to North- America^ 183 



I do : But by an accident which do's not tend much, 

 to my advantage, I have purchased the Efteem and 

 Friend (hip of thefe Savages, which in my opinion 

 was the only reafon that mov'd Mr. de Frontenac to 

 fingle out me for this Service. 



July the zjtb the Governour having given me his 

 Packet for the Court, and the St. Ann Frigat being 

 rigg'd and fitted out according to his Orders, I ini- 

 barqu'd in the Port of Quebec, and after five days 

 failing, we met in the River of St. Laurence, over 

 againft Monts notredame, twelve Merchantmen bound 

 from France for Quebec, under the Convoy of Mr. / 

 Iberville, Captain of the Voli. Augu(i the 8tb, we 

 got clear of the Bay of St. Laurence, by the help of 

 a Wefterly Gale, and that in fuch fair and clear Wea- 

 ther, that wedefcry'd the Iflandsof Cape Breton and 

 Newfound-Land, as diftin&ly, as if we had been with- 

 in a Musket-fhqt of 'em. The nine or ten follow- 

 ing days were fo far of a different ftamp, that we 

 could fcarce fee from the Prow to the Poop of the 

 Ship, for all of a fudden there fell the thicket and 

 darkeft Fog that ever I faw. At the end of thefe 

 days the Horifon clearing up, we flood in for New- 

 found-Land, defcrying Cape St. Mary ; and by ma- 

 king all the fail we could, arrived that very day in 

 the Port of Tlacentia. 



In that Port I found fifty Fifliermen, moft of 

 which were of French Bifcay, and thought to have 

 fet out for France along with them in a few days : 

 But they were longer in getting ready than I thought 

 for, and when we were juft ready to break ground,we 

 were informed by fome Fifliermen, that five large 

 EngUJh Ships were come to an Anchor near Cape St. 

 Mary. This Intelligence prov'd very true, for on the 

 1 $tb of September they eaft Anchor in fight of Placen- 

 tia. The 16th they weigh'd, and came to an An- 

 chor in the Road, out of the reach of our Guns. 

 Upon this the Governour was not a little perplex'd,for 

 he had but fifty Soldiers in his Fort, and a very 



N 4 fmali 



