1765 - Fall
West Indies
Louis Bougainville was a former army officer whom had served the French King in Quebec. Like most of the French regulars at the time, they surrendered to the British in 1758 on the assumption that they would be given some sort of honors of war and allowed to return to France to fight. However, this was not to be and the Frenchman was forced to remain “neutral” for the remainder of the conflict in exchange for is freedom. This was quickly ended as a British prisoner on parole was “exchanged” for him and the Frenchman participated in the invasion of Britain.
This Bougainville would greatly relish as he was outraged at the British-American forcible expulsion of the Acadians and Canadiens from North America (by 1765, over half had departed, often with a bayonet in their backs). Recently, the Frenchmen returned to France but previously the Americans split up the French population among the various British colonies, often separating families. Worse, many colonies had refused the desperate French colonials from landing and forced them to remain in hot, pestilential and hungry conditions in the holds of the transports for weeks to months at a time. An estimated 20% of those Canadians and Acadians forcibly moved to the British colonies would die within the year.
With the peace, the French colonials remaining in Canada were seldom forced to leave but nevertheless many opted to depart the hostile American government of their own free will, often without any compensation for their confiscated lands. Indeed, so many Americans and British (and Protestant Irish) had settled in Acadia (Nova Scotia), Quebec, Montreal and New Orleans (Hanover) that they Protestants already outnumbered the Catholics, a disparity which would rapidly grow in the future.
Though not a vengeful man, Bougainville would take no small pleasure in conquering Britain. Having served so many years in the army, the talented man surprisingly transferred to the navy. Given his martial and political talents, Bougainville in 1762 would be given a commission to command a three ship “exploration expedition” to the south seas. Only nominal intent was exploration though the true desire was to achieve some measure of understanding of the complex new realities of the Indian Ocean, even as far as New Holland, the vast island to the east claimed by the Dutch but never settled. Making astonishing time, Bougainville would reach the now-Britsh dominated East Indies and find the British East India Company willing to trade with France. He then sailed further east and spent a year circumnavigating the great island, making many stops for true scientific exploration.
Beyond several very tense meetings with the dark-skinned natives, Bougainville also acquired large numbers of flora and fauna samples. Hundreds of plant, insect and small animal samples were collected, with the crews making pains to keep as many alive as possible.
Then, again with remarkable good luck, favorable winds and stout ships, the small expedition would return to the Pacific following the trade winds to the West Indies. Here their luck ran out as a small hurricane would force the trio of damaged ships into the harbor at Barbados. The vaunted Bougainville luck would return when it was discovered only 3 months prior that the island had been conquered by France. The pox-weakened garrison would submit terms to the French whom agreed to allow the British soldiers and sailors to retreat to Jamaica. All British citizens would be allowed to leave…without their slaves. Indeed, not a single slave was to be allowed to leave the island. As the British army and navy was already retreating, the British plantation owners were utterly dispossessed of their property be it sugar, land or human chattel.
Bougainville would find sanctuary in Bridgetown and the French navy utilized the British docking facilities to good use. Within a few weeks, the ships were repaired. Much of the precious scientific cargo was temporarily removed. Unfortunately, during this time, a large barrel of New Holland Beetles would crack open, allowing hundreds of the the insects to escape.
Within a few years, the beetles would begin feasting upon the sugar cane of Barbados and, within ten, had spread to virtually every major sugar-producing area in the west. This was not noticed at the time due to the fact that, when the British retreated, they would arm the slave majority of Barbados with their surplus weapons and powder in order to sabotage the French occupation of the island. As products, settlers, soldiers and slaves were moved from one island to the next, the beetles would be carried along.