Deportation of the from fie St.-Jean, 1758

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By Earle Lockerby

eportation is a defining event in but immigration from Acadia over more deportation has appeared during the D Acadian history and has played than three decades gave an increasingly last 70 years. a profound role in shaping the Acadian Acadian complexion to the colony. By identity. The first deportation occurred 1758 a large portion of lie St-Jean's pop- in 1755 and involved 6,000 to 7,000 ulation was comprised of those who had End of an Era Acadians from the shores of the Bay moved from Acadia prior to the deporta- of Fundy in Nova Scotia and adjacent tion of 1755 or shortly thereafter. The fate of lie St.-Jean was sealed on areas. This event has largely overshad- The historiography of Acadian depor- 26 July 1758 when Governor Augustin owed an equally traumatic and tragic tation that has developed over the past deBoschenryde Drucour surrendered deportation three years later in Prince two centuries is extensive and, like the the fortress at Louisbourg, following Edward Island, then known as lie St.- events themselves, shaped by contest- weeks of bombardment by British forc- Jean. [Throughout the French regime ing perspectives. The deportation of es. Louisbourg had been the seat of the British generally referred to the 1755 has attracted the interest of many government not only for lie Royale, Island as St. John's Island or occasional- historians, some of whom have been (now Cape Breton) but also for lie St- ly as Isle St. John's.] Though lie St.-Jean partisan and controversial. That of 1758 Jean. Within days the British conquer- was a colony of France and Acadia was has been the subject of comparatively ors began to repatriate French nation- a colony of Britain,* to a large degree little historical attention. Research of als (mostly military and administrative these two deportations affected one peo- primary documentation relating to the personnel and some of the townspeople ple. Most of lie St-Jean's original set- deportation from lie St-Jean appears at Louisbourg) and to deport all others tlers in 1720 came directly from France, to have been confined to three or four from lie Royale and lie St.-Jean. On historians writing during the late 19th 8 August Lt. Col. Andrew Rollo was France ceded Acadia to Great Britain in 1713 as and early 20th centuries and has been ordered by the commander of British part of the Treaty of Utrecht. The British treated somewhat shallow and fragmentary. forces, Major General Jeffery Amherst, their new subjects quite generously at first, grant- In one or two cases the resulting work to proceed from Louisbourg to lie St- ing rights to language, religion and culture which is tinged with nationalistic overtones many citizens of the British Isles themselves which reflect the background of the were denied. It was only later that problems authors, a trait not uncommon among developed between Britain and its Acadian sub- "British Soldier" and "Acadian Settler", jects which ultimately led to their expulsion. historians of that era. Surprisingly, little or no new information on the Island's by David A. Webber.

17 Jean and arrange for the capitulation to rescind the deportation order — a England with other officers and military of its small French garrison. All of the request that was denied. personnel aboard HMS York. The civil- settlers and the garrison there were On 31 August the four transports ian population, probably all removed to be taken to Louisbourg where they and schooner headed off to Louisbourg from the shores of the Hillsborough would be transshipped to France. under convoy of the Hind, commanded River, were placed aboard a large trans- Under the convoy of the 24-gun HMS by Capt. Robert Bond. Of the 692 pas- port named Mary. Hind, a schooner and four transports sengers, approximately 130 are believed — King of Prussia, Bristol, Dunbar and to have been military and administrative Catherine — set out on 10 August for personnel and their families. In a letter Operation Expanded Port Lajoie, site of lie St.-Jean's garrison to the French minister responsible for and administrative headquarters. The colonization, Villejouin wrote that 4,000 Within a short time of arriving on lie St- vessels carried not only 500 soldiers settlers remained on the Island. Jean, Rollo learned that the Island's pop- but also materials for the construction The convoy arrived at Louisbourg ulation had been grossly underestimat- of a new fort at Port Lajoie which would on 4 September. Military personnel ed by British authorities at Louisbourg be christened Fort Amherst. Several were transferred to other vessels for who had apparently not been given emissaries of Drucour were sent with the trip to England as prisoners of war. accurate information by Drucour or the Hind to inform those on the Island Administrative personnel, their families his subordinates. Instead of finding an of the terms of capitulation and of the and other civilians were destined for anticipated 400 to 500 inhabitants, Rollo requirement to surrender. On 17 August France. Villejouin himself was sent to soon realized that he would need to the flotilla sailed into the harbour. The transport almost ten times this number. commander of the garrison, Gabriel The Hind's arrival Louisbourg alerted Rousseau de Villejouin, had been aware authorities there to the need for more for some days that Louisbourg had transports. On 8 September Admiral capitulated and that British vessels Edward Boscawen wrote in his journal would be on their way to Port Lajoie. that h e "order'd 13 Transports to be sup- He surrendered without firing a shot. plied with two months provisions... for 3450 French Prisoners to be received on board them at the Isle St. Johns." Three Arrests Begin days later he wrote that he ordered 14 transports to be convoyed by the The French garrison and administra- Hind to lie St.-Jean, to take aboard tive officials were among the first to be all the remaining French prisoners taken into custody. The first civilian and to proceed to St. Malo. The 14 prisoners, from along the Northeast vessels named by Boscawen were: (or Hillsborough River), were brought Briton, Duke William, John and Samuel, down on 19 August, along with "three Mathias, Neptune, Parnassus, Patience, 6 Pounders" — cannons removed from Restoration, Ruby, Supply, Tamerlane, a French gun emplacement at Battery Three Sisters, Violet and Yarmouth. Point where Miller's Creek joins the From the smallest {Restoration) to the Hillsborough River near modern-day largest {Duke William) they varied in Frenchfort. During the next week burden from 177 to 400 tons. schooner-loads of inhabitants from as The Hind, 14 transports, an unnamed far away as the head of the river were schooner and a snow set out from brought t o the waiting transports. While Louisbourg on 14 September but soon prisoners were being taken, work on encountered difficult weather. Squalls a new fort, directed by Lt. William and the grounding of one of the trans- Spry, was being undertaken by 150 ports delayed the flotilla's arrival at men, including two foremen, ten car- Port Lajoie until 3 October. Meanwhile penters, four masons, nine sodlayers it was decided that still more transports and two carters. Also during this time, were needed, and on 18 September two priests, Pierre Cassiet of the parish Boscawen ordered the Richard and of Saint-Louis-du-Nord-Est (centered Mary, Scarborough and Mary (not the in present-day Scotchfort) and Jean vessel of this name previously men- Biscarat of Saint-Pierre-du-Nord (St. tioned) to proceed to Port Lajoie and Peters Harbour) were allowed to travel place themselves under the command to Louisbourg to plead with officials of Capt. Bond. Throughout October Rollo's soldiers rounded up residents from along the Hillsborough River and its tributaries, 'Trench Soldier", by David A. Webber other rivers emptying into what is now French military personnel were sent to Charlottetown Harbour, the eastern England as prisoners of war. The tiny shores of Hillsborough Bay —in par- garrison surrendered without a fight. ticular the parish of Pointe-Prime which

18 was centered near the present Provincial the remaining transports, laden with her and set out for France at an earlier Park on Orwell Bay — and from the hapless, dejected deportees, were to set date. The vessels destined to France Pinette area. On the north shore inhab- sail for France. Squalls encountered in needed no armed escort since they itants were gathered up in the areas of the Strait drove ashore Tamerlane and sailed under flags of truce. In any Tracadie Bay, Savage Bay and St. Peters Parnassus. The Tamerlane was refloat- event those which left Port Lajoie Bay. While this occurred, crews of the ed but the Parnassus was declared a with the Hind departed Nova Scotia's Hind and the transports wooded and wreck. In addition, the Richard and Chedabucto Bay for France sometime watered their vessels and laid in sup- Mary, which was carrying British sol- in late November. Battered by pro- plies of beef taken from the inhabitants diers, struck a submerged rock near lie longed periods of exceedingly stormy — all needed in quantity by the trans- Madame and quickly sank. Fortunately, weather, not all succeeded in reaching ports for the long voyage to France. no lives were lost in any of these mis- European shores. The sinking of the Not all inhabitants submitted to haps. The Parnassus' passengers were Duke William and Violet with the loss British orders to turn themselves in. put aboard other transports bound for of almost all aboard, as these vessels Rollo informed Boscawen that "num- France and another of these vessels neared the English Channel, is one bers have fled to Canada and carried was diverted to Louisbourg with the aspect of the deportation which is rela- off great quantities of cattle by means stranded soldiers. tively well known. However virtually of 4 Schooners which ply from Magpec It is not known whether all of the nothing has appeared in the history [Malpec] to ye Continent." A schooner transports sent to Port Lajoie left with books concerning the fate of the other mounting six guns was assisting fugi- the Hind, or whether some preceded transports and their human cargo. tives to escape. Most, if not all of the fugitives escaped to the north shore tie _A;E&. of New Brunswick, principally the inner reaches of Chaleur Bay and the Miramichi area. As October drew to a close, so did the roundup operations. Among the last prisoners taken were Father Jacques Girard of Pointe-Prime and "a fair num- ber of inhabitants from my parish" who were embarked on the Duke William. A final count of the prisoners put aboard the transports was 2,415, not JL.JfUl cLw> loyi a including those sent to Louisbourg ear- en JRcmefs A M . lhiavv& t f?erre'c!e J Jfjk $%*& lier. However at least 600 inhabitants had to be left behind because of the lateness of the season and the need to get the transports en route to France. A few of these may have escaped depor- tation as a result of being sick or dis- eased, but the majority lived too far from Port Lajoie to be easily accessed by Rollo's troops. They were the resi- dents of Malpec parish on the west side of Malpeque Bay, a settlement which had already been somewhat depleted by evasion. Though unfinished, work on Fort Amherst had progressed to the point where Rollo felt that it could not be overcome without the aid of cannons. Before sailing he detached a garrison of between 150 and 190 soldiers under Capt. Johnson.

The Odyssey Begins The Hind eased her way out of the har- bour on 4 November, accompanied by j 2 a flotilla of transports, and headed for the Strait of Canso. From there, the French military authorities designed elaborate fortifications for several settlements, Hind, Briton and Richard and Mary including Harve St. Pierre and Port Lajoie. They were never built. were to proceed to Louisbourg, while

19 As it turned out, at least nine, prob- are all known. Also known are the 13 December the battle was recog- ably ten and possibly eleven transports names of a few passengers aboard a nized as hopeless. On this date Capt. safely crossed the Atlantic from Port transport which, having been driven Nichols, Father Girard and some 34 Lajoie. The Tamerlane was the first to off course, ended up at Boulogne. British sailors took their leave in the reach a French port; on 16 January, 54 Duke William's cutter and longboat, passengers disembarked at St. Malo. leaving the remainder to a horrible She was followed on 23 January by the Shipwrecks and Sinkings fate. Within about two days these small John and Samuel, Mathias, Patience, craft safely reached the western tip Restoration and Yarmouth which The loss of the Duke William and of Cornwall. Nichols and his fellow unloaded between 665 and 690 Violet found its way into popular his- deserters had left behind a third small passengers. Having run low on provi- torical lore through the survival of a craft, the Duke William's jolly boat. sions the Supply put in to the English rather lengthy published account of the Just before the transport sank on 13 December, four male passengers man- aged to launch the jolly boat in which ESTIMATED NUMBERS OF DEPORTEES AND FUGITIVES they safely made Falmouth. The num- ber of lives lost by the sinking of the Number of residents when Rollo arrived 4700 Duke William and Violet are not precise- General population 4600 ly known. Numbers provided by primary Military and government 100 sources vary between 300 and 400 for each vessel. Father Girard reported hav- Number deported 3100 ing lost all his papers, books and other General population 3000 effects which quite possibly included Military and government 100 Pointe-Prime's parish register. On or about 23 January the Ruby, Number who fled the Island * 1400-1500 carrying 310 passengers, ran ashore on the island of Pico in the Azores. It was Number remaining on the Island at mid-1759 100-200 reported that 120 French and 23 British were saved. A chartered Portugese schooner, the Sf Catherina, took 87 port of Bideford about 20 December. Duke William's voyage. This appears French passengers to Portsmouth For some unknown reason it was to have been based on a diary kept by where they arrived on 4 February. 2 March only when she reached St. the vessel's master, William Nichols. About a week later they were trans- Malo and discharged 140 passengers. According to this account, which is ferred to a French port. From records Neptune reached Portsmouth around clearly not accurate on all respects, giving the normal crew compliments of 23 December, her provisions virtually the Duke William, Violet, Yarmouth, the Duke William and Ruby, it appears exhausted and her passengers sick. Neptune, John and Samuel and Ruby that those saved in both cases included Soon after the vessel proceeded to a left Chedabucto Bay as a group on 25 all or virtually all of the crew. French port and landed her human November. Several days later stormy It is possible that one or even two cargo. The Three Sisters also succeeded weather dispersed the vessels. On 10 other transports were wrecked. Girard in reaching France without mishap. December the Duke William caught claimed in 1774 that one transport was The names, ages and family rela- sight of the Violet which was by then lost on the coast of Spain, but he may tionships of the passengers aboard the shipping water faster than it could be have been confusing Tamerlane, Supply and the five vessels pumped out. She sank on 12 December. this vessel with which arrived at St. Malo on 23 January There were no survivors. Prior to the Violets sinking, the heavy seas had breached the Duke "On 8 September, Admiral Boscawen William's.-.hull. Frantic pumping and wrote in his journal that he 'order'd bailing by hand enabled her to strug- 13 Transports to be supplied with two gle on for a time, but by months provisions...for 3450 French Prisoners to be received on board them at the Isle St. Johns."' Sketch by David A. Webber.

20 the Ruby. Also, Rev. Jean-Louis Le Loutre Compounding the passengers' predica- claimed in 1768 that three of the trans- ment were delays in being transferred ports sank on the high seas. No other to other vessels and sent to France. evidence has come to light of more than In part, these were occasioned by three transports being lost after leaving British navy personnel's fears of con- North America and in all probability tracting "distemper" from the passen- there were not more than three. gers, despite the surgeon's findings. Additionally, Admiral officials may have dragged their feet on account of an Other Misery expectation that official protests would be ultimately lodged by the French gov- Many historians have highlighted the ernment concerning the treatment of drowning of passengers on the Duke the Mary's passengers. It would appear William and Violet. As tragic as the loss that the surviving passengers of the of life by drowning was, the loss from dis- Mary were eventually taken on two ten- ease aboard the transports was undoubt- ders to Cherbourg in the latter half of edly even greater. The 600-ton Mary, November. which received 560 deportees in early In some cases whole families were September at Louisbourg, left that port wiped out. The mortality rate is known for St. Malo on 27 September. The trans- for the Mary, Tamerlane, Supply and, as port arrived off Portsmouth on a group, for the five transports which 31 October leaking badly, her pumps reached St. Malo on 23 January. For constantly straining, unable to continue these vessels it ranged from 10% for her voyage. A large number (perhaps the Tamerlane to 45% for the Mary. For most) of her passengers were said to be the other transports which crossed the suffering from a "Malignant Distemper" Atlantic without serious incident, an and many deaths had occurred en route. average mortality of 33% is a reason- Capt. Donaldson had buried 250 to able estimate and corresponds exactly 260 passengers at sea, mostly children. to the mortality on the five ships reach- Instead of finding an anticipated 400 Medical care and other assistance was ing St. Malo on the same date. - 500 inhabitants, the British realized soon provided to the ailing passengers, When estimates are combined with they would need transport for almost ten but an investigating surgeon could per- known data for deaths by drowning and times this number. The job of finding ceive nothing contagious regarding the disease, the picture which emerges is enough vessels late in the shipping sea- reported distemper. Rather, he indicat- that of Table 1. This would indicate that son fell to Admiral Edward Boscawen. ed, "Disorders seem to proceed more about half of those deported, or between from the want of the Necessaries of Life, 1,600 and 1,700 inhabitants, may have than any other thing." The passengers lost their lives before reaching Europe, drowning. In addition, it is known that were reported to be in a starving condi- and that considerably more died from many of those who reached France were tion and almost naked. illness than from immediately hospitalized there and that Evidence suggested Capt. Donaldson a significant number of these died from had not treated his passengers prop- disease contracted aboard ship. erly during the voyage, and also had been negligent toward them after their arrival in England.

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21 Local Aftermath The number of inhabitants who fled as 100 to 200, based on several reports the Island has been variously stated by deriving from the 1762-1764 period A small number of inhabitants of lie St- historians to be 600, about a thousand, from the surveyor Samuel Holland, Jean is known to have escaped deporta- 1,500 and "about a third of the popu- Governor Wilmot of Nova Scotia and tion simply by fleeing into the woods lation," none offering any documen- the commander at Louisbourg. The and hiding for some months. While a tary or other evidence to support their box "Estaimated Number of Deportees very few residents in the areas which assertions. One way to approximate and Fugitives" provides a summary were depopulated by the troops may the number of inhabitants who eluded of the population which was forcibly have successfully cached themselves, Rollo's soldiers is to subtract the num- removed, those who fled and those who the majority of those taking refuge in ber of deportees (about 3,100) from the remained. the forest were no doubt from various total population. A problem is that the outlying areas, in particular the remot- latter is not known with a high degree est major settlement, Malpec. For more of accuracy. The last reliable census Mythology than a century Acadian and other his- prior to the deportation was made in torians have claimed that those who 1753 and the population is known to Powerful, yet inaccurate A portrayals hid were virtually all from Malpec have expanded greatly after that. of the deportation from lie St-Jean and that from this nucleus of fugitives Rollo appears to have estimated that evolved in the late 19th and early 20th are descended practically all of the the population was 4,100, exclusive of centuries, and have stubbornly per- Acadians of . This the garrison and administrative ranks, sisted over the years. Created and ini- notion is now changing, at least in part, which, judging from his figures, seems to tially propagated by two or three writ- as a result of genealogical and other have numbered 132. In early September ers, these images derive more from research in recent decades. In fact a Villejouin wrote that 700 people (prob- assumption or imagination than from number of those who fled from the ably more accurately, 692) had been fact. They have then been reinforced Island are known to have trickled detained with him and that 4,000 more through repetition, as later authors take back after the Treaty of Paris remained to be deported, giving their cues from previous ones. As a in 1763, if not before.* a total of 4,700. result of these progressive distortions, In the spring of 1759 While Villejouin's 4,000 is errors and inaccuracies abound in the Governor Edward Whit- likely a round number esti- historiography of the deportation from more at Louisbourg mate, it ought to be more reli- IleSt-Jean. made a futile effort to able than other estimates, The 1758 deportation from lie St.- take into custody those considering that he was the Jean has been closely linked to, and con- inhabitants left behind most senior official on the fused with, events of the larger depor- by Rollo the previous Island, had lived there for tation from Acadia three years earlier. fall. Whitmore sent four years and during all Since the earlier deportation is better three vessels, two of that time struggled with known than the later one, it has been which were armed, the problems of feeding easy, though misleading, to conflate the with soldiers to relieve and housing a rapidly two. Characteristics of the earlier, e.g., the garrison which had expanding population. grossly overcrowded transports and the wintered at Fort Amherst Villejouin's number torching of homes, have erroneously and to take in the settlers probably did not allow been attributed to the later one. from the parish of Malpec. for those who had by It has been claimed, for example, When the vessels then fled the Island, but that the inhabitants of lie St.-Jean were reached Fort Amherst, they are believed to thrown pell-mell into overcrowded, old the garrison command- ^ have been quite and decrepit vessels of doubtful sea- er advised that a short few. worthiness. No evidence has been pre- time earlier the inhabit- If reckoned sented that the age of these vessels was ants in question had all as 4,700 minus on average greater than the average gone off to Canada. It is 3,100, the num- age of either British or French trans- more probable that most ber of settlers ports generally. Available evidence is of the parishioners had who avoided to the contrary. An inventory taken in in fact left the Island the deportation is Louisbourg in July 1758 shows that all previous year and that 1,600. The num- of the transports sent to lie St.-Jean those who remained ber French and were "fit for sea." Of the nine trans- merely again took Acadians who ports known to have safely reached refuge in the woods remained on Europe from Port Lajoie, five were still upon learning of the the Island may in active service with the Admiralty sev- approach of troops be estimated eral years after the deportation (four from Fort Amherst or Louisbourg. see "The Saga of Alexis Doiron," by Georges Arsenault - The Island Magazine #39, Spring- Summer, 1996.

22 "Acadian Woman and Family" and homes and other buildings. These por- of Acadians to lie St.-Jean after 1752 "Farmers and Oxen" by David A. Webber. trayals probably originate with care- and accompanying destitution, there "The inhabitants succeeded in establish- less extrapolations to lie St.-Jean of undoubtedly followed a considerable ing a new settlement based primarily on real events in Acadia. H.R. Casgrain, amount of "doubling up" — more than agriculture, where they could raise their a Quebec-born priest, seems to have one family under one roof. This prob- family, practice their religion and live as been the first to portray fiery scenes ably would have persisted to some French subjects. on lie St.-Jean in a book published degree until 1758. in 1894, the first major French lan- Moreover, it is known that Holland guage history of Prince Edward Island. did not enumerate all buildings. He were still in service in 1763). By 1762 Even its title — line Seconde Acadie — enumerated no mills at Malpec, for or 1763 at least four had crossed the is suggestive of such extrapolations. instance, yet surveyor Charles Morris Atlantic again one or more times. Some, Casgrain writes of dwellings, churches observed three mills were there in 1768 if not all, the remaining transports and priests' homes "being given up to — prior to British settlement Holland may have been put back into civilian the flames...nothing remained, abso- did not mention a church in Lot 39, use after being discharged from the lutely nothing but ashes: fire and sword which included the parish of Saint- Admiralty as surplus to its needs. consumed everything. "An Island priest, Pierre-du-Nord, or in Lot 36, including Were the vessels used to transport John MacMillan, in 1905 echoed many the parish of Saint-Louis-du-Nord-Est, the inhabitants of He St.-Jean overcrowd- of Casgrain's words in his history of though other sources indicate that the ed? By the standards of the day they the Catholic church in Prince Edward churches in these two parishes were were not. Nor would they have been Island. In the 1920s another Island his- still standing some years after the had they also carried all of the inhabit- torian, J.-H. Blanchard, wrote in pre- Holland survey was completed. ants who evaded deportation. One way cisely the same vein as Casgrain and There is not merely a lack of evi- to examine this issue is to consider MacMillan, using whole paragraphs dence that houses were burned. On the the number of passengers per ton of ves- taken verbatim from Casgrain. More contrary, there is strong evidence that sel burden (passenger/burden ratio). than half a dozen other writers have British authorities did not wish to have Ships bringing Scottish emigrants to continued the process until relatively property on lie St.-Jean destroyed, and the Maritimes in the 1770s typically had recent years, though the grandiloquent that Rollo's soldiers did not burn build- ratios of 0.8 to 1.0. The intended ratio for language has been toned down. ings. Just as entrenched, yet errone- the deportation from lie St.-Jean was 0.9 What happened with the buildings ous, as the notion that houses, church- passengers per ton of vessel. Because of on lie St.-Jean in 1758 is perhaps best es and other buildings were burned, the numbers who escaped deportation, related by people who were there or is the assertion that British officials the average ratio was in fact 0.6 as the were in some way involved. Whitmore ordered that they be burned. This has vessels left Port Lajoie. As a result of mis- wrote to the British prime minister: proved fertile ground for the develop- haps in the Strait of Canso and reassign- "...my Lord Rollo reports the Island to ment of a mythology of ruthlessness ing of shipwrecked passengers be a Rich Soil, a fine Country and well concerning British treatment of those to other vessels, the ratio worth being Settled for which Reason deported from lie St.-Jean. Casgrain, climbed, but was still less He has not Destroyed the Houses." In MacMillan and Blanchard have been than 0.8. These numbers 1764-5 Samuel Holland recorded the instrumental in creating and propagat- compare to an intended existence of 398 houses, two churches ing this image. It was reinforced in ratio of 2.0 for the and nine mills. This number of hous- the 1960s by Blanchard who wrote that deportation of 1755 ^ es would accommodate a population "in his orders to Lord Rollo, General and to ratios that in of 2,400 people, given the average Amherst stated that he would have reality were higher, size of a family on lie St.-Jean in the the settlements in the different parts reaching even 2.9 early . However, because of the Island absolutely destroyed." for one vessel. of heavy migration This misstatement results from The most flor- id of the mythic images relating to the depor- tation from lie St.-Jean con- cerns the fate of the churches, im Mr

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23 Sote 6yJlJZaMn?r^jranZa£rt&M0#&itt.jEkfy^ France during the 16th and 17th centu- ries culminated in Louis XIVs expulsion of approximately 400,000 Huguenots, which virtually wiped out Protestantism in that country. And any student modern of history will be well aware of the mass expulsions or "re-settling" of populations during the 20th century. The Acadian deportation is a gloomy chapter in the history of Prince Edward Island. If any positive element can be discerned from the deportation experi- ence, it is the role that it has played in fostering determination among its sur- vivors - a determination to rebuild and overcome adversity. It is these qualities which have enabled the Acadians of Prince Edward Island to establish them- selves as a vibrant community with a rich culture, contributing in full mea-

: lEngasml Bjf jl»eXo»4o»,^Ja|gra»me t/4g • :£&k^JK/?^'Z#j^?£^ sure to the quality of life and economic prosperity of the Province. The conquest ofLouisbourggave the British military control of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Sources confusion on two counts: confusion of Their troubles culminated with the Rollo with Whitmore and confusion British occupation and orders for their This paper draws from a wide variety of lie St.-Jean with lie Royale. In fact deportation in 1758. Slightly less than of primary sources, both British and Amherst's instructions to Rollo said one-third of the 4,700 residents reached French. Official records of the British nothing about burning or otherwise France, a little more than a third Colonial Office, War Office and destroying buildings or settlements. lost their lives through drowning and Admiralty, including the log of the Hind This may be contrasted with instruc- disease on their way to France, and and the journal of Admiral Boscawen, tions in 1758 to other British officers about one-third eluded their captors. have yielded much new information. who were ordered to destroy settle- By today's terms the deportation was Barrington's Remarkable Voyages and ments along the St. John River and at a harsh measure, but one cannot use Shipwrecks provided a detailed account Miramichi, Bay of Chaleur and Gaspe 20th century ethics to judge events of of the Duke William's transatlantic voy- — instructions which were executed. almost two and a half centuries ago. age. The Archives des Colonies, a subset The toll of disease aboard theAtrans- of France's Archives Nationales, have ports carrying the inhabitants of lie St- been useful - chiefly official correspon- Retrospective Jean was appalling, yet comparable to dence sent from Louisbourg and Quebec that experienced by the Acadians deport- to Paris and correspondence emanating Despite Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's ed in 1755. Moreover, such losses during from the office of the French minister depiction of Acadian life prior to the long voyages at sea were not unusual, responsible for colonization. Valuable, deportation as one of peace, bliss and both in British vessels and French. One also, are the compilations made by self-sufficiency, such a characterization doctor wrote in the mid-18th century Rieder of information which resides in was far from the truth on lie St.-Jean that "the number of seamen who died in the Archives of the Port of Saint Servan, during much of its 38 years as a French time of war by shipwreck, capture, fam- France, concerning the deportees who colony. The inhabitants succeeded in ine, fire or sword are but inconsiderable were embarked on the transports reach- establishing a new settlement based pri- in respect to such as are destroyed by ing St. Malo. De Roque's census of lie marily on agriculture, where they could the ship diseases..." Twenty-two French St-Jean taken in 1752 proved helpful. raise their families, practice their reli- naval vessels crossed from Louisbourg A large number of secondary sources gion and live as French subjects. At the to Brest in the fall of 1757, and during have been consulted and utilized, includ- same time they frequently experienced the voyage of only three weeks, some ing such writers of Island history as D.C. extreme hardship and even famine as a 2,000 men died of typhus. Harvey, AB. Warburton, J.C. MacMillan, result of crop failures. They also had to It is also important to bear in mind H.-R. Casgrain, J.-H. Blanchard and contend with the political instability of that deportation of the Acadians was Georges Arsenault. Similarly, the works the region, and could never rest assured not an unparalleled or unprecedented of many historians writing on the that lie St.-Jean would provide the secu- event, as portrayed by some writers. Acadians generally, including Edouard rity they sought to lead peaceful lives of In the 1490s, for instance, Isabella and Richard, Bona Arsenault and Naomi loyalty to the French king. Indeed, the Ferdinand of Spain expelled their king- Griffiths, have contributed. population of lie St-Jean came within a dom's entire Jewish population — one A much more detailed version of this hair of being deported in the mid-1740s that had been resident for over 500 years. article may be found in the Spring, 1998 following the first fall of Louisbourg. The religious wars and persecution in issue of Acadiensis. ifii

24 ESTIMATE OF DEATHS ABOARD SHIP OF DEPORTEES FROM lie ST.-JEAN

Transport Initial Complement Death by Death by Total Deaths of Passengers Disease and Drowning at Sea From lie St.-Jean Illness

Duke William 400 100 296 396 Violet 360 90 270 360 Ruby 310 77 113 190 Supply 165 25 25 John and Samuel \ Mathias \

Patience \ 1020 342 342 Restoration / Yarmouth /

Tamerlane 60 6 6

Mary 560 255 255

Other Transports 225 75 75

3100 970 679 1649

Note: This compilation does not allow for the possibility that one of the "Other Transports" was wrecked on the coast of Spain with the loss of life by drowning. The Mary referred to above is the transport which received passengers from lie St.-Jean at Louisbourg.

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25