44 SIR ADAMS AECHIBALD ON 



the transports, thirteen small, armed vessels, belonging to Massachusetts and the other 

 New England colonies, carrying in all 100 guns, accompanied the expedition. Shirley- 

 had hoped to secure the assistance of the British fleet on the station, and had written 

 to Commodore "Warren, who was then in the "West Indies, asking his aid. The answer 

 reached Shirley the very day before the expedition was to sail from Pisquatica. "Warren 

 declined : he had no orders from the Admiralty, and would not act without them. This 

 was discouraging. But Shirley did not hesitate. He concealed the news from all except 

 Pepperel and "Waldo, the first and second in command. The expedition sailed on March 

 24th. On April 4th, the fleet, consisting of 150 ships, armed vessels and transports, met 

 by appointment at Canso. They found the whole eastern coast of Cape Breton skirted by 

 a wide belt of floating ice. The stream from the Grulf of St. Lawrence, running along the 

 coast outside of Scatarie, brings with it every spring a body of gulf ice, which receives 

 its direction largely from the wind prevailing at the time. If after passing Scatarie, the 

 breeze blows toward the shore, it drives the ice before it, and makes an impenetrable 

 barrier between the open sea and the harbours on the coast. This happens only once in 

 several years. But it happened this year. For three weeks, the expedition lay at Canso, 

 waiting for a gap in the ice. But the time was not lost. The men, who were a mere 

 mob on their arrival, were drilled daily. They began to acquire some faint glimmerings 

 of discipline. Some of them were employed in building a fort at Canso, where a gar- 

 rison was to be left. 



Some days after their arrival at that port, three ships were descried in the ofHng. They 

 were soon discovered to be men of war. There was no little excitement among the 

 adventurers. If the ships should turn out to be French, as was quite possible, the expedi- 

 tion would have terminated almost as soon as it began. "What was the relief of the 

 provincials, when they discovered that the ships were British, and shortly afterwards that 

 they were three of Commodore "Warren's fleet, come to take part in the expedition ! It 

 turned out that the very day after "Warren had despatched his letter to Shirley, orders had 

 reached him from the Admiralty to sail at once to Boston and join the expedition. He set 

 sail forthwith, and having, on approaching the coast, learned from a merchantman, that 

 the expedition had already sailed, he proceeded at once to Canso, to the intense relief of 

 Shirley and of the two commanding officers to whom the secret of his refusal had been 

 confided. 



Another piece of good fortune occurrred during the stay at Canso. A French brig 

 from Martinique, laden with rum and molasses, and bound for Louisbourgh, was prevented 

 by the ice from reaching that port. She put into Canso and was captured. The cargo 

 was a valuable addition to the commissariat of the expedition. 



But what were the authorities at Louisbourg about all this time? Strange to say, 

 they knew nothing of the expedition. Louisbourg is distant from Canso less than thirty 

 leagues. For three weeks, a fleet of 150 sail had been lying at Canso, and not the 

 slightest hint of the fact had reached Louisbourg. Across the strait from Canso lay the 

 French village of Nerica, (now " Arichat "). The fleet was A'isible from the shores of Isle 

 Madame. Yet it lay for three weeks in sight of Nerica, and not a man in that place was 

 found to carry the tidings to Duchambon. Port Toulouse, as it was then called (now 

 " St. Peters "), was within a few miles of Canso. It was garrisoned by French soldiers 

 under the command of Capt. Benoit. Surely in a time of war that officer should have 



