Charles, where vessels were to meet them, and
protect them as they crossed the river and attacked the town in the rear
--help that never came. For Phips, impatient, spent his day in a
terrible cannonading, which did no great damage to the town--or the
cliff. It was a game of thunder, nothing worse, and Walley and Gering
with their men were neglected.
The fight with the ships began again at daybreak. Iberville, seeing
that Walley would not attack, joined Sainte-Helene and Maricourt at the
battery, and one of Iberville's shots brought down the admiral's
flagstaff, with its cross of St. George. It drifted towards the shore,
and Maurice Joval went out in a canoe under a galling fire and brought it
up to Frontenac.
Iberville and Sainte-Helene concentrated themselves on the Six Friends--
the admiral's ship. In vain Phips's gunners tried to dislodge them and
their guns. They sent ball after ball into her hull and through her
rigging; they tore away her mainmast, shattered her mizzenmast, and
handled her as viciously as only expert gunners could. The New Englander
replied bravely, but Quebec was not destined to be taken by bombardment,
and Iberville saw the Six Friends drift, a shattered remnant, out of his
line of fire.
Pages:
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26