D'Iberville Poster

Pierre Lemoyne d’Iberville, who was born in New France rather than in France, was a formidable rider and the terror of the English, had nothing to do with the pirate heroes of popular culture. The son of Charles Lemoyne (whose sons all had lives requiring each novel), he was born in Montreal in 1661. His parents first wanted to make him a religious, but fate made him a man whose word "epic" could have been used as his last name. He started sailing at the age of 12, then went up the ranks. Accompanied by two of his brothers, he took Hudson Bay to the English after a difficult 85-day trip under the command of Pierre de Troyes. He then began a series of havoc on English posts aboard his ship Le Pélican. As a leader of the best men, he attracted real warriors eager for victories. These men, with their fiery temperament, under the command of a guy like D’Iberville, followed him in all his expeditions and were for the most part Quebecers. In 1695 Frontenac asked him to go and kill the English out of Newfoundland, which he did by destroying everything in his way, destroying and looting all the wind. The result: 36 settlements destroyed, 200 dead, 700 prisoners. On board the Pelican, he was then attacked by three ships ready to cut them. After a long fight, D’Iberville proved his navigator skills and two of them fell, the third preferring to save himself. Demolishing all that was English was not enough, he later founded Louisiana at the mouth of the Mississippi with his brother. He also founded Biloxi and Mobile. One of his last achievements was the conquest of Nièves, in the Caribbean, with his "small" army of 2000 men. He has more than 7,000 prisoners and leaves behind only smoking ruins. Its name is now synonymous with terror on the entire Atlantic coast. He was finally the first Canadian* to receive the St. Louis Cross, the highest distinction of the time, as a credit for his life full of exploits. *in the original sense of the term Thanks to Louis Lalancette for the help on the image and the text!