Camp Perry in Ohio

I wrote about this camp in my Not So Forgotten:  War of 1812 blog earlier today.  Camp Perry is named after War of 1812 naval hero Oliver Hazard Perry and has received a $271,000 federal funding to redo its historical lighting system.

From the September 21, 2021, Sandusky (Ohio) Register "Camp Perry receives federal funds" by Andy Ouriel.

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HISTORY:

**  Camp Perry was the primary training center for the Ohio National Guard for much of the 20th century.

**  It is located close to Port Clinton, Ohio, and consists of 640 acres.

**  Established in 1907, it is named for Oliver Hazard Perry.  The main reason it is located where it is is to allow the Ohio National Guard to practice rifle and artillery firing into Lake Erie.

**  The camp has the largest outdoor rifle range in the world.

**  While originally intended for use by the Ohio National Guard, during World War I to train officers and marksmen.  During World War II, Italian and German  prisoners were held at the camp.

**  Beginning in the 1960s, use of Camp Perry began to decline.

**  Today, several units continue to be housed at the camp.  They include the  213th Ordnance Company, the 200th Civil Engineering  Squadron, the 372nd  Missile Maintenance Company (DS) and the Ohio Naval reserve.

**  In addition to military usage, Camp Perry has also been  the site of the World Series of the Shooting Sports since 1907.  This event is sponsored by the National Rifle Association, and marksmen and women from around the world participate in the competition.

--Cooter

Charles V. Gridley-- Part 5: Service in Europe, Rhode Island, Training Ships and Lighthouses

Charles Gridley's next duty was one of the naval service's  epitomes.  He was assigned to duty with the European Squadron aboard the USS Trenton.  Basically the duty involved  sailing from port to port, showing the U.S. flag and attending dinners and ceremonies.  Unfortunately, the U.S. Navy by then was at its lowest ebb, with its vessels considered to be antiques by most nations.

(The USS Trenton, however, was a very new ship, having been commissioned in 1877.  It was wrecked in a huge storm at Apia, Samoa, in 1889.)

After a wait of 14 years,  Charles "Steve" Gridley finally received his next promotion.  On March  10, 1882, he was appointed commander, and was immediately sent to Newport, Rhode Island, to study at the torpedo school for three months.  Torpedoes were one of the  highly-vaunted new weapons of the age, and though the United States did not yet have a torpedo boat, the advance in technology was noted.

After this stint, Gridley was assigned as navigation officer at  the Boston Navy Yard, and then to Cruising Training Squadron.  He was the commanding officer of  the USTS (United States Training Ship) Jamestown and the USTS Portsmouth.  This duty was extended from  1884 to 1886.

Beginning in 1887, Commander Gridley began serving as Inspector of the 10th Lighthouse District, which included the 114 miles of the St. Lawrence River as well as Lake Ontario, Lake Erie and the Niagara River.  He held this post until 1891.  This duty brought him close to his family, a luxury for a naval officer.  Luckily for him, his in-laws had  political connections that would allow him to again gain this position later in life.

--Cooter

USS Detroit-- Part 2: War of 1812 and Civil War

The first two U.S. Navy ships named USS Detroit.

**  The first USS Detroit was a 12-gun ship built by the British during the War of 1812 in Malden, Canada.  It was carrying 19 guns when it was captured at the Battle of Lake Erie where it was the flagship of the Royal Navy.  It then became the USS Detroit and served the Americans until it was scrapped in 1815.

**  The second USS Detroit was that name for only a few months in 1869.  It was the USS Canandaigua before and after then.  This ship served during the Civil War.  The U.S. Navy had a massive renaming of ships around 1869.

Cootroit

A Great Lakes 1852 Submarine

From the May 13, 2010, Ann Arbor (Mi) Chronicle (In the Archives: Ypsi's Submarine Divers" by Laura Bien.

In the summer of 1856, there was $36,000 in gold bars 165 feet deep in Lake Erie, worth $920,000 today, in the wreck of the steamship Atlantic, once the fastest ship on the lake which could make the Buffalo-Detrot run in sixteen and a half hours.

On August 20, 1852, it was struck by the steamer Ogdensburg and sank with the loss of 130 to 250.  Another 250 survivors were picked up.

Lodner Philips was a shoemakers in Michigan City, Indiana.  In his spare time, he invented and built submarines, one of which was 85-feet long. 

Philips tried to get at the Atlantic's treasure.  His Marine Cigar, nicknamed Fool Killer, had made an unmanned test dive at the Atlantic's wreck and it sank itself and today rests next to the steamship.

Then came Elliott Harrington, another submarine man.  He made a dive on the site and was underwater for 40 minutes, finding bodies near the ship.  He found the safe with the treasure in the ship's office, attached a chain to it and raised it.  Unfortunately, he lost nearly all the the gold and money in court and later moved to Iowa.

During the Civil War, Harrington was reportedly paid between $5,000 and $8,000 for discovering where blockade-runners were slipping into and out of Charleston, South Carolina.

Harrington is buried in Volusia Cemetery near Westfield, New York

A book was written about the steamship Atlantic "Interrupted Journey: The Saga  of the Steamer Atlantic" by Dr. David Freur.

Sunken Ship

From 2009 WKTV 2, Utica, NY.

A sunken ship believed to be two centuries old may be raised from the bottom of Lake Erie and put on display.

Northeast Research, LLC, has the rights and plan to put it in a tank for viewing. It will cost $4 million and the company plans to give it to the city of Buffalo for $1 on a 99-year lease.

A 1797 British coin and an American one from 1834 have been recovered from it, so it dates to the early 1800s. It is one of 90 shipwrecks in Lake Erie.

Wonder If Pat Dailey Wrote a Song About It? --DaCoot