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Dromo's Den
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[Up] [Dromo's Den] Jacques Cartier Biography Cartier, Jacques (1494-c.1557) A French explorer, born at Saint-Malo. He acquired a reputation as a bold navigator and was selected by Admiral Chabot to lead an expedition to the northeastern coast of North America for the purpose of discovering a passage to Cathay. With two ships he sailed from Saint-Malo in 1534. He sighted Newfoundland, near Cape Bonavista, and followed the coast southward to a point nearly opposite Cape Breton; then, turning westward, made Prince Edward Island and gave its name to the Bay of Chaleur. He then skirted the northern coast of Anticosti Island and returned along the shores of Labrador. At Cape Gaspé he landed, erected a cross, and took possession of the country in the name of France. The next year, with another fleet, under the royal commission, he sailed up the St. Lawrence. Leaving his ships moored near the Indian village of Stadacona, on the site of the modern Quebec, Cartier, with a few followers, pushed on to the fortified village of Hochelaga, which lay at the foot of an imposing hill called by the explorer Mount Royal (Montreal). The late season—it was October—made it imprudent to proceed farther. He returned to his ships and spent the winter amid much suffering from cold and illness among his crew. When spring came, the adventurers sailed for home, taking with them the Indian chieftain of Stadacona, whom they had kidnapped. Cartier's account of this voyage has survived and is known as the Bref Récit. European complications absorbed the immediate attention of the French King, but four years later (1540) he sent out to the New World Jean François de la Roche, Sieur de Roberval, as viceroy. Cartier was made captain general and pilot of the fleet. Owing to some delay in the equipment of the expedition, Cartier set sail with but three ships, in May, 1541. After waiting for Roberval in vain for six weeks on the coast of Newfoundland, he proceeded up the St. Lawrence and in August found himself once more at Stadacona. He fortified a position near Cape Rouge and called the post Charlesbourg. Two of his ships were sent back to meet Roberval, concerning whose movements the evidence is confused when not contradictory. What seems certain is that the viceroy and his fleet were off Newfoundland in June, 1542, and that he there met with Cartier, who was returning to France after the winter at Charlesbourg, taking with him what he erroneously supposed to be gold ore. He had seen little of the Indians during the winter. Cartier was well received by his sovereign, who presented him with a manor near his native town. Lescarbot tells us that Cartier made a later voyage to rescue Roberval; but if so, no data exist respecting it. The principal authority concerning Cartier is François Joüon des Longrais, Jacques Cartier (Paris, 1888), which contains the important documents throwing light on his career. For shorter biographies of Cartier, consult: Joseph Pope (Ottawa, 1890); Hiram B. Stephens (Montreal, 1890); N. E. Dionne (Quebec, 1889); Baxter, Memoir of Jacques Cartier (Portland, 1906). For studies of Cartier's route, see also Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada (Ottawa, 1897). The New International Encyclopaedia, Vol. IV. (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1920) 609. |