In July 1776, the Continental Army needed ships. After its attempts to make Quebec the fourteenth colony had collapsed, the Northern Army had retreated to the relative safety of Crown Point. Their troubles were far from over, though. General Guy Carleton, head of the newly reinforced British army in Canada, was just past the northern border and planning an attack of his own. The Americans had to work fast to build defenses.
Building fortifications at Fort Ticonderoga was a key component of the American strategy. Just as important was building up their fleet on Lake Champlain. Ticonderoga guards a key point in the water route between Canada and New York City. If the British controlled Lake Champlain, they could sail south down it or neighboring Lake George, then march to the Hudson River, giving them control of much of New York and cutting New England off from colonies farther south. Carleton and his army were building a fleet of ships to accomplish just this goal, helped by prefabricated parts that Carleton had ordered from Europe. To stop them, the Americans needed their own ships.
On July 3, 1776—250 years ago today—the Connecticut Committee of the Pay Table issued 50 pounds to Captain Jonathan Lester, an experienced shipbuilder. Lester had been serving the war effort for nearly a year, first building naval cannon carriages and then partnering with another shipbuilder, Job Winslow, to build row galleys. Immediately after Lester completed his galley, the Shark, Connecticut gave him a new job. He became the captain of a company of 25 ship’s carpenters, which was “to build &c at & about Lake Champlain.”
That summer, Lester marched to Skenesborough with his company and one led by his old colleague Captain Job Winslow. In the shipyard there, he and the rest of the carpenters would work to swell the ranks of the American fleet on Lake Champlain, trying to keep up with the fast pace of British shipbuilding in the north. The fate of the Northern Department might depend on it.
Learn more about this commission (object ID MS.7529, property of Robert Nittolo) on the Ticonderoga Online Collections database: https://fortticonderoga.catalogaccess.com/archives/31395