Bodkin Island, with an excellent view down the Bay, served as an observation station long before the War of 1812. Its flag-signalling system, the Bodkin Telegraphe, based on Baltimore's Federal Hill, alerted Baltimore merchants as their ships approached. In 1814 British vessels operating in the Chesapeake also had a clear view of the Bodkin. On August 24, a lookout on HMS Menelaus spotted a fine schooner behind Bodkin Point, and the Royal Marines reported destroying the Lion of Baltimore. Local militia Captain Francis Hancock, master of Hancock's Resolution Plantation, commanded a company in the 22nd Regiment, Maryland Militia, whose duties included observing enemy movements south of the mouth of the Patapsco. Americans likely used a signal system between Bodkin Point and Baltimore to warn of British movements during the war, and Bodkin Point also had a clear view of North Point.