As the British-American forces withdrew, Quebec's defenders celebrated a great victory by waiving white flags, the colour of the Bourbon Monarchy in France. Because the whole of the St Lawrence Region had been to mobilized in order to defend the future of Canada.

Conversely, the outcome was a bitter disappointment to Jeffrey Amherst, the Supreme Commander of British Forces in North America. Whilst the original aim of the Seven Years War had been to simply to occupy the Ohio Valley, by 1758 Amherst was charged with no less a task than the conquest of Canada.

"Who would not go to Hell, to hear such music for half an hour?" ~ British sergeant

The transfer of forces to North America, by both Great Britain resulted in an unprecedented clash of the two rival empires. By the time of the amphibious assault on the French Fortress of Louisbourg, the Royal Navy had committed seventy vessels, twenty-four ships of the line, nineteen frigates, sloops and fireships plus one hundred and thirty transports carrying thirteen thousand men and two thousand pieces of ordinance. Constructed in 1917, the stone fortress was so massive that it became known as the "Gibraltar of North America".

"[Quiberon Bay] is the graveyard of our navy, the ruin of all our hopes" ~ King George II of England

Of course the defeat at Louisbourg was a catastrophic setback for Amherst's plans. But in fact, three boats did make it to a rocky inlet unprotected by French fire and secured a beach head. But the one hundred and fifty marines led by Brigadier James Wolfe and Master James Cook were defeated by troops sent by French Governor Augustin Drucour, who correctly guessed the small size of the landing force. And so neither of these uniquely talented officers were alive for the final showdown at Quebec City one year later.

Unbeknown to Amherst, but suspected by the more astute members of the War Office in London, British Forces had been recklessly overcommitted to overseas engagements. And this imperial overstretch would have truly catastrophic consequences for the British Empire. Because on November 20th, the home fleet of British admiral Sir Edward Hawke was destroyed off the French coast at Quiberon Bay. Sealanes to the British Isles were undefended, and a force of just fourteen thousand regulars stood between the Pretender Charles and the restoration of the House of Stuart.