[1][2] The success of this enterprise drew the attention of the authorities in New France, who objected to English encroachment on their claimed territories, and whose fur trade (and concomitant economic benefits) was hurt by the company's activities.

New France's governor, Philippe de Rigaud Vaudreuil, gave his blessing to the raid, and also helped fund the expedition from his private purse.

[4] Command of the expedition was given to Nicolas d'Ailleboust de Manthet, an experienced frontier raider who appears, by the few surviving records concerning his life, to never have been to Hudson Bay before.

[5] Manthet recruited between 60 and 70 Frenchmen and 30 Caughnawaga Mohawk, and set out, went down the Moose River (Ontario), skirted the James Bay coast in canoes and arrived near Fort Albany in late June 1709.

[7] Because the company did not send a ship to Fort Albany in 1709, officials in London learned of the event through an unexpected channel.