In the aftermath of the debacle Nicholson returned to London, taking four Indian chiefs with him, and petitioned Queen Anne for permission to lead a more limited expedition against Port Royal, the capital of French Acadia. The Queen granted the petition, and Nicholson was in charge of the forces that captured Port Royal on 2 October 1710. This battle marked the conquest of Acadia, and began permanent British control over the territory they called Nova Scotia. Nicholson published an account of the expedition in his 1711 "Journal of an Expedition for the Reduction of Port Royal". The victorious Nicholson returned to England to petition Queen Anne for another expedition to capture the center of New France, Quebec. The resulting naval expedition was led by Admiral Hovenden Walker, and Nicholson led an associated land expedition that retraced the route he had taken in 1709 toward Lake Champlain. Many ships of Walker's fleet foundered on rocks near the mouth of the Saint Lawrence River, and the whole expedition was cancelled, much to Nicholson's anger; he was reported to tear off his wig and throw it to the ground when he heard the news.