The Lost World of Cape Breton Island: Recent Episodes
J.M. & J.R. Bourgeois
The Lost World of Cape Breton Island Podcast is a semi-regular production based on the articles published on our website. Although deeply rooted in the work of historians and 18th century documentation, we feel that the subjects chosen for these podcasts are themes best told through the medium of story-telling. Through personal journals, memoirs and correspondence from the 18th century, we will reconstruct the lives of people long gone, walk the roads that no longer exist, and re-tell events from a reality very different from the one that the people of Cape Breton now know.
The finale of our three part series on the life and times of James Johnstone. Follow the Chevalier de Johnstone's escapades in Cape Breton from 1756 through to 1758 and see how this Scotsman's memoirs tell the long forgotten stories of Cape Breton's past.
SHOWNOTES -
MUSIC:
Concerto Grosso for Strings “Palladio”: Allegro
Les Habitants - Quand J’étais Sur Mon Père
Sinfonia in G Minor, T. Si 7
Symphony No.8 in D Minor, Op. 2
Enigma Variations, Op. 36
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Memoirs of the Rebellion of 1745 and 1746 - https://archive.org/details/memoirsof...
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The Campaign of Louisbourg 1750 - ’58 - https://www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm....
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Du Boscq de Beaumont, G. (1899). Les derniers jours de l’Acadie, 1748-1758, p. 65. Paris : E. Lechevalier
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T. A. Crowley, “JOHNSTONE, JAMES, Chevalier de Johnstone,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 4, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003
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Johnston, A. J. B. (Andrew John Bayly) Endgame 1758 : the promise, the glory, and the despair of Louisbourg’s last decade, 2007
In this episode, we travel back in time to the year 1753 and see Cape Breton Island through the eyes of Scottish exile the Chevalier de Johnstone. We will also bridge two very different eras of Cape Breton’s past - the French colonial period of the early 18th century, and the era of Scottish migration which took place in the 19th century.
SHOW NOTES -
MUSIC:
- Antonio Vivaldi - The Four Seasons-Summer
- Michael Schaeffer - French Baroque Lute Music
- Barde - Whelan’s Jig, the Swallow’s Tail, Coleman’s Cross
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Hopkinson Smith - J.H. Kapsberger Libro Primo d’Intavolatura di Lauto (First Book of Lute Tablature) Roma, 1611
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Memoirs of the Rebellion of 1745 and 1746 - https://archive.org/details/memoirsofrebelli00johnrich/page/n7/mode/2up
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The Campaign of Louisbourg 1750 - ’58 - https://www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.23016/5
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Du Boscq de Beaumont, G. (1899). Les derniers jours de l’Acadie, 1748-1758, p. 65. Paris : E. Lechevalier
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T. A. Crowley, “JOHNSTONE, JAMES, Chevalier de Johnstone,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 4, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–, accessed March 3, 2024, http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/johnstone_james_4E.html.
The Chevalier de Johnstone is one of the most colourful personalities to have come through Cape Breton in the 18th century. A Scottish exile who was involved in the 1746 Jacobite Rebellion, Johnstone was likely one of the only - if not the only - Scotsmen in Cape Breton during the time of Louisbourg. He is often in the right place, but simply not at the right time.
Special thanks to the Barra MacNeils for kindly allowing us to use their rendition of the song “Niel Gow’s Lament for the Death of his Second Wife” for this episode.
SHOW NOTES:
Music -
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Barra MacNeils - “Niel Gow’s Lament for the Death of his Second Wife.”
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J.S. Bach - Sonata No.5 in F Minor
Chevalier de Johnstone -
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Memoirs of the Rebellion in 1745 and 1746 - https://archive.org/details/memoirsofrebelli00johnrich/page/n7/mode/2up
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The Campaign of Louisbourg 1750 - ’58 - https://www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.23016/5
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T. A. Crowley, “JOHNSTONE, JAMES, Chevalier de Johnstone,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 4, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–, accessed January 10, 2024, http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/johnstone_james_4E.html.
Near the shores of the Mira River halfway through the 18th century sat two small villages now lost to time - Village des Allemands and Village Rouillé. Though existing for only six short years, the stories these villages tell reflects the greater challenges that typified the Canadian maritime region during the 1750s.
SHOW NOTES:
MUSIC -
- Violin Sonatas, Op 9, No 7in G Major III Ari
- Les Habitants - Tourdion
- Duo Baroque La Tour - Flute Sonatas, Op 3, No.2 III Minuetto, Variation
- Barde - Jack McCann/Aughrim
John Montresor -
- The Montresor Journals - https://archive.org/details/montresorjourna00montgoog/mode/2up
- “The Everywhere Footprints of Captain John Montresor,” Miriam Touba - https://www.nyhistory.org/blogs/the-everywhere-footprints-of-captain-john-montresor
Allemands, Rouillé and the Mira River region -
- “A Journal of the Siege of Louisbourg and Cape Breton, in 1745,” James Gibson, p.26, 27
- “The Cultural Landscape of 18th Century Louisbourg - Miré Region - Rouillé and German Villages,” Margaret Fortier
Charles Deschamps de Boishebert -
- Boishebert’s Journal - https://diffusion.banq.qc.ca/pdfjs-1.6.210-dist_banq/web/pdf.php/tkoDvwzuNDJVEqNl8ol06A.pdf#page=16
- Phyllis E. Leblanc, “DESCHAMPS DE BOISHÉBERT ET DE RAFFETOT, CHARLES,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 4, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–, accessed September 3, 2023, http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/deschamps_de_boishebert_et_de_raffetot_charles_4E.html.
Gédéon de Catalogne, Louis-Charles-François de Catalogne -
- Dictionnaire généalogique de la noblesse de la Nouvelle France - https://numerique.banq.qc.ca/patrimoine/details/52327/2479071
- F. J. Thorpe, “CATALOGNE (Catalougne), GÉDÉON (DE),” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 2, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–, accessed September 3, 2023, http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/catalogne_gedeon_2E.html.
Antoine Le Poupet de La Boularderie, François Le Poupet de La Boularderie -
- Dictionnaire généalogique de la noblesse de la Nouvelle France - https://numerique.banq.qc.ca/patrimoine/details/52327/2479071
- Dale Miquelon, “LE POUPET DE LA BOULARDERIE, ANTOINE,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 4, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–, accessed September 3, 2023, http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/le_poupet_de_la_boularderie_antoine_4E.html
For centuries, Cape Breton Island has seen waves of settlers come ashore from many different parts of the world. The ebb and flow of peoples spurred on by the effects of war, by enterprise or by the simple desire to put food on their table has shaped the cultural fabric of the island for hundreds of years. Bretons, Normans and Basque arrived during the 18th century when the island was under the jurisdiction of New France, and then in the early 19th century the Gaelic speaking inhabitants of places like Barra and Uist put down permanent roots seeking refuge and a new beginning. As the tides of immigration and settlement came and went, communities likewise did the same. In this episode, we'll discuss one of these communities at length - St. Esprit.
In the age of Pacific exploration, two men spearheaded expeditions to huge swaths of the globe previously uncharted by Europeans - Jean François de La Pérouse and James Cook. Although La Pérouse and Cook would never meet, both men would converge on Cape Breton Island in the year 1758, near the beginning of their careers. This episode takes us from the port of Rochefort, France to the idyllic settlement known today as Englishtown, and then on to the shores of Gabarus Bay.
Jean-François de La Pérouse was one of the most renowned mariners and explorers of the 18th century, but in 1788 he and his expedition disappeared without a trace, leaving behind a mystery that would take decades to unravel. La Pérouse visited Cape Breton Island several times during his early years at sea – this episode introduces La Pérouse and touches on his visit to the Fortress of Louisbourg in 1757.
Two strong links exist between the Acadian village of Chéticamp and the French fortress of Louisbourg – Jeanne Dugas and the family of Joseph Gaudet. The third installment of our episode on the Acadian folk song “Louisbourg’s Lament” examines the life and times of these two people and the experiences of their immediate families.
The second part of episode 2 analyzes the lyrics of “Louisbourg’s Lament” in order to see how it holds up against the historical record of the fall of Louisbourg in 1745.
In the first part of our second episode, we examine the traditional Acadian song “La Complainte de Louisbourg,” or “Louisbourg’s Lament,” a song believed to have originated with an eye-witness to the 1745 Siege of Louisbourg.
In our first episode, we introduce the Lost World of Cape Breton podcast series. We also follow John Montresor, an engineer in the British army, overland from Louisbourg to the shores of the Bras d’Or Lakes as he embarks on an “inland scout” in the months directly following the fall of Cape Breton Island to the British.