page_title: Action of 8 June 1755
section_title: Background
hierarchical_section_title: Action of 8 June 1755 / Background
caption_attribution_description: This set of images was gathered by User:Dcoetzee from the National Portrait Gallery, London website using a special tool. All images in this batch have been confirmed as author died before 1939 according to the official death date listed by the NPG. See source website for additional information.
context_page_description: The Action of 8 June 1755 was a naval battle between France and Great Britain early in the French and Indian War. The British captured the third-rate French ships Alcide and Lys off Cape Ray, Newfoundland in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The battle contributed to the eventual war declarations that in 1756 formally began the Seven Years' War.
context_section_description: In 1754, French and British colonial forces clashed in 1754, first in the Battle of Jumonville Glen, and then in the Battle of Fort Necessity, over control of the upper Ohio River valley, near present-day Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. When word of these conflicts reached London, government leaders decided to send regular army troops to occupy the site on which the French had constructed Fort Duquesne. Word of the British military planning leaked to France, where convoys of troops were also rushed into readiness for service in North America. The Royal Navy, aware of the French plans, dispatched Vice Admiral Edward Boscawen and a fleet of eleven ships of the line to the Gulf of St. Lawrence to intercept French shipping headed for Quebec City. Boscawen patrolled along the southern shore of Newfoundland. Three weeks later, a second fleet of seven ships was despatched under Admiral Holbourne to intercept French shipping.
  The French fleet, under the command of Admiral Dubois de la Motte, for the most part managed to avoid these British forces. Many of its ships landed at Louisbourg, and some successfully eluded Boscawen's fleet to reach Quebec. However, three ships became separated from the rest of the fleet in fog, and encountered some of Boscawen's ships.
caption: Vice Admiral Edward Boscawen was dispatched with eleven ships of the line to intercept French ships heading for Quebec City.
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