The Life of Captain James Cook | Page 9

June that the first gun opened fire. Wolfe formed a battery on Lighthouse Point, one side of the entrance to the harbour whilst the town was on the other side, with a fortified island in between; and the harbour held a French fleet which, at the time of the arrival of the British, consisted of nine men-of-war. One escaped on the very day of the landing, and was shortly afterwards followed by two more. One L'Echo, was captured by Sir Charles Hardy, and was taken into the British Navy; whilst the other, though chased for some distance, made good its escape to L'Orient with the first news of the siege. Previously to the coming of the British, two ships had been sunk in the harbour's mouth to render entrance therein difficult; two more were added to these, and then a fifth. One ship was blown up by a British shell, and setting fire to two others that lay alongside her, they also were destroyed.
The fate of the other two is described in the Pembroke's log, kept by Cook, as follows:
"In the night 50 boats man'd and arm'd row'd into the harbour under the command of the Captains La Foure [Laforey] of the Hunter, and Balfour [of the Etna] in order to cut away the 2 men-of-warr and tow them into the North-East Harbour one of which they did viz.: the Ben Fison [Bienfaisant] of 64 guns, the Prudon [Prudent] 74 guns being aground was set on fire. At 11 A.M. the firing ceased on both sides."
The boats concerned in this attack, which Boscawen describes as "a very brilliant affair, well carried out," were a barge and pinnace or cutter from all the ships, except the Northumberland, which was too sickly, commanded by a lieutenant, mate or midshipman, and Dr. Grahame in his History of the United States of North America, says:
"The renowned Captain Cook, then serving as a petty officer on board of a British ship-of-war, co-operated in this exploit, and wrote an account of it to a friend in England. That he had distinguished himself may be inferred from his promotion to the rank of lieutenant in the Royal Navy, which took place immediately after."
This statement that he was in the affair may be true, but there is no evidence on the point, and as he was a warrant and not petty officer, and as his promotion did not take place for several years, Dr. Grahame's story may well be doubted. It is believed that Cook did write to Mr. Walker from Louisburg, but the letter was one of those so unfortunately destroyed.
The loss on this occasion to the British was very slight, there being only 7 killed and 9 wounded. The Bienfaisant having been surveyed, was received into the Navy and given to Captain Balfour whilst the command of L'Echo was conferred on Captain Laforey.
In consequence of this success and the threat of an immediate assault on the town, the French commander, M. Drucour, decided to surrender on the following day. This success was highly esteemed in England, and Admiral Boscawen and General Amherst received the thanks of the Houses of Parliament.
WOLFE AND HARDY.
After the siege Wolfe wrote to Lord George Sackville, speaking in warm terms of Boscawen and his men, and says:
"Sir Charles Hardy, too, in particular, and all the officers of the Navy in general have given us their utmost assistance, and with the greatest cheerfulness imaginable. I have often been in pain for Sir Charles's squadron at an anchor off the harbour's mouth. They rid out some very hard gales of wind rather than leave an opening for the French to escape, but, notwithstanding the utmost diligence on his side, a frigate found means to get out and is gone to Europe charge de fanfaronades. I had the satisfaction of putting 2 or 3 hautvizier shells into her stern and to shatter him a little with some of your Lordship's 24 pound shot, before he retreated, and I much question whether he will hold out the voyage."
The Pembroke formed one of this squadron under Sir Charles Hardy, and after the capitulation of the town, was despatched with nine other ships, and a small body of troops under Wolfe to harry the French settlements around Gaspe Bay as a preparation for the attack on Quebec it was intended to make in the following year. Several settlements and magazines were destroyed, four guns and a pair of colours were captured, and then the squadron returned to Halifax for the winter.
Admiral Sir Charles Saunders was selected to command the fleet that was to be employed in this new movement against the capital of New France; a man of whom Horace Walpole wrote:
"The Admiral was a pattern of the most sturdy bravery, united with the most unaffected modesty. No