While ships of the Provincial Marine were designated HMS, they were operated in more of a coast guard manner than as a full-fledged navy.

During the American Revolutionary War, a flotilla composed of 300 sailors maintained supply routes and supported military actions in the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River.

In 1779, the naval base at Carleton Island was established and foraging patrols were sent to operate on Lake Huron between Michilimackinac and Detroit.

[1] The Provincial Marine was controlled by the army and manned by personnel borrowed from the navy, by soldiers, and by direct recruitment of Great Lakes sailors.

The Provincial Marine used mostly lightly-armed topsail schooners for transportation purposes, with the exception of the brig General Gage.

The Royal Navy units under Commodore Sir James Lucas Yeo began commanding the facility after May 1813; the dockyard on Point Frederick grew rapidly.

By the end of 1814, the dockyard produced the largest naval squadron on the Great Lakes with 1,600 personnel serving on the flagship St Lawrence and on other vessels.

Commanded by Commodore Sir James Yeo, the Royal Navy took over operations on the Great Lakes from the Provincial Marine in 1813–1815.

Sir Robert Hall, who was ordered to establish a “respectable naval force”, took command of the Lakes Service in October 1815.

To house the gear of the warships of 1812 laid up in Navy Bay, Captain Barrie built the Stone Frigate in Kingston Dockyard.

After St Lawrence was sold, for $9,925, the other old warships remained as hulks in the Navy Bay or "in frame" on the stocks on Point Frederick.

Commodore Hugh Earle, a son-in-law of Molly Brant who had been commissioned in the lake service in 1792, commanded the Provincial Marine from 1812–13.