* * *

Sir Hovenden Walker's armada set sail from Boston harbour on the 30th
of July, 1711, fore-doomed, through the incapacity of its leader, to
the most ignominious failure yet befalling any expedition against
Quebec. By reason of his former mission to Canada, Colonel Vetch had
been commanded to accompany the fleet, and his _Journal of a Voyage
Designed to Quebec_ furnishes the mournful details of this ill-fated
enterprise.

By the Admiral's direction, Vetch was on board the _Sapphire_, the
smallest of the frigates, with orders to pick out the safe channel for
the rest of the fleet; and although but a landsman, he did his best to
act as a pilot. All went well until they reached the wide mouth of the
St. Lawrence. There, instead of depending upon one of the smaller
ships to lead the way, the Admiral imprudently sailed with his
flag-ship in the van. By a singular want of judgment, moreover, he
chose to follow the channel north of the Island of Anticosti.

In the fairest of weathers this reef-strewn passage is full of peril,
and a dense fog enveloped the fleet on that disastrous August evening.
Although advised to anchor until the fog should lift, the Admiral
scoffed at fear. Driven by a whistling wind, the ships of the line
leaped forward, shaping a course north-north-west, until suddenly the
sound of breakers burst upon them; and as if in relentless mockery,
the rising moon lit up the angry reefs of Egg Island. Helms were put
hard down, and the Admiral's vessel swung round to the wind; but eight
of the tall battleships were too late to avoid their doom. Eight
hundred and eighty-four persons were drowned, thirty-four of these
being women.

A council of war was held three days later, but instead of pressing on
up the river with the rest of the ships, Sir Hovenden Walker and
Brigadier Hill,[22] the commander of the forces, decided to abandon
the expedition. The _Sapphire_ was despatched to Boston to recall the
land force; and on the shores of Lake Champlain these inglorious
orders overtook the sturdy Nicholson, who regretfully led his column
back to Albany.

Meanwhile, Quebec had awaited this her third siege in a fever of
anxiety. Vaudreuil had disposed a thousand men, under De Ramezay, at
the new stone fort at Chambly to check the invasion by land, and
strengthened the city with all available forces, regular and
irregular. The _habitants_ of the long Cote de Beaupre had hidden
away their goods, and flock