Boston was busy. Although a major port, it struggled to cope with a rising number of poor, plus a steady increase in the number of soldiers’ wives who looked for accommodation when the regiments were up-country. Men and women from Great Britain and Ireland, spending their first winter in the New World, were shocked at the severity of the weather. They huddled up against the cold, searched for accommodation and hoped for a short war as, all that winter, the towns of the eastern seaboard of North America saw an increase in the number of ships preparing for next year’s campaigning season.
“The weather is too bad to sail now,” Cumming said, as a north-easterly wind howled into the harbour.
“It’s worse further north.” Chisholm took the pipe from his mouth. “Louisbourg harbour is choked by ice
