pe-Breton. The general himself reserved near sixteen thousand for
the reduction of Crown-Point, a fort situated on lake Champlain; eight
thousand under the conduct of brigadier-general Forbes, were allotted
for the conquest of Fort du Quesne, which stood a great way to the
southward, near the river Ohio; and a considerable garrison was left at
Annapolis, in Nova-Scotia. The reduction of Louisbourg and the island of
Cape-Breton being an object of immediate consideration, was undertaken
with all possible despatch. Major-general Amherst being joined by
admiral Boscawen with the fleet and forces from England, the whole
armament, consisting of one hundred and fifty-seven sail, took
their departure from the harbour of Halifax, in Nova-Scotia, on the
twenty-eighth of May; and on the second of June part of the transports
anchored in the bay of Gabarus, about seven miles to the westward of
Louisbourg. The garrison of this place, commanded by the chevalier
Dru-cour, consisted of two thousand five hundred regular troops, three
hundred militia, formed of the burghers, and towards the end of the
siege they were reinforced by three hundred and fifty Canadians,
including threescore Indians. The harbour was secured by six ships of
the line, and five frigates,* three of which the enemy sunk across
the harbour's mouth, in order to render it inaccessible to the English
shipping.

* The Prudent, of seventy-four guns; the Entreprenant, of
seventy-four guns; the Capricieux, Celebre, and Bienfaisant,
of sixty-four guns each; the Apollo, of fifty guns; the
Cheyre, Riche, Fidelle, Diana, and Echo, frigates.

The fortifications were in bad repair, many parts of them crumbling down
the covered way, and several bastions exposed in such a manner as to
be enfiladed by the besiegers, and no part of the town secure from the
effects of cannonading and bombardment. The governor had taken all the
precautions in his power to prevent a landing, by establishing a
chain of posts, that extended two leagues and a half along the most
inaccessible part of the beach; intrench-ments were thrown up, and
batteries erected; but there were some intermediate places, which could
not be properly secured, and in one of these the English troops were
disembarked. The disposition being made for landing, a detachment, in
several sloops under convoy, passed by the mouth of the harbour towards
Lorembec, in order to draw the enemy's attention that way, while