 On 23 and 24 October , an exchange of prisoners was negotiated and effected , and the ships set sail for Boston . Although Phips ' own account of the expedition admitted only 30 dead in combat , smallpox and marine accident claimed about 1 @,@ 000 more . James Lloyd of Boston wrote in the following January , " 7 vessels yet wanting 3 more cast away & burnt . " Cotton Mather tells how one brigantine was wrecked on Anticosti ; her crew maintained themselves on the island through the winter and were apparently rescued the following summer by a ship from Boston . Phips ' defeat was complete and disastrous ; fortunately for the French , since food was lacking to feed the large force assembled to defend Quebec in case of a prolonged siege . Phips himself had displayed no natural military talents to offset his lack of experience . It can be argued however that the absence of trained soldiers and adequate supplies had doomed the enterprise from the start . Governor of New York Henry Sloughter captured the mood in the English colonies when he wrote : 
