Auguste was a full rigged sailing ship

Full rigged ship

A full rigged ship or fully rigged ship is a sailing vessel with three or more masts, all of them square rigged. A full rigged ship is said to have a ship rig....

 which sank at Aspy Bay, Cape Breton

Cape Breton Island

Cape Breton Island is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America. It likely corresponds to the word Breton, the French demonym for Brittany....

, Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...

 in 1761 while carrying exiles from the fall of New France

New France

New France was the area colonized by France in North America during a period beginning with the exploration of the Saint Lawrence River by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Spain and Great Britain in 1763...

. Auguste was a former French privateer

Privateer

A privateer is a private person or ship authorized by a government by letters of marque to attack foreign shipping during wartime. Privateering was a way of mobilizing armed ships and sailors without having to spend public money or commit naval officers...

 ship which had been captured by the British and converted to a merchant ship. In September 1761, she was hired by the British government to transport French exiles and prisoners of war from Montreal

Montreal

Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

 to France. For the voyage, she was under the command of Joseph Knowles, an English sea captain. The ship was unarmed and carried 121 passengers and crew. Almost immediately upon clearing the mouth of the St. Lawrence on October 28, she encountered week of contrary winds followed by a nor'west gale and heavy seas which badly damaged the ship. Leaking heavily with an exhausted crew and damaged rigging, the captain sought a sheltered harbour in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia

Cape Breton Island

Cape Breton Island is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America. It likely corresponds to the word Breton, the French demonym for Brittany....

. However Knowles was unable to find a safe refuge as Auguste carried only charts of the French coast. The ship struck land on the northeastern side of Cape Breton Island

Cape Breton Island

Cape Breton Island is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America. It likely corresponds to the word Breton, the French demonym for Brittany....

 near an inlet known as Aspy Bay. Only seven of the 121 made it to shore alive. These included the captain, the merchant Luc de la Corne

Luc de la Corne

Luc de la Corne, also known as Saint Luc, was the son of Jean-Louis de La Corne and the brother of Louis de la Corne, Chevalier de la Corne. As in the case of most of his contemporaries, he was an officer in the colonial regular troops. He had a varied and courageous military career which earned...

, two soldiers, two servants, and one discharged soldier.

Many notable Canadians died during the sinking, including Charles-René Dejordy de Villebon

Charles-René Dejordy de Villebon

Charles-Rene Dejordy de Villebon was from Saint-Sulpice, Quebec. He was a military man, joining the colonial regular troops as a cadet. By 1749 he had been promoted second ensign and was sent as second in command to a post in Baie-des-Puants, Wisconsin...

, Louis-Joseph Gaultier de La Vérendrye

Louis-Joseph Gaultier de La Vérendrye

Louis-Joseph Gaultier de La Vérendrye was a French Canadian fur trader and explorer who took part in extending these activities westerly from the Great Lakes during the eighteenth century, an enterprise for which he and other members of his family were largely responsible...

, François-Josué de la Corne Dubreuil

François-Josué de la Corne Dubreuil

François-Josué de La Corne Dubreuil, was an officer in the colonial regular troops of New France and, as was the norm of the day, involved in family commercial enterprises . He was the son of Jean-Louis de la Corne de Chaptes and a brother of Louis de la Corne, Chevalier de la Corne and Luc de la...

 and Louis de la Corne, Chevalier de la Corne

Louis de la Corne, Chevalier de la Corne

Louis de la Corne or Louis Chapt, Chevalier de la Corne was born at Fort Frontenac in what is now Kingston, Ontario, Canada, and began his career in the colonial regular troops as a second ensign in 1722 and was made full ensign five years later.He married in 1728 and began investing heavily in...

.

Carrying the life's savings of many of its passengers, the ship contained considerable amounts of gold and silver. This has attracted various treasure hunters, including Joe Amaral, as well as some archaeology by Parks Canada. A display of artifacts from Auguste can be seen at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic

Maritime Museum of the Atlantic

The Maritime Museum of the Atlantic is a Canadian maritime museum located in downtown Halifax, Nova Scotia.The Maritime Museum of the Atlantic is a member institution of the Nova Scotia Museum and is the oldest and largest maritime museum in Canada with a collection of over 30,000 artifacts...

 in Halifax.

External links

• Nova Scotia Museum Shipwreck Database Auguste Entry: Maritme Museum of the Atlantic - Auguste
• Prince Edward Island Numismatic Association
• Nova Scotia Wrecks - Auguste