Captain Sir William Howe Mulcaster CB, KCH, KTS (1783 – 12 March 1837) was an officer in the British Royal Navy who played a distinguished part in the Anglo-American War of 1812, in particular in the Engagements on Lake Ontario.
[1] He was the son of Major General Frederick George Mulcaster (27 February 1739/40 – 18 August 1797) of the Royal Engineers and Mary Juliana Auchmuty (1750–1830), his father's second wife.
Confiance played a significant part in the capture of Cayenne, for which Mulcaster received a commemorative sword from the Prince Regent of Portugal and was promoted to commander.
Before the ship was launched, in late 1813, Mulcaster commanded several vessels from the Lake Ontario flotilla which were escorting supply convoys up the Saint Lawrence River.
When Wilkinson set off down the Saint Lawrence, Mulcaster hastened to Kingston with the news and then sailed in pursuit with armed schooners and gunboats, with a detachment of soldiers commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Wanton Morrison embarked.
On 11 November Mulcaster's gunboats helped goad Wilkinson into a hasty attack against Morrison which led to the American defeat at the Battle of Crysler's Farm.