US Brig Niagara (replica)
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The replica US Brig Niagara is a museum ship and sail training vessel located in Erie, Pennsylvania at the Erie Maritime Museum. It is a replica of the original USS Niagara, a brig which played a pivotal role in the Battle of Lake Erie and the victory of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry during the War of 1812.
The original Niagara was sunk in 1820 in Misery Bay on Presque Isle, PA for preservation. Owned successively by Benjamin H. Brown of Rochester, New York, and Captain George Miles of Erie, Niagara was raised but found to need such extensive restoration that she was again allowed to sink. She was raised again on March 6, 1913 and restored by the Perry Centennial Commission, which towed her from Buffalo, New York to Chicago, Illinois for exhibition at all the larger towns of Lakes Huron and Michigan during the commemoration of the Battle of Lake Erie. Returning to Erie on September 21, 1913, she was cribbed up just out of the water, deteriorating until 1929, when restoration was begun by the Niagara Association of Erie, aided by the Pennsylvania Historical Commission and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The project halted for lack of funds in 1934, but was finally completed in 1963 for the sesquicentennial of her great victories.
In 1988, the original replica having fallen into disrepair, a second replica was constructed. The National Park Service erroneously calls the vessel a reconstruction, not a replica. [1] She is, however, a fully-modern ship built in 1988 by Melbourne Smith using period ship-building techniques. The present (fourth) replica/reconstruction Niagara incorporates a limited amount of original USS Niagara wood only in non-structural areas. Although she is a fully rigged square-rigged brig, and is usually maneuvered under sail, she does have twin diesel engines.
Today, the Niagara is used to educate the public on the War of 1812 and the Battle of Lake Erie. She serves as the flagship of the "Niagara Fleet", with a half-professional and half-volunteer crew joining her on many of her voyages to exotic ports.
She typically flies a War of 1812-era United States flag, the state flag of Pennsylvania, and Perry's famous "Dont [sic] Give Up the Ship" flag.
[edit] Specifications
| Length at water line | 110 feet, 8 inches |
| Beam | 30 feet, 6 inches |
| Draft | 9 feet |
| Foremast | 113 feet, 4 inches above water line: |
| Mainmast | 118 feet, 4 inches above water line: |
| Armament |
|
[edit] External links
- U.S. Brig Niagara, Erie Maritime Museum
- The Brig Niagara, National Park Service
- Reconstruction and Launch Photographs, Steven M. Hetrick
The US Brig Niagara is inspected by the US Coast Guard as a Sailing School Vessel. There are several ways for the general public to sail onboard. For more information on the ship, her history, or sailing school opportunities, contact the Erie Maritime Museum at (814)454-BRIG or visit *[2]
