THE FIRST ANGLO-FRENCH DUEL 95 



with some twelve or fourteen ships — ten of which were 

 described as men-of-war — seized fat prizes at sea, entered 

 the harbour of St. John s, heard, in the middle of July, of 

 five ships of De Pointis's or more probably of De Nesmond's, 

 or of De Serigny's fleet, cruising in the neighbourhood, and hid 

 in his harbour of refuge, useless though safe.^ On August 1 8, 

 * fifteen sail of French ... ten of them great ships ' — obviously 

 De Nesmond's fleet on its way back — appeared before St. 

 John's ; but Norris lay low in his lug, fearing perhaps a com- 

 bination between the fleet of De Nesmond with the fleets 

 of De Pointis and De S^rigny — which were by that time 

 2,000 miles away from De Nesmond's fleet, and more than 

 2,000 miles away from one another — or perhaps over-conscious 

 of the rich spoil with which his very war-ships were heavy- 

 laden.2 Sir John Norris was not entirely passive ; for he was 

 accompanied by Colonel Gibson and 760 soldiers, who 

 fortified St. John's, and Colonel Gibson urged the fortification 

 of two other ports, on which the inhabitants might concentrate 

 in time of trouble. On the departure of the fleet 336 soldiers, 

 including thirty-seven invalids, were left behind as a garrison 

 for St. John's under Major Handasyd, who reported, apparently 

 for the first time, on December 12, 1698, that of the garrison 

 214 infantry men and some artillerymen had died owing to 

 the severity of the winter (1697-8). The belated date of 

 this casual memorandum, and the significant fact that he is 

 the only commandant of St. John's who never complained 

 of desertion, suggest that ' death ' was with him a euphemism 

 for something worse from a soldier's point of view. If the 

 death-rate was high, the wage-rate was still higher in New- 

 foundland, and it is much more likely that his ranks were 



1 Colonel Gibson, in Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, 

 November 29, 1697; G. Shuttleworth, in ibid., March 24, 1698; 

 Captain Charles Desborow, Petition, and the annexed Certificate of 

 Peire in Br. Mus. 816. m. 7 (79) (80); Thomas Lediard, Naval History ^ 

 1735, P- 72on. 



2 Naval Records Society, Life of Stephen Martin, edited by Sir 

 Clements Markham, 1895, pp. 27-36. 



