The English force led by the Kirke brothers succeeded in capturing a supply convoy bound for New France, severely impairing that colony's ability to resist attack.

Charles I of England commissioned David Kirke of Dieppe to seize French shipping in North America and expand English trade in the St. Lawrence valley.

Cardinal Richelieu had been the driving force behind the formation of the Compagnie des Cent-Associés to manage the fur trade and encourage settlement, in order to consolidate the tentative hold the French had in Canada.

It consisted of four large merchant vessels and a single barque under the command of Admiral Claude Roquement de Brison, carrying supplies and approximately 400 settlers for Quebec.

Champlain, who had been expecting badly needed supplies from France, did not know that Kirke had been in the St. Lawrence seizing vessels until just prior to the English arrival off Quebec on July 9.

[4] The surrender of the French fleet yielded a great deal of plunder for Kirke, and this alone made his expedition a tremendous success, despite the failure to capture Quebec.