Pierre Maisonnat dit Baptiste: Difference between revisions
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As a result of his success, Baptiste was given command of a fast warship named the Bonne. In early June 1694, Baptist arrived at [[Cape Sable, Nova Scotia]] and scattered the New England fishing fleet, taking five vessels into the Captital of Acadia on the St. John River.(p.31) He followed up this initiative in July by returning to Boston and sank a few vessels that were too small to be worthwhile prizes, while capturing three that were. Six months later, Janary 1695, he returned to St. John River with more prizes he had captured. In 1694, over a three month period he captured 10 vessels. Fear of Baptiste is reported to have keep 400 New England fishing vessels tired up guarding their coasts.<ref>(Roger Marsters. 2004.p.32) |
As a result of his success, Baptiste was given command of a fast warship named the Bonne. In early June 1694, Baptist arrived at [[Cape Sable, Nova Scotia]] and scattered the New England fishing fleet, taking five vessels into the Captital of Acadia on the St. John River.(p.31) He followed up this initiative in July by returning to Boston and sank a few vessels that were too small to be worthwhile prizes, while capturing three that were. Six months later, Janary 1695, he returned to St. John River with more prizes he had captured. In 1694, over a three month period he captured 10 vessels. Fear of Baptiste is reported to have keep 400 New England fishing vessels tired up guarding their coasts.<ref>(Roger Marsters. 2004.p.32) |
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</ref> All the English settlers fled from Coastal Maine to safety further south. |
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On May 24, 1695, returning from Boston with more prizes, Baptiste ran into a English war ship. Baptiste ran his vessel aground and fought. Cannon fire raged throughout the day, the English ship was crippling Bonne. Having lost the ship Bonne, Baptiste went ashore and walked to Villebon at Fort Nashwaak on the St. John River.<ref>(Roger Marsters. 2004.p.32-33) |
On May 24, 1695, returning from Boston with more prizes, Baptiste ran into a English war ship. Baptiste ran his vessel aground and fought. Cannon fire raged throughout the day, the English ship was crippling Bonne. Having lost the ship Bonne, Baptiste went ashore and walked to Villebon at Fort Nashwaak on the St. John River.<ref>(Roger Marsters. 2004.p.32-33) |
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=== Imprisonment in Boston === |
=== Imprisonment in Boston === |
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In May 1697, Villebon sent Baptiste to raid the New England ports. For a seond time Baptist was captured and imprisoned in Boston for over a year. Despite the official end of King William's War with the [[Treaty of Ryswick]], the New Englanders were reluctant to release Baptiste. |
In May 1697, Villebon sent Baptiste to raid the New England ports. For a seond time Baptist was captured and imprisoned in Boston for over a year. Despite the official end of King William's War with the [[Treaty of Ryswick]], the New Englanders were reluctant to release Baptiste. The European war ended in 1697 with the Treaty of Ryswick, but continued in New England for two more years. |
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Upon his release, in December 1698, Baptiste returned to Port Royal. Villebon made captain of a small coast guard' vessel and captain of the Militia at Port Royal.<ref>Murdoch, (p. 243)</ref> Baptiste was protecting Acadian fishing interests off of Acadia when he was captured in 1702 and imprisoned again on the eve of Queen Anne's War. |
Upon his release, in December 1698, Baptiste returned to Port Royal. Villebon made captain of a small coast guard' vessel and captain of the Militia at Port Royal.<ref>Murdoch, (p. 243)</ref> Baptiste was protecting Acadian fishing interests off of Acadia when he was captured in 1702 and imprisoned again on the eve of Queen Anne's War. |
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Revision as of 17:05, 16 March 2010
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Pierre Maisonnat dit Baptiste (born in Bergerac, France 1663, Died in Acadia after August 1714) was a French privateer famous for the success he had in defending Acadia against New England raids and privateers.[1]
King William's War
Battle of Port Royale (1690)
During King William's War, Baptiste fought in the Battle of Port Royal. On May 9, 1690 Sir William Phipps attacked the capital of Acadia Port Royal, Nova Scotia with a fleet of seven vessels and 700 men. Baptiste was among only 85 men defending an unfinished fortfication at Port Royal.[2] After spending 12 days pillaging Port Royal, the forces of New England went on to wreck havoc on the rest of Acadia, including: Castine, La Harve, Chedabucto and the settlements at the head of the Bay of Fundy. Baptist was taken prisoner along with other Acadians but shortly after escaped. [3] After the battle, governor of Acadia, Joseph Robineau de Villebon moved the capital of Acadia from Port Royal to Jemseg, New Brunswick at Fort Jemseg (1690) and then to Fort Nashwaak (also known as Fort St. Joseph) at present day Fredericton, New Brunswick (1692).
In the first half of 1691, he had siezed eight vessels.
The following year, 1691, Villebon, coming from Quebec with a small force, captured Port Royal and Edward Tyng, the English governor, was taken prisoner. The Treaty of Ryswick in 1697 officially returned Acadia to France.
The ship Bonne (1694-95)
Upon Baptiste return to Acadia, the Governor of Acadia de Villebon commissiioned him to protect Acadian interests as a privateer. Baptiste set off to prey on the busy and dangerous shipping lanes off Boston Harbour. On his first mission, he took eight ships, including a brigantine within site of Boston.[4]He received much praise from the Governor of New France Comte de Frontenac.
As a result of his success, Baptiste was given command of a fast warship named the Bonne. In early June 1694, Baptist arrived at Cape Sable, Nova Scotia and scattered the New England fishing fleet, taking five vessels into the Captital of Acadia on the St. John River.(p.31) He followed up this initiative in July by returning to Boston and sank a few vessels that were too small to be worthwhile prizes, while capturing three that were. Six months later, Janary 1695, he returned to St. John River with more prizes he had captured. In 1694, over a three month period he captured 10 vessels. Fear of Baptiste is reported to have keep 400 New England fishing vessels tired up guarding their coasts.[5] All the English settlers fled from Coastal Maine to safety further south.
On May 24, 1695, returning from Boston with more prizes, Baptiste ran into a English war ship. Baptiste ran his vessel aground and fought. Cannon fire raged throughout the day, the English ship was crippling Bonne. Having lost the ship Bonne, Baptiste went ashore and walked to Villebon at Fort Nashwaak on the St. John River.[6]
The d'Iberville Expedition (1696)
Raid of Pemaquid
In the summer of 1696, Baptiste lead Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville's Expedition out of Acadia to attack the strong holds on the New England coast. After havig captured two frigates at the mouth of St. John River, the first target was the vitally important port at Pemaquid, Maine (present day Bristol, Maine). The port was protected by Fort William Henry (also known as Fort Pemaquid).[7] Baptiste and the Expedition soundly destroyed the Fort and dismantled it. Governor of Acadia Villebon and the location of the Capital of Acadia at Fort Nashwaak on the St. John River became a source of torment for the settlers of New England.
Siege of Fort Nashwaak (1696)
Within weeks of the attack on Pemaquid, Maine, the New Englanders struck back. In 1696 an expedition under command of Major Benjamin Church (military officer) set out to destroy the Capital of Acadia and Fort Nashwaak (See Fort Nashwaak). Villebon had been alerted and prepared his defences. On October 18 the British troops arrived opposite the fort, landed three canons and assembled earthworks on the south bank of the Nashwaak River.[8] Baptiste was there to defend the the Capital.[9] Baptiste joined the Indians and put himself at their head for the duration of the siege. There was a fierce exchange of fire for two days, with the advantage going to the better sited French guns. The New Englanders were defeated, having suffered 8 killed and 17 wounded. The French lost one killed and two wounded.[10]
Raid of Casco Bay, Maine (1697)=
By withdrawing from the Siege of Fort Nashwaak, the British gave up two small boats. Baptiste used them to head to Grand Pre, Nova Scotia. While in Grand Pre he armed the vessels and recruited Acadian crew members to make a descent on the coast of Nova England. In March 1697 Baptiste had captured eight English fishing vessels within three leagues from Casco Bay.[11] Bapiste was was injured three times in raid, however, he was able to capture the vessels and took many prisoners. Two New England privateer ships arrived at the scene but Baptiste was able to beat them back and safety return to Grand Pre with his prizes.[12]
Imprisonment in Boston
In May 1697, Villebon sent Baptiste to raid the New England ports. For a seond time Baptist was captured and imprisoned in Boston for over a year. Despite the official end of King William's War with the Treaty of Ryswick, the New Englanders were reluctant to release Baptiste. The European war ended in 1697 with the Treaty of Ryswick, but continued in New England for two more years.
Upon his release, in December 1698, Baptiste returned to Port Royal. Villebon made captain of a small coast guard' vessel and captain of the Militia at Port Royal.[13] Baptiste was protecting Acadian fishing interests off of Acadia when he was captured in 1702 and imprisoned again on the eve of Queen Anne's War.
Queen Anne's War
Imprisonment in Boston
During Queen Anne's War, Queen Anne is reported to have ordered that no prisoners were to be exchanged and that Baptiste was to be hanged, because he was an officer of the garrison of Port Royal who had been made prisoner in the previous time of peace, and who had then failed to recover his freedom, on the ground of his being a pirate. On hearing this, Governor of Plaisance (Placentia), Newfoundland Jacques-François de Monbeton de Brouillan sent an express messenger to Boston, to declare to the governor that the he would retaliate if Baptiste was killed. This saved Baptiste's life.[14]
Baptiste was kept in strict seclusion on Castle Island (Massachusetts) until 1706.[15] New France and Acadia made significant efforts to get him back. One such effort was the Raid on Deerfield (1704), in which a significant New England prisoner was captured for exchange. Baptiste was eventually exchanged for the New England prisoner, the Rev. John Williams (Reverend). Difficulties in obtaining Baptiste's release, also lead to the delay in the return of another prominant prisoner, Acadian Noel Doiron.
Beaubassin
Baptiste eventually returned to Acadia in 1706 and for the rest of Queen Anne's War was made port Captain of the Acadian settlement of Beaubassin. He is reported to have served with distinction in the first Siege of Port Royal (1707). He sailed along the coast between Port Royal and to the French capital of Newfoundland Plaisance (present day Placentia, Newfoundland and Labrador). In 1709 and 1711 he participated in the arming of privateers in Piacenza.[16]
Because of his immense knowledge of the North Atlantic coasts, the governor of Plaisance (Newfoundland) Philippe Pastour de Costebelle consulted Baptiste on the site for the new settlement on Cape Breton Island, Louisbourg (1714).[17]
References
Primary Texts
- W. Austin Squires. Pierre Maisonnat dit Baptiste, Dictionary of Canadian Biography. 2000 University of Toronto / Université Laval
- Roger Marsters. 2004. "[Baptiste:] A Corsiar on the Border." Bold Privateers: Terror, Plunder and Profit on Canada's Atlantic Coast. pp. 25-36
- BAPTISTE WAS SAID TO HAVE A WIFE IN EVERY PORT Yarmouth Vanguard, March 14, 1989
- Beamish Murdoch. A History of Nova Scotia or Acadia. Vol.1, 1865. p. 215
Endnotes
- ^ Baptiste married an Acadian woman in Port Royal, Nova Scotia (c.1693). He seems to have already had a child with a woman in France, both of whom he brought from France to Acadia three years later (1696). His wife, Judith Soubiron, after giving birth in Acadia to two children, Pierre and Jean, died in Port Royal on Oct. 19, 1703, while Baptiste was imprisoned in Boston. Upon his return from Boston, on January 12, 1707, Baptiste remarried, this time a widow, Marguerite Bourgeois, born in Port Royal, the daughter of Jacques Bourgeois, first of the name in Acadia.
- ^ (Roger Marsters. 2004.p.28)
- ^ Clarence d'Entremont. Baptist the Rascal. Yarmouth Vanguard. March 7, 1989.
- ^ (Roger Marsters. 2004.p.30)
- ^ (Roger Marsters. 2004.p.32)
- ^ (Roger Marsters. 2004.p.32-33)
- ^ (Roger Marsters. 2004.p.33)
- ^ , near where the Fort Nashwaak Motel now stands
- ^ For details on the Siege see Beamish Murdoch, pp. 228-231
- ^ (Roger Marsters. 2004.p.34)
- ^ (Roger Marsters. 2004.p.35)
- ^ (Roger Marsters. 2004.p.35)
- ^ Murdoch, (p. 243)
- ^ Murdoch, p.255
- ^ Murdoch, p. 279
- ^ (Roger Marsters. 2004. p.36)
- ^ (Roger Marsters. 2004.p.36)