The Great Lakes Patrol was carried out by American naval forces, beginning in 1844, mainly to suppress criminal activity and to protect the maritime border with Canada.

A small force of United States Navy, Coast Guard, and Revenue Service ships served in the Great Lakes throughout these operations.

This was initiated during the Prohibition era to try to reduce or end liquor smuggling from Canada across the rivers and lakes, a difficult task:[1] the Canada–United States border is 8,891 kilometers (5,525 mi) long.

The areas most affected were in the western Great Lakes region, along the coasts of Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois and Minnesota.

In 1851 the government sent timber agents from the Department of the Interior to survey the land and work with local police and naval forces to stop the crime.

When loads of wood were found to have been acquired illegally, the agents confiscated it and auctioned it off to the public, and later, in foreign markets.

Many of the timber barons of the Great Lakes were involved in the illegal trade, and they began stealing back the wood or burning it before it could be shipped away.

One article in the Chicago Tribune read as follows; "if they [the agents] regard their personal welfare, they had better keep clear of a such transactions as that which they are about to engage in.

The newspapers noted that most of the timber smugglers were from Wisconsin and Illinois, and usually raided Michigan's timberlands, causing much damage to the reserves.

When Agent Isaac W. Willard was sent to the Great Lakes in 1853, he observed gangs of timber pirates defy and intimidate federal authorities and burn government-owned property.

The only other vessel in the lakes which could have been used against the pirates was the revenue cutter USRC Ingham, described by one Detroit newspaper as being "burlesque" and unfit for duty.

Because the Ingham had no steam engine, and was propelled solely by sails and wind, the more advanced steam-powered vessels used by the smugglers, could easily escape her.

Commander Bigelow later said to Secretary of the Navy James Cochran Dobbin; "Had the Michigan been built of wood instead of iron, there is no doubt but that she would have been cut down before the water's edge and sunk."

Over the course of the next few weeks after refitting, the Michigan captured several timber pirates with the assistance of Agent Willard and a Marine Corps detachment.

Strang was held in custody for some time and then released, but on Monday, June 16, 1856, he was assassinated at St. James, in front of the Michigan.

On July 5, a large mob from Michigan landed on Beaver Island and forcibly removed nearly 3,000 inhabitants with small steam boats.

At that time the gunboat was still the only American warship in those waters, other than six revenue cutters, which were largely ineffective in their operations against crime.

The most notable one was in New York City, where largely ethnic Irish attacked African Americans as the scapegoats for their anger.

In 1863 Lieutenant William Henry Murdaugh of the Confederate States Navy suggested to President Jefferson Davis a plan to gain control of the lakes by capturing the Michigan.

Ten of his volunteers posed as Union troops, with orders to assist in the capture of Johnson's Island after the Michigan had been secured.

The Union knew all about the plot from a Confederate colonel at Johnson's Islands, who had learned of the Cole's plan and informed the prison guards.

A little later, as the rebels were sailing to meet with Captain Coe and the Michigan, a steamer named Island Queen came alongside the Philo Parsons.

[12] The next conflict involving the patrol was the Fenian Raids into Canada and New Brunswick by Irish Republicans based in the United States.

The Fenian Brotherhood, many of whose members were battle hardened Union and Confederate veterans of the American Civil War, organized a paramilitary army spread out on both sides the international border.

Both O'Mahoney and Roberts were of the opinion that a successful invasion of the British Empire in North America could force Queen Victoria to grant political independence to Ireland.

At the Battle of Ridgeway, on June 2, about 750 Fenians under Brigadier General, James O'Neill, routed a force of 850 Canadian troops.

[citation needed] Fearing that the British Army would arrive soon, O'Neill tried to cross the Niagara River, back into New York but the men of USS Michigan were waiting for them.

They coordinated their operations with the USS Michigan which led to the arrest of General Thomas William Sweeny who was in overall command of the invasion on charges of violating American neutrality.

In 1908, Seavey was serving on the Nellie Johnson when he decided to incite two of his fellow crew members to mutiny and take the schooner from either Grand Haven, Michigan or Chicago, depending on varying sources.

In response, the captain of the Nellie Johnson contacted the authorities who dispatched the revenue cutter USRC Tuscarora to find the ship.