''Auguste'' was a full-rigged sailing ship that sank at Aspy Bay,

Cape Breton Cape Breton Island (french: link=no, île du Cap-Breton, formerly '; gd, Ceap Breatainn or '; mic, Unamaꞌki) is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America and part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. The island accounts for 18. ...

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

in 1761 while carrying exiles from the fall of

New France New France (french: Nouvelle-France) was the area colonized by France in North America, beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Great Britain and Spa ...

. ''Auguste'' was a former French

privateer A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...

ship which had been captured by the British and converted to a merchant ship.Nova Scotia Museum, ''On the Rocks Shipwreck Database'', "Auguste-1761"
/ref> In September 1761, she was hired by the British government to transport French exiles and prisoners of war from

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

to France. For the voyage, she was under the command of Joseph Knowles, an English sea captain. The ship was unarmed and carried 121 passengers and crew. Almost immediately upon clearing the mouth of the

St. Lawrence Saint Lawrence or Laurence ( la, Laurentius, lit. " laurelled"; 31 December AD 225 – 10 August 258) was one of the seven deacons of the city of Rome under Pope Sixtus II who were martyred in the persecution of the Christians that the Roma ...

on October 28, she encountered a week of contrary winds followed by a nor'west gale and heavy seas which badly damaged the ship. Leaking heavily with an exhausted crew and damaged rigging, the captain sought a sheltered harbour in

Cape Breton, Nova Scotia Cape Breton Island (french: link=no, île du Cap-Breton, formerly '; gd, Ceap Breatainn or '; mic, Unamaꞌki) is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America and part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. The island accounts for 18. ...

. However Knowles was unable to find a safe refuge as ''Auguste'' carried only

charts A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tab ...

of the French coast. The ship struck land on the northeastern side of Cape Breton Island near an inlet known as

Aspy Bay Aspy Bay () is a bay of the Atlantic Ocean near the northern tip of Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. Principal features along the bay's coast are the Wilkie Sugar Loaf hill and the Aspy Fault. Communities along the bay include Smelt Brook, White ...

. Only seven of the 121 made it to shore alive. These included the captain, the merchant

Luc de la Corne Luc de la Corne, (1711 – October 1, 1784) also known as Saint Luc, was the son of Jean-Louis de La Corne de Chaptes (1666-1732), King's Lieutenant at Montreal, and Marie Pécaudy de Contrecœur. Saint-Luc was an officer in the Compagnies F ...

, two soldiers, two servants, and one discharged soldier. Many notable Canadians died during the sinking, including

Charles-René Dejordy de Villebon Charles-Rene Dejordy de Villebon (June 12, 1715 – November 15, 1761) was from Saint-Sulpice, Quebec. He was a military man, joining the colonial regular troops as a cadet. By 1749 he had been promoted second ensign and was sent as second in comma ...

Louis-Joseph Gaultier de La Vérendrye Louis-Joseph Gaultier de La Vérendrye (November 9, 1717 – November 15, 1761) was a French Canadian fur trader and explorer. He, his three brothers, and his father Pierre La Vérendrye pushed trade and exploration west from the Great Lakes. He, h ...

, and

Louis de la Corne, Chevalier de la Corne Louis de la Corne or Louis Chapt, Chevalier de la Corne (June 6, 1703 – November 15, 1761) was born at Fort Frontenac in what is now Kingston, Ontario, Canada, and began his career in the colonial regular troops as a second ensign in 1722 and was ...

. Carrying the life's savings of many of its passengers, the ship contained considerable amounts of gold and silver. This has attracted various treasure hunters, including Joe Amaral, as well as some archaeology by Parks Canada. A display of artifacts from ''Auguste'' is featured in the "Shipwreck Treasures of Nova Scotia" exhibit at the

Maritime Museum of the Atlantic The Maritime Museum of the Atlantic is a maritime museum located in downtown Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The museum is a member institution of the Nova Scotia Museum and is the oldest and largest maritime museum in Canada with a collection o ...

in Halifax recovered by various divers including Offshore Diving and Salvage of Sydney, NS owned by Gerald Langille and Edward Barrington's 1977-78 expedition. The documentary ''A Treasure ship's tragedy'', on the National Geographic Channel, mentions the wreck of ''Auguste''.

Sources and references

Notes Citations References * * External links * Nova Scotia Museum, ''On the Rocks Shipwreck Database'', "Auguste-1761" Entry
''Maritime Museum of the Atlantic - Auguste''

{{Portal, France, North America, History Age of Sail ships of England Shipwrecks of the Nova Scotia coast Maritime incidents in 1761 Captured ships