The two schooners, _Maria_, Lieutenant Starke, and _Carleton_, Lieutenant James Richard Dacres, carried respectively fourteen and twelve 6-pounders.

These were the backbone of the British flotilla.

There were also a radeau, the _Thunderer_, and a large gondola, the _Loyal Convert_, both heavily armed; but, being equally heavy of movement, they do not appear to have played any important part.

Besides these, when the expedition started, there were twenty gunboats, each carrying one fieldpiece, from 24's to 9-pounders; or, in some cases, howitzers.[5] "By all these means," wrote Douglas on July 21st, "our acquiring an absolute dominion over Lake Champlain is not doubted of." The expectation was perfectly sound.

With a working breeze, the _Inflexible_ alone could sweep the Lake clear of all that floated on it.