THE CRISIS AND THE CONVOYS, 1656-1688 79 



Bay of Bulls, and Petty Harbour in revenge for English attacks 

 upon Dutchmen in West Africa, and in 1673, when De Boes 

 raided Ferryland immediately after his short-lived re-conquest 

 of New York. Newfoundland was regarded as a pawn in 

 the European war-game, and it was within reach of the least 

 of the combatants. The very places which were attacked 

 St. John's, the Bay of Bulls, Petty Harbour, and Ferryland 

 were the very places which Kirke's foresight had fortified, 

 and a remark by De Ruyter, that six cannon would have 

 prevented him from entering St. John's Harbour, coupled 

 with the unaccountable disappearance of Kirke's cannon, 

 turned men's thoughts to forts and garrisons. But the Dutch 

 danger was transitory and remote, and a new, nearer, and 

 more deadly danger began to loom on the political sky. 

 France, which was now the boldest and strongest competitor 

 for empire, annexed and occupied Placentia. 



In 1660 a Royal Commission appointed Sieur Gargot, theFrenck- 



who was the captain of the fleet which went every year from men havtn 



r J J occupied 



France to Canada, Governor of the Port of Placentia. In Placentia 



1662 Du Mont, then on his way to Quebec with the soldiers m l662 >' 

 and colonists for whom Pierre Boucher had asked (1661), 

 landed at Placentia, proclaimed it French territory, fortified 

 it, and left a garrison of thirty soldiers and a priest behind 

 him as he went on his way. 2 In the same year an Irish (?) 

 inhabitant of St. Mary Bay, and some Indians from the 

 continent who were poaching beavers near Cape St. Mary, 

 were arrested by an English bailiff ; but French allies of the 

 Indians came on the scene, declared that France was now 

 sovereign of the south ports of the island, arrested the bailiff, 

 and took him prisoner to Placentia. 3 In 1663 Gargot was 

 ordered to take out certain families and stores from La 



1 Charlevoix, History of New France, ed. J. Shea, vol. iii, pp. 146-7. 



2 Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, April 15, 1668 : Colonial 

 Papers, vol. xxii, Nos. 65-7. 



3 Br. Mus. Egerton MSS. 2395, fol. 471, Jan. 27, 1670. The 

 context implies that the Indians were continental. 



