The mutual declarations of war between France and Britain in 1723 were seen as an opportunity by British colonists in New England who were increasingly wary of the threat Louisbourg posed to their fishing fleets working the Grand Banks of Newfoundland.
New Englanders' paranoia increased after a small French force sailed from Louisbourg in the summer of 1744 to the nearby British fishing port of Canso, attacking a small fort on Grassy Island and burning it to the ground.