Daniel Dobbins Daniel Dobbins ( January 5 , 1776 – February 29 , 1856 ) was a sailing master in the United States Navy and captain in the United States Revenue Cutter Service . He fought in the War of 1812 and was in charge of the building of the ships at Erie , Pennsylvania that Oliver Hazard Perry commanded in the Battle of Lake Erie . Early life . He was born on January 5 , 1776 ( date from Dobbins ' headstone , Erie Cemetery ) in Mifflin County , Pennsylvania , near Lewistown . He traveled to Erie in 1795 with Judah Colt and a group of surveyors with the Pennsylvania Population Company . Colt ' s interest in expanding into lake transportation is what causes Dobbins to eventually become a merchant mariner . In 1809 , Dobbins , with Rufus S . Reed , purchases the schooner " Charlotte " , which he renamed the " Salina " . War of 1812 . While in port at Mackinac Island , Dobbins , along with Rufus S . Reed and William W . Reed were captured when the British raided Fort Michilimackinac on July 17 , 1812 . They were paroled after they took an oath that they would not " take up arms against the United Kingdom , " which Dobbins refused to take . The British ordered that he , along with the other prisoners of war , sail to Fort Malden . Instead , Dobbins met up with General William Hull at Fort Detroit , where Dobbins was again taken prisoner when General Hull surrendered Detroit to the British on August 16 , 1812 . When it was realized that Dobbins had broken his promise by " taking up arms in the defense of Detroit " and was in danger of being executed , British Colonel Robert Nichols , a friend of Dobbins before the war , granted him safe passage to Cleveland , Ohio . After arriving back in Erie , Dobbins traveled to Washington , D . C . and briefed the United States Secretary of the Navy Paul Hamilton on the surrenders of Fort Michilimackinac and Detroit and the strength of the British navy on Lake Erie . When asked where the best place to build ships , Dobbin " unhesitatingly " said Presque Isle because " no finer oak grew than was to be found there , close to the water ' s edge , and in the land - locked harbor the vessels , when built , could ride in security . " Before Dobbins left Washington , D . C . , he was given the dimensions of a small gunboat and was made a sailing master in the Navy . After arriving back in Erie , Dobbins set about building a fleet as directed by Secretary Hamilton . In 1813 , upon completion of the fleet , Dobbins was given command of the , a former merchant vessel . On August 17 , the fleet departed Erie and headed to Sandusky , Ohio to wait for the British fleet . On August 22 , Dobbins was sent with the USS " Ohio " back to Erie to resupply with fresh provisions . In early September , he was again sent back to Erie for resupply . Dobbins returned to Sandusky on September 13 , 1813 , three days after the battle . For the rest of the war , Dobbins and the USS " Ohio " transported supplies to Detroit for the use during the ground offensives of the war . Revenue Cutter Service . In 1816 , Dobbins navigated the waters of Green Bay , with Colonel John Miller , to establish a fort at the head of the bay . He resigned his naval commission in 1826 . Dobbins lobbied hard for the establishment of a United States Revenue Cutter Service , for - runner to the United States Coast Guard , station at Erie . He was appointed commander of the USRC " Benjamin Rush " in 1829 by United States President Andrew Jackson after its former commander , Gilbert Knapp , publicly called Jackson " a cutthroat and a murderer . " In 1834 , Dobbins was given command of the USRC " Erie " . Dobbins , being a Jackson Democrat , was removed from command and Knapp reinstated when William Henry Harrison , a Whig , was elected in 1841 . Dobbins was reinstated in 1845 by President James K . Polk and was put in command of the USRC " Taney " in Norfolk , Virginia from 1845 to 1846 . Dobbins , who was not pleased with his new command away from Lake Erie , took a leave of absence and was eventually assigned back to the USRC " Erie " in 1847 . He was removed from command and Knapp reinstated again with the election of Zachary Taylor in 1848 . The Coast Guard maintains a station at Erie to this day . Dobbins died in Erie on February 29 , 1856 and was buried in the Erie Cemetery . His papers are in the collection of the Buffalo History Museum .