The other's response was rapid and masterly. He marched upon Fort Nelson with twelve men, and by the following nightfall was master of the English establishment. This feat nearly drove the unhappy Governor to despair, and he sought solace by applying himself to the rum cask with greater assiduity than ever. In the frame of mind thus superinduced, John Bridgar, the first Governor of Port Nelson, was carried off a prisoner to Fort Bourbon. This post was built of logs, as the others had been, but there was a bastion of stone at one end facing the river. It occupied, as nearly as one may now ascertain, the site upon which was afterwards reared York Factory. But in the course of the seventy years following the post was shifted slightly from site to site, when the exigencies of fire and other causes of destruction demanded a new building. A few days after the Governor's arrival at Fort Bourbon, the first Indians began to appear with provisions, which were now beginning to be very sorely required. To the chief of this band Radisson related the story, properly garnished, of his exploits, realizing well how such things appeal to the savage heart. While the Indians were pondering upon his valour, great was their surprise to behold about the fort, a number of English, whom Radisson had made prisoners; and upon learning that there were others at York Factory and Hays' Island, they very handsomely offered 200 beavers for permission to go thither and massacre them. This offer Radisson wisely declined; but it seems clear that he did his best to stir up enmity amongst his Indian friends against the English. In this he was not entirely successful. Good news travels fast, too; and the Indians had got wind of Bridgar's boast that rather than see the trade pass into the hands of the French it was his intention to offer six axes for a beaver and as much merchandise in proportion. They had, besides, reason to believe in the superior generosity of the English traders as compared with the French. [Sidenote: Destruction of La Chesnaye's vessels.] It was now April, 1683. On the 22nd a disaster little foreseen by Radisson or Groseilliers occurred, which involved the destruction of their own frail ships. The _St. Pierre_ and the _St. Anne_ had been hauled into a small stream as far as possible in the woods and there sheltered by a knoll. At ten o'clock on the night named all at Fort Bourbon were awakened by a frightful noise, caused by the breaking up of the ice. The occupants of the fort rushed outside to find the waters everywhere rising with almost incredible rapidity; and the masses of ice blocking up the mouth of the creek caused a complete general submersion. La Chesnaye's two vessels offered no strong resistance to the flood, and presently began to crack and splinter in all parts. In a few hours all that remained sound were the bottoms, clinging fast to the ice and mud.