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DAUPHIN BASTION

Preliminary Report

(1720 - 1745)

BY

MARGARET FORTIER

(Under the supervision of B. C. Bickerton)

January, 1966

(Fortress of Louisbourg Report H B 6)

NOTE:
Presently, the illustrations and graphs are not included here.
For these, please consult the original report in the archives of the Fortress of Louisbourg

CHAPTER 3

DAUPHIN-KING'S CURTAIN

Although construction of the Dauphin Bastion and its battery had begun in 1728, the curtain which would connect this work with the King's Bastion was still very much a project in 1732. However, that year plans were made for initiating work on the curtain the following spring. [1] Before this could be done, a lime kiln which
occupied a piece of land directly in the path of the projected wall had to be removed. [2]

Despite the good intentions, no work was done on the curtain in 1733. It was explained that this project required much careful planning because a large section of the curtain would be constructed over a sizable pond. The recommendation was made that a provisional work be erected to cordon height and fortified until such time as the curtain would be completed. [3] The nature of the provisional work envisioned is not known. Nor is it certain that any such work was erected.

By November of 1734 the project was still at a standstill, but it was hoped that the curtain would be raised 10 or 12 pieds during the following season. Since by this time the work on the landward front had reached the eastern shore, it was felt that the city could be considered closed once such a height were reached. [4]

A profile taken through the projected curtain that sane year provides - when scaled - some of the dimensions of the wall's component parts. [5] (Figure 12)

This profile was taken a section of the curtain situated over the pond. Therefore, while it is not impossible
that the other measurements would have remained stable along the length of the curtain, it is probable that the foundation was not as large for a section constructed on dry land.

The goal set in 1734 was not attained, and in October of 1735 the curtain stood seven pieds above its foundation. No further work had been done because it was feared that any added height might overburden the structure since steps were not being taken simultaneously toward reinforcing the wall. Assurance was given, however, that the wall's full height would be achieved during 1736.[6]

By November 1736 the curtain had been raised to the height of the cordon, and it had been banked to over half its heght. [7] During the following spring, earth to be used in the formation of the curtain's parapet was carried behind the curtain from the ditch. [8]

Two posterns were opened in the Dauphin-King's Curtain. The first, completed in 1736,[9] was located near the right reentrant angle of the King's Bastion. It began at the southwest side of the covert way of the townward place of arms, proceeded a short distance through the width of the curtain, turned right and continued through the rampart under the parapet. The postern then turned left and proceeded through the escarp and out into the ditch. [10] (Figure 14)

The second postern began near the left reentrant angle of the Dauphin Bastion. On the plans it appears that the section of the curtain's rampart through which the postern was to pass stopped abruptly at the interior revetment instead of sloping gradually toward the interior. This would lesson the amount of earth through which the postern would have to pass. Once into the rampart, the postern turned left and proceeded a few feet.
It then turned right and continued on through the width of the curtain, emerging in the pond. [11] Since it lacked only its vault, the postern was considered to be nearly finished in July, 1737. It is not improbable that the work was completed later that year. [12] (Figure 14)

A 1737 plan shows the curtain still under construction, with only its revetment completed. The accompanying legend states that the curtain's masonry parapet was still unconstructed and that, as yet, the wall had not been banked. [13]

In October 1737 it was declared that the parapet of the curtain would be topped with a layer of earth and another of sod. [14] No reason for this was given, but the process seems, to be similar to that employed at the embrasures of the Bastion for the prevention of frost damage. (See Forward, page 10)

Two ramps seem to have led to the terreplein of the curtain. One, it would appear, had its beginning on the glacis of the townward place of arms of the King's Bastion, while the other began to the left of the postern at the west end of the curtain. [15] Nothing further is known of these two structures. (Figure 14)

The date of the curtain's completion is unknown. A 1739 plan shows the curtain in its finished form, [16] but that this date can be accepted is not certain.

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