88 LEAVES THEY HAVE TOUCHED. 



tion, of proceeding with, his own ship The Pemhrohe, The Sutherland, 

 Captain Rous, and some frigates, via Gut of Canso for the River St. 

 Lawrence, in order to intercept the French supplies, there is not the 

 least doubt but that Monsieur Cannon with his whole convoy must 

 have inevitably been taken ; as he only made the river six days 

 before Admiral Durell, as we learnt from a French brig taken off 

 Gaspc. At this place, being on board The Princess Amelia, I had 

 the mortification of being present whilst the minute guns were firing 

 on the melancholy occasion of Captain Simcoe's remains being 

 committed to tlie deep. Had he lived to have got to Quebec, great 

 matter of triumph would have been afforded him, on account of his 

 spirited opposition to many Captains of the Navy, who had given it 

 as their opinion that shijos of the line could not proceed up the 

 river ; whereas our whole fleet got vip perfectly safe. Could I have 

 had recourse to my Journals, v/hich have unfortunately been lost, it 

 would have been in my power to have recounted many circumstances 

 with more minuteness than I am at present enabled to do. I have 

 the honour, &c., Samuel Holland." 



Captain Simcoe's death occurred, from natural causes, ofi" Gasp^, 

 just as the fleet was beginning its ascent of the river for the memo- 

 rable attack on Quebec, in 1759. His monument in Cotterstock 

 Church, Northamptonshire, says : " He was an officer esteemed for 

 great abilities in naval and military aflfairs, of unquestioned bravery, 

 and unwearied diligence." Appended to Major Holland's letter is 

 the following memorandum in the handwriting of Gen. Simcoe him- 

 self : " Major Holland told me that when my father was applied 

 to, to know whether his body should be preserved to be buried on 

 shore, he replied, ' Apply your pitch to its proper pxirpose : keep 

 your lead to mend the shot holes: commit me to the deep.' J. G. S." 

 The mention in Major Holland's letter of " the great cabin " of The 

 Pembroke, " dedicated to scientific purposes, mostly taken up with a 

 drawing table, and furnishing no room for idlers," gives us a pleasant 

 glimpse of an interior scene in an armed cruiser engaged in the double 

 service of defending and surveying a coast. Great, doubtless, has 

 been the debt of all later navigators of the Gulf and River St. Law- 

 rence to the observations jotted down for the first time in the busy 

 great cabin of The Pembroke. Major Holland was uncle of Joseph 

 Bouchette, author of " The British Dominions in North America," 

 who ultimately became his successor as Surveyoi-- General of Lower .- 

 Canada. 



