176 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
de Varenne was not going to take part in the fight, he begged 
permission to go on board the Aigle. He died gloriously, of a cannon ~ 
shot in the thigh after having shown great signs of valour and courage. 
The damage to the Dutch was very great. They also lost their. 
summer’s fishery. The French found five great carcasses of whales 
of from 60 to 70 feet long which they had not time to cut up. The 
fishery that year had been very unfortunate; few of the vessels having 
more than two or three whales. One only took twelve; she had left for 
Holland before the French arrived. They had lost in the ice 8 Dutch 
vessels and 11 Danish. This was the first time that any French ships 
had penetrated as far north as this bay (814°). Infact even the Dutch 
rarely entered there and only when the fishery failed farther south. 
Captain Le Croisic with his booty was obliged to leave as soon as possible 
as the ice was closing in on them very swiftly, (avec une grande vitesse) 
and only that the winds were favourable they would have been shut 
up there for the winter. The Dutchmen who knew the place told 
them there was not a moment to spare, so they left on the evening of 
the 7th August with eleven vessels. On the 9th, they met with 
Captain Beauchesne of the Prudent, with two Dutch flûtes which he 
had captured one of 16 pieces of cannon the other of 14. The Com- 
mander, de Varenne, had also taken two prizes. On the 12th the com- 
mander set sail for the Orcades with the Pelican and the Prudent. He 
left the Aigle and the Favory to take charge of the prizes and follow him, 
with orders to burn all that were not able to sail. On the 14th the 
Aigle and the Favory, convoying eleven sail started southwards. A 
dense fog arose so that he lost sight of his convoy; they were obliged 
to lie-to, and he kept firing cannon now and then so as to keep together. 
They remained in this state for 8 hours, and the fog clearing up a little, 
he could see only 5 ships out of the 11. On the 15th, about mid-day 
they again set sail but were obliged from time to time to lie-to owing 
to the fog. 
On the 17th he allowed the 16 Danish ships to proceed, having 
placed aboard of them the Dutch prisoners. Although in this ex- 
pedition 28 ships were captured, 11 only were kept to bring home the 
men, the others were burnt or sunk. The report from which I am com- 
piling this abridgment says of Captain Croisic: “This latter by his 
courage and energy, and his bravery, was really the cause of all the 
damage suffered by the enemy in Bear Bay, and also of the loss suffered 
in their fishery. In fact though he was well seconded by the Favory 
and her captain, his friend Harismendy, it is evident that the expedi- 
tion would not have been undertaken, unless for the vigilance of Croisic, 
who discovered the enemy and made the report to the Commandant. 
