[grant] THE CAPTURE OF OSWEGO BY MONTCALM 213 



run a large distance off the shore, but saw nothing: for if their Batteaus landed 

 near that place there were several small rivers for them to put into; I don't recollect 

 that Collonel Mercer proposed to me in his letter sending any Batteaus next day; 

 and their Lordships will see in my letter from Quebec that my reason for comeing 

 in then, was that the Powder in the Cartriges of the new Brigantine and new Sloop 

 (for we were obliged to keep all our powder filled having no conveniency for filling 

 in Action) through their Magazines being made of green Timbers just cut from the 

 Woods, was so wet that we could not have used it; of which I convinced Collonel 

 Mercer when I came in; as also that it would be impossible for the Vessels to cruize 

 in the bottom of that Bay to intercept any Batteaus which might pass along the 

 Bottom of it; they Coasting close along the shore; being able to land in ten minutes 

 after discovering any Vessels, to haul up/their boats and shelter themselves in the 

 Woods, where if we attempted to land in our small boats to destroy them we must 

 have sacrafised all the People we sent; that Bay being likewise very dangerous 

 for the Vessels particularly Captain Laforeys which would neither hold her wind, 

 nor work) it being very deep and flat as it approached the shore; situated at the Bot- 

 tom of the Lake into which the No. westerly winds almost constantly blow & make 

 a very great sea ; and indeed had the Vessels been in that Bay the next day, agreeable 

 to Collonel Mercers desire as that paragraph mentions, the same violent gale of 

 wind at N Wt. which drove the Brigantine on shore in the entrance of the Harbour 

 must infalibly have drove all the Vessels on shore in the Bay, where they must have 

 gone to peices, and the People either drown'd or fallen into the hands of the French 

 Indians. 



After the Brigantine was on shore, the Officers & Crews of all the Vessels (the 

 whole not exceeding one hundred) were enployed in getting her off and refitting her 

 with all the expedition we Could; except a Schooner Tender which I kept manned 

 and employed cruizing to the Eastward and Westward of the Harbours Mouth, by 

 Collonel Mercer's desire, and under his directions, that the Garrison might not be 

 surprized, 



Their Lordships will see by the above mentioned paragraph that the Marquis 

 of Montcalm was on his way (from the Intelligence Collonel Mercer recieved) 

 before the Vessels went into the Harbour, though had we been out we could not have 

 prevented their coming; the Enemy having taken precaution not to Cross the lake; 

 but to Coast with their Batteaus close to the shoar round the bottom of it; where 

 we could not have come/near them; and landed in the night in a place where it's 

 impossible to have kept Vessels cruising upon them close in shore, on Account of 

 the Bay being very small and a great deal of foul ground in it; 



I beg leave to observe to their Lordships that the Intelligence which Collonel 

 Mercer recieved about the Batteaus being on their way before the Vessels came 

 into the Harbour (which shews the Marquis of Montcalm did not wait their returne 

 from their Cruize) contradicts what is asserted in the latter paragraph which says 

 that the Marquis of Montcalm declared that he took that Opportunity of Trans- 

 porting & landing his Troops, and Artillery which Otherwise he should not have 

 done; I don't believe the Marquis of Montcalm ever made such a declaration; 

 I don't understand French myself, but I never heard from Captain Laforey who 

 does, and conversed with the Marquis of Montcalm, and Marquis of Vaudriel often, 

 nor from any of our Officers taken at that place who understood French, that he did 

 so; so far from it, so little did they apprehend from our Vessels, that they did not 

 think their's which they knew to be superior to ours, necessary to cover their landing, 

 nor did they come till after the place was taken; and that only to Transport the 

 Guns, Amunition &c, to cataraqui; having no more Men in them then was Necessary 

 to work them; it is a concern to me that what few I saved relative to that affair 



