518 NATURAL AND CIVIL 



it would be taken up the next spring. Nichol- 

 son came over in July with that expectation, 

 accompanied by a fleet of five or six frigates, 

 with orders to raise recruits in the colonies* 

 They were designed however, not to make an 

 attempt upon Canada, but to eflfect the reduc- 

 tion of Fort Royal, and Nova Scotia. The 

 chief command was given to Nicholson, and he 

 made an easy conquest of the place on the fifth 

 of October. In honor to queen Anne the place 

 was now named Annapolis, and Vetch, who 

 was adjutant general, was appointed by Nichol- 

 son to be the governor of the place. 



Encouraged b}^ this success, Nicholson in 

 the fall made another voyage to England to urge 

 again the Canada expedition. The expectation 

 of the country had been so much disappointed 

 by the measures of the British court, that it was 

 not expected that any assistance would be af- 

 f©rded. The business however was resumed, 

 and the ministry fell in with the proposals. Oji 

 June the eighth, 1711, Nicholson arrived at 

 Boston, with the intelligence that a fleet might 

 soon be expected from England ; and with or- 

 ders that Nev/ England, New York, New Jer- 

 sey', and Pennsylvania, should have the quotas 

 assigned to them in readiness to join the expe- 

 dition. A general meeting of the governors of 

 the colonies was immediately appointed at New 

 London ; and while they were holding a coun- 

 cil upon the subject of their orders, the fleet ar- 

 rived at Boston but sixteen days after the first 

 intelligence of the expedition by Nicholson. 



The fleet was not furnished either vrith pi- 

 lots or provisions ; and in addition to the troops 



