Robert Heriot Barclay Robert Heriot Barclay ( 18 September 1786 – 8 May 1837 ) was a British naval officer who was engaged in the Napoleonic Wars , and its North American counterpart , the War of 1812 . He was born at Cupar , Fife , Scotland , the son of the Rev . Peter Barclay DD & Margaret Dudingston . He entered the Royal Navy in 1798 , aged 11 . In 1805 he was promoted Lieutenant , and took part in the Battle of Trafalgar aboard HMS Swiftsure . He was subsequently appointed the second Lieutenant of the frigate HMS Diana , serving in the English Channel . In November 1809 he lost his left arm while leading a boarding attack on a French convoy . After recovering , he continued to serve as Lieutenant aboard several ships and smaller craft on the North American station . After war with America broke out , the Commander in Chief on the North American station ( Admiral Warren ) , detached Barclay and two other Lieutenants ( Robert Finnis and Daniel Pring ) to act as " Captains of Corvettes " on the Great Lakes . Barclay arrived at Kingston on Lake Ontario on 5 May 1813 , and took charge of the squadron there with the acting rank of Commander . Ten days later he was superseded by Captain James Lucas Yeo . Yeo first offered the command of the detached squadron on Lake Erie to his friend , William Mulcaster . Mulcaster declined , probably because of the undermanned and underequipped state of the force , and the post was offered to Barclay , who quickly accepted . The Americans dominated Lake Ontario and held the Niagara Peninsula . As a result , Barclay was forced to travel overland to Amherstburg , where his command was based , with a handful of officers and seamen . He arrived there on 5 June . Although the Americans had no armed vessels on the lake , they were constructing two large brig - rigged corvettes at Presqu ' Isle , and also transferring several from Black Rock on the Niagara River . Barclay immediately set sail in two of his armed vessels . He first recconnoitred Presqu ' Isle , and determined that it was defended by an entrenched force of 2000 militia , and the two American brigs had their lower masts fitted . He then proceeded to intercept the American ships from Black Rock , but missed them in hazy weather , although at one point the two forces were apparently only fourteen miles apart off the Cattaraugus Creek . For the next few weeks , Barclay maintained a blockade of Presqu ' Isle , preventing the Americans under Oliver Hazard Perry from crossing the sandbar at the mouth of the harbour . He meanwhile repeatedly requested that Yeo send him more sailors and arms , and that the Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada ( Major General Francis de Rottenburg ) reinforce the troops at Amherstburg under Major General Henry Procter . Neither senior officer sent the requested help . On 28 July , bad weather and shortage of supplies forced Barclay to lift the blockade . When he returned three days later , Perry ' s force was free of the sandbar and apparently ready for action . Barclay reasoned that he was outnumbered and withdrew . From then on , Perry controlled the lake , and the British were unable to move supplies to Amherstburg . Finally in September , Barclay had received a last reinforcement of a few officers and sailors and part completed a ship - rigged corvette , but no food remained at Amherstburg . Barclay set out to fight Perry ' s squadron , and in the Battle of Lake Erie his squadron was defeated and captured by the Americans . Barclay himself was severely wounded in his right arm . As was customary after any defeat or the loss of any ship , Barclay was court - martialed . He appeared before the court with one leg and his surviving arm swathed in bandages . The court exonerated him , stating " " the Judgement and Gallantry of Captain Barclay . . . were highly conspicuous and entitled him to the highest Praise ” " . His promotion to Commander was confirmed in November that year . In August 1815 , he married his first cousin , Agnes Cosser , at St John ' s Westminster ( London ) , England , and they had several children . In November of that year he was granted an annual pension of £200 . Barclay later petitioned the Admiralty for employment , but received the command only of a bomb - vessel in 1822 . From 1824 to his death in Edinburgh in 1837 , he saw no further service .