Section II, 1881. [ 41 ] Teans. Eoy. Soc. Canada. 



IV. — First Siege and Capture of Louisbourg, 1745. 

 By Sir Adams Abchibald, K.O.M.G-. 



(Presented by Prof. G. Lawson, May 25, 1887.) 



Few events in history are more remarkable than the siege and capture of Louisbourg 

 in 1'745. The cession of Acadia to England, in 1*713, had left Cape Breton the chief pos- 

 session of the French in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Thenceforth it became the settled 

 policy of France to construct in that island a fortress of the first order, to be the head- 

 quarters of the French fleet in American waters. Great care was taken in the selection of 

 a suitable spot. Seven years of surveys, and numberless reports by engineers, resulted in 

 the selection, for that purpose, of a place known as "English Harbour," situated on the 

 east coast of the island. This harbour is close upon the Atlantic. In half an hour, a ship 

 passes from a tempestuous ocean to a haven of perfect security. The harbour winds 

 inland to a distance of six miles from its mouth. It has a width at the narrowest 

 part of about half a mile. The average depth of the water is from six to eight fathoms. 

 The harbour is spacious enough to hold the entire British fleet. Across its mouth, there 

 stretches, from the shore on the left of the entrance towards that on the right, a belt of 

 low, rocky islets, protecting the harbour from the waters of the Atlantic. This belt 

 extends to within a quarter of a mile of the high and rugged coast on the right. The 

 only ship entrance is between the furthest islet of this belt and the shore on the right. On 

 passing into the harbour, the coast line on the left is found to recede, so as to form a cove. 

 From the shore of the cove the ground rises gently to a moderate height, and this spot was 

 selected for the fort, which fronted on the water of the coa'c. The ground consisted of an 

 area of one hundred acres. 



For the five and twenty years next following the selection, the best engineering talent 

 of Europe was employed in the construction of the fort and its appendages. Around the 

 central area, a wall or rampart of stone was raised to the height of from thirty to thirty-six 

 feet. The wall was over two miles and a half in length. A fosse of eighty feet in width 

 encompassed the walls. The central area was laid off in regular blocks, the streets crossing 

 each other at right angles. Besides barracks, magazines and hospitals for military pur- 

 poses, the French authorities erected a government house, an opera house, a theatre, and 

 other secular buildings appertaining to a capital city, as also churches and other reli- 

 gious edifices. In the construction of the fort and city they spent over thirty millions 

 of livres. They made it the strongest fortress on this continent and thought it im- 

 pregnable. 



They chose new names for the island and fort. The first was no longer to be called 

 " Cape Breton," though that name was itself French : thenceforth it was " Isle Eoyale." 

 " English Harbour " ceased to be a suitable name : it became " Louisbourg." The new 



Sec. ii, 1887. 6. 



