The Governor of Acadia Louis-Alexandre des Friches de Menneval had only 70 soldiers; the unfinished enceinte remained open and its 18 cannon had not been brought into firing positions; 42 young men of Port-Royal were absent.

The merchants of Salem and Boston got up a subscription, and in the spring of 1690 the government of Massachusetts organized a campaign led by William Phips against the Acadian settlements.

[5] Authorities in New France capitalized on turmoil in the English colonies in the aftermath of the 1688 Glorious Revolution to launch raids with their Indian allies against targets on the already tense frontiers of New England and New York.

[6] The idea for an expedition against Acadia first arose in the wake of the August 1689 fall of Fort William Henry at Pemaquid (present-day Bristol, Maine) to French and Indian forces.

[7] In December 1689 Massachusetts authorized an essentially volunteer expedition against Acadia, and established committees to organize it, but the urgency to deal with it brought more public support after the raids in early 1690.

[6] The command was finally given to Sir William Phips, a Maine native with no military experience who achieved prominence by finding a wrecked treasure ship in the West Indies.

A military engineer had arrived in October 1689 and had begun razing the fort in order build a new one, over the objections of Governor Louis-Alexandre des Friches de Meneval, and none of its cannons were mounted.

[11] By English accounts, French soldiers and residents were seen removing stores from the fort (which would normally go to the victor as spoils of war) while the surrender negotiations were taking place.

Since only the "King's Stores" were supposedly part of the surrender agreement, Phips biographers Baker and Reid note that there is "room for doubt whether the agreed terms would thereby have been breached.

"[11] Meneval and Petit, when they reported the events, claimed that Phips, unhappy with the condition of the fort and the size of the garrison that had surrendered, used the action of the French soldiers as an excuse to terminate the agreement.

[12] However, the fact that Phips had met with Laverdure prior to approaching Port Royal, and had a presumably reliable assessment of the conditions in the town, renders this explanation unlikely.

Joseph Robineau de Villebon, one of Meneval's assistants, returned to Port Royal from France in June, and reestablished French authority.

[13] Phips detached Cyprian Southack, commander of the Porcupine, with orders to raid a French fishing port on the Atlantic coast of the Acadian peninsula.