It may seem strange that d'Iberville chose the most inclement time of year to attack the English
outposts in Newfoundland. Those who are familiar with the geography of this area can appreciate
the difficulty of such an undertaking. His men had to blaze a trail through dense birgin forest,
crossing swamps and half-frozen rivers. However, by staging his attacks in winter, d'Iberville did
have several important advantages. First, since they did not know how to use snowshoes, the
English could not flee from their attackers. And since English warships in charge of protecting the
settlements fell, the outposts were vulnerable to enemy attack. Added to these two advantages
was the fact that the English colonies were protected against naval attack only. All these factors
make d'Iberville's victories not so surprising after all.