Note 291 — Chapter II · (continued 2)

A Boston fisherman, who had seen the burning fort at Canseau, gave the colonies notice of the outbreak of the war. Shirley at once sent a message to Gov. Mascarene at Annapolis to hold out till he could be reinforced. The messenger being captured, the French vessels had time to escape before Capt. Edward Tyng, who left Boston July 2d with a force, could arrive. He reached Annapolis July 4, to find Le Loutre and his Indians besieging the town. The enemy withdrew; Tyng threw men into the fort, and by the 13th was back in Boston. Capt. John Rouse, the Boston privateersman, had also been sent off during the summer, and had made havoc among the French fishing stations on the Newfoundland shore.