He took the command at Sackett's Harbor on Lake Ontario in October 1812.
He served with Commodore Chauncey, and then was sent from Lake Ontario to Lake Erie, where he took up the chief command at the end of March 1813.
The commerce of Lake Ontario is limited in comparison with that of the lakes above Niagara Falls, and is restricted to vessels 1?
Its northern boundary is, for the most part, formed by Lake Ontario and the St Lawrence river, which separate it from the province of Ontario, Canada; but north of the Adirondacks the boundary line leaves the St Lawrence, extending in a due east direction to the lower end of Lake Champlain.
Buffalo lies at the lower end of natural lake navigation, though by the building of a ship canal in Canada, lake steamers can proceed into Lake Ontario and thence to the St Lawrence.
