It was now proposed by the French authorities to re-establish the stronghold at the mouth of the St. John. The old fort of four bastions so far remained that it could readily be restored; the ditches needed to be deepened, the parapets to be raised and new palisades constructed. It was thought that 150 men would suffice to garrison the post as well as that at the Nashwaak. The fort was needed to protect French privateers and French commerce. Many English vessels were brought to Menagoueche at this time by the privateersmen Baptiste and Guyon. The company of Acadia, with Tibierge as their agent, continued to develop a thriving trade, and it seems, too, that the forest wealth of the country was beginning to attract attention for Villebon, a year or two later, sent home to France a mast, as a specimen, 82 feet long, 31 inches in diameter at one end and 21 at the other. The French privateers were not allowed to ply their vocation with impunity, they often had spirited encounters with the British ships in which there were losses on both sides. In 1694 one Robineau of Nantes, who had taken several English vessels, was forced to burn his ship in St. John harbor, in order to escape capture by an English ship, and to defend himself on shore. The vessels employed as privateers evidently were small, for they sometimes went up the river to Villebon's fort. The prisoners taken were kept at the fort or put in charge of the French inhabitants living on the river, and from time to time ransomed by their friends or exchanged for French prisoners taken by the English. Villebon informs us that in June, 1695, an English frigate and a sloop arrived at Menagoueche (St. John) on business connected with the ransom of eight captives who were then in the hands of the French. Messages were exchanged with Nachouac and the captain of the English ship, a jovial old tar, expressed a wish to meet Governor Villebon and "drink with him" and to see Captain Baptiste, whom he called a brave man, but his overtures were declined.