Day 14 - Battle of the Restigouche NHS

The Battle of the Restigouche was a naval battle fought in 1760 between the British and the French with help from the Acadians and Mi'kmaq. Prior to this battle Quebec City had fallen to the British on September 18, 1759 on the Plains of Abraham. However, the French were still present in New France. Several appeals to France for supplies and reinforcements went unnoticed or neglected.

On April 10 1760 the frigate Le Machault set sail along with five merchant ships carrying provisions and troops from Bordeaux. Finding that Quebec City had already fallen to the British, the French fleet sailed for Chaleur Bay taking shelter in the estuaries of the Restigouche River.

The British sailed from Louisburg arriving June 22 1760 at Chaleur Bay. They blockaded the river causing the French to move further upriver. The Le Machault scuttled some schooners as a barrier and turned broadside. The British were able to move around the sunken ships and confronted the French on July 3 1760.

On July 8 1760, after several days of battle the French commander gave the order to abandon ship and scuttle the Machault. The frigate sank ending the final naval engagement between France and Great Britain to take place in North American waters.

Blue is French & Red is British

After 200 years of being underwater archeologists were able to recover over 7,000 pieces of artifacts from the Machault between the summers of 1969 and 1972. Some of the hull pieces were well preserved and consequently recovered because of the muddy waters they were in.

The Stem

The orange represent the recovered part of the Machault in lower pics

A wool stocking, wool hat, leather shoe, & wool mitten 

Deadeyes & a cleat

Brass & copper pots with brass colander

Chinese porcelain

Oak barrel with salted pork contents dated 1760

Shoes

French 12 lb, 6 lb & 4 lb cast iron cannonballs marked with the fleur de lys

For a small museum it was extremely well laid out and very informative. We spent about 1-1/2 hours reading and touring around. Excellent Canadian history.

The red chairs are overlooking the Restigouche River where the battle occurred