Battle of Restigouche

Battle of Restigouche

After the fall of Québec in 1759, an urgent appeal was sent to France for 4000 troops and food supplies. Not until Apr 19 did 5 merchant ships and a frigate leave Bordeaux with 400 troops and some supplies. The frigate and 2 of the merchant ships reached the St Lawrence on May 15 only to find that a strong British fleet was already upriver. The commander, François Chenard Giraudais, sought refuge up the Restigouche; he set up gun batteries on the riverbanks and a boom across it, and there they were caught by Capt John Byron with a 70-gun ship and 2 frigates. The heavy British guns knocked out the shore batteries but not before the French gunners severely damaged the British ships in an artillery duel that raged all day. Eventually, when 2 of the French ships could no longer fight or float, they were set afire and their crews and the troops slipped away.