The Landing Shores at Louisbourg.

So, by the 9th, the British had landed and were in good shape. They had the ground all to themselves and the only shots sent to them were when they strayed a little too close to the walls of Louisbourg. The areas chosen for encampment were cleared; however, the surf was "so high that very few tents or baggage of the army could be landed" that first full day. On the 10th we see this entry in Gordon's Journal, "Saturday 10. Still clearing our camp, pitching tents, and getting our baggage on shore which was attended with great trouble on account of the surge it being equally violent as at the place we landed."15

Six Block Houses of Squared Timber which had been designed by Bastide and built at Halifax over the winter were no doubt employed as intended, "end rideouts for the protection of the camp."16 The timbers for the blockhouses were all marked such as they could be erected in a few hours. The upper platform of the blockhouse formed a raised and level place on which small cannon could be mounted. This upper platform was surrounded by a musquet proof parapet, and underneath Musquetry may likewise be used through loop holes.

The first objective of the British was to surround the harbour so to fully pincer in Louisbourg. Three battalions (Lt-Colonel Morrice, Lt-Colonel Rollo and Major Ross) consisting of 1220 men17 were put under Brigadier James Wolfe together with four companies of Grenadiers. The orders of the day for the 10th of June:

"Four hundred of the Light Infantry and Rangers are to march this night, and take post in the woods, round the upper part of the North East Harbour, there lay in ambush, and cover the March of a detachment of the army, which will be ordered to take post at Lorembeck, at the end of the North East Harbour, and upon the Light House Point."18

The View At Lighthouse Point (from a contemporary drawing).

On the 12th, Wolfe's forces marched and made their way well up the harbour and made camp. Their march was covered by "a thick fog" so they were unmolested by the guns of the French navy then lying in the harbour.19 By the 13th, Wolfe was east of the lighthouse and setting up his camp. With difficulty20 and under French bombardment, equipment and supplies21 were brought up from the shore over newly built roads (see map) and up to the Lighthouse Battery.22 By the night of the 19th-20th the British were ready and the Lighthouse Battery was blasting out its iron balls of destruction.23 The naval ships in the harbour and at the Island Battery returned the fire. Both day and night, the inhabitants of Louisbourg were reminded of the British strength: in day-light, thousands of British troops could be seen just beyond gun range and 180 ships could be seen riding at their anchors to seaward in Gabarus Bay; at night, all along the length of the harbour, the English kept fires burning.

Though Wolfe was positioned at the Lighthouse point by June the 13th, yet, a number of days after that were to pass before the British force was, as a whole, ready to get into serious siege work. The weather was not cooperative and high seas persisted resulting in delays in getting materials ashore. Indeed, apparently, it was the 17th, before Amherst came ashore to personally look over the ground; and it would have been on that day we would have seen Amherst accompanied by his officers riding about stealing looks at the French citadel.24 On June 18th, the first 24-lb gun was landed. By June 19th-20th, as mentioned, the Lighthouse Battery, having been built on the spot, started in with its deadly fire.25

This setting up of a British battery at the Lighthouse Point was Wolfe's idea. Amherst was a great admirer of Wolfe and approved Wolfe's plans. Not every one agreed that the approach proposed by Wolfe and adopted by Amherst was the best; indeed, the engineers had a different view, as Long, one of Amherst's biographers, points out:

"Chief Engineer J. H. Bastide, Colonel Williamson and Major McKullough were agreed that the way to take Louisbourg was to build a fortress at a point known as Green Hill, less than a mile southwest from the town. Concentrate everything there. The engineers were opposed to the whole project of shelling the fleet. Wolfe's headlong methods did not suit them, an opinion in which there seemed to be a note of jealousy. Their view of Wolfe was shared by William Amherst, the General's brother, who wrote in his diary concerning the expedition to Lighthouse point: "Shells thrown at ships must be very uncertain ... nor do I conceive that a small battery, even elevated as this was, and secure from the fire of the ships, to be of much consequence." And later: "A report from Brigadier Wolfe ... they imagine one of the enemy's ships damaged by a shell. All imagination, I am afraid."26

It would appear, once Wolfe had the Lighthouse battery up and running he went back to rejoin Amherst to assist in the landward attack on Louisbourg from the west.29 Wolfe in no time was showing to both his fellow British and to the French his relentless military spirit; he pushed ahead at all times. His motto was known to all: "The greatest of an object should come into consideration as opposed to the impediments that lie in the way." He pushed and he pushed. His men were put to work30; roads were built so that the heavy cannon could be moved into position after being off loaded from the ships. He turned his mind to every angle and through his leadership turned his thoughts into action. All along and at every turn advancing things to that single object which he held out for himself, his fellow officers and his men: the taking of Louisbourg.31

From the 20th of June through to the 25th the roar and pounding thuds of cannon fire carried over the harbour and resounded off the ramparts of Louisbourg and resounded again off the distant hills. By the 25th, according to Brown, the island Battery was silenced, all the embrasures destroyed, and the parapets reduced to a heap of ruins.32 With the silencing of the Island Battery33, the French became concerned that the British navy which waited outside the harbour may make a run in and bombard Louisbourg from the port side. Thus, the French decided to sacrifice part of their navy in order to thwart the British navy. On the night of June 27th-28th, five vessels [Appollon, Chêvre, Fidèle, Biche, and La Ville de Saint Malo (a merchant ship)] were sunk by the French at the mouth of Louisbourg harbour.34

Just before the cannon duel began on the 20th of June, a line of communication had been opened up between the respective leaders: Governor Drucour and General Amherst. It was natural that this should be so; all that was necessary was to advance a small party towards the enemy under the a white flag displayed and understood by all to be a token of peaceful or friendly intention, a desire for a parley. The exchange consisted of more than just a note, indeed, often gifts were send in and out of the walls of Louisbourg in this manner:

"... Amherst sent a polite note to the Governor, and a present of two pineapples to Madame Drucour. An equally polite note was returned, and Drucour again displayed his lavishness by sending back some bottles of champagne (June 17 and 18). This promptly brought back again more pineapples, one at least of which was not good (Tourville). The present in return included some fresh butter, which indicates that the ordinary activities of life in the town had not been entirely suspended. Inquiries and replies as to the missing officers taken prisoners at the landing had been exchanged; effects had been sent to them; and never, said one diarist, was war carried on with more courtesy."35

The besieged French garrison did make the occasional sortie, or dash upon the English; and -- while sometimes succeeding and sometimes not -- in short order made their way back in behind the protective walls of Louisbourg. One in particular to which I might make reference: it was on the night of July 9th, when 724 French soldiers made there way on to the front line of the British and caught them napping. They took two officers and 28 men as prisoners, but by morning's light they were once again back behind their protective walls.

On the night of the 15th of July, the 36 gun Aréthuse, one of the smaller French war ships in the harbour managed to slip its moorings, make sail and head through the channel by the Lighthouse Battery and carried on, right out to sea. The British at the Lighthouse Point battery, though coming alive to the breakout late, did, however, manage to get a few cannon balls into the Aréthuse's stern; but, soon, she was out of range. The British then frantically sent signals37 off to the waiting British war ships outside of the harbour, but too late; either due to good sailing, or good winds, or just plain good luck (likely a combination of all three) the Aréthuse was able to get away, none of the British ships being able to catch up to her.38

To the west of the fort the British keep creeping up in the face of the French guns on the ramparts. Like moles, the British would, in the dead of night, mound up dirt and turn them into protective walls; once done, it would be done again, and again, night after night, only ever but just a couple of feet at a time: angled walls of dirt and timber moved steadily towards the walls of Louisbourg. The morning watch on the ramparts would see certain of the cannon a little closer then the day before and no less protected. Closer and closer, pounding away at certain spots in the walls of Louisbourg.39 The gentle people of Louisbourg trembled; the women and children in the dark and damp casemates felt and heard the ceaseless rumblings.

We now come to July 21st, and, to an event which was to bring, in its aftermath, an end to the contest.

At least six French men-o-war had made it into Louisbourg, two 74s and four 64s. They had arrived under the command of Commodore Desgouttes (Marquis Desgouttes).40 However, two or three were en flûte, that is to say stripped down with many of their guns removed so as to accommodate the transport of supplies and men. This extra fire power of the three stripped ships would be missed, but the supplies they brought "placed Drucour in a position to carry on his defence without further anxiety about munitions or supplies."41 Another French squadron, consisting of "five warships and a frigate"42 under Du Chaffault de Besné almost got themselves into Louisbourg harbour, but were obliged, in order to avoid Hardy's squadron which by this time were patrolling along the coast, to sail north along the tip of the Cape Breton Island to Port Dauphin (Ste Ann's, see map). This second French fleet was carrying the Cambis regiment. This regiment, as we have seen, eventually found it way to Louisbourg, arriving just a day or so before the English made their landing at Gabarus Bay. After seeing to the landing of the troops and supplies, Besné then put his fleet to sea and sailed to Quebec.

McLennan gives his short version of the events of July 21st:

"The ships remained as they were, firing occasionally, but with direction so bad that on the 18th their grape fell among their own men in the covered way. Cartridges began to be scarce, also balls for their 24-lb. guns. Iron scraps were used in the mortars, English shot were picked up and fired back. Houses had to be torn down for wood to repair fortifications, and such work had to be carried on under a fire which swept not only the defences, but the streets of the town. ...
In the early afternoon of the 21st, a shot struck the poop of the Célèbre, which set off some cartridges stored there. The fire caught her mizzen mast, and the score of men on board were unable to check it. She swung so that sparks from her caught aft on the Entreprenant. While her men were working at this blaze, fire had been smouldering on her bowsprit. It broke out freely in a quarter of an hour, and she in turn set fire to the Capricieux, unable to move. ...
The horror of the conflagration was increased by the loaded guns of the ships, as they became hot, going off and taking effect on the other ships, on the boats, and town. The ships made a prodigious blaze all night..."43

"Friday, 21st ... About 2 o'clock there was a great explosion on board the Entreprennant, set her on fire and her flames caught the Célèbre and the Capricieux by ten at night, the three were burnt to the waters edge ... a shot from the marine battery striking an iron bolt in the Entreprennant's power room ... [to the enemy] the scene was very shocking."44

The final touch to the frightful situation came as the flames reached the guns of the Capricieux which was lying with her broadside toward the docks, and the whole of her battery was fired into the gawking crowd, all at once.46

In the early morning light, not far off the docks would have been seen the Entreprenant, Célèbre and Capricieux: burnt to their water lines; they soon, thereafter, sank to the harbour's bottom, the remains of which can still be seen amongst the kelp and the fishes.47

All was mayhem and everything in ruins; the population confused and disordered; the soldiers exhausted and their ramparts falling apart. The British followed up and conducted the siege with fury. "All night long bombs, some of them charged with combustibles were hurled into the town." The fire within the city on July the 22nd spread to the King's Bastion and on the 23rd the wooden barracks of the Queen's Bastion caught fire: "inflammable as a pack of matches," three times it caught fire and three times the struggling population put it out; "... only by pulling down the neighbouring huts and a favouring wind, was the fire prevented from spreading to the town."48 This was on the 23rd of July, and still the French laid behind their walls. But by the 23rd, however, it was plain that all was lost; the breaches in the walls were opening up.

McLennan:

"The town was no longer defensible, and scaling ladders were ready in the trenches. The British had seen great pieces of the wall fall into the moat after every successful shot, and meantime the fire of the bombs, as many as 300 in a night, was continued, so that there was not a house in the town which was uninjured. There were only five cannon to reply to this bombardment --."49

On the morning of July 25th, a group of smaller vessels, -- mostly pinnaces, twenty five in all, among them one sailing sloop which had come to Louisbourg with the fleet -- came into the harbour. Six hundred men silently slid, under the darkness of night, through the channel and by the beleaguered French taking them unawares. The object of these hand signaling British sailors aboard these small boats was to take the last two remaining French war ships out of commission.

These last two French men of war, the Bienfaisant and the Prudent were anchored very close to the harbour front of the town;50 they only had about sixty or seventy men aboard, and, the highest ranking officer present was an ensign. The visibility was bad and only the sentinels were above deck. "The sentinel hailed a boat. A voice from it replied in French that it was from town and that it was coming aboard." Before the French sailors had an opportunity to organize themselves, as McLennan describes, "there were two hundred men in possession of the deck. The officers were taken, guards placed on the hatchways, twenty English prisoners released, combustibles placed in the gun-room and at the foot of the masts, ignited, the sentries withdrawn, and the English made off to the north."51

Macdonald gives an accounting of the mission which became known as, "The Cutting Out of the Bienfaisant and the Prudent":

"The attention of the French was distracted by a vigorous cannonade from all the British batteries, and scaling ladders were ostentatiously displayed at the front to lead them to anticipate a general assault on the land side. By this ruse de guerre the French were drawn to the land walls about midnight, while 600 men, divided into two squadrons, commanded by LeFroy and Balfour, stole into the harbour in barges and pinnaces. Passing close to the Island Battery and within hail of the town, screened by a thick fog, the British dashed for the Bienfaisant and Prudent; but as the boats ran alongside, the sentinels at the gangways of both battleships raised a loud alarm. The French crews rushed tumultuously from below, and the well-known British cheers, the clash of cutlasses, the rattle of musketry, and the confused uproar soon warned Louisbourg of what was happening in her fog-bound port. The city was instantly thrown into disorder. Threatened, it seemed, with an assault by land and sea, the consternation of the inhabitants almost developed into a panic, and some artillerymen increased the confusion by turning the guns of the harbour and Point Rochefort forts on the Bienfaisant and the Prudent.
... the Prudent, which lay so hard aground that she could not be moved, was set on fire after some small craft had been moored alongside for the escape of her crew.
... the spectacle of the Prudent burning fiercely on the harbour waters, with her brave seamen pouring over the sides into the vessels left for their escape, affected the French almost to tears. Tongues of crimson flame darting from her ports and hatchways, ascended with incredible rapidity to her lofty masts, blazed through the intricate riggings, enveloped the ponderous yards, and expanded into vivid sheets as the sails burst their lashings and took fire. Clouds of black smoke pouring from all parts of the ship hung like a pall over the harbour; her guns exploded, hurling destruction into the city; and the blackened ruins of the Prudent soon disfigured the sparkling waves. Flames burst intermittently from the hull until nearly eight o'clock; but at that hour the beautiful battleship was reduced to a mass of charred timber, and in her smouldering ruins expired the last hopes of Louisbourg."52

"Tuesday, 25th ... The Prudent set on fire and the Bienfaisant towed off to the northeast harbour by the boats of the fleet ... the Prudent being on ground obliged to set fire to her ... eleven officers ... and about 122 sailors out of the two were made prisoners." Gordon also writes that this was accomplished with little resistance from the French who kept below decks. There was some fire from the city once the French figured out was happening, "fired grape and musquetry, did not kill above seven and wounded about as many ..."53