It was intended to place four cannons of 8 L. to cannonade any ships that might attack it. The chief difficulty of the situation was the scarcity of water. The fort was quite indispensable for if the French were to abandon the lower part of the St. John river the English would immediately take possession. The savages were instructed to annoy the English on all occasions and to plunder any of their ships that landed on their shores. The Marquis even went so far as to suggest that some of the Acadians, dressed and painted like the savages, should join in the attacks upon the English in order that the savages might act with greater courage. He says he cannot avoid consenting to what the savages do in keeping the English busy and frustrating their advance since the French were restrained from open hostilities by the peace. "I beg you to be assured, Monseigneur," the Marquis continues, "that I will manage everything so as not to compromise myself and that I will not give up an inch of land that belongs to the king. It is time the limits should be settled and that we should know positively what we are to hold, so as to put an end to all hostilities and to avoid the immense expense that is occasioned." La Jonquiere, in the month of February, sent on the ice a detachment of fifty Canadians to strengthen the garrison at the mouth of the River St. John, and as the services of Boishebert were required elsewhere, the Sieur de Gaspe,[26] lieutenant of infantry, was sent to replace him and remained two years and a half in command. [26] Ignace Philippe Aubert, Sieur de Gaspe, was born at St. Antoine de Tilly near Quebec in 1714. He was an ensign in Acadia under de Ramezay in 1745 and was with Colombier de Villiers in the attack on Minas the following winter. He died at St. Jean, Port Joly, in 1787. He was grandfather of the author of the "Anciens Canadiens." The situation of the Acadians on the St. John at this time was a very unenviable one. Fort Boishebert, at the Nerepis, was a frail defence, and they were beginning to be straitened for supplies on account of the vigilance of the English cruisers. Father Germain wrote to the commandant at Annapolis Royal for leave to buy provisions there for the French living on the river, but the governor and council objected on the ground that French troops occupied the place and the Indians there were hostile. We gather some interesting information from a letter written at this time to the French minister by the Sieur de Gaspe, who was in command of the fort at the mouth of the Nerepis.[27] [27] I am indebted to Placide P. Gaudet for a copy of the original letter of which a translation is given on next page. It is one of the many interesting documents that have never yet been published.--W. O. R. Fort de Nerepice, 16th June, 1751.