THE FIRST ANGLO-FRENCH DUEL 91 



Bulls and Ferryland'; and in 1694 Captain W. Holman, an 

 English privateer, was in Ferryland, heard that some French 

 ships were at hand, threatened to burn the settlers' houses, 

 from which they fled at the first rumour of danger, and by these 

 means prevailed on them to stop. He then adopted methods 

 of ' encouragement ', which were as eccentric and successful 

 as his menaces, and gave 'to encourage them in time of 

 fight ' a hogshead of sherry, twenty gallons of brandy, and 

 a barrel of strong beer. Perhaps it was owing to this en- 

 couragement that the defenders saw, or thought they saw. 

 two French ships enter the harbour, fired a few shots, and 

 won a bloodless victory. Captain Holman was rewarded 

 for his valour by the gift of a chain and medal by the 

 Admiralty, and the Council recommended that he should be 

 paid in full for the liquid, and probably contraband encourage- 

 ment, which he had dispensed with such lavish generosity. 

 Suddenly laughter turned to tears. 



On March 31, 1696, the King of France adopted D'Iber- De Brom'l- 

 ville's plan of attack, and resolved to attack the English ^^^^^^^ 

 settlements in Newfoundland by land and sea. The ex- Ferryland, 

 pedition by land was entrusted to D'Iberville aided by ' sixty ^^f'^%1].. 

 Indians from Acadia, together with M. de Montigny, eighty ' 'ville, 1696, 

 (half-breed .?) ' Canadians and some officers, . . .D'Iberville will 

 defray all expenses,' and De Brouillan was to 'give the 

 latter one hundred of his soldiers '. Operations by sea were 

 under the absolute control of De Brouillan, and plunder was 

 divisible equally between the King, D'Iberville, and the ship- 

 owners of St. Malo, who had undertaken to supply privateers.^ 

 The fishing interests of St. Malo had hitherto been mainly 

 devoted to Petit Nord, but there was trade between St. Malo 

 and Placentia ; and both the fishing and the trade ships were 

 compelled to return home in autumn, so that De Brouillan so 



^ Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, Addenda 1 691-8, 

 Captain Hawkins's dispatch, Dec. 4, 1691. 



^ Edouard Richard's Supplement (1901) to D. Brymner's Report on 

 the Canadian Archives (1899). 



