The history of HMS Psyche and the years immediately following the war are just as interesting as the war itself. The way the British and Americans rapidly reduced arms and rebuilt shipping on the Great Lakes to a state of peace and trade took a great deal of effort, overseen by Commodore Sir Edward Owen.

On December 25, 1814, HMS Psyche was launched at Kingston Royal Navy Dockyard. The war was over with the signing of the Treaty of Ghent, the day before. Of course, it took two months for news of the peace to reach Kingston. When it did arrive, Psyche no longer had a purpose.

It is interesting to note that as of January 1815, Commodore Sir James Yeo had requested guns to complete the armaments of Psyche and Princess Charlotte, revealing that there was insufficient ordnance to equip them even after their launches. Yeo was so insistent on the armament of these vessels that he suggested the guns be taken from the batteries at Quebec. In fact, the paucity of guns was due to 30 of Psyche’s guns being taken by the American privateer Fox in September of 1814.

News of the peace arrived in Kingston on March 1. However, through 1815 and 1816 there was a perceived threat that the peace could collapse. Therefore Britain ensured a state of readiness in the years following the war. Yeo was recalled, and Commodore Edward Owen took his place. Owen was initially tasked with replacing Yeo to better persecute the war, but was subsequently tasked with ensuring the peace while standing down the Great Lakes fleet in a way that allowed for rapid remobilization.

Owen was born 1771 in Campobello, Nova Scotia and came from a naval family. Having spent a typical career entering service at age 9, Owen worked the French and Dutch coasts through the Napoleonic Wars, and was considered an expert in cutting out, coastal bombardment, and guerre de course. For his inshore work he was knighted and assigned to the Great Lakes station.

Owen arrived in Kingston on March 19 1815 after a trip by steam boat, bateau portage, and mud road. Upon arrival, he entered HMS Psyche and formally assumed command on March 22, moving to HMS St. Lawrence. Psyche was returned to Captain Peter Fisher. This made Psyche flagship for two days! Yeo was relieved and was invited by US Commodore Isaac Chauncy to go home to England via Sacketts Harbour and New York.

Owen picked up where Yeo left off, championing Yeo’s recommended strategy to re-establish the naval presence on Lake Erie with a new base at Turkey Point; completing two first rate ships at Kingston; construct a frigate at Penetanguishene; and, construct a new base at Isle Au Noix on Lake Champlain with three more frigates (which Owen replaced with a plan for gunboats). Another unfinished project was the other three pre-fabricated vessels, a frigate (Prompte, sister ship to Psyche) and two brigs. The frames were sitting in a storehouse in Montreal. Due to the expense of transporting the materials to Kingston or Isle Aux Noix, Owen ordered the brigs assembled in Montreal and completed in Halifax, while the frigate parts were sold.

Meanwhile, the Americans were busy laying up all the vessels on the lakes, except Jones on Lake Ontario and Linnet on Lake Champlain. By the summer most of the US vessels capable of floating had been sold off. Their ships of the line at Sacketts Harbour remained on the stocks until the 1880s.

As the lakes unfroze and opened up for sailing in April 1815, Owen was focused on returning troops back to England. Initially Montreal (formerly Wolfe) and Prince Regent were disarmed and used for this purpose. Issues with many of the ships and the shipyard arose at this time:

• The gun carriages for St. Lawrence were deemed too short for the guns and needed to be replaced

• Montreal was found to be extremely leaky

• Princess Charlotte was too short of compliment to actually sail

• Psyche was still missing gun carriages

• The harbour in Kingston was becoming too crowded for the ships still on the stocks

In an environment where Britain was desperate to shed expenses after 22 years of war, the army retracting back to England, and the Navy back home laid up in ordinary, Owen was under tremendous pressure to secure the peace on a budget. The Lake Ontario fleet was converted to ship troops from Niagara to Kingston, from there to board gunboats for Montreal and transshipment to England. Prince Regent, Psyche, Montreal and Niagara (formerly Royal George) were tasked with the Lake Ontario leg of the trip, which was achieved by early June. Prince Regent ran aground in the process, taking three days to get free. Commodore Owen remarked that Psyche “sails faster than any ship on Lake Ontario.” Meanwhile the Glengarry Light Infantry was transported from Kingston to York in the same four ships. In all, 28,000 troops and RN personnel embarked transports at Quebec and set sail for home by mid-July.

Owen then turned his attentions to surveying the lakes for new bases and storage places for laid up ships. He also ordered a detailed survey of the ships in Kingston by Thomas Strickland, from which we get most of our information on hull design today. Strickland was one of the builders at Kingston dockyard and the builder of Psyche. The survey revealed the divergent outcomes of multiple builders in Kingston.

Owen still supported keeping a large fleet in ordinary during the peace, with only one warship per lake on active service. He determined that Psyche,, Princess Charlotte, and St. Lawrence would be laid up for future use. Niagara and Star, and later a new Charwell, would be relegated to transporting troops and stores in future years. Psyche was housed over by July 1815

Meanwhile Sir Charles Bagot was engaged in discussions with the Americans from mid-August to limit naval activity on the Great Lakes, which would eventually become the Rush-Bagot Treaty of 1816. Therefore Owen was discouraged from initiating new ships while the discussions were ongoing.

During June and July, the plan for downsizing the personnel of the naval establishment was set into motion. The volunteers of the previous Provincial Marine were released, and in June Captain Peter Fisher (in command of Psyche) departed with 350 sailors for Quebec. Desertion on the lakes after the war was a major problem, contributing to the mandated reduction in force faster than was planned. In May alone, over 100 men had deserted in Kingston. Admiralty directed Owen to replace sailors with local volunteers, and rendezvous points were set up in Kingston, Quebec, and Montreal. No more than 67 recruits were gathered, mostly from Quebec. A fascinating rotating tour of duty was set up, rotating men amongst the upper lakes and Lake Ontario, with a final reward of land in Upper Canada.

In October the remaining ships were housed over, their masts and rigging taken down, and the hatches covered. Repairs were effected to Prince Regent, Psyche, Niagara, Montreal, and Charwell (now a floating magazine), despite most being relatively new ships. Masts were stored in the ‘mast pond’ next to the dock yard to prevent drying out. No one was to stay aboard, and the ships were inspected, pumped, and heated twice a week. St. Lawrence was converted to a floating barracks. The first rates on the stocks were tarred but unfinished.

Owen’s last project was to encourage the building of a steamboat to ply the St. Lawrence to Kingston, which could assist in supplying Kingston from Montreal, a project the Americans already had a head start on. Psyche may have been a candidate for this enterprise, but it is unclear if another vessel was found or if the project was completed at all.

Owen departed the station November 5, leaving behind a greatly downsized, more economical force on the lakes. It was recognized that American infrastructure would only improve with time, and if there were another war, they would likely cut off the St. Lawrence and outperform the British shipyards on the lakes, and win superiority quickly. Command of the lakes fell to Captain William Owen, brother of Sir Edward.

The Rush-Bagot treaty was signed in 1817, formalizing the reduction in armament on the great lakes, but both sides built forts (such as Fort Henry) and canals (such as the Rideau) to secure their interests in case of future conflict. A small establishment of personnel was maintained at Kingston to manage the ships in ordinary. Images of Kingston in 1816 and afterwards show the ships still in ordinary. In 1819 Commodore Barrie, now in charge of the naval presence in Upper Canada, surveyed the ships and found dry rot and leaks in all of them. The Navy Board sent two surveyors in 1820 that came to similar conclusions, and recommended gradual rebuilds for Psyche, Niagara, Star, and Netley (Formerly Prince Regent).

The stone frigate (a stone building) was built in the Navy yard in 1820 to store key components of the ships. Psyche, Niagara, Star, and Netley were hauled out of the water, but no further repairs were undertaken. In 1831, Barrie was ordered to sell off the ships still afloat. They were advertised in the Kingston Chronicle, but there were no bidders, except for St. Lawrence, which was sold to a brewery and towed west to serve as a dock, where she sank and rests today. In 1834 the naval base at Kingston was shut down and all remaining naval stores were sold by 1836, but the hulls remained.

There was a brief resurgence of naval presence in Kingston with the 1837 Upper Canada Rebellion, during which the Navy yard was reopened, but was still full of derelict hulls, including three frigates, likely one of which was Psyche. The derelicts were considered an impediment to the use of the yard again. In 1841 a Royal Marine reported that the hulls had crumbled to pieces, been broken up, or sunk.

As for Psyche, in 1816, the ship is clearly marked in a survey of Navy Bay, afloat and in ordinary. Different researchers have come up with different fates: one suggests the hulk being sold. Mark Lardas (Great Lakes Warships) claims the hulk was put up for sale in 1833 but there were no buyers, and she sank at her moorings in the late 1830s. A third states the vessel was taken to Deadman Bay off Kingston and sunk there. Jonathan Moore in Coffins of the Brave writes that as late as 1836, Psyche was still in frame on a slip and was never replanked and relaunched, so could not have been sunk. This would be consistent with the accounts from 1837.