Costebelle
(1661-1717).

Phillipe Pastour de Costebelle came from a noble family in the south of France. Like most of the sons who come from the minor provincial nobility, Phillipe and his brothers became military officers. In 1692, he, by then a lieutenant, was posted to Placentia, a place under the command of his older brother, Louis.1 On his way, and almost there, Costebelle was shipwrecked, and, as a result, he lost all of his possessions. Notwithstanding, Costebelle did arrive at Placentia, and was soon to put his military training to use, seeing considerable action with the English who in those days occupied St John's.

Costebelle married the daughter of the commandant of Saint-Pierre, and, in the same year, 1706, he was appointed governor at Placentia. By the Treaty of Utrecht the French were to leave Placentia; and, so, Costebelle, the newly appointed governor of Isle Royale, in 1714, led his flock to Louisbourg. In these earlier years, it seems, however, Costebelle was to spend as much time at Port Dauphin (Englishtown) as he was to spend at Louisbourg, fifty hard miles away. On the 12th of February, 1716, having been widowed at some point, Costebelle remarried at Port Dauphin. His second wife was considerably younger than Costebelle; he at 55, she at 22. Not long after, in the autumn of 1717, Costebelle died.2