HMCS Halifax has been anchoring well up in the north end of Bedford Basin this weekend. With a stiff southerly breeze, her mooring lines to two of the trot buoys are quite taught, while the lee side lines are slack.
The anchorage is known as Jonquière Bank, named for Jacques-Pierre de Taffanel de la Jonquière, Marquis de Jonquière, a French naval war hero and governor of New France.
He had the misfortune to be a passenger on the ill-fated Duc d'Anville's fleet when it arrived in Halifax (then Beau Bassin) in 1746. The battered and disease-ridden flotilla - sent from France to re-capture Acadia, soon lost its commander to a stroke, and its second in command after a suicide attempt, not to mention many of its troops to disease. De la Jonquière, although a passenger, and at the time governor general designate of New France, took command of the decimated flotilla.
The fleet had anchored in Birch Cove on its arrival in Halifax, not far from the anchorage area now carrying Joinquière's name.
For a potted history of d'Anville's expeditions see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duc_d%27Anville_Expedition
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