VERMILION — The Great Lakes Historical Society has been awarded an $18,000 grant to conduct an underwater survey of the site of the Battle of Lake Erie, a pivotal battle in the War of 1812.

Although no ships sank in the battle between a British fleet and an American fleet commanded by Master Commandant Oliver Hazard Perry, there’s plenty to discover beneath the waves of Lake Erie, said Christopher Gillcrist, the society’s executive director.

The battle, which took place Sept. 10, 1813, left cannonballs, musket rounds and other detritus of battle behind. And after Perry won the battle, he dumped a large amount of broken equipment, weapons and other garbage over the side.

“There’s a good chance this stuff is still down there, but the reality is it’s going to be buried in the mud,” Gillcrist said.

The society will use side-scan sonar and a magnetometer to find the relics of the past left behind by the battle.

It will involve a lot of time searching around the islands off Port Clinton, Gillcrist said, because it will take time for the devices — which, like the ship the society will use, are being donated by members of the Cleveland Underwater Explorers — to find artifacts beneath the waves and the mud.

All told, it will probably take about two months this summer, beginning in August, to put together a clear picture of what’s on the lakebed, Gillcrist said. Next summer, the society plans to send divers down to examine what they find, although he doubts anything could be brought back up without a permit because of cultural resource protection laws.

Even without having any of the items in hand, Gillcrist said, the survey will still prove a wealth of information.

“We think it will show a lot of what happened in the battle,” he said.

The society will likely need some additional funding for the project, despite the donations, using staff time and the grant from the National Park Service’s American Battlefield Protection Program, Gillcrist said.

“The $18,000 pays for one big item,” he said. “Gas.”

For now, it’s enough to fire up the engines on learning more about an important battle.

“Had Perry lost, there’s a good chance we in Ohio would be part of Canada,” Gillcrist said.

Contact Brad Dicken at 329-7147 or bdicken@chroniclet.com.

 

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