THE SIEGE OF LOUISBOUEG. 45 



advised his superior at Louisbourg of the large fleet iu his neighborhood. He did not, 

 however. 



After Warren reached Canso he sent some of the smaller vessels to cruise backwards 

 and forwards, iu front of Louisbourg harbour, to prevent any French vessels hovering 

 off the coast from entering, should a gap appear in the ice belt. These were seen by 

 people on the shore, and the fact reported to Duchambon. This did not alarm him. He 

 assumed that the A^essels were French, waiting an opportunity to enter the harbour. Every 

 year a supply ship, despatched from Brest, reached the coast early in the spring. He took 

 for granted that one at least of the cruisers was the expected supply ship. Still he 

 thought it might be worth while to make some inquiry whether there was anything 

 going on at Canso to excite suspicion. He accordingly sent a message to Capt. Benoit 

 at Port Toulouse, directing him to make inquiries. That officer despatched three men 

 on this service, a soldier, a habitant and an Indian. They proceeded to Canso, landed on 

 the shore opposite the island, and made their observations of the state of things there. 

 They then set out on their return to Port Toulouse. On their way they met a temptation 

 that they could not resist. Accident gave them the opportunity of falling on a small 

 party of English and making four of them prisoners. They then proceeded homeward 

 with their captives. One night they all stretched themselves out by the camp fire. The 

 messengers were weary and soon fell asleep. The prisoners seized the opportunity, released 

 themselves from their shackles, and killed their captors. The tidings of the doings at Canso 

 perished with the messengers. The commander at Port Toulouse lost his m^u. The 

 governor at Louisbourg remained as ignorant as ever of what was going on at Canso. 



At last, on Sunday, April 29th, the wind shifted, driving the ice seaward, and leaving 

 the shore clear. The expedition sailed at once. It reached Chapeau Rouge (Gabarus) Bay, 

 back of Louisbourg, and was within a couple miles of the fort, on Sunday evening. But 

 the wind died away and it was impossible to land then. The fleet lay off till the 

 morning. At early dawn, the French soldiers on duty, descried from off the walls of 

 Louisbourg an immense fleet, whitening with its sails the whole extent of G-abarus Bay. 

 It was a perfect surprise. So little thought had Duchambon of an enemy being at hand, 

 that he had, the evening before, given a ball at Government House, which was kept up to 

 a late hour. The ofiicers, who had been at the party, had scarcely got to bed before they 

 were roused by the alarm. Governor, and offii ers alike, were in a state of consternation. 

 They soon, however, recovered so far a» to make some attempt to resist the landing. From 

 the ramparts were seen several boats, full of soldiers, steering in a direction towards 

 White Point, immediately in rear of the town. Duchambon at once despatched a body 

 of eighty men towards the point, under command of a famous partisan of the name of 

 Morpen. The boats approached within a short distance of the shore, then veered about 

 and returned towards the fleet. There they were joined by a number of other boats, 

 fully manned, that been hidden behind the transports, waiting the return of their com- 

 rades from the feint on White Point. All then made for the shore of Gabarus Bay, at a 

 place some two miles distant from White Point. The Morpen party, seeing their mistake, 

 marched at once for the new landing place. But the ground was difficult, and the English 

 had already landed in sufficient force to keep their ground and repel their assailants. The 

 French were driven back to the fort. A high hill intervened between the shore of the 

 bay and the town of Louisbourg. Next day, a party of 400 men, under Col. Vaughan, set 



