ed near the shore at the head of the harbor. She
fired an alarm gun on sight of the "York." The English captain
brought his vessel to anchor under the lee of Partridge Island and
sent a detachment of men in a whale boat to reconnoitre. They were
fired upon by the French and Indians, and the French commander,
Boishebert, insisted that Cobb should quit the harbor, as it belonged
to the French king, and threatened to send his Indians to destroy
him and his crew. Nothing daunted, Cobb proceeded up the harbor in
his sloop until he discovered "a small fortification by a little
hill," where the French were assembled and had their colors hoisted.
Boishebert's forces included fifty-six soldiers and 200 Indians. He
summoned to his aid the inhabitants living on the river and they
responded to the number of fifty or sixty. The governor of Canada
had lately commissioned Joseph Bellefontaine, an old resident, to be
"major of all the militia of the River St. John,"[25] and it is to
the presumed he was active on this occasion. Cobb allowed himself to
be enticed on shore under a flag of truce, and was made a prisoner
and compelled to send an order to his vessel not to molest the French
brigantine. His mate, however, pluckily declined to receive the
order, and announced his determination to hold the French officers
who had come with the message until Cobb should be released. This
Boishebert was obliged to do and the commander of the "York," by way
of retaliation, took six prisoners from the French brigantine and
brought them to Halifax.

[25] The date of Joseph Bellefontaine's commission was April 10,
1749.

Capt. Dove did not reach St. John with the "Hound" until after the
"York" had left. He did not enter the harbor but sent his lieutenant
in a whale boat to investigate the state of affairs. The lieutenant's
experience was similar to that of Cobb. He was induced by Boishebert
to come on shore, was made a prisoner and only released on promising
that the six prisoners carried off by Cobb should be set at liberty.

In the autumn of the year 1750 Captain Rous, while cruising in the
"Albany," fell in with a French man-of-war and a schooner off Cape
Sable. The schooner had been sent from Quebec with provisions and
warlike stores for the Indians on the River St. John. Rous fired
several guns to bring the enemy to, but in response the ship cleared
for action and when the "Albany" ran up alongside of her, poured in a
broadside. A