Captain Ange Amirault

Boats proved to be very useful for some Acadians who wished to leave their place of exile. In 1766, when a group of Acadians who had been deported to Massachusetts decided to leave Boston and head for Québec, they called upon Acadian Ange Amirault who, according to tradition, could sail a schooner. After having built the ship themselves, Captain Ange Amirault and his crew left for Québec, but stopped over in Halifax and were recognized by British authorities. However, the British authorities concluded that they had lived an irreproachable and peaceful life and that before the Deportation, when they lived in Cape Sable, in southwestern Nova Scotia, they had even helped British fishermen. Thus, the Acadians were invited to settle in Nova Scotia and were promised the services of a priest. According to oral tradition, it is because of that promise that Father Charles-François Bailly de Menssein came to Acadie a few months later.