High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Duc d`Anville Expedition (June–October 1746) was sent from France to recapture peninsular Acadia (present-day mainland Nova Scotia). The expedition was the largest military force ever to set sail for the New World prior to the American Revolution. The effort to take the Nova Scotian capital, Annapolis Royal was also supported on land by a force from Quebec. Along with recapturing Acadia from the British, d`Anville was ordered to "consign Boston to flames, ravage New England and waste the British West Indies." News of the expedition spread fear throughout New York and New England.