for the pur-

    REBEL FORCE.

    Guns.
    Royal Savage, schooner 8 6-pdrs. 4 4-pdrs. Burnt.
    Revenge, do. 4 6-pdrs. 4 4-pdrs. Escaped.
    A sloop 10 4-pdrs. Ditto.
    Congress, galley 2
    2
    18-pdrs.
    2-pdrs.
    6
    2
    12-pdrs.
    6-pdrs.
    Blown up.
    Washington, do. 2
    2
    18-pdrs.
    2-pdrs.
    2
    6
    12-pdrs.
    6-pdrs.
    Taken.
    Trumbull, do. 2
    2
    18-pdrs.
    2-pdrs.
    2
    6
    12-pdrs.
    6-pdrs.
    Escaped.
    Boston, gondola 1 18-pdr.s 2 12-pdrs. Sunk.
    Jersey, do. 1 18-pdr.s 2 12-pdrs. Taken.
    Lee, cutter 1
    4
    9-pdrs.
    6-pdrs.
    1 12-pdr.s Destroyed.

    Six gondolas were driven ashore and destroyed; a large schooner and a galley not in the action. Their loss not known, but supposed to have been very considerable.