The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents, Vol. 3: Acadia, 1611-1616
History
The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents, Vol. 3: Acadia, 1611-1616
Canada -- History -- To 1763 (New France); Indians of North America -- Canada; Jesuits -- Missions; Jesuits -- North America
9 (p. 41).--The first of these attempts at colonization was inspired
by the explorations of Jacques Cartier (who, according to Harrisse,
was born at St. Malo, December 31, 1494; died September 1, 1557).
Having obtained letters patent from Francis I., he sailed to Canada in
April, 1534, with two ships, and explored the coasts of Newfoundland,
Labrador, and the Gulf of St. Lawrence, but did not enter the
great river. On his second voyage, however (1535), he explored the
St. Lawrence, Saguenay, and St. Charles, and ascended as far as
Hochelaga, on the island of Montreal. Building a fort near Quebec,
he spent the winter there, losing many of his men through sickness,
and returned to France in July, 1536. A list of the ship's company
on this voyage, taken from an old register of St. Malo, is given by
Ramé in his _Documents Inédits sur Jacques Cartier_ (Paris, 1865),
pp. 10-12. Cartier's third voyage was made in 1541, as master-pilot
of an expedition undertaken by Jean François de la Roque, Sieur de
Roberval (a town near Boulogne), whom the king had appointed lieutenant
and governor of Canada. (For the latter's commission, with other
documents concerning him, see Harrisse's _Notes_, pp. 243-247.) Cartier
sailed several months earlier than his patron, whose preparations were
not completed; again ascended the St. Lawrence, and again spent the
winter in that region,--this time about four leagues above Quebec.
Meanwhile, Roberval carried from France some 200 persons, including a
few adventurous gentlemen, but largely recruited from the condemned
criminals of Paris, Toulouse, and other cities, both men and women.
According to Gosselin (cited by Dionne, _Nouv. France_, p. 25, _note_
3), there were among them, also, fifty from St. Malo, convicted of
heresy and lèse-majesté. With this motley throng, he established a
residence at Cartier's abandoned fort, below Quebec, and spent the
ensuing winter there, many of the people dying from famine and scurvy.
It is uncertain whether Cartier was with him during any part of this
sojourn; but the former seems to have returned to France in 1542; some
writers claim that this action resulted from a quarrel between him
and Roberval. In 1543, however, Cartier went, by command of the king,
to rescue Roberval and what remained of his unfortunate colony.--See
Harrisse's _Notes_, pp. 1-5, 11, 12; Faillon's _Col. Fr._, vol. i., pp.
38-55, 496-523; Winsor's _N. and C. Hist._, vol. iv., pp. 56-59; and
Dionne's _Nouv. France_, pp. 9-54.
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