The Fortress of Louisbourg is a tourist attraction as a National Historic Site and the location of a one-quarter partial reconstruction of an 18th-century French fortress at Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. Its two sieges, especially that of 1758, were turning points in the Anglo-French struggle for what today is Canada.
HMS Vanguard was a 70-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 16 April 1748. She was built by Philemon Ewer at his East Cowes yard on the Isle of Wight to the draught specified by the 1745 Establishment, at a cost of £8,009. She was the fourth vessel of the Royal Navy to bear the name Vanguard.
Augustin de Boschenry de Drucour or de Drucourt was a French military officer, who led the French defence in the Siege of Louisbourg.
Bienfaisant was a 64-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, launched in 1754.
The siege of Louisbourg was a pivotal operation of the French and Indian War in 1758 that ended French colonial dominance in Atlantic Canada and led to the subsequent British campaign to capture Quebec in 1759 and the remainder of New France the following year.
The siege of Louisbourg took place in 1745 when a New England colonial force aided by a British fleet captured Louisbourg, the capital of the French province of Île-Royale during the War of the Austrian Succession, known as King George's War in the British colonies.
Aréthuse was a French frigate, launched in 1757 during the Seven Years' War. She was captured by the Royal Navy in 1759 and became the fifth-rate HMS Arethusa. She remained in Royal Navy service for twenty years until she was wrecked after being badly damaged in battle.
HMS Defiance was a 58-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built to the dimensions laid out in the 1741 proposals of the 1719 Establishment at Deptford, and launched on 12 October 1744.
The Raid on Canso was an attack by French forces from Louisbourg on the British outpost Fort William Augustus at Canso, Nova Scotia shortly after war declarations opened King George's War. The French raid was intended to boost morale, secure Louisbourg's supply lines with the surrounding Acadian settlements, and deprive Britain of a base from which to attack Louisbourg. There were 50 English families in the settlement. While the settlement was utterly destroyed, the objective failed, since the British launched an attack on Louisbourg in 1745, using Canso as a staging area.
Louis-Joseph Beaussier de Lisle was a career naval officer from one of the oldest families of Toulon, France.
Jean Vauquelin was a French naval officer.
Joseph de Bauffremont, Prince of Listenois (1714–1781), was a member of the Bauffremont family, and a French Navy officer under Louis XIV. He was a commander in the Seven Years' War. On 16 March 1757 his squadron captured the 50-gun HMS Greenwich, commanded by Captain Robert Roddam, off Saint-Domingue.
The Battle of Cartagena took place on 28 February 1758 off the Spanish port of Cartagena during the Seven Years' War. A British fleet under Henry Osborn, which had blockaded a French fleet in Cartagena, attacked and defeated a French force under Michel-Ange Duquesne de Menneville coming to their assistance.
Scatarie Island is an island in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located off the coast of Baleine, Cape Breton Island.
HMS Hind was a 24-gun sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy.
Several ships of the French Navy have borne the name Prudent or Prudente:
The action of 29 April 1758 was a naval engagement fought in the Bay of Biscay near Brest between a British Royal Navy squadron and a single French Navy ship of the line during the Seven Years' War. In an attempt to support the garrison of Louisbourg, who were facing an impending siege, the French Atlantic Fleet sent a number of squadrons and ships to sea during the spring of 1758. To intercept these ships, Royal Navy squadrons maintained a close blockade of their main port at Brest. In April a British squadron including HMS Intrepid, HMS Dorsetshire and HMS Achilles was cruising off the French Biscay Coast when a lone sail was sighted to the southwest. Dorsetshire, commanded by Captain Peter Denis was sent to investigate, discovering the ship to be the French ship of the line Raisonnable sailing to Louisbourg. In a fierce battle, Dorsetshire managed to inflict heavy casualties on the French ship and force her captain, Louis-Armand-Constantin de Rohan, to surrender.
Hardi was a 64-gun ship of the line of the French Navy.
Apollon was an 18th-century ship of the line in service with the Royal French Navy. She was launched in 1740 at Rochefort as a two-decked ship of the line of the Vaisseaux de 50 class of warships. During her career, she was armed with between 50 and 58 canon. During the War of the Austrian Succession, she engaged and captured the 45-gun HMS Anglesea after the British ship was rendered inoperable. Apollon was scuttled in Louisbourg Harbor to prevent her from falling into British hands during the Siege of Louisbourg (1758). The remains of the warship, along with several other ships in wrecked in Louisbourg harbor, were later salvaged by the citizens of Louisbourg and used as building materials.
France