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Day 7 - Wednesday, May 11, 2016 - Sydney, NS - Weather forecast: partly cloudy - temperature: 5°C/41°F - actual: temperature 6°C/43°F - in the morning wind 19 knots - 5 Beaufort This was the first port where we selected to take a shore excursion. We had been here forty years ago and wanted to see what had been accomplished at the Fortress of Louisbourg. The site is part of Parks Canada and is considered as the most elaborate and largest recreationist village in Canada. They have been rebuilding the site since the early the early 1960’s. Parks Canada has opted to reconstruct only about 20%!o(MISSING)f the site which had originally covered approximately 2 square miles.
The most imposing structure on the site is that of the King’s Bastion Barracks which housed the Governor’s Apartments, the main barracks for the troops and the Military Chapel. A dry mote on its front side and an elevated rampart on the rear surround the structure. The rampart encloses a protected grass field, which could have served as a parade ground.
The park is open year round for self guided tours but as our visit
was just before the “official” start of the tourist season, only two costumed re-enactors were present tow explain some of the daily activities experienced in 1744.
The first re-enactor was a soldier stationed in front of the Barracks in the guardhouse. He explained that you were on duty for one full 24-hour day with full two days off. During your on duty day you stood on guard, with two or three other soldiers, on a rotation schedule of an hour on and an hour off. You were either stationed at the Guardhouse or you had to walk the Rampart walls, in all kinds of weather. The uniforms were made from rough spun wool so you roasted in summer, froze in the winter and since the site is right on the Atlantic coast you were perpetually wet from the mist, fog, and rain of the area. On your so called two days off you were expected to do other duties, such as gather wood and hunt to supplement the supplies provided for the troops, or help the merchants in town with their stores or help the fishermen prepare the fish for transport back to France.
The soldier re-enactor provided a flintlock musket demonstration. He gave a full explanation of what went into the loading of the musket. When it came time to fire, he had to follow strict safety precautions by inserting earplugs and donning safety glasses. On his first attempt to fire he achieved only a “flash in the pan” meaning that there was not enough spark from the flint. He attempted it a second time with the same result, then an assistant from the Park’s crew came out with a screwdriver and they reset the flint. On the third attempt the musket fired. I asked him how often the soldiers experienced a misfire in real life and he indicated that it was as high as 30%. He also explained that the effective range on the musket when fired straight was no better than 50 yards so the troops frequently fired at a 30 to 45 degree angle and increased their range to 250 feet and created plunging fire. He also stated that the British musket of the time the “Brown Bess” was a better weapon than the ones supplied to the French troops.
The tour guide then took us to
he Engineer’s Residence where a female re-enactor portrayed one of the household servants of the time. She explained that the Engineers were very much the elite of the military garrison as they were trained in the sciences and the art of military warfare of the time. The defense of the fortress rested on the Engineer and his assistants. At this site, since they were dedicated to scientific observation, the Engineering Corps constructed one of the first celestial observatories in North America.
The “servant” re-enactor explained some of the experiences that the female staff faced in that era. The female population of the fortress was outnumbered 6 to 1 so they had a fair number of men trying to court them. Of course any man who was not of the officer corps was not considered a suitable match, even though many of the common soldiers opted to stay in New France at the end of their enlistment and joined the merchant group thus elevating their social status.
Since the park was understaffed at this time of the year the tour guide let us have some time to go exploring on our own before returning to
the buss for our ride back to Sydney harbour. At the pier the port authorities had provided local artisans/crafts people a large hall to set up and sell their wares. We did the circuit and picked up some local candy made from maple syrup.
The evening performer was a comedian, Lee Bayless who lived up to his billing by making us laugh till our sides hurt with a very clean non-offensive language routine.
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