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The Louisbourg Expedition (1757) was a failed British attempt to capture the French fortress of Louisbourg on Île Royale (now known as Cape Breton Island) during the Seven Years' War (known in the United States as the French and Indian War).
A strong French naval concentration was formed at Louisbourg, as Dubois de La Motte led a defence with 9 ships-of-the-line and 2 frigates, which were reinforced with the arrival of Joseph de Bauffremont from Saint-Domingue with 5 ships-of-the-line and a frigate, and 4 ships and 2 frigates from Toulon under Joseph-François de Noble Du Revest.[1]
This strong French naval deployment repulsed the attempts of Lord Loudon in the Louisbourg Expedition, who had committed a squadron under Francis Holburne.[1]
On 24 September 1757, the British fleet was scattered by a gale, but the French could not pursue them due to a typhus epidemic.[1] Dubois de La Motte would return to Brest with his sick men on 30 October 1757.[1]
The British succeeded in capturing Louisbourg the following year.
The next battle in Nova Scotia the Battle of Bloody Creek (1757), happened after the Louisbourg Expedition.