The majority of French settlers and Acadians chose to move to Ile Royale, present day Cape Breton Island.

Another deciding factor was that the Governor-General Vaudreuil of New France believed the Acadians would prefer Ile Saint-Jean even though it was more defenceless against English attacks.

During this time period Acadians participated in various militia operations against the British and maintained vital supply lines to the French Fortresses of Louisbourg and Fort Beausejour.

[8] After conceding loss, the Acadian citizens refused to sign an oath of allegiance to Britain which would make them loyal to the British crown.

Therefore, on July 28, 1755 British Lieutenant Governor Charles Lawrence, as well as the Nova Scotia Council, made the decision to deport the Acadians.

[9] Other reasons behind the deportation of Acadians from Ile Saint-Jean was part of the general British campaign to eliminate the possibilities of resistance along the shores of the Gulf of St. Lawrence in anticipation of an assault on Quebec, that was planned for the following year.

During the deportation process, a great number of Acadian deaths occurred, making this British campaign one of the deadliest in The Expulsion.

The removal of French troops and the fate of the civilians were not addressed until a few days later when under British policy, it came clear that the deportations of all inhabitants of Ile Saint-jean were to occur.

[9] The defeated French governor, Drucou, sent along a few of his officers from Louisbourg to inform the inhabitants and military on Ile Saint-Jean about the surrender and deportation.

[7][page needed] Under orders from General Jeffery Amherst, Lieutenant-Colonel Andrew Rollo led the British deportation operations.

Rollo proceeded to Ile Saint-jean with 500 men on four transport ships: King of Prussia, Dunbar, Bristol, and Catherine.

[7][page needed] The first group of 692 people, including French officials and their families, were deported on August 31, in two ships.

Once the letter got in the hands of Rear Admiral Philip Durell, the successor at Louisbourg, sent Captain Maximillian Jacobs to destroy the ship that was helping the inhabitants flee.

[9] During the taking over of Ile Saint-Jean by the British, an Acadian refugee camp in Miramichi, the closest port, area existed from 1756–1759.

Some inhabitants went there on small boats but the camp was in poor conditions with over a thousand people who ended up dying there from disease and starvation.

Some escaped into the interior of the island and remained hidden for several years as they lived of stray livestock and wild game.

[10][page needed] Nicolas Gautier was among those who assisted settlers escaping the north shore of Ile Saint-Jean.

[15] As the deportation operation continued, on October 14, a schooner arrived at Port-la-Joye from Pointe-Prime (now Eldon, Prince Edward Island) carrying Noel Doiron and 50 other Acadians.

[7][page needed] At the end of October, British efforts to deport prisoners were beginning to come to a close.

One was wrecked in the Strait of Canso, Ruby on the Azores, and Duke William and Violet sank off Land's End.

[26] On the Restigouche River, Jean-François Bourdon de Dombourg also had a refugee camp at Petit-Rochelle (present-day Pointe-à-la-Croix, Quebec).

Two other larger ships Duke William and Violet sank in the mid-Atlantic resulting in an estimated 756 exiles deaths.

[31] Through record logs of ships used in the transport of the Acadians during deportation from Ile Saint-Jean, there were stops in English and French ports.

Within the archives are lists of inhabitants from Ile Saint-Jean who debarked from seven transports at St. Malo, as well as the names of individuals who died on the vessels en route.

In November, Major George Scott and several hundred men from Fort Cumberland sailed up the Petitcodiac River in a number of armed vessels, destroying the villages as they went, including Beausoleil, home to the Broussards.

Simultaneously, Colonel Robert Monckton, in command of 2,000 troops, engaged in a similar campaign on the St. John River.