Читать книгу Phantom Ships - Susan Ouriou - Страница 29

The port of Louisbourg could be called the key to the French and British colonies in North America. Control of the port would make the king of Great Britain ruler of the entire northern continent as far south as the French settlements along the Mississippi (Louisiana). With an influx of British subjects, given this country’s healthy climate, within one or two centuries it could become as populated as France and serve as a foundation for the superiority of British power over the European continent.

– Shirley, Governor of Massachusetts

Joseph was on watch duty on November 30th in the sentinel box at the Dauphine demi-bastion. He stood guard for one hour as prescribed by the winter schedule; that was quite long enough for him to be chilled through and through despite a few swigs of alcohol. It had been a particularly miserable day. The sea fog had never lifted, a light drizzle drenched him to the bone, and the wind whipped the coastline and cut off the tops of scraggy spruce trees. Around noon, huge gusts of wind blew and the sea pounded the capes. Late in the afternoon, the gusts died down and wet snow blanketed the ramparts. The snow fell in heavy flakes driven horizontally by a wind so strong it cut one’s breath off. It was hard to imagine a more turbulent, melancholy landscape. All day long, the port was busy gearing up for the departure for France of four thousand men and fifty-three ships, including four warships and six huge ships belonging to the Compagnie des Indes; the convoy would take advantage of the cover of darkness to sail unseen past the English cannons.

It was about time, Joseph thought. The level of rationing was getting to be quite alarming

Joseph counted the ships as they left the port and wondered why he wasn’t leaving on one of them. Off to see and touch Emilie, to come full circle, break the spell. The question lingered in his mind as he watched the unending procession of ships vanish into the night.

* * *

Joseph had matured over the long months spent rubbing shoulders with other soldiers and witnessing plots being hatched and unravelling on a daily basis. He was sick of seeing the officers and gentry getting rich on the backs of the soldiers and people; the injustice appalled him. “They’re con artists getting rich at the colony’s expense,” he concluded. Troop morale was at its lowest point, and the horrid weather only made matters worse. What’s more, the stench of rancid cod wafted constantly over the ramparts. Tension increased another notch when, a few days before Christmas, the soldiers received their bimonthly rations. The peas and dry beans for the soup had gone bad and caused illness and diarrhea. “Fresh vegetables are being hoarded for the people with money,” was the word in the barracks. When the officers requisitioned the wood the soldiers had chopped to heat the barracks, it was as though they’d thrown a match into a woodpile. This was intolerable! Wood was as important as bread in the winter.

* * *

Joseph was on duty on the evening of December 26th at the mansion of the Governor Louis du Pont du Chambon. During the festivities, they needed enough wood to heat the fireplaces. Joseph was able to watch “high society” in action and see the distance that separated him from them. All kinds of beautiful people paraded through the mansion: members of the council and the bailiwick, the entire Admiralty, the king’s scribe, the king’s engineers and surveyors and, of course, the officers, who were all members of the aristocracy. Governor du Chambon was the successor to DuQuesnel, who had died in October. Du Chambon’s wife was the beautiful Jeanne Mius d’Entremont. The new governor had lost his soldiers’ respect because of his minimal expertise in the art of war and his underhanded money-making deals. The soldiers couldn’t forgive him for having appointed his three sons and four nephews to command positions.

Between two trips to fetch wood, Joseph caught a glimpse of the infantry captain Joseph DuPont Duvivier, the richest man in Louisbourg, wiping his brow with an embroidered handkerchief. The gentleman – whose wealth came from his ownership of fertile lands in the county of Cognac -was not in a festive mood; he was worried about his defeat at Port-Royal when a victory would have bathed him in glory! He blamed Captain Michel de Gannes, who was busy playing pool right then, for his expedition’s failure. As for De Gannes, his thoughts too were on his dispute with Duvivier, whom he hated passionately for his slandering tongue and the underhand dealings that had allowed him to monopolize fishing operations. But the most noteworthy guest was without doubt Commissaire-Ordonnateur François Bigot, responsible for the day-to-day administration of Louisbourg, economic policies, and issues of civil law, as well as guardian of the public treasury. Everyone knew that he used public funds to reproduce in Louisbourg the pomp of Versailles, and the soldiers suspected him of holding back from their pay the money he needed to fund repairs to the fortifications.