xii INTRODUCTION 



away without France having taken a greater 

 share in it. 



Men, indeed, were not lacking, for during 

 that same period younger sons of French 

 adventurers, as pioneers in Canada's woods 

 or as filibusters in the Antilles, displayed a 

 courage and endurance which have never been 

 surpassed by the explorers and sailors of other 

 nations. The glory of our famous privateers, 

 Jean Bart, Duguay-Trouin or of Du Casse, 

 has tended rather to obscure and make us 

 forget the exploits of many others of our race. 



Where, for example, may one hope to find a 

 more admirable display of courage and energy 

 than the life of the Canadian Le Moyne d'lber- 

 ville presents ? 



Despatched in the month of August 1697, 

 by Pontchartrain to attack the English in 

 Hudson Bay, he pushed his way north accom- 

 panied by, but separated from by the ice, 

 three other vessels, and, arriving alone in the 

 bay in his frigate called the Pelican, did not 

 hesitate to attack three of the enemy's vessels 

 he found there, although two of them equalled 

 his own in equipment, while the third was 

 almost double his strength. 



' Dlberville/ says Father de Charlevoix, 

 in his ' History of New France, ' ' holding the wind, 



