Sylvanus Cobb was born in Plymouth, New England, in 1709. Shortly before the capture of Louisbourg by Sir Wm. Pepperrell, in 1745, he raised a company in his native town for Colonel Gorham's regiment and served with credit during the operations of the seige. He was subsequently in command of a small armed vessel employed by Government to cruise in the Bay of Fundy. After Halifax was founded, in 1749, he was employed by Governor Cornwallis and his successors for nearly ten years as master of the Provincial armed sloop "York." When at Louisbourg in 1758 he was selected by Monckton to conduct Wolfe to reconnoitre the fortress previous to an assault. As they sailed up the harbor no one was allowed to stand on deck but Wolfe at the fore-sheet and Cobb at the helm. The shot flew thickly around them, and Wolfe at length signified that they had approached as near to the fortifications as was necessary, but Cobb made yet another tack, eliciting Wolfe's admiration and the remark, "Well, Cobb! I shall never again doubt but you will carry me near enough." Capt. Cobb lived for some years at Liverpool, N. S. He died of fever in 1762 while serving in an expedition against Havana, and is said to have expressed his regret that he had not met a soldier's death at the cannon's mouth. His descendants in Queens county, N. S., are numerous. The troops that accompanied Colonel Monckton to the River St. John included several New England companies of Rangers under captains McCurdy, Brewer, Goreham and Stark, a detachment of artillery, the 2nd battalion of the Royal American Regiment[38] and the 35th regiment of light infantry. The troops embarked on board the transport ships "Isabella," "Wade," "Alexander the Second," "Viscount Falmouth," "Lord Bleakeney," the sloops "York" and "Ulysses" and other vessels, under convoy of the "Squirrel" man-of-war. Vessels and troops had lately returned from the siege of Louisbourg. [38] The Royal American Regiment, or 60th Regiment of Foot, was raised in America about 1756 or 1757. It was commanded by Maj. Gen. James Abercrombie, who was succeeded by Gen. Sir Jeffrey Amherst in February, 1758. The corps included four battalions each of 1,000 men. Robert Monckton was appointed colonel in the regiment Sept. 28, 1757. (See Murdoch's Hist. Nova Scotia, Vol. 2, p. 329.)