Wee
Caus'd Him To Come Into Our Vessell, And Wee Tould His People That They May
Proceed On Their Voyage
Without him, and hee should come along with us;
after which wee took in our graple Irons from off the
Ice, seeing the sea
open to the westward and the way free'd to saile. Wee were distant about
120 leagues from the bottom of the Bay when wee parted from the Bark, who
might easily have got ther in 8 days, and they had Provisions on board for
above a month, vizt, a Barrill of Oatmealle, 42 double peeces of Beeff, 8
or 10 salt gees, 2 peeces of Pork, a powder Barrell full of Bisket, 8 or 10
pounds of powder, & 50 pounds of short. I gave over & above, unknown to my
Brother-in-Law, 2 horns full of Powder & a Bottle of Brandy, besides a
Barrill they drank the evening before wee parted. I made one of the new
England seamen to goe on board the Bark to strengthen the crew, many of
them being sickly.
Being got out of the Ice, having a favorable wind, wee soon got into the
straights, where through the negligence or the ignorance of one of our
French pilots and seamen, the English being confin'd in the night, a storm
of wind & snow drove us into a Bay from whence wee could not get out. Wee
were driven a shoare without any hopes of getting off; but when wee
expected evry moment to be lost, God was pleased to deliver us out of this
Danger, finding amongst the Rocks wherin wee were ingadg'd the finest
Harbour that could bee; 50 shipps could have layn there & ben preserv'd
without Anchor or cable in the highest storms. Wee lay there 2 days, &
having refitted our shipp wee set saile & had the wether pretty favorable
untill wee arriv'd at Quebeck, which was the end of 8ber. As soon as ever
wee arriv'd wee went unto Monr La Barre, Governor of Cannada, to give him
an Account of what wee had don. Hee thought fit wee should restore the
shipp unto the new England Merchants, in warning them they should goe no
more unto the place from whence shee came. [Footnote: This restoration did
not meet with the approval of Monsr. de Seignelay, for he wrote to Govr. De
la Barre, 10th April, 1684: "It is impossible to imagine what you meant,
when of your own authority, without calling on the Intendant, and without
carrying the affair before the Sovereign council, you caused to be given up
to one Guillin, a vessel captured by the men named Radisson and des
Grozelliers, and in truth you ought to prevent the appearance before his
Majesty's eyes of this kind of proceeding, in which there is not a shadow
of reason, and whereby you have furnished the English with matter of which
they will take advantage; for by your ordinance you have caused a vessel to
be restored that according to law ought to be considered a Pirate, having
no commission, and the English will not fail to say that you had so fully
acknowledged the vessel to have been provided with requisite papers, that
you had it surrendered to the owners; and will thence pretend to establish
their legitimate possession of Nelson's river, before the said Radisson and
des Grozeliers had been there." New York Colonial MSS., Vol.
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