on board was to no purpose; the pilot declared we should be lost, for that no French ship ever presumed to pass there without a pilot.  ‘Ay, ay, my dear,’ replied our son of Neptune, ’but, damn me, I’ll convince you that an Englishman shall go where a Frenchman dare not show his nose.’  The “Richmond” frigate being close astern of us, the commanding officer called out to the captain and told him our case; he inquired who the master was, and was answered from the forecastle by the man himself, who told him ’he was old Killick, and that was enough.’  I went forward with this experienced mariner, who pointed out the channel to me as we passed; showing me by the ripple and color of the water where there was any danger, and distinguishing the places where there were ledges of rocks (to me invisible) from banks of sand, mud, or gravel.  He gave his orders with great unconcern, joked with the sounding-boats which lay off on each side with different colored flags for our guidance; and when any of them called to him and pointed to the deepest water, he answered:  ’Ay, ay, my dear, chalk it down, a damned dangerous navigation, eh!  If you don’t make a sputter about it you’ll get no credit in England.’  After we had cleared this remarkable place, where the channel forms a complete zigzag, the master called to his mate to give the helm to somebody else, saying, ’Damn me if there are not a thousand places in the Thames fifty times more hazardous than this; I am ashamed that Englishmen should make such a rout about it.’  The Frenchman asked me if the captain had not been there before.  I assured him in the negative; upon which he viewed him with great attention, lifting at the same time his hands and eyes to heaven with astonishment and fervency."[712]

[Footnote 712:  Others, as well as the pilot, were astonished.  “The enemy passed sixty ships of war where we hardly dared risk a vessel of a hundred tons.”  “Notwithstanding all our precautions, the English, without any accident, by night, as well as by day, passed through it [the Traverse] their ships of seventy and eighty guns, and even many of them together.” Vaudreuil au Ministre, 22 Oct. 1759.]

Vaudreuil was blamed for not planting cannon at a certain plateau on the side of the mountain of Cape Tourmente, where the gunners would have been inaccessible, and whence they could have battered every passing ship with a plunging fire.  As it was, the whole fleet sailed safely through.  On the twenty-sixth they were all anchored off the south shore of the Island of Orleans, a few miles from Quebec; and, writes Knox, “here we are entertained with a most agreeable prospect of a delightful country on every side; windmills, watermills, churches, chapels, and compact farmhouses, all built with stone, and covered, some with wood, and others with straw.  The lands appear to be everywhere well cultivated; and with the help of my glass I can discern that they are sowed with flax, wheat, barley, peas, etc., and the grounds are enclosed with wooden pales.  The weather to-day is agreeably warm.  A light fog sometimes hangs over the highlands, but in the river we have a fine clear air.  In the curve of the river, while we were under sail, we had a transient view of a stupendous natural curiosity called the waterfall of Montmorenci.”