The picturesque St. Lawrence (1910) (14779645834)

Identifier: picturesquestla00john (find matches)
Title: The picturesque St. Lawrence
Year: 1910 (1910s)
Authors: Johnson, Clifton, 1865-1940
Subjects:
Publisher: New York: Macmillan
Contributing Library: Scott - York University Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Ontario Council of University Libraries and Member Libraries



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tunate maiden continues to linger in theneighborhood of the rock, and those who haveseen her declare she is very beautiful. It isgenerally believed, however, that when the lastvestige of the ship is worn from the rock thelady will appear no more. She only showsherself at sunset—which was the time she leapedto her death, and at that hour no fisherman ofthe region cares to hazard his luck by droppinga line for fish. Another tragic spot is found at the oppositeside of the wide mouth of the river, where isan island on which was wrecked an ill-fatedBritish expedition that had set forth to conquerCanada in 1711. There were nine ships ofwar and about sixty transports and other vessels,carrying in all some twelve thousand men.The fleet was in charge of Admiral Walker. Itsgreatest lack was pilots for the St. Lawrence,but before it reached the river a French vesselwas captured commanded by a skipper namedParadis, who was an experienced old voyagerand knew the river well. In consideration of a
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The Falls of Montmorency From Cape Diamond to the Gulf 225 liberal bribe he consented to act as pilot, buthe rather dampened the ardor of the admiralby his dismal accounts of the Canadian winter.The state of the commanders mind can bejudged from this entry in his journal: That which now chiefly took up my thoughtswas contriving how to secure the ships if wegot to Quebec; for the ice in the river freezingto the bottom would have utterly destroyed andbilged them as much as if they had been squeezedbetween rocks. However, it was still summer, and all wentwell till the evening of August twenty-second.They were then some distance above the greatisland of Anticosti where the river is seventymiles wide. There was a strong east wind withfog. Walker thought that he was not far fromthe south shore, when in fact he was com-paratively near the north shore. At half-pastten he retired to his berth and was fallingasleep, when an officer hastily entered and beggedhim to come on deck, saying there wer