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I found one Cobb,* a settler, who is thoroughly acquainted with every Harbour and Creek in the Bay, and knows every house in Chinecto, a man very fit for such an enterprize. I took his Sloop into the service, and sent him to Boston with letters to M.Phips, desiring him to assist Cobb to arm and man his Sloop, with all possible dispatch. This, I chose, because it could be done there without suspicion.
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The affair being managed in this manner, and known here and in New England, must, of course, reach both the French and Indians. So I judged it prudent to order Cobb not to proceed. I enclose my Instructions to Cobb, my letter to M.
* Silvanus Cobb was a native of Plymouth, N. England; born 1709. He was chosen captain of the company of Col. Gorham's regt. of provincial troops, which was raised in Plymouth in 1745, for the Expedition against Louisburgh, where he served with credit. He commanded a small armed vessel, employed by Government to cruise in the Bay of Fundy, in 1747 and 8. After the establishment of the Government in Chebucto in 1749, he continued in the public service as master of the sloop York, under Governors Cornwallis, Hopson and Lawrence, until 1757 or 8. He was a brave man, much confided in, and well acquainted with the harbors around thc coast of Nova Scotia. He served at the second siege of Louisburgh under Boscowen and Amherst in 1758, and was chosen by Gen. Monckton to conduct Gen. Wolfe to a reconnoisance of the fortress previous to its capture. As they neared the shore under a heavy fire, the General and Cobb alone standing on the deck, the latter at the helm, "General Wolfe observed that they had approached as near as he wished for his purpose; but Cobb made yet another tack, when Wolfe remarked, "Well, Cobb, I shall not doubt but you will carry me near enough." — Russell's Hist. Plymouth, 189.
Capt. Cobb returned to Plymouth after the campaign, and removed, with his family, to Liverpool, N.S., where he is said to have built a house. Previous to the year 1755, he had a house at Chignecto, where he occasionally resided in winter. He was afterwards employed in the Expedition against Havana in 1762, where he died of the epidemic which there prevailed, expressing his regret that he had not met a soldier's death at the cannon's mouth, He left an only daughter, who married Col. William Freeman, of Liverpool, N.S. The descendants of Mrs. Freeman are numerous in Queen's County. His younger, brother, Jabez Cobb, also settled at Liverpool and left descendants. — Governor’s Letters. N.S. Documents — Murdock's Hist. N.S., &c.
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