She was part of Benedict Arnold's small, hastily built fleet of ships whose purpose was to counter any British invasion forces passing through the lake from Canada.

Later that year these forces were involved in the invasion of Canada, but poor weather and timely arrival of British reinforcements caused the Americans to fall back to Fort Ticonderoga in May 1776.

[1] The British, under the command of General Guy Carleton, realized that they needed to control Lake Champlain in order to conduct a successful campaign in New York.

These gundalows, outfitted as gunboats, were built without plans though the shipwrights followed basic dimensions and instructions written by Benedict Arnold.

Cannons were in short supply, so in the case of the gunboat Philadelphia the bow gun was of Swedish origin cast about 100 years earlier.

(Chapelle 1949:110f; Delgado 2001:97f; Nelson 2006:235ff, 250f) As soon as the gunboats (and galleys) were launched at Skenesborough, they were sent to Fort Ticonderoga to be fitted out with sails and rigging.

He spent the time between August and October patrolling the lake and reconnoitering the British naval and troop buildup going on in St.

Arnold ordered her to stay anchored in an attempt to ride out the storm while the rest of the fleet sailed south until they found a sheltered anchorage.

(Nelson 2006:264f) By the first week in September, the American fleet was at the northern end of Lake Champlain, near the British base at St. Johns, Canada.

After briefly observing enemy efforts at building shore batteries, Arnold sailed south on September 8 to Isle La Motte.

(Nelson 2006:299ff) Arnold decided that, due to the battered condition of his fleet and the lack of ammunition, he would withdraw south to Fort Ticonderoga.

The Spitfire, however, succumbed to battle damage and was abandoned, sinking in the early morning hours of October 12 in deep water off Schuyler Island.

The wreck lay undisturbed until 1997, when its intact remains were discovered during a survey by the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum.

[3] The Lake Champlain Maritime Museum in June 2017 announced a five-phase plan to raise and preserve the Spitfire, anticipating a cost of about $44 million and a timeframe of 22 years.