It all began back in 1775, in those distant days of the Revolutionary War on the deep waters of Lake Champlain in Upper New York State. Lake Champlain at the time was considered a very strategic location by both the British and Americans and the year 1775 marked the beginning of a sustained campaign by both armies to control the lake. The Americans, under the leadership of that infamous turncoat, Benedict Arnold, struck first.

In May 1775, the Connecticut horse-trader-turned-soldier sailed the armed ketch Liberty jauntily up the Richelieu River, deep into Canada, and captured Fort St. Johns (now St. Jean sur Richelieu), without firing a shot. Captured in addition were two British ships: the armed schooner Royal Savage and the supply sloop George III, both of which were built at the fort.

A delighted Arnold quickly added the ships to his fleet. The rank smell of the name George III, however greatly offended Arnold's staunch republican nose. So he quickly had the hated words erased and re-christened the little sloop Enterprise instead. Re-armed with 6 deck guns and 10 swivels, and given a motley crew of 50, the tiny Enterprise was sent south to defend American interests on Lake Champlain where, for a time she served as Arnold's flagship.

Later, in August of the same year, the Enterprise sailed back up the Richelieu River, carrying troops for Arnold's ill-fated attack on Quebec City in the winter of 1775-76. The attack failed and Arnold, his nose bloodied, retreated to Lake Champlain.

In the summer of 1776 the sloop Enterprise stood guard at Isle aux Noix on the Richelieu River while Arnold and his men, with the industry of chip-spewing beavers, began to hurriedly cobble together a fleet of small ships to defend the lake. Needless to say, British shipbuilders weren't idle either.

The morning of October 11, 1776 found Arnold and his new fleet sitting off Valcour Island, expectantly awaiting the arrival of an approaching British fleet and the first American Naval battle of the Revolutionary War.

The fleet that appeared, however, was much larger than expected. In the first two hours, Arnold lost two of his ships and a tenth of his men dead or wounded. Out-gunned, and out-fought, Arnold carried on a running battle with the British over the next two days. By nightfall of the first day, Arnold, with 70% of his ammunition gone, tried to slip away in the dark. But the British caught up with him the next day and another battle ensued. So severely was Arnold trounced, that only 4 of his 15 ships, including Enterprise, survived the two-day set-to on the lake. Two were sunk, one captured and the rest either scuttled or ignominiously burned to prevent their capture.

The Enterprise was again in action against the British on the 26th of October 1776 but less than a year later, in July 1777, during the evacuation of Fort Ticonderoga, fate finally caught up with the little sloop. Unexpectedly surprised by a numerically superior British fleet during the evacuation, Enterprise, so proudly captured in the spring of 1776, was one of three ships torched at Skenesborough (now Whitehall), N.Y. to keep them out of enemy hands.

Just what class of ship was the first Enterprise? Beyond a sketch or two (one of which, the watercolor plan of Arnold's fleet before the Battle of Valcour Island by Charles Randle, resides in the Public Archives of Canada) and her general dimensions, little remains. Sloop rigged, the Enterprise had a displacement of 55 tons [Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, 1964 gives the tonnage as 70 tons; John Miller in his American Ships of the Colonial and Revolutionary Periods, 1978, gives the lower estimate] with a length between perpendiculars of around 46 feet (14m) and an approximate beam of 17 feet (5m).

Like most of the ships so hurriedly constructed of green wood during those war years, she cannot have been much of a "flagship". Arnold himself recorded that the Enterprise was "large .... chubby and a poor sailer." In all probability, some of the poor sailing resulted from her shoal draft. That dean of American Maritime History, Howard Chapelle records in his History of the American Sailing Navy that all the ships on the lake, both British and American, suffered from their shoal hulls - for with neither leeboards nor centerboards, shoal draft craft are very difficult to handle. Sweeps were used to move her when the wind failed, but it is highly doubtful, with her tubby lines, that she was ever easy to row.
Enterprise - after Randle 1776

Harsh though his criticism of the ship was, Arnold reserved his harshest words for the men who manned the ships of his fleet. He grumbled that they "were a miserable set.... the marines are the refuse of every regiment and the seamen, few of them were ever wet with salt water..."

As for the charred bones of the Enterprise, and her consorts Gates and the New York, they are believed to be those located and removed during the construction of the New York State Barge Canal at the beginning of the 20th century. Timbers assumed to be from these wrecks, and kept as souvenirs by local residents, rest today in the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum. But, according to director Art Cohn, it is impossible to know for sure if they belong to any particular vessel.

Lines Plan - After Miller 1987

So, that's the story of the beginning of the Enterprise dynasty. A dynasty that began with a lowly, nondescript Canadian sloop and ended with a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, a space shuttle, and a yet to be determined number of starships. Canadians built her, and Benedict Arnold captured her and changed her name. Maybe it's just as well he christened the little sloop Enterprise. Somehow I cannot quite imagine a starship named the U.S.S. George III...

So thank old Benedict Arnold, a man of rather dubious memory, at least he got that right. But I'm sure he never in the world dreamed what he had wrought!

Now, for those of you who want to know the remainder of the USS Enterprise fleet from Benedict Arnold's little sloop on up to the 190,000 ton NCC-1701 starship of Captain Kirk, here they are:

- 1775, USS Enterprise I
Benedict Arnold's 55 ton Sloop

- 1776, USS Enterprise II
Privateer Schooner, 25 tons, used as a convoy escort and dispatch boat

- 1799, USS Enterprise III
Schooner, then Brig, 135 tons, the most famous of all the sailing Enterprises

- 1831, USS Enterprise IV
Schooner, 197 tons, used in the suppression of the slave trade

- 1877, USS Enterprise V
Steam Corvette, 1,375 tons - a wooden-hulled steam corvette that was out-dated before it was built.

- 1917, No. 790 USS Enterprise VI
Patrol Boat - a 66 foot private yacht taken into the U.S. Navy during World War I.

- 1938, CV-6 USS Enterprise VII
Aircraft Carrier, 19,800 tons - the Big E, one of the very few pre-war carriers to survive World War II.

- 1960, CVN-65 USS Enterprise VIII
Nuclear Powered Aircraft Carrier, 85,600 tons - the largest warship afloat when launched, the USS Enterprise is still in service with the U.S. Navy

- 1975, Shuttle No.1 USS Enterprise IX
Nasa Space Shuttle, 90 tons - a test shuttle that never made it into space, now retired and on display at Dulles Airport, near Washington, DC

- 2245, NCC-1701 USS Enterprise X
Captain Kirk's Starship, Heavy Cruiser NCC-1701, 190,000 tons

-NCC-1701 U.S.S. Enterprise Constitution Class
-NCC-1701-A U.S.S. Enterprise Improved Constitution Class
-NCC-1701-B U.S.S. Enterprise Excelsior Class
-NCC-1701-C U.S.S. Enterprise Ambassador Class
-NCC-1701-D U.S.S. Enterprise Galaxy Class
-NCC-1701-E U.S.S. Enterprise Sovereign Class

A Note OnThe Beginnings of this Project

The Enterprise Project began many years ago, when a fan of Star Trek ( a TV cameraman who was shooting a segment on my ships in bottles) asked if I would build him all of the Enterprises in bottles. He wanted the ships in standard whiskey or rum bottles; the starships in large light bulbs.

"How many are there," he asked?

"I really have no idea," I replied. "I'll find out."

Well, he soon lost interest when he found out that there were more ships than he expected (and began to calculate a dollar figure). So the project languished. Still, over the years, I've continued to gather bits and pieces of the tale. Enterprise I has been sitting on the stocks for years and I 'm just now finishing it up...

By the way, anyone out there know any more about Enterprise VI? In addition, that is, to what's written in the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships? If you do, please beam a signal my way at dsresrch@mail.com Thnx.

Suggested Links:

Lake Champlain.com displays a Revolutionay War era map of the battle site showing the disposition of the British and American ships.

Historic Naval Ships Association - For a description and photo of the recovered Arnold Gunboat Philadelphia

Smithsonian Institution displays a color photo of the recovered gunboat Philadelphia here.

Lake Champlain Maritime Museum - For the story of the newest gunboat's discovery with plans and photos. The museum also owns a re-construction of the Philadelphia .

Sonar Images - For sonar images of the latest of Arnold's boats discovered in June 1997

Archaeological Institute of America - For an on-line article on the discovery of the gunboat.

Starship Enterprise - For histories of all the Enterprise ships (Naval ships of all nations, including the starships) check out David Wells page.

Coming soon: USS Enterprise in a Bottle

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