Champlin Hall

Stephen Champlin, born in South Kingstown, Rhode Island, in 1789, left home at age 16 to join the US Navy. A cousin of Commodore Perry, he was placed in command of the schooner Scorpion as a sailing master in July 1813 and led it during the Battle of Lake Erie on September 10, 1813, when the Scorpion fired the first and last shots of the battle. In the spring of 1814, he was given command of the Tigress for blockade duty, and after being severely wounded during the British capture of the Tigress in September, he and Lieutenant Daniel Turner spent the next six months as British prisoners of war. Champlin was later promoted to commodore and became the last living survivor of the Battle of Lake Erie.

Penn State Erie (Behrend), Pennsylvania · United States