212 J. G. BOUEINOT 



communication to the French minister, written after the fall of Louisbourg, he attempted 

 to show that he had made a feeble effort to obtain news from Port Toulouse of the pres- 

 ence of an enemy in that direction; but although he had some information that there 

 were strange sail on that coast and vessels had been even seen hovering off the port of 

 Louisbourg itself for weeks, while the ice was blocking the eastern shores of the island, 

 he appears to have lulled himself to sleep and to have awakened to a full consciousness 

 of his dauger only three days, according to his own account, before the fleet arrived in 

 force on the morning of the 30th of April' in the roadstead of G-abarus Bay. His blind- 

 ness for weeks before the attack actually took place was characteristic of a man who had 

 persisted in refusing assistance from Quebec, when it had been offered to him by the 

 governor of Canada in the autumn of 1*744. One colonial historian asserts that there was 

 a ball in Louisbourg the night before the fleet arrived in Gabarus, and we could well 

 believe this to be a fact when we consider the many evidences before us of the indiffer- 

 ence or ignorance of danger shown by the governor until the English were on the very 

 point of landing, Then, with the fleet in view of the ramparts, bells were rung and 

 cannon fired to give the alarm to the people of the adjacent settlements, and to bring 

 them into the town. Dull Duchambou at last recognized his peril. He made a feeble 

 attempt to resist the landing of the colonial forces by sending a detachment of 150 

 men, under the command of Monsieur Morpaiu and Sieur Mesilac — the former a famous 

 " corsair," — but it was unable to accomplish anything, through a ruse on the part of the 

 officers in charge of the English boats. "While the French were preparing to prevent a 

 lauding in the vicinity of Flat Point, the English quickly retreated and made for the 

 shingle beach of the little cove some distance higher up the bay, known to the French 

 as Anse de la Cormorandière, and to the English as Freshwater or Kennington Cove. 

 Here, before the French detachment could reach the ground, the English colonists suc- 

 ceeded in effecting a landing under the fire of their ships' cannon. The French were 

 forced to retreat precipitately to the town, after a short engagement, in which they lost 

 several men, killed or taken prisoners. Among the latter was Monsieur de la Boularderie, 

 one of the inhabitants of the island." One writer places the French commander among the 

 number, but Monsieur Duchambou does not give his name, and it appears to be incorrect. 

 "When we review the history of this memorable epoch in the history of America 

 we find that fortune, favourable so far, continued to smile on the expedition until it 

 achieved its object. The whole force of four thousand men were lauded without difficulty 

 by the 1st of May. If Pepperrell and his officers were not skilled in the scientific methods 

 of investing a fortified town, at all events they acted with judgment in the steps they 

 took for its reduction. They made their headquarters by the side of a little stream of 

 fresh water which descends near Flat Point, or Artillery Cove, about two miles from White 

 Point.' In front of their lines rose the formidable walls and bastions constructed on the 



' In the printed accounts of tlie operations tliere is great confusion as to dates. Most, although not all, of 

 this confusion will disappear if it be borne in mind that in 1752 the new style of reckoning time was adopted, but 

 that its use crept in gradually, some retaining tlie old, others using the new, between which there was a dilV. ronce 

 of eleven days. Consequently the two dates of landing [at Gabarus Bay], 30th of April and 11th of INIay, agree 

 wlien we take the difference between the old and new styles into account. "Can. Archives," 18SG, ix. 



^ See infra, sec. IX, for an account of the La Boularderie, who has given his name to a well known island at 

 the entranc3 of the Bras d'Or lake. 



' See Plate IV at end of this work giving plan of the fortifications and the siege operations of 1745. 



