Excessive consumption of alcoholic beverages characterized the military in general during the eighteenth century. At Louisbourg the damp climate, the paucity of other diversions, and the isolation combined to make drinking an even more persistent problem. The town contained an extraordinary number of cabarets, and until 1741 company captains were permitted to operate canteens where their men could drink on credit. Charges of abusing this canteen privilege led to their closure, but this action did not prevent the men from finding alternate sources. Ordinances were issued repeatedly making it a crime for the keeper of a cabaret to sell alcohol to soldiers during working hours or after retreat was sounded by the drummers in the evening. Any soldier caught drunk on guard duty was severely punished. This excessive drinking resulted in numerous crimes and injuries, as well as the occasional loss of life. One poor fellow, for example, who worked in the governor's garden consumed so much alcohol that he fell down the well and drowned. The pewterware used extensively during the period further complicated the health problem as the high percentage of lead was slowly poisoning all who ate and drank from it.
