r<5

Ann. Naval Expeditions, &c. of the English, Book V.

i y x i. then aboard, both Englijh and French ,the best in the Fleet, (who agreed intheir Opinions) that I made the Signalto bring to, with our Heads to theSouthward, at eight o’Clock at Night;By which Posture, it was reasonable tobelieve, we should not have come nearthe North Shoar, but have been driven,by the Stream, in the Mid-channel;But quite contrary, as we were, withthe Winds E, and our Heads to the S.in two Hours, we found ourselves uponthe N. Shoar, among Rocks and Islands,Qr) at least fifteen Leagues farther thanthe Log gave; Where the whole Fleethad like to have been lost. By God’sProvidence, all the Men of War escap-ed, tho’ with extream Hardstiips andDifficulty, and eight Transports werecast away, (h) and almost nine HundredMen, Officer, Soldiers and Seamen lost,and had I not made the Signal as I did,but continued Sailing, ’tis a great Ques-tion, whether any Ship or Men hadbeen saved, (r)

A French Pilot I had on Board, who 1 j 11 •

had been forty Voyages in that River,and eighteen in Command, told me, thatwhenever it happened to be foggy, soas not to see the Land, no Man couldever be able to judge the Currents, orsteer by any Course ; That he himselfhad lost two Ships, and was once castaway upon the N. Shoar, when hethought himself near the S. And thatthe Currents were so uncertain, thatwhen People might believe themselvesnpon the N. they would find themselveson the S. Shoar, and so on the contrary,as we by dismal Experience found. Byall which it appears, that Things havebeen wonderfully misrepresented, bythose who have pretended to persuadeus in Great Brittai;;, that Fleets mightfail up the River to Quebec ; And thisplainly demonstrates, that the People ofBoston knew nothing of what they pro-posed, when they laid Schemes for suchan Expedition. (F)

A F T E R

Sir Hov.Walker’*

Journal.

(g) About two Hours and a self after theSignal was given to bring to, the Admiral was in-formed that they saw Land, which they concludedwas the S. Shoar, and therefore the Admiral or-dered the Signal to be made for the Fleet to wear,and bring to, on the other Tack, which was done.At the sameTime, Captain Goddard, a Land-Offi-cer, who happened to be on Board of the Admi-ral's Ship, and on the Quarter-Deck, saw the Seabreak to Leeward as the Ship bore away, andrun, in great Haste, to acquaint the Admiral withthe Danger, and desired him to come upon theDeck himself ; But the Admiral having no such

Notice from his own Captain, believed it to be the,Result of his Fear, and had little Regard to whathe said. He came, however, a second Time,and was very importunate, averring he sawBreakers all round the Ship ; Upon which theAdmiral, who was just going to Bed, put on hi&Gown and Slippers, and, going upon Deck, ioundit as he said ; And this was the saving of the Ship,and probably os all their Lives; But what caawe suppose all the Sea-Officers of the Watch tohave been doing, that they could discover noDanger.

(b) Transports.

Isabella , Ann, Catherine.Smirna Merchant.Samuel and Ann.Nathaniel and Elizabeth.Mar Borough.

Chatham.

Colcheder.

Content , Victualer.

Master’s Names.

Richard Bayly , drowned.Henry Vernon, drowned.Tho. IValkup, drowned.■Magnus Howfon.

James Taylor.

Jo- Alexander.

Jos. Hinning.

Men

tost.

Men

saved.

Regiments.

192

7, or 8.

Colonel Windrcsse.

200

3 °

Col. Kane.

142

7, or 8.

Lieut. Gen. Seymour.

10

r 88

Ditto.

130

30

Col. Clayton.

60

40 ,

Col. Windrejse.

180

Lieut. Gen. Seymour.

*5

884 4 99

Among which were said to be; One Lieutenant-Colonel; Three Majors; Six Captains, Two Cap-tains-Lieu tenants j Seven Lieutenants; Seven Ensigns; a Quarter-Master, a Chaplain, and a Surgeon.

(i) This Misfortune, as well as the Disappoint-ment, was to be sure great; But, as Sir Hoven-den Walker well observes, must have been fargreater, if they had got in Safety to Quebec-, Nayeven if they had found the Place deserted, as pro-bably would have been the Cafe. They wouldhave found a barren and uncultivated Region ;The French would have taken with them, or de-stroyed, their Provisions, Our People’s Provisionswould have been reduced to eight or nine (per-haps to six) Weeks, at short Allowance; No Re-lief could possibly be hoped for in less than tenMonths, if so soon; The Fever sham, and threeStoreships, laden with the Provisions designed fortheir Supply, being cast away in their Passage : Sothat, if they had escaped Shipwreck, which wouldhave been a very great Chance, between ten and

twelve Thousand Men must inevitably have perish-ed, with Hunger and Cold, and the Ships havebecome a Prey to the returning Enemy : On theother Hand, had the Enemy held out, 'till ourPeople had spent all their Provisions, they musthave laid down their Arms, and have surrenderedto the French , at Discretion, to avoid Death, init’s most frightful Shape, Famine ; Or, if theyhad taken the Place, either by Storm or Capitula-tion, the remaining Provisions of a small Garrisonwould not have gone far towards subsisting so la.gea Number; Nor could they, at that Season ofthe Year, have marched thro’' the Country, inSearch of more. And this would have been theCafe, had they afterwards attempted P/acentia.

(k) This Project was first formed, upon Colo-nel Nicholson's Arrival from New England, with

the