D'Anville's Encampment National Historic Site of Canada

D’Anville’s Encampment was designated a national historic site of Canada in 1925 for the following reasons:

• in the autumn of 1746, Duc d’Anville’s formidable but storm-shattered expedition, sent from France to recover Acadia, encamped along this shore;
• owing to storms and disease, the enterprise utterly failed.

A year after Louisbourg fell to the British in 1745, France sent an armada of warships across the Atlantic to retake and dismantle the fortress, to take Annapolis, and to attack Boston. The expedition was led by Jean-Baptiste-Louis-Frédéric de la Rochefoucauld de Roye, Marquis de Roucy and Duc d’Anville, who is often referred to as Duc d’Anville or d’Anville. The powerful fleet started with 70 ships, 10,000 sailors, and upwards of 3,000 soldiers. When d’Anville arrived in Chebucto (Halifax Harbour) on September 10, 1746, the fleet included only three war ships and a few transports; the rest had been scattered or sunk due to severe storms. Many men perished, mainly of food shortages, typhus, dysentery, and scurvy. The remaining crews camped on the beach where many continued to succumb to illness. On September 27th, d’Anville himself died and control of the fleet passed to Jacques-Pierre de Taffanel de la Jonquière, Marquis de La Jonquière, who later became a Governor of Canada. La Jonquière returned to France with the remaining fleet in October, losing more ships and men due to further storms and sickness.