There were also ten American prisoners aboard, and a cargo of furs worth approximately $200,000, a considerable sum of money at the time.

For several months, British batteries on the other side of the Niagara prevented Caledonia and several other schooners which had been purchased by the Navy and were converted into gunboats from leaving Black Rock.

Lieutenant Oliver Hazard Perry had Caledonia and the other vessels towed by oxen up the fast-flowing river, an operation that took several days.

However, a 1934 article in the Canadian history magazine "The Beaver" claimed the ship did not sink, but was dismantled in Erie, Pennsylvania.

[3] On 24 July 2009, a story appearing in the Buffalo News mentioned the discovery of an 85-foot schooner on the bottom of Lake Erie, which may be Caledonia.

The American company Northeast Research Ltd proposed raising the well preserved wreck and putting it on display near Buffalo, New York.