while the English were attacking the archipelago, their fleet was routed by the passage of a hurricane and some British who besieged this "Gibraltar of the Antilles" were quickly expelled by the troops of Sir du Lion and Sir Desmeuriers, helped by the Caribs. The English surrendered on 15 August 1666, the day of the Assumption of Mary, and a Te Deum was intoned at the request of Sir du Lion who founded an annual remembrance in honour to this victory - this is celebrated ardently on the island of Terre-de-Haut to this day. Our-Lady-of-Assumption became the Patron saint of the parish. To protect the French colonies of the area, the English were repelled to Barbados by the governor of Santo Domingo, Jean-Baptiste Ducasse in 1691. 18th Century From 1759 to 1763, the British took possession of Les Saintes and a part of Guadeloupe. Les Saintes were restored to the Kingdom of France only after the signature of the Treaty of Paris on 10 February 1763, by which France gave up Île Royale, Isle Saint-Jean, Acadia and Canada, the Great Lakes region and the left bank of the Mississippi to the British. To prevent further British ambitions, King Louis XVI ordered the construction of fortifications on Les Saintes. Thus began the construction of "Fort Louis" on the Mire Hill, "Fort de la Reine" on Petite Martinique island, the watchtowers of "Modele tower" on Chameau Hill (the top of the archipelago, 309 m), the artillery batteries of Morel Hill and Mouillage Hill, in 1777. On 12 April 1782, after the military campaign of January in Basseterre on the island of Saint Christopher, the French fleet of Comte de Grasse, which aimed to capture British Jamaica, left Martinique and headed towards the archipelago of les Saintes, where it arrived in the evening. Caught in the Dominica Passage by the British and inferior in number, it was engaged and defeated by the ships of the line of George Brydges Rodney aboard the Formidable and Samuel Hood aboard the Barfleur. According to legend, after he had fired the last of the ammunition of his carronades, de Grasse fired off his silverware. In a little more than five hours, 2,000 French sailors and soldiers were killed and wounded, and 5,000 men and 4 ships of the line captured and one ship of the line sunk. The defeat resulted in Îles des Saintes coming under British