for
assistance, who promised to send five regiments of regular troops,
which, with 1,200 men, raised in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, were
to sail from Boston for Quebec. The fleet, with the five regiments on
board, never came to hand, having been sent to Portugal; but 1,800
colonists marched against Montreal, by way of Lake Champlain, and
penetrated as far as Wood Creek, where the news of the altered
destination of the fleet reached them and caused them to return. The
French Governor acted on the defensive. He made extraordinary
preparations for defence, which were needless, as the Iroquois Indians,
having quarrelled with the English, on the ground that Iroquois safety
consisted in the jealousies of the French and English, would not fight,
and the invaders retreated. Another application being made to the Queen
of England for protection, on the part of the New Englanders, Colonel
Nicholson came over with five frigates and a bomb ketch, and having
been joined by five regiments of troops from New England, he sailed
with the frigates and about twenty transports, from Boston, on the 18th
September, for Port Royal, which he captured and called, in honor of
his Queen, Annapolis. Animated with his success, Nicholson sailed for
England, to solicit another expedition to Canada. His request was
granted. Orders were immediately sent to the colonies to prepare their
quotas of men, and only sixteen days after the orders to that effect
were received, a fleet of men of war and transports, under Sir Hovenden
Walker, with seven regiments of the Duke of Marlborough's troops, and a
battalion of marines, under Brigadier General Hill, arrived at Boston.
The fleet had neither provisions nor pilots, but by the prompt
exertions of the colonists, 15 men of war, 40 transports, and 6
storeships, with nearly 7,000 men, sailed from Boston for Canada, while
Colonel, now General Nicholson, marched at the head of 4,000
provincialists, from Albany towards Canada. The fleet arrived in the
St. Lawrence on the 14th of August, (1710) but in proceeding up the
river the whole fleet was nearly destroyed. The pilots were ignorant of
the channels, and the winds were contrary and strong. About midnight of
the 22nd, a part of the fleet were driven among islands and rocks on
the north shore, eight or nine transports were cast away, and nearly
1,000 soldiers were drowned. The attempt to take Quebec was again
abandoned. The ships of war sailed directly for England