British defenders agreed on the condition that they should be
sent to Boston which, as yet, had not heard of the war. Meanwhile
they were taken to Louisbourg where they kept their eyes open.
But the French continued in their offensive. The one vital place
held by the British in Nova Scotia was Annapolis, at that time so
neglected that the sandy ramparts had crumbled into the ditch
supposed to protect them, and cows from the neighboring fields
walked up the slope and looked down into the fort. It was
Duvivier, the captor of Canseau, who attacked Annapolis. He had
hoped much for help from the Indians and the Acadians, but,
though both seemed eager, both failed him in action. Paul
Mascarene, who defended Annapolis, was of Huguenot blood, which
stimulated him to fight the better against the Catholic French.
Boston sent him help, for that little capital was deeply moved,
and so Annapolis did not fall, though it was harassed during the
whole summer of 1744; and New England; in a fever at the new
perils of war, prepared a mighty stroke against the French.

This expedition was to undertake nothing less than the capture of
Louisbourg itself. The colonial troops had been so often reminded
of their inferiority to regular troops as fighting forces that,
with provincial docility, they had almost come to accept the
estimate. It was well enough for them to fight irregular French
and Indian bands, but to attack a fortress defended by a French
garrison was something that only a few bold spirits among them
could imagine. Such a spirit, however, was William Vaughan, a
Maine trader, deeply involved in the fishing industry and
confronted with ruin from hostile Louisbourg. Shirley, the
Governor of Massachusetts, a man of eager ambition, took up the
proposal and worked out an elaborate plan. The prisoners who had