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The Hudson Bay expedition of Jean-François de Galaup, comte de La Pérouse was a series of military raids on the lucrative fur trading posts and fortifications of the Hudson's Bay Company on the shores of Hudson Bay by a squadron of the French Royal Navy. Setting sail from Cap-Français in 1782, the expedition was part of a global naval war between France and Great Britain during the American Revolutionary War. Operating under secret orders from the Marquis de Castries, France's marine minister, La Pérouse sailed from Cap-Français in May 1782, and arrived before the Prince of Wales Fort in early August. That fort and York Factory both surrendered without a fight, although some of the stored furs at York were spirited away by a company ship that evaded the French fleet. Many of the British prisoners were put on a sloop which they sailed back to England. Men on La Pérouse's fleet, which had sailed with minimal winter provisioning to maintain secrecy, suffered from scurvy and other diseases because of their hardships. The Hudson's Bay Company finances suffered because of the raid, and it contributed to reductions in the native population that did business with the company. ==Background== Jean-François de Galaup, comte de La Pérouse, a captain in the French Navy, first proposed the idea of an expedition against the fur trading posts of the Hudson's Bay Company to Charles Pierre Claret de Fleurieu, the French minister of ports, during a visit to France in late 1780.〔Dunmore, pp. 130,133〕 France's marine minister, the Marquis de Castries, and King Louis XVI approved the plan, and Castries issued La Pérouse secret orders that could override those of any fleet commander La Pérouse served under in the event an opportunity presented itself for such an expedition. The idea was to organize a small fleet in secret and make as rapid as possible a journey north to Hudson Bay from either Newport, Rhode Island or Boston, Massachusetts, the most northerly ports of North America open to French ships.〔Dunmore, p. 134〕 La Pérouse's duties during the 1781 campaign season did not provide him with any chances to exercise his secret orders, but the aftermath of the disastrous French loss in the April 1782 Battle of the Saintes presented him with the opportunity.〔Dunmore, pp. 134–148〕 France and Spain had been planning an assault on Jamaica, but the losses incurred during the battle, including the capture of Admiral Paul, Comte de Grasse and his flagship ''Ville de Paris'', led them to call off the expedition.〔Dunmore, p. 148〕 La Pérouse, on his arrival at Cap-Français after the battle, raised the idea with de Grasse's successor, Louis-Philippe de Vaudreuil. Vaudreuil approved of the plan, and provided La Pérouse with three ships: a ship of the line ''Sceptre'' (74 guns), and the frigates ''Astrée'' (38) and ''Engageante'' (34). ''Astrée'' was under the command of Paul Antoine Fleuriot de Langle, and ''Engageante'' was led by Lieutenant André Charles de la Jaille.〔Dunmore, p. 149〕 Preparations for the expedition were carried out secretly and in some haste, since the French were aware of the short season in the far north. The ships' crews and most of their officers were not informed of the fleet's destination, and La Pérouse, seeking to avoid all suspicion, even avoided carrying cold-weather clothing.〔Dunmore, p. 151〕 Admiral Vaudreuil recorded the fleet's destination in his records as France, with possible stops in Newport or Boston, and Langle and la Jaille were given sealed orders to be opened only upon reaching the latitude of Nova Scotia.〔Dunmore, p. 152〕 The fleet took on 250 regular infantry from the Régiment Auxerrois, 40 gunners, 4 field guns, and two mortars.〔〔 These troops were told they were being sent to supplement the French army at Newport. After two weeks of preparation, the fleet sailed from Cap-Français on May 31, 1782.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Hudson Bay expedition」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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