On September 10, 1813, a ragtag American fleet built in the Pennsylvania wilderness took on a British squadron on Lake Erie. This episode traces how Master Commandant Oliver Hazard Perry, short of healthy men and fighting lake fever, turned near-certain defeat into one of the most decisive naval victories of the War of 1812.

We follow the story from the secret shipyard at Presque Isle, where shipwright Noah Brown built warships with wooden pegs, to the desperate British commander Robert Barclay, whose crews held only seven seasoned seamen and whose scavenged cannons had to be fired with flintlock pistols. Then comes the battle itself: a shifting wind, an absent Niagara, a shattered flagship, and Perry’s half-mile row through cannon fire to take command of a fresh ship.

• How a shallow sandbar protected the American shipyard and how barges called camels lifted the warships over it
• Why the weather gauge mattered so much in the age of sail, and how a wind shift handed it to Perry
• The lasting controversy over Jesse Elliott keeping the Niagara out of range while the Lawrence was destroyed
• How the Detroit and Queen Charlotte collided and became entangled, sealing the British surrender
• The aftermath: “We have met the enemy and they are ours,” the British retreat, and the death of Tecumseh at the Thames