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Info-Research Solutions
Researching the
Fortress of Louisbourg National Historic Site of Canada
Recherche sur la Forteresse-de-Louisbourg Lieu historique national du Canada
CONSTRUCTION
CHRONOLOGY FOR THE ROYAL BATTERY:
ACTUAL AND PROPOSED
1714 - PRESENT
BY
ERIC KRAUSE
SEPTEMBER, 1982
Report H B 16
Return (Table of Contents) /retour
1740 - 1749
ABBREVIATIONS:
Date | P | A | PA | Description of Activity | Comment | Reference |
1740 | A |
- platforms of the faces 4
pieds above "street" in front
of the barracks
- "street" between barracks and platform 12 pieds
wide
- "street" cleared of snow by throwing snow up onto platform and
then out the embrasures
- seaward faces made of large irregular rubble-stones - crepissage of the sea-wall faces falling off |
1740-2; 8 February 1740, C11B, Vol. 22, folio 27-28; 7 February 1740, C11B, Vol. 22, folio 252-252v, 145; 30 October 1740, C11B, Vol. 22, folio 193v-194; 7 November 1740, C11B, Vol. 22, folio 244v. | |||
PA | three mortars in the left flank and seven embrasures | ditto | ||||
A |
-
Lips of the embrasures of the seaward face
6-7 pieds above beach level (opposing the claims they were 7-8 pieds or 6-8 pieds) without any flanking works that protect the seaward face - planking of the platforms of the face rotten - the underpinning entirely rotten and rebuilt, with completion between October and November |
ditto | ||||
P |
-
deposit earth to raise the platforms
3 or 4 pieds - fill in the embrasures to the new height of the platforms resulting in a barbette battery or build new embrasures at the new platform level by raising sod merlons - "Plan de la Batterie Royalle ou on a presenté en couleur jaune le petit Bastion projetté pour flanquer les faces de la dite "Batterie"
|
ditto | ||||
A |
flooring of barracks in poor condition |
8 October 1743, C11B, Vol. 25, folio 21; 30 October 1742, C11B, Vol. 24, folio 40. | ||||
P | to fill in the cellars of barracks to a depth of nearly 4 pieds | ditto | ||||
1744 | A |
-
Lower a small hill in front of the Royal
Battery's entrance gate
1.
excavation: 146 pieds 6 pouces - Excavation of
1.
432 pieds total length x 12 pieds - lower a mountain vis-a-vis the battery with an excavation of
1. 56
pieds x 33 pieds x 5 pieds 1. excavation: 52 pieds x 39 pieds x 4 pieds reduced depth |
30 October 1744, DFC Order 202; 1745-13; 1745-13a; 1751-16; 22 August 1745, C11B, Vol. 27, folio 42; 24 July 1749, C11B, Vol. 28, folio 301-301v; [William Pepperell] An Accurate Journal and Account ..., p. 13; 14 December 1751, C11B, Vol. 31, fol. 169-171; 1730-4; 1730-7; ND 86; 1740-2; 1740-2a; 22 November 1744, DFC Order 211; 18 November 1744, DFC Order 209; 30 October 1744, DFC Order 203. | |||
A |
-
Modifications to the Left Flank Redoubt
in order to establish a four mortar Battery
in the left flank
1. ditch excavation
along the flank: 64
pieds 6 pouces long x 24 pieds
wide and 3 pieds deep |
-
The Contractor Muiron
was unable to complete all the work by
1745 and 1751 plans suggest that the mortar extension did not
proceed beyond this preliminary stage. In fact, the 1751 plans do not even confirm the masonry platform construction activity which Verrier claimed occurred in 1744. The 1751 plans also suggest that Verrier or others authorized work in 1744-1745 for which no written record exists. |
ditto | |||
P |
- Nouvelle Brie de mortiers 1. two mortar emplacements |
ditto | ||||
A |
-
Construction of an eperon in the salient angle
of the Royal Battery completed by 18 November
1. 49-1-2 toise cube of earth used to form
the eperon, its banquettes and its platforms
8. 1 pouce thick local boards nailed to iron
cramped 6 x 7 pouce pine nailers set into
the interior of the parapet: 105 pieds 6
pouces of total length x 5
pieds adjusted height - Number of Embrasures
1. 7 embrasures of left flank reduced to
six by 30 October Levelling and Rebuilding of embrasures
1. The seven embrasures in the left flank
reduced to six with the levelling of
one before 30 October - Shoulder walls of the interior of the Royal Battery and of the Place d'armes of the covered way
1. demolished - Left flank Redoubt 1. 2 mortars - Earth for the Parapets and merlons: 62 toise cube 2 pieds 4 pouces - Sod (40 toise cube 3 pieds) for returfing the parapets and merlons of
1. the 2 large faces - Remade Gun platforms
1. left flank: 5 platforms each measuring
16 pieds x 13 pieds 6 pouces, each
constructed from three 8 x 9 pouce pine timber pieces with a flooring of
3 pouce hardwood planks - Battery and flank embrasures 1. 6 x 7 pouce pine timber pieces used as stops in front of the knee pieces - Construction of three wooden Guerites, each
1. made from rafters - "ancienne" latrines standing opposite the contrescarpe of the left flank - "ancienne" latrines standing opposite the contrescarpe of the right face - the 2 pouce thick pine board and batten latrine doors for beside the former [latrines] 5 pieds of total width x 5 pieds 6 pouces of height
- Repair of a floor in one of the officer's rooms
12 pieds 1 pouce long x 7 pieds 6 pouce wide
using 2 pouce thick planks - Doorways in the shoulder walls for movement between the batteries (i.e. between the Royal Battery and its flanks)
1. 88 pieds of 12 x 12
pouce pine timber sills placed - Hanging shelves placed in the officers cabinets and garde managers using 1 pouce thick local boards - Palisades the ones of the covered way are rotten - Removal of rubblestone in order to imbed cramped nailers (either 8 x 9 or 6 x 7 pouce) for a wooden revetment (388 cramps large and small used altogether)
1. left face - exterior: removed
197 pieds of length x 11 pieds of adjusted
height x 3 pieds of adjusted thickness: 2
pouce thick pine planks placed |
ditto | ||||
PA |
- Covered Way 1. wall in the right flank reconstructed further north in the covered way |
ditto | ||||
A |
- Towers
1. [crepis] facings ready to fall off - Brick stoves placed in the magasin des vivres, officers' rooms and soldiers' rooms. |
ditto | ||||
1745 | P |
-
To complete the new work in the battery, the
1. Excavation
of the ditch in front of the mortar battery
of the left flank
|
4 November 1744, DFC order 206; 22 November 1744, DFC order 211; 22 August 1745; C11B, Vol. 27, folio 42; 19 March 1744 (OS), MHS Vol. 1, item 66; 2Sept. 1745, F3, Vol. 50, folio 277-278; 18 November 1744, DFC order 209; Journal of Roger Wolcott at the Siege of Louisbourg, p. 154; Deforest, Louisbourg Journals, 1745, p. 18, 52, 113; 28 June 1745, Admiralty 1, Volume 2655; 24 July and 30 August 1749, C11B, Vol. 28, folio 301v, 314-314v; 28 June 1745, War Office 55, Volume 352B, folios 34v-35; 21 September 1745, C.O. 5, Vol. 900, folio 233; 26 September 1745, C.O. 5, Vol. 900, folio 234; 19 January 1746, DFC, No. d'order 220. | |||
A |
- Reconstruction of the demolished epaulement
Walls on the landward side of the
left flank mortar battery not begun by April - The palisades of the covered ways not in place |
ditto | ||||
P |
-
Redo all the demolished shoulder walls of
the Interior of the Royal Battery and of the
Place d'armes of the Covered Way
- Skin off all the facings in the towers - Revet the towers with Boston boards
- New palissades
in place of the rotten ones of the covered
way |
ditto | ||||
A |
- Height of the Sea Wall
1 . "about
twelve feet high to the embrasures" - Siege Damage
1. "1 hear we
have Broke another Cannon at the
Grand Battery ... A Large Piece
of Sd Gun About Six Hundres
Weight flow up in the air and fell on the House and fell thro' all the
floors to the bottom of the Cellar" |
ditto | ||||
P |
- Proposed Repairs after the Siege
1. Masonry walls |
ditto | ||||
A |
- "The Grand Battery may Lodge Exclusive of
four rooms for officers, the Hospitall - No defense on the Back or land side except against very small guns or small arm - Pallisading underway - Can receive its stores and supplies by water - Magazine usable - Description
1. 4800 feet from the Island Battery - New works by 19 January 1746
1. A palissade on the battery's sea side about
10-12 pied distance from the high tide |
ditto | ||||
1745 - 1749 | A |
- Oven - Demolished Completely 1.
6 cubic toises, 2
pieds of rubblestone removed - Staircase 1. Tower staircases removed - Ditch
1. Earth has fallen in - Towers - Walls
1. 6 cubic toises and 4
pieds of degradation and rubblestone wall collapse in the left tower
because of artillery fire and neglect - Counterscarp
1. 7 cubic toises and 4
pieds of rubblestone collapse and degradation - Interior wall of the large platform
1. 5 cubic toises of degradation and rubblestone
collapse - Crenelated wall serving as retrenchment in the place d'armes protecting the entrance gate to the Royal Battery
1. Entirely demolished [hence, stable demolished
tool] - Flooring
1. [pine timber] joist degradation in the chapel,
magasin, and 5 barracks rooms - Gun platforms of the two faces of the large battery 205 square toises of [3 pouces merisier] planking, i.e. the entire platform, totally out of service - Roofs - Barracks
1. Battery side, on two slopes: 35 [321 square
toises of slate changed to shingles while
123 square toises and 4 pieds remained
unchanged in slate - Roofs - Towers 1. 12 square toises of roofing of both towers damaged in the siege remain un-repaired in shingles - Sod 1. 10 cubic toises of sod on the embrasures, merlons and parapet degradation - Doors, Shutters and [Window] frames 1.
Some removed - Hardware 1. Bolts, locks, targettes, hooks removed |
24 July, 30 August, 31 December, 1749, C11B, Vol. 28, folio 301v., 312-314, 350-350v. | |||
1747 | A |
- New Works
1 . Shifting powder at the Magasin
at the Grand Battery - Bradstreet description 1. Exposed and overlooked by a high hill close to the back of it |
1 August, 29 August, 12 September, 30 September, 1 October, 1747, Library of Congress, AC-2444; 23 July 1757, War Office 71,Vol. 130, p. 20. | |||
1749 | A |
- Oven and Bakery 31 December
1. Demolished the
fireplaces that the English had constructed after demolishing the
oven
4. Re-used iron bars from the demolished
fireplaces for the arch of the oven opening - Enduit and Repair Work
1. Commander's lodging
} - Roof Repairs
1. Boards placed where fireplace chimneys demolished or where new ones
were to exit - 3 square toises 3 pieds - Furniture 1. Assorted pieces made from the demolished soldiers bunks - for a buffet in the commander's salle, 3 tables for the officers rooms, etc. - Glass
1. 48 glass panes placed - Chimney Stacks 1. 48 swept at different times In a good state (though sod in a poor state)
1. Wood revetted walls - In a poor state
1. The banquette - Ladders used in the towers in place of the demolished staircases |
31 December 1749, C11B, Vol. 28, folio 350-351v.; 24 July 1749, C11B, Vol. 28, folios 301 and 301v.; 22 September 1749, C11B, vol. 28, folio 79v. | |||
P |
- Proposed to destroy the Royal Battery except
for the barracks - Proposed that barracks serve as a hospital for the King's vessels |
ditto |