On December 29, 1837, while the Canadian rebels were on Navy Island, Canadian loyalist Colonel Sir Allan MacNab and Captain Andrew Drew of the Royal Navy commanding a party of militia, acting on information and guidance from Alexander McLeod that the vessel belonged to Mackenzie, crossed the international boundary and seized the "Caroline". They chased off the crew, towed her into the current, set her afire, and cast her adrift over Niagara Falls. An African American watchmaker named Amos Durfee was shot and killed in the process, although who shot him and for what reason remain unknown. He was possibly accidentally shot by Alexander McLeod, a Scottish Canadian sheriff who had participated in the affair. The body of Durfee was later exhibited in front of a recruiting tavern in Buffalo, New York.