Battle of Valcour Island

11–13 October 1776, Lake Champlain, between Valcour Island and the New York shore

British victory, but too late in the year to take Ticonderoga

The British meant to come down Lake Champlain from Canada and cut New England off from the other colonies. Benedict Arnold built a fleet of gondolas and galleys on the lake and anchored it in the channel behind Valcour Island, where the British, carried south by the wind, had to beat back up to reach him. His fleet was badly beaten in an afternoon, but slipped past the British in the fog that night. Over the next two days most of it was caught or burned. The British had spent the summer building their own fleet, though, and with winter coming they went back to Canada. When they came again in 1777 the delay helped bring about the surrender at Saratoga.

Royal Navy

33 ships, 1 lost

Ship	Type	Outcome
HMS Inflexible	Sloop 18 guns	Survived

Ship

Type

Outcome

HMS Inflexible

Sloop

18 guns

Survived

Flotillas and other craft	Number	Lost
Schooners, radeau and gondola Maria (flagship of Sir Guy Carleton and Captain Pringle), Carleton, the radeau Thunderer and the gondola Loyal Convert. Carleton was badly cut up.	4	0
Gunboats Each with a single gun in the bow. Wikipedia counts 28; some accounts have about 20 in action.	20–28	1

Flotillas and other craft

Number

Lost

Schooners, radeau and gondola

Maria (flagship of Sir Guy Carleton and Captain Pringle), Carleton, the radeau Thunderer and the gondola Loyal Convert. Carleton was badly cut up.

Gunboats

Each with a single gun in the bow. Wikipedia counts 28; some accounts have about 20 in action.

20–28

Continental Navy and state navies

15 ships, 11 lost

Ship	Type	Outcome
Royal Savage Ran aground at the start and was burned	Schooner 12 guns	Wrecked
Congress Arnold's flagship; run ashore and burned at Ferris Bay	Gunboat	Scuttled
Washington Caught on 13 October with Brigadier Waterbury aboard	Gunboat	Captured
Philadelphia Sank about an hour after the fighting ended	Gunboat 3 guns	Sunk

Flotillas and other craft	Number	Lost
Schooner, sloop, cutter and galley Revenge, Enterprise, Lee and Trumbull. Lee was abandoned and taken; the other three got back to Ticonderoga.	4	1
Gondolas New Haven, Providence, Boston, Spitfire, Connecticut, New York and Jersey. Spitfire sank, Jersey was captured and four were burned at Ferris Bay; only New York got away. Spitfire was found on the lake bed in 1997.	7	6

Flotillas and other craft

Number

Lost

Schooner, sloop, cutter and galley

Revenge, Enterprise, Lee and Trumbull. Lee was abandoned and taken; the other three got back to Ticonderoga.

Gondolas

New Haven, Providence, Boston, Spitfire, Connecticut, New York and Jersey. Spitfire sank, Jersey was captured and four were burned at Ferris Bay; only New York got away. Spitfire was found on the lake bed in 1997.

Map

Arnold's flight down Lake Champlain 11–13 October 1776