It Was In Good Will That I
Mannadg'd All This For Him, And I Thought Hee Would Have Gon In
The Bark,
for hee knows that I offerrd it unto him; but having made the Englishman
that belong'd unto him,
And since chosen to stay with us, and in whom wee
put much confidence, to desire leave of me to goe along with Mr. Bridgar,
wee presently supposed, and wee were not deceived, that 'twas by his
perswasion this seaman desired to bee gon, & wee had some apprehension that
Mr. Bridgar might have some dessigne to trepan us by returning unto port
Nelson before us to surprise our people, wherunto the English seaman that
understood our business might have ben very servicable unto him. Having
therefore conferr'd amongst ourselves upon this Demand, wee resolv'd to
keep Mr. Bridgar and to take him along with us unto Quebeck. Wee caus'd him
to come out of the Bark and told him our resolution; wherat hee flew into
great passion, espetially against me, who was not much concerned at it. 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. IX. p. 221.]
Mr. Bridgar imbark'd himself on her with young Guillem for New England
against my mynde, for I advis'd him as a friend to imbark himself on the
ffrench shipps, which were ready to saile for Rocheil. I foretold him what
came to pass, that hee would lye a long while in New England for passage.
Wee parted good ffriends, & hee can beare me witnesse that I intimated unto
him at that time my affection for the English Intrest, & that I was still
of the same mynde of serving the King & the nation as fully &
affectionately as I had now serv'd the ffrench.
Eight or tenn days after my arrivall, Monsr. La Barre sent for me, to shew
me a letter hee had receaved from Monsr. Colbert by a man-of-warr that had
brought over some soldiers, by which hee writ him that those which parted
last yeare to make discoverys in the Northern parts of America being either
returned or would soon return, hee desired one of them to give the court an
account of what they had don, & of what setlements might bee made in those
parts; & the Governour told me that I must forthwith prepare myself to goe
sattisfy Monsr. Colbert in the business. I willingly accepted the motion, &
left my business in the hands of Monsr. De La Chenay, although I had not
any very good opinion of him, having dealt very ill by me; but thinking I
could not bee a looser by satisfying the prime Minister of state, although
I neglected my owne privat affaires, I took leave of Monsr.
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