Shipwreck Find Suggests a Fascinating What If

Ah, the what if. It's tantalizing to the student of history, the possibility of rewinding the clocks and changing one or more details to see if the outcome would be different. Given the current understanding of the laws of the universe, we must be satisfied with the laws of speculation, which state simply that the sky's the limit.

One recent archaeological announcement qualifies for what if. Divers say that they have discovered the wreck of a U.S. Navy ship from 1811, the Revenge, captained by none other than Oliver Hazard Perry, the "hero of Lake Erie." Perry, you'll remember, was the American commander who famously defeated a British force on Lake Erie during the War of 1812, announcing his victory with the modest succinctness of "We have met the enemy and they are ours." That naval victory, the first American victory over British warships, took a lot of pressure off the American forces in the west, in particular making it much more difficult for the British Army and Navy to do simple things like communicate and swap supplies. The outcome of the war in the south and east was still in doubt, but Perry's victory sealed the west for the Americans.

As for the wreck, well, it's not entirely certain that the divers have found that specific ship. They say that they have enough evidence to prove their assertion, including a bunch of cannons, canister shots, and an anchor. The cannons seem to be the clincher, since no other ship carrying cannons is known to sunk in the area.

Seems Perry was aboard that the Revenge when it ran aground off Rhode Island in 1811. As a result, the U.S. Navy sent Perry to Lake Erie, not on a more high-profile assignment overseas, as he would have expected because of his long years of service. So there Perry was when the Battle of Lake Erie took place, and there Perry was not giving up the ship (to paraphrase his famous slogan), his steely resolve seeing the Americans through a difficult, hard-fought naval battle. What might have been indeed.