waited impatiently for the retarded
ships. No order had come from England for raising men, and the colonists
resolved this time to risk nothing till assured that their labor and
money would not be wasted. At last, not in March, but in July, the ships
appeared. Then all was astir with preparation. First, the House of
Representatives voted thanks to the Queen for her "royal aid." Next, it
was proclaimed that no vessel should be permitted to leave the harbor
"till the service is provided;" and a committee of the House proceeded
to impress fourteen vessels to serve as transports. Then a vote was
passed that nine hundred men be raised as the quota of Massachusetts,
and a month's pay in advance, together with a coat worth thirty
shillings, was promised to volunteers; a committee of three being at the
same time appointed to provide the coats. On the next day appeared a
proclamation from the governor announcing the aforesaid
"encouragements," calling on last year's soldiers to enlist again,
promising that all should return home as soon as Port Royal was taken,
and that each might keep as his own forever the Queen's musket that
would be furnished him. Now came an order to colonels of militia to
muster their regiments on a day named, read the proclamation at the head
of each company, and if volunteers did not come forward in sufficient
number, to draft as many men as might be wanted, appointing, at the same
time, officers to conduct them to the rendezvous at Dorchester or
Cambridge; and, by a stringent and unusual enactment, the House ordered
that they should be quartered in private houses, with or without the
consent of the owners, "any law or usage to the contrary
notwithstanding." Sailors were impressed without ceremony to man the
transports; and, finally, it was voted that a pipe of wine, twenty
sheep, five pigs, and one hundred fowls be presented to the Honorable
General Nicholson for his table during the expedition.[143] The above,
with slight variation, may serve as an example of the manner in which,
for several generations, men were raised in Massachusetts to serve
against the French.

Autumn had begun before all was ready. Connecticut, New Hampshire, and
Rhode Island sent their contingents; there was a dinner at the Green
Dragon Tavern in honor of Nicholson, Vetch, and Sir Charles Hobby, the
chief officers of the expedition; and on the eighteenth of September the
whole put to sea.

On the twenty-fourth the squadron sa