An incident during the Seven Years War, 1756–1763, between France and Britain. 1759 was a year of victories for Britain and on 26 June Admiral Sir Charles Saunders' powerful fleet, which had conveyed Major-General James Wolfe's land forces to Canada, anchored off the Ile d'Orleans on the St Lawrence River, below Quebec. A month after the fire-ship attack depicted in BHC0392, the French made a second bid to dislodge Saunders' fleet, which is the subject of this painting. About 100 fire-rafts were sent down but these fared no better than the earlier fire-ships and were towed safely aside by the boats of the fleet. On 13 September Wolfe's infantry were landed from boats below the Heights of Abraham and scaled them during the night to reach the plateau outside the city. There they defeated the French army of the Marquis de Montcalm in a set-piece battle of which both Wolfe and Montcalm were the leading casualties. On 18 September the city capitulated, marking the beginning of the end for the French colonies in North America. Within the year mainland Canada was completely in British hands.