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The Quebec Expedition, or the Walker Expedition to Quebec, was a British attempt to attack Quebec in 1711 in Queen Anne's War, the North American theatre of the War of Spanish Succession. It failed because of a shipping disaster on the Saint Lawrence River on 22 August 1711, when seven transports and one storeship were wrecked and some 850 soldiers drowned; the disaster was at the time one of the worst naval disasters in British history. The expedition was planned by the administration of Robert Harley, and was based on plans originally proposed in 1708. Harley decided to mount the expedition as part of a major shift in British military policy, emphasizing strength at sea. The expedition's leaders, Admiral Hovenden Walker and Brigadier-General John Hill, were chosen for their politics and connections to the crown, and its plans were kept secret even from the Admiralty. Despite the secrecy, French agents were able to discover British intentions and warn authorities in Quebec. The expedition expected to be fully provisioned in Boston, the capital of colonial Massachusetts, but the city was unprepared when it arrived, and Massachusetts authorities had to scramble to provide even three months' supplies. Admiral Walker also had difficulty acquiring experienced pilots and accurate charts for navigating the waters of the lower Saint Lawrence. The expedition reached the Gulf of Saint Lawrence without incident, but foggy conditions, tricky currents, and strong winds combined to drive the fleet toward the northern shore of the Saint Lawrence near a place now called Pointe-aux-Anglais, where the ships were wrecked. Following the disaster, Walker abandoned the expedition's objectives and returned to England. Although the expedition was a failure, Harley continued to implement his "blue water" policy. ==Background== In 1710, late in the War of Spanish Succession, a mixed force of British regulars and American colonists captured the French fort at Port Royal on the northwestern coast of Acadia (present-day Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia).〔Parkman, p. 149〕 Francis Nicholson, the leader of the expedition, brought news of the victory to London, where he and Jeremiah Dummer, who represented the Province of Massachusetts Bay in London, lobbied for an expedition against the heartland of New France, Quebec.〔 The British government, however, was in some turmoil, and in August 1710, the ministry of Lord Godolphin fell. Queen Anne replaced him with Robert Harley, a political opponent of the Duke of Marlborough, who had also fallen out of favour.〔Parkman, p. 156〕 Harley wanted to change Britain's military strategy, implementing a "blue water" policy that emphasized strength at sea, at the cost of a reduced army.〔 He also sought to blunt Marlborough's continuing influence with a victory of his own devising. To these ends, he authorised expeditions by land and sea to capture Quebec;〔Parkman, p. 157〕 however, he fell ill, so most of the work of organisation was done by his Secretary of State, Henry St. John (the future Lord Bolingbroke).〔 The basic plan followed one first proposed by Samuel Vetch in 1708 for the 1709 campaign season, with the main thrust to be a naval expedition carrying a combined force of regular army forces and provincial militia. Rear Admiral of the White Sir Hovenden Walker was given overall command of the expedition, with Brigadier John Hill in command of the land forces.〔Hervey, p. 317〕 Walker, who was promoted to admiral in March, had led a squadron on an expedition to the West Indies earlier in the war that had failed to produce significant results, and may have been chosen due to his friendship with St. John and his Tory sympathies. St. John probably chose Hill to curry favour at court:〔Parkman, pp. 157–158〕 he was the brother of Queen Anne's confidante Abigail Masham. The duchess of Marlborough, presumably echoing the opinions of her husband, wrote of Hill that "he was no good as a soldier".〔Lee, p. 396〕 Five regiments from Marlborough's force in Flanders were added to two from Britain to build a force of some 5,000 land troops.〔〔Hervey, p. 318〕 This force sailed from ports in southern England in April and May 1711.〔 Its destination was a tightly guarded secret: Walker was not immediately informed of its destination,〔 nor were the Lords of the Admiralty informed,〔Parkman, p. 158〕 and it was provisioned only with sufficient supplies for a typical voyage in European waters in an attempt to mislead spies.〔 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「Quebec Expedition」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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