SS Caroline

SS Caroline was a steamer owned by United States citizens that was preemptively destroyed by Great Britain for fear she would be used to aid Canadian rebels.

In 1837 William Lyon Mackenzie led a rebellion in Upper Canada (now Ontario), demanding a more democratic government. Many in the United States were sympathetic to their cause, considering it a belated continuation of the American Revolutionary War, and provided MacKenzie with money, provisions, and arms. Caroline was one of many ships that carried men and supplies from the U.S. across the Niagara[?] river to Navy Island[?] above Niagara Falls.

Canadian loyalist Colonel Sir Allan MacNab[?] ordered a party of militia to cross the river on the night of December 19 and seize Caroline. Finding her docked at Schlosser, New York[?], (near the current Power Authority intakes), they seized her, towed her into the current, set her afire and cast her adrift.

It has been luridly reported that trapped victims wailed from the deck as she went over Niagara Falls, Caroline was probably abandoned by that point and probably broke apart or ran aground before reaching the Falls. While reports also claimed dozens of American deaths, the sole confirmed death was American Amos Durfee.

This incident has been used to establish the principle of "anticipatory self-defense" in international politics, which holds that military action may be justified by the mere threat of armed attack.