The Louisbourg Pirate ©2010 by Gary LeDrew

Working Title- The Louisbourg Pirate ©2010 by Gary LeDrew
The Story of Robert Chevalier Beauchêne


Renegade! Rogue! Rake! Smuggler and Scoundrel! Pirate! and Patriot!


 
 Robert Chevalier Dechenes was born at Pointe-aux-Trembler 23 Apr 1696 near Montreal Quebec on the St Lawrence River.
At seven he ran away and was adopted into a nearby Algonquin village.  He is dicovered a few years later by some soldiers and returned to his parents. Forced to take lessons from the catholic nuns, He soon runs away again and re-joins his Indian family.  He takes to this life wholeheartedly and is highly respected in the tribe. He move easily between French society and Indian Life. He is only eighteen when he is threatened by an officer after a dalliance with his wife.  He and some Indian brothers sign on to the Cadillac Expedition even at this early age it is obvious he is an experienced woodsman and the ablity to translate freely he is an obvious asset.  They go as voyagers and travel as far as Niagara with him and return when they are too far out of their territory.

They gather much experience and confidence on this trip and when they return to Montreal he and his Indian brothers become smugglers. They are in their natural element as almost all of New England, Quebec and Nova Scotia etc. are populated with various tribes of Algonquin Indians. With these contacts they are soon make a good living canoeing down to New England with French brandy and smuggling back Rum and other English products. With this money Robert equally becomes at home in Quebec Society . He is adept at passing himself as a native and because natives are basically ignored, listening in to when the army or gendarmes aren’t around he learns much to help his smuggling or when officers are away and their wives are home alone. He is a handsome rogue and his sense of wildness is admired by the ladies. 
Always traveling by canoe he often looks longingly at sailing brigs he sees in Montreal or Boston
He is also laughed at for not being able to ride a horse.
As his business grows he gets bolder in his love pursuits and more daring in his smuggling exploits and adds some English to his language skills.    This leads to his downfall as he and his band are overwhelmed by an English Army unit and eventually sold in to slavery.
Robert remains in disguised as an Indian not able to understand English and is sold to Governor Shirley.  In this role he overhears the early proposals plans and discussions to capture the Fortress of Louisbourg.  With the help of Shirley’s niece He escapes and gathers some of his old crew together and when a Louisbourg pirate ship is captured and brought into Boston. He frees the crew from the prison and liberates the ship and sails the ship to Louisbourg.
When he tells the Governor of the American Plans the Governor scoffs that the Americans could take Louisbourg without British help and the British Army is tied up in Europe.
So Robert and his  Indian brothers join pirates and thrive. Sailing out of Louisbourg with almost official sanction, they attack New England fishing schooners and when possible cocoa ships from the West Indies. There is a good Market for cocoa in Louisbourg. He becomes involved with a late officers widow. He occasionally slips into Boston with the help of his Algonquin friends to smuggle Brandy and cocoa and continues the liaison with Shirley’s niece. She tells him that the invasion is eminent. He sends to Montreal for French and Algonquin reinforcements   to join him Louisbourg he sails back to warn the fortress.  Governor The Invasion Fleet arrives and he is too busy fighting to gloat. A cowardly Officer abandons the Royal Battery and the Fortress is doomed.  In the preparation to surrender it is decided to have a mass wedding and all single people will be joined in matrimony because the Americans will outlaw their religion. Robert is to marry a widow he has been friendly with.
The day before the surrender he gets a signal that his Indian brothers have arrived are waiting in Big Lorraine.
In the early morning fog he and some of his crew make a dash for big Lorraine in a small boat. They are spotted and are soon pursued by a company of American Soldiers. The soldiers chase them into the woods only to be surprised by the large Algonquin/micmac force and are killed.
Before they can get back to the Fortress it capitulates. He is disappointed but at least he doesn’t have to get married. Robert learns his pirate friend is has escaped and hiding at Scateri.  He says goodbye to his Algonquin friends who return to Quebec. He and his crew join his Pirate buddy and the sail for the Spanish Main with maybe a stop in New England and the off to new adventures.