soldier in the French and Indian War
Teresa<dad<John Emmet Mercier<Marguerite Robideau (m George F Mercier)
<Peter Robideau (m Julia Jesmer)<Felicite Vivais (m Louis Robideau)
<Jeremie Vivet dit Sanschagrin (m Marie Anne Gingras)<Pierre Vivet dit Sanschagrin & Madeleine Paige
The Languedoc regiment left France on two separate ships, the Actif & the Fleur de Lys. Duchat's men travelled aboard the ship, the "Actif (The Active)" headed to New France. The Fleur de Lys was part of the escort fleet and returned to France.
Two French fleets left the Brest seaport (on the NW point of the Breton Peninsula), May 3, 1755. One fleet (16 ships), led by Monsieur the Count Dubois de la Motte, was headed to New France. The other fleet (9 ships), led by Monsieur de Mcnemara, was an escort fleet, taking the de la Motte fleet out to the Atlantic. The fleets were followed and assessed by an English frigate for 4 days, when it was finally chased off by Mcnemara. The next dat Mcnemara's fleet returned to France.
The French did not open their orders from the King until May 25. Six ships were directed to Acadia while the rest of the fleet, including the Actif, was directed to Quebec.
When they sited the Grand Banks on May 27, the soldiers performed "The Ceremony of Baptism", a ritual hazing of all those who had come this far for the first time. They also participated in some cod fishing. Icebergs were visible in the area.
By 31 May a fog had settled over the fleet, and for safety the fleet separated into smaller groups (to prevent collisions between the ships). Initially the Entrepenant (with de la Motte) stayed behind with the Actif, the Bizarre, and the Deffenseur.
Groupings of ships were created and broken up in the fog.
One of the groups, led by de la Motte aboard the Entrepenant, came out of the fog to find an English detachment of ten ships. They identified the ships, and slipped back into the fog for safety. A second group came out of the fog and also found the English detachment.
The second group of three ships were the Alcide, the Lis, and the Actif. The story goes that the commander of the Alcide, Hocquart, did not recognize the danger of interacting with the English ships, as they two countriees were still officially at peace. Hocquart hailed the English ships, asking if they were at peace or war. Commander Howe of the English ship, the Dunkirk, tricked the French commander by responding with "Peace", then when the Alcide came close enough the Dunkirk fired broadside. The other two ships tried to get away, but the Lis was captured. The Actif - with Pierre Vivet dit Sanschagrin aboard - was able to slip into the fog.*
The rest of the Quebec bound fleet arrived June 23, 1755. They did not know the whereabouts of the missing ships for three days.
The Actif, with our ancestor, Pierre Vivet dit Sanschagrin, arrived Quebec three days later, 26 June, 1755.
* A second version of this portion of the tale is from the July 1755 issue of "The Gentleman's Magazine" (GM), a periodical published in London.
The third ship was actually the Dauphin Royale, not the Actif. They also tell that Howe acted more honorably, never actually telling the French that they were not at war, but rather refrained from saying anything at all. GM was an English publication, and the accuracy of their identification of a ship that slipped into the fog is questionable. Also, later that year GM states that the Actif had been taken by the English fleet, which has been verified as inaccurate. Taking this into consideration, I believe that the story in the GM should be questioned.
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