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Extracts of Matters of Historical Interest from "The Huissier, News For and About the Fortress of Louisbourg Heritage Presentation Staff" By The Fortress of Louisbourg Heritage Presentation Staff
THE HUISSIER
(July 28, 2004)
The Privateer, Jean Fougère
By Anne Marie Lane Jonah, historian
Jean Fougère was born in the diocese of Orléans near Paris in France. He came to Port Royal prior to 1709, when he witnessed the marriage of Claudes Girouard and Elisabeth Blanchard. He was probably a young labourer looking for a new opportunity; he was the only Fougère in Acadia at that time. He married Marie Bourg in 1713 at Port Royal and they and their five children relocated to Port Toulouse between 1720 and 1723. Jean and Marie had eight children prior to her death in 1727. Jean married Marie-Madeleine Belliveau in 1728 and they had ten children prior to 1744. His household in 1734 included his wife, one son over 15, two sons under 15, three daughters, a domestique, and one vessel for commerce. He and his wife had six more children by 1744.The censes for 1724, 1726, and 1734 for Port Toulouse all list Fougère as a navigateur, and that of 1726 also names him as a habitant-pêcheur.
On July 3, 1744 Jean Fougère sailed out from Port Toulouse in his esquif, La Magdaleine. The record referred to the rigging of his vessel, however, an esquif is a small simple vessel, like or smaller than a chaloupe. His plan was to go privateering: he had a musket on board and a letter from the commandant at Port Toulouse Lieutenant Benoit authorizing his activities. In the 18th century, privateering served the dual function of supporting the war effort by choking the enemy's maritime commerce and providing an alternate income to those seafarers whose enterprise had been affected by the war. As a coastal trader, Jean Fougère was well aware of the threat British privateers posed to his trade and acted to defend his enterprise as well as to profit from the opportunities brought by war. Fougère's target was the 28-ton New England schooner the "Sifleur", the Seaflower, captained by Ebenezer Sanburn, with two crewmen, and carrying 150 quintals of green cod. In the pursuit off Canso Island Fougère shot and killed one of the New Englanders, at which point the schooner surrendered to the "esquif."
If Fougère had been properly versed in the rules of privateering he would have then proceeded directly to Louisbourg to have his prize ruled upon by the Admiralty court. A bit more of a fisherman than a privateer, Fougère couldn't leave the green cod as it was, and put in at Port Toulouse where he unloaded the cod, set it out to dry on the beach, reloaded his vessel with wood and then proceeded to Louisbourg. The cargo is part of the prize and should have remained with the vessel until the capture had been ruled legitimate or otherwise, however that breach of privateering etiquette was not Fougère's most serious problem. His letter from Benoit fell short of the usual authorization to privateers, which came from the King or a governor, and so Admiralty was unwilling to grant Fougère possession of his prize.
The case was referred to France where it was ruled after one year that the prize was enemy shipping libel for capture, but Fougère was not a legitimate privateer, and so the crown would confiscate the prize. Fougère's success as a privateer was short-lived because he did not understand or appreciate the importance of the rules governing what would seem on the surface a lawless enterprise. The record does not indicate who got to keep the fish.