and seldom returned without bringing in their
wake some captured coaster or luckless fisherman hailing from the
colony of the Puritans. When the depredations of the privateers became
unbearable, Massachusetts bestirred herself, and the doughty Phipps
was sent with an expedition to reduce their unneighborly neighbor to
subjection. Seven vessels and two hundred and eighty-eight men were
put under the command of the lucky treasure-hunter. The expedition was
devoid of exciting or novel features. Port Royal was reached without
disaster, and the governor surrendered with a promptitude which should
have won immunity for the people of the village. But the Massachusetts
sailors had not undertaken the enterprise for glory alone, and they
plundered the town before taking to their ships again.

This expedition, however, was but an unimportant incident in the naval
annals of the colonies. It was followed quickly by an expedition of
much graver importance.

When Phipps returned after capturing and plundering Port Royal, he
found Boston vastly excited over the preparations for an expedition
against Quebec. The colony was in no condition to undertake the work
of conquest. Prolonged Indian wars had greatly depleted its treasury.
Vainly it appealed to England for aid, but, receiving no
encouragement, sturdily determined to undertake the expedition
unaided. Sailors were pressed from the merchant-shipping. Trained
bands, as the militia of that day was called, drilled in the streets,
and on the common. Subscription papers were being circulated; and
vessel owners were blandly given the choice between voluntarily
loaning their vessels to the colony, or having them peremptorily
seized. In this way a fleet of thirty-two vessels had been collected;
the largest of which was a ship called the "Six Friends," built for
the West India trade, and carrying forty-four guns. This armada was
manned by seamen picked up by a press so vigorous, that Gloucester,
the chief seafaring town of the colony, was robbed of two-thirds of
its men. Hardly had Capt. Phipps, flushed with victory, returned from
his Port Royal expedition, when he was given command of the armada
destined for the capture of Quebec.

Early in August the flotilla set sail from Boston Harbor. The day was
clear and warm, with a light breeze blowing. From his flag-ship Phipps
gave the signal for weighing anchor, and soon the decks of the vessels
thickly strewn about the harbor resounded to the