[820]
[Footnote 820: _Murray to Pitt, 25 May, 1760_. Murray, _Journal,
1759, 1760_.]
Late in October it was rumored that some of the French
ships in the river above Quebec were preparing to run by the
batteries. This was the squadron which had arrived in the
spring with supplies, and had lain all summer at Batiscan, in
the Richelieu, and at other points beyond reach of the English.
After nearly a month of expectancy, they at length appeared,
anchored off Sillery on the twenty-first of November, and tried
to pass the town on the dark night of the twenty-fourth. Seven
or eight of them succeeded; four others ran aground and were
set on fire by their crews, excepting one which was stranded
on the south shore and abandoned. Captain Miller, with a lieutenant
and above forty men, boarded her; when, apparently through their
own carelessness, she blew up.[821] Most of the party were killed
by the explosion, and the rest, including the two officers, were
left in a horrible condition between life and death. Thus they
remained till a Canadian, venturing on board in search of plunder,
found them, called his neighbors to his aid, carried them to his
own house, and after applying, with the utmost kindness, what simple
remedies he knew, went over to Quebec and told of the disaster.
Fortunately for themselves, the sufferers soon died.
[Footnote 821: _Murray to Amherst, 25 Jan. 1760_. Not, as some believed, by
a train laid by the French.
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