Philadelphia, June 6. 1745
As the Cape-Breton Expedition is at present the Subject of most Conversations, we hope the following Draught (rough as it is, for want of good Engravers here) will be acceptable to our Readers; as it may serve to give them an Idea of the Strength and Situation of the Town now besieged by our Forces, and render the News we receive from thence more intelligible.7
Cape-Breton Island, on which Louisburgh is built, lies on the South of the Gulph of St. Lawrence, and commands the Entrance into that River, and the Country of Canada. It is reckon’d 140 Leagues in Circuit, full of fine Bays and Harbours, extreamly convenient for Fishing Stages. It was always reckon’d a Part of Nova-Scotia. For the Importance of this Place see our Gazette, No. 858.8
As soon as the French King had begun the present unjust War against the English, the People of Louisburgh attack’d the New-England Town of Canso, consisting of about 150 Houses and a Fort, took it, burnt it to the Ground, and carried away the People, Men, Women and Children, Prisoners.9
They then laid Siege to Annapolis Royal, and would have taken it, if seasonable Assistance had not been sent from Boston.1
Mr. Duvivier 2 went home to France last Fall for more Soldiers, &c. to renew that Attempt, and for Stores for Privateers, of which they proposed to fit out a great Number this Summer, being the last Year unprovided: Yet one of their Cruisers only, took 4 Sail in a few Days, off our Capes, to a very considerable Value. What might we have expected from a dozen Sail, making each 3 or 4 Cruises a Year? They boasted that during the War they should have no Occasion to cut Fire Wood, for that the Jackstaves of English Vessels would be a Supply sufficient. It is therefore in their own Necessary Defence, as well as that of all the other British Colonies, that the People of New-England have undertaken the present Expedition against that Place, to which may the God of Hosts grant Success. Amen.
7. Here follows a “Plan of the Town and Harbour of Louisbourgh” with an explanatory key. This is the first news illustration to appear in the Gazette. Four days later, June 10, James Parker printed the same map and key in his New-York Weekly Post-Boy, apparently using the identical block. The source for the map and the maker of the cut are unknown.
8. The Gazette of May 23 devoted nearly a column to an essay by an unknown author on Cape Breton and the strategic and economic advantages to be gained by the capture of Louisbourg. The same article had appeared in Parker’s New-York Weekly Post-Boy, May 20. Internal evidence suggests that the piece may have been based on a much longer paper written in London, April 9, 1744, by Robert Auchmuty, vice-admiralty judge of Boston, entitled “The Importance of Cape-Breton to the British Nation.” 1 Mass. Hist. Soc. Colls., V, 202–5.
9. Canso, or Canseau, at the extreme northeastern tip of the Nova Scotia mainland, was an important fishing station of the British colonists. The French commander at Louisbourg, who learned of the declaration of war by France four weeks before the news reached Boston, dispatched a small expedition against Canso, about 70 miles away, which captured the place on May 24, 1744, destroyed the blockhouse, and carried the garrison and inhabitants as prisoners to Louisbourg.
1. Within a month after learning of the declaration of war Governor Shirley of Massachusetts dispatched reinforcements to Annapolis Royal on the Bay of Fundy, the principal British post in Nova Scotia. The New Englanders arrived in time to help the commander, Paul Mascarene, and his small garrison to withstand an Indian attack in July 1744, and a more formidable siege conducted by forces from Louisbourg in the late summer and early fall.
2. Captain Duvivier, aide-major of Louisbourg, led the expeditions against both Canso and Annapolis Royal.
3. The French surrendered Louisbourg June 17.
https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-03-02-0024