Baleine, Nova Scotia
Encyclopedia
Baleine is a community in the Canadian
province of Nova Scotia
, located in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality on Cape Breton Island
. The community is perhaps best known as the landing site for pilot Beryl Markham
's record flight across the Atlantic Ocean (See Memorial Plaque to Record Flight).
took Quebec City
, Sir James Stewart of Killeith, Lord Ochiltree
planted a colony on Cape Breton Island
at Baleine, and Alexander’s son, William Alexander, 1st Earl of Stirling
established the first incarnation of “New Scotland”
at Port Royal, Nova Scotia
. This set of British triumphs which left only Cape Sable (present-day Port La Tour, Nova Scotia
) as the only major French holding in North America was not destined to last. Charles 1’s hast to make peace with France on the terms most beneficial to him meant that the new North American gains would be bargained away in the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1632)
.
Ochiltree arrived at Baleine with 60 Brownist
s and built Fort Rosemar. It was a military colony, one that owed its origins to the exigencies of war, not a permanent agricultural settlement. Ochiltree's primary objective was to erect a mlitary post to assert Charles 1 claims, and by extension the rights of the Merchant Adventures to Canada, in a crucial theatre that linked the St. Lawrence with Nova Scotia. Ochiltree's party carried a heftey supply of guns, ammunition, and heavy artillery. One of the first acts was to attack and capture a sixty-ton Portuguese barque that they found at anchor near the site of their proposed settlement. The ship was dismantled and stripped of its cannon, which were then used as additional artillery to guard Fort Rosemar. Ochiltree proceeded to capture French fishing vessels off the shores of Cape Breton.
During this time when Nova Scotia briefly became a Scottish Colony, there were three battles between the Scots and the French: one at St. John
; another at Cap de Sable (present-day Port La Tour, Nova Scotia
); and the other at Baleine.
). There Daniel had Ochiltree and his men construct a new fort Fort Sainte Anne (Nova Scotia)
. Then he sailed the prisoners to France, where Ochiltree was thrown in jail for a month.
, in the build up to the Siege of Louisbourg (1758)
, the British ran a naval blockade of Louisbourg off the coast of Baleine and Scatarie Island, Nova Scotia
. Similarly the French were capturing British ships. Between August 1756 and October 1757, the French captured 39 British ships. The British pursued two French ships off of Scatarie Island: the Arc-end-Ciel (52 guns) and the frigate Concorde. The two ships had crossed the Atlantic together but got separated at the Grand Banks during a storm. The most significant single prize the British captured in 1756 was the Arc-en-Ciel. The ship was captured on 12 June off Scatarie after a long chase and a five-hour gun battle. The warship had on board sixty thousand livres in specie and as many as 200 recruits. The British kept the Arc-en-Ciel in Atlantic waters for the next few years, sailing ourt of Halifax. It would form part of the fleet the British put toether to attack Louisbourg in 1758.
At the same time, the Concorde initially eluded the Royal Navy on two occasions. The ship had 50 passengers made up of troops and stonemasons and 30 thousand livres in coin. On June 10 the Concorde slipped into the protected by on Scatarie Island. When it sailed out, the pursuit began anew. The Concorde headed for Port Dauphin (Englishtown) but eventually unloaded everyone and the money on board to a schooner who could safely make it to Louisbourg.
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
province of Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
, located in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality on Cape Breton Island
Cape Breton Island
Cape Breton Island is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America. It likely corresponds to the word Breton, the French demonym for Brittany....
. The community is perhaps best known as the landing site for pilot Beryl Markham
Beryl Markham
Beryl Markham was a British-born Kenyan aviatrix, adventurer, and racehorse trainer. During the pioneer days of aviation, she became the first person to fly solo across the Atlantic from east to west...
's record flight across the Atlantic Ocean (See Memorial Plaque to Record Flight).
History
During the Anglo-French War (1627–1629) , under Charles 1, by 1629 the KirkesDavid Kirke
Sir David Kirke was an adventurer, colonizer and governor for the king of England. Kirke was the son of Gervase Kirke, a wealthy London-based Scottish merchant, who had married a Huguenot woman, Elizabeth Goudon, and was raised in Dieppe, in Normandy.In 1627 Kirke's father and several London...
took Quebec City
Quebec City
Quebec , also Québec, Quebec City or Québec City is the capital of the Canadian province of Quebec and is located within the Capitale-Nationale region. It is the second most populous city in Quebec after Montreal, which is about to the southwest...
, Sir James Stewart of Killeith, Lord Ochiltree
Lord Ochiltree
Lord Ochiltree of Lord Stuart of Ochiltree was a title in the Peerage of Scotland. In 1542 Andrew Stewart, 2nd Lord Avondale exchanged the lordship of Avondale with Sir James Hamilton for the lordship of Ochiltrie and by Act of Parliament was ordained to be styled Lord Stuart of Ochiltrie...
planted a colony on Cape Breton Island
Cape Breton Island
Cape Breton Island is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America. It likely corresponds to the word Breton, the French demonym for Brittany....
at Baleine, and Alexander’s son, William Alexander, 1st Earl of Stirling
William Alexander, 1st Earl of Stirling
William Alexander, Earl of Stirling was a Scotsman who was an early developer of Scottish colonisation of Port Royal, Nova Scotia and Long Island, New York...
established the first incarnation of “New Scotland”
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
at Port Royal, Nova Scotia
Port Royal, Nova Scotia
Port Royal was the capital of Acadia from 1605 to 1710 and is now a town called Annapolis Royal in the western part of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. Initially Port Royal was located on the north shore of the Annapolis Basin, Nova Scotia, at the site of the present reconstruction of the...
. This set of British triumphs which left only Cape Sable (present-day Port La Tour, Nova Scotia
Port La Tour, Nova Scotia
Port La Tour is a community in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located in the Barrington Municipal District of Shelburne County.The Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada erroneously assert that Fort Saint Louis is located at Port La Tour. The fort at Port La Tour was Fort Lomeron . ...
) as the only major French holding in North America was not destined to last. Charles 1’s hast to make peace with France on the terms most beneficial to him meant that the new North American gains would be bargained away in the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1632)
Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1632)
The Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye was signed on March 29, 1632. It returned New France to French control after the English had seized it in 1629. It also provided France with compensation for goods seized during the capture of New France....
.
Ochiltree arrived at Baleine with 60 Brownist
Brownist
The Brownists were English Dissenters and followers of Robert Browne who was born at Tolethorpe Hall in Rutland, England in about 1550.-Origins:...
s and built Fort Rosemar. It was a military colony, one that owed its origins to the exigencies of war, not a permanent agricultural settlement. Ochiltree's primary objective was to erect a mlitary post to assert Charles 1 claims, and by extension the rights of the Merchant Adventures to Canada, in a crucial theatre that linked the St. Lawrence with Nova Scotia. Ochiltree's party carried a heftey supply of guns, ammunition, and heavy artillery. One of the first acts was to attack and capture a sixty-ton Portuguese barque that they found at anchor near the site of their proposed settlement. The ship was dismantled and stripped of its cannon, which were then used as additional artillery to guard Fort Rosemar. Ochiltree proceeded to capture French fishing vessels off the shores of Cape Breton.
During this time when Nova Scotia briefly became a Scottish Colony, there were three battles between the Scots and the French: one at St. John
Saint John, New Brunswick
City of Saint John , or commonly Saint John, is the largest city in the province of New Brunswick, and the first incorporated city in Canada. The city is situated along the north shore of the Bay of Fundy at the mouth of the Saint John River. In 2006 the city proper had a population of 74,043...
; another at Cap de Sable (present-day Port La Tour, Nova Scotia
Port La Tour, Nova Scotia
Port La Tour is a community in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located in the Barrington Municipal District of Shelburne County.The Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada erroneously assert that Fort Saint Louis is located at Port La Tour. The fort at Port La Tour was Fort Lomeron . ...
); and the other at Baleine.
Siege of Baleine
Charles Daniel arrived with 53 men and numerous friendly natives. He captured two shallops manned by fishermen from Rosemar, and imprisoned them. On September 10, he approached the fort and assured the Scots he was coming in peace. The French then attacked by bombarding the fort with cannon fire from the ships and Daniel conducting a land assault. Daniel was a harsh captor. He ordered Ochiltree and his company to demolish their fort and forced the prisoners to Grand Cibou (present-day Englishtown, Nova ScotiaEnglishtown, Nova Scotia
Not to be confused with present-day St. Anns, Nova Scotia, which was also the former name of Englishtown.Englishtown is a small coastal community in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located on St. Anne's Bay in Victoria County on Cape Breton Island...
). There Daniel had Ochiltree and his men construct a new fort Fort Sainte Anne (Nova Scotia)
Fort Sainte Anne (Nova Scotia)
Fort Ste. Anne was a former French military fort located in the Canadian province of Cape Breton.It was situated in Englishtown, Victoria County on Cape Breton Island.The fort was built by Captain Charles Daniel after raiding Baleine...
. Then he sailed the prisoners to France, where Ochiltree was thrown in jail for a month.
Naval Blockade
During the French and Indian WarFrench and Indian War
The French and Indian War is the common American name for the war between Great Britain and France in North America from 1754 to 1763. In 1756, the war erupted into the world-wide conflict known as the Seven Years' War and thus came to be regarded as the North American theater of that war...
, in the build up to the Siege of Louisbourg (1758)
Siege of Louisbourg (1758)
The Siege of Louisbourg was a pivotal battle of the Seven Years' War in 1758 which ended the French colonial era in Atlantic Canada and led directly to the loss of Quebec in 1759 and the remainder of French North America the following year.-Background:The British government realized that with the...
, the British ran a naval blockade of Louisbourg off the coast of Baleine and Scatarie Island, Nova Scotia
Scatarie Island, Nova Scotia
Scatarie Island is an island in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located off the coast of Baleine, Cape Breton Island.- History :During the Anglo-French War , under Charles 1, by 1629 the Kirkes took Quebec City, Sir James Stewart of Killeith, Lord Ochiltree planted a colony on Cape Breton...
. Similarly the French were capturing British ships. Between August 1756 and October 1757, the French captured 39 British ships. The British pursued two French ships off of Scatarie Island: the Arc-end-Ciel (52 guns) and the frigate Concorde. The two ships had crossed the Atlantic together but got separated at the Grand Banks during a storm. The most significant single prize the British captured in 1756 was the Arc-en-Ciel. The ship was captured on 12 June off Scatarie after a long chase and a five-hour gun battle. The warship had on board sixty thousand livres in specie and as many as 200 recruits. The British kept the Arc-en-Ciel in Atlantic waters for the next few years, sailing ourt of Halifax. It would form part of the fleet the British put toether to attack Louisbourg in 1758.
At the same time, the Concorde initially eluded the Royal Navy on two occasions. The ship had 50 passengers made up of troops and stonemasons and 30 thousand livres in coin. On June 10 the Concorde slipped into the protected by on Scatarie Island. When it sailed out, the pursuit began anew. The Concorde headed for Port Dauphin (Englishtown) but eventually unloaded everyone and the money on board to a schooner who could safely make it to Louisbourg.