USA > Maine > A history of the discovery of Maine > Part 29
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45
339
VOYAGE OF HORE, 1536.
returning to Newfoundland, they were reduced to the ex- tremes of famine. His companions, these wealthy gentlemen, had no doubt taken care to have their ships sufficiently fur- nished with provisions, and they would not, therefore, have fallen into so great distress, if they had not had a long contest with the perils of the north .*
They anchored near "Penguin Island," on the east coast of Newfoundland, where their want of provisions was so great, "that they devoured raw herbes and rootes which they sought on the maine." Their extremity, at last, was so great, that some of them had begun to kill and eat their companions. " But such was the mercy of God, that there arrived just at the right time, a French fishing vessel in the port, well fur- nished with victuals; and such was the policie of the English, that they became masters of the same, and changing ships and victualling them, they left the French to their fate, setting sail to come into England ;" where they arrived about the end of October. So great were the fatigues and miseries which they had endured, and some of them were so altered in their appearance, that their friends did not recognize them. The father and mother of a Mr. Thomas Buts " knew him not to be their son, until they found a secret mark upon one of his knees."
It is only just to add, that the poor French fishermen, who had been robbed by the despairing English, were afterwards indemnified by Henry VIII. to the full extent of their damage. They had supported themselves for a few months by fishing, and afterwards had safely returned. The English might have supplied themselves in the same way, if they had been as well skilled in fishing as the French.
This most unfortunate voyage of Master Hore was, for a
* M. D'Avezac also thinks, that they extended their voyage "fort avant dans le nord." Brève Introduction, p. xiii.
1
340
ROBERVAL AND CARTIER'S EXPEDITIONS.
long time, the last official expedition made by the English to the north-east parts of America ; although the fishing-voyages which the English commenced soon after Cabot's discovery, did not cease. They are frequently mentioned in public documents ; as, for instance, in an act of Parliament of the third year of Edward VI. (1550) .* Of the English fisheries on these banks, we have no particular account ; and there is no evidence that they were pursued extensively at an early period. But later in the century, they became very impor- tant ; for Sir Humphrey Gilbert, on his arrival there in 1583, found English merchants and fishermen very numerous, pow- erful, and " at the head of all the other nations." }
4. EXPEDITIONS OF JEAN FRANÇOIS DE LA ROQUE DE ROBER- VAL AND JACQUES CARTIER TO CANADA, IN 1540 AND 1543.
The report of Cartier to the king of his second voyage proved very influential. He had discovered one of the grand- est and most navigable rivers of the world, surrounded by beautiful scenery, and fertile tracts of land, "with copper mines," and many most convenient sites for erecting fortifica- tions, and establishing ports and cities, and well calculated for the foundation of a new colony or empire. He also described other countries further west, suggesting the neighborhood of the region of spices, and of waters conducting to them. Still there was one essential thing wanting ; for, among the
* This act is mentioned in William Bollan, the Ancient Right of the English Nation to the American Fishery, p. 7. London, 1764.
t See Bollan, l. c. p. 8 seq., and Hakluyt's Voyages, Navigations, etc., vol. 3, p. 150 seq. London, 1600. [The English were not found on the Grand Bank until 1517; but in 1522, they had made such progress, that they had erected on Newfoundland forty or fifty stages for the convenience of their fishermen, and afterwards pursued the business extensively .- ED.]
341
ROBERVAL AND CARTIER'S EXPEDITIONS.
products he brought home, there was no gold. And the poor northern Indian chief Donnacona, bore little resemblance to the chief Atabalipa, whom the Spaniards had recently plun- dered. What were all the beauties of Canada and Hochelaga in comparison to the riches of Peru, which, at that very time, were poured in upon Spain, and attracted the attention of the whole world to South America ! The capture by French privateers of one or two Spanish vessels returning richly freighted from the south, would yield a far better profit than all that Cartier had earned, after all the hardships endured by himself and his men, in their tedious wintering amid northern snows and ice.
Perhaps considerations of this kind made Francis hesitate for several years, before making up his mind to favor again the plans of Cartier, and to prosecute the work of discovery, con- quest, and plantation in the north-east of America. At length an influential nobleman from the small district of Vimeu, in the province of Picardy, Jean François de la Roque de Roberval, who was zealous in great undertakings and maritime enterprises, and who, from his high aspira- tions and provincial power, was sometimes called " the little king of Vimeu," succeeded in overcoming all obstacles, and in persuading the king to renew, on a grander scale, the pro- ject of conquering and colonizing the north of America.
Roberval was placed at the head of this expedition, and by royal letters patent of the 15th of January 1540, was named viceroy and lieutenant-general of the new countries of Canada, Hochelaga, Belle Isle, Saguenay, Labrador, and other parts of this wide territory. While Cartier, the active discoverer, who best knew the country, received only a subor- dinate appointment.
The expedition was authorized to carry over to the great river soldiers, priests, men and women, and all that was nec-
342
ROBERVAL AND CARTIER'S EXPEDITIONS.
essary for the planting of a colony, and establishing a gov- ernment in the name of the king, over all the regions north of 40°. These countries were considered by Francis to be the north-eastern end of Asia .* He now gave to them the general name of "New France," or at least officially con- firmed it.
Cartier was named commander of all the ships equipped for this enterprise, with the title of " captain-general and master pilot," and was commissioned to continue his discoveries in the far west, while Roberval was appointed to establish a colony for the lower parts of the river, and organize its gov- ernment.
Roberval lost much time in procuring heavy artillery, and other things which he thought necessary for the establishment of his vice-royalty ; and Cartier, having sooner completed the outfit of his five ships, left St. Malo on the 23d of May, 1541. without waiting on the slower movements of his chief.t
The whole undertaking, from beginning to end, was unfor- tunate. On the ocean, Cartier was delayed by contrary winds and bad weather, and did not arrive until the end of August at his old station, near Holy Cross harbor. He did not take back to his subjects their captured chief, as he had promised ; for Donnacona and his companions, after having been baptized and presented to the king, had died in France. Cartier did not establish himself in his former quar- ters, but took a position not far from them, and nearer to the present Quebec, where he built another fort, and gave to it
* This appears in the Royal commission given to Cartier, where these words occur: "grand pais des terres de Canada et Hochelaga, faisant un bout de l'Asie du côté de l'Occident." See the commission in Lescarbot's His- toire de la Nouvelle France, p. 412. Paris, 1612.
t See a translation of the official French report on this voyage, preserved by Hakluyt, in the third volume of his " Voyages, navigations, etc.," p. 233 seq. London, 1600.
343
ROBERVAL AND CARTIER'S- EXPEDITIONS.
the name of " Charlesbourg Royal." Leaving there most of his men, and sending back two of his ships to France, he pro- ceeded immediately, with some enterprising French gentle- men, to ascend the river, and to make arrangements for a further exploration of the country of Saguenay, beyond Hochelaga, and the rapids which he had seen in 1535. He found three cataracts, or rapids ; succeeded in passing the first and second (the " courant de Ste. Marie " and the " ra- pides de Lachine ") ; but not being able easily to overcome the third (the "Sault de S. Louis "), he returned to his station at " Charlesbourg," where he passed the winter of 1541-2. He waited some time in the spring for the arrival of the Viceroy Roberval, who was to bring the supplies necessary for establishing a strong and stable colony. But having no news from him, and his provisions failing, his men weakened by disease and the hardships of winter, and the Indians being more excited and threatening than ever, he resolved to return to France. Accordingly, toward the end of May, 1542, lie commenced his homeward voyage. and on his way met the tardy Roberval in the harbor of St. John,* in Newfoundland. But neither he nor his men could be persuaded to return to the place where they had suffered so severely ; and they con- tinued on to France, where they arrived at St. Malo, Oct. 21, 1542.
Roberval, probably with some of Cartier's companions, pilots, and charts, proceeded to the great river, and established himself, with his officers, gentlemen, soldiers, priests, mission- aries, planters, women, and the whole apparatus of his vice- royal colony, at a fortified place not far from Quebec, called by him "France Roy." From this station he made some exploring expeditions into the surrounding country, and may have even reached the borders of Maine.
* So Hakluyt. Others say, " in the Strait of Belle Isle."
-
344
ROBERVAL AND CARTIER'S EXPEDITIONS.
He sent also one of his mariners, a very expert pilot, named Alphonse de Saintonge,* to search for a north-west passage north of Newfoundland. But Saintonge went on the old route of the Cabots and the Cortereals no further than about 52º N., and returned without having effected any new discovery.
The same may be said of Roberval himself. His expedi- tion added nothing new to the store of geographical informa- tion gathered by Cartier on his two voyages. He soon ap- pears to have come into trouble, and, in the year 1542, to have gone home for relief and succor, leaving a portion of his men at " France Roy," their winter station, where they suf- fered from hunger, scurvy, and the Indians, as much as their predecessors. But in the spring of 1543, Francis sent Cartier to bring back the remnants of this unfortunate expedition, with which he returned to St. Malo, after an absence of eight months .*
It was more than half a century from this time before the French made any effectual attempts at settlement in Canada ; although some authors have asserted, that Roberval renewed his efforts in that direction.
The full and satisfactory reports which Cartier gave of his two voyages, his well-written description of the countries he discovered, his useful remarks, his correct observations of latitude and longitude, his ably composed maps and charts, all prove him to have been a man eminently qualified for the
Jean Alphonse de Saintonge was a very distinguished French captain, who formerly had traveled to Brazil, in French as well as Portuguese vessels. Hakluyt (vol. 3, p. 237 seq. ) communicates excellent sailing direc- tions for the Gulf and River St. Lawrence made by this navigator. See more of him in a note of M. D'Avezac in "Bulletin de la Société do Geographie," p. 317 seq. Année, 1857.
t See M. D'Avezac, in the Introduction to his edition of Cartier's second voyage.
345
ROBERVAL AND CARTIER'S EXPEDITIONS.
task of exploration and discovery. He described, in an elo- quent and truthful manner, a great section of the interior of North America, defined the configuration of the sea-coasts, the course of the great rivers in the north, north-east, and north-west of Maine, and shed much light upon the region beyond it. Would that a seaman, like Cartier, had given us as much light about the sea-coast of "Norumbega," about Passamaquoddy, Penobscot, and Casco Bays, their capes, headlands, and islands, as is given by Cartier's writings and charts about the Bay of Chaleurs, the mouth of the St. Law- rence, and the island of Anticosti ! *
It is sad, that France did not make a better use of such a talented and enterprising man. Francis I, in the years sub- sequent to these voyages of Cartier and Roberval, was occu- pied with bloody wars against the emperor of Germany and the king of England, and died in 1547. Cartier was forgot- ten, and appears to have remained, during the rest of his life, unoccupied, renouncing navigation, and spending his time in winter at St. Malo, and in summer at a country-seat, called Limoilou, which he owned near that town. After 1552, we lose sight of him altogether, and may therefore infer, with . M. D'Avezac, that he died before having attained his 60th year. f
As to the further career of Roberval, opinions are still more diverse. But I will not repeat them here, as his services as a discoverer and geographer are of little importance.
Under the reign of the successors of Francis I, namely,
* From a letter written by a relation of Cartier to an English gentle- man in 1387, it appears that in this year, a chart of the whole River St. Lawrence, drawn by Cartier's own hand, was still in existence, and in the possession of a Frenchman of the name of Cremeu. See this letter in Hakluyt, vol. 3, p. 236, edition 1600.
t See M. D'Avezac's Nouvelles Annales des Voyages, tom. 3, p. 93. Année, 1864.
1
346
ROBERVAL AND CARTIER'S EXPEDITIONS.
Henry II, Francis II, and Henry III, the French nation was disturbed by internal revolutions and bloody religious wars ; and in the sufferings of Old France, the New France, on the other side of the ocean, was forgotten. There was nei- ther money nor heart for the effectual continuance of dis- covery and colonization in the immense regions of the north- east of America. Nay, even the reports, books, and papers written on the old expeditions of the Verrazanos, Cartiers, and Robervals, were so entirely neglected by their country- men, that we owe their preservation entirely to foreigners, the Italian Ramusio, and the English Hakluyt, who obtained, translated, and published these records of the maritime glory of the French.
" La Nouvelle France," for a long time after Cartier and Roberval, was nothing but a name; still found, it is true, on every map of the sixteenth century, and with the good out- lines and configuration which Cartier had given to it, and described in the geographical works of the time, as he liad reported it. But these maps and works show no progress of knowledge whatever. The great river of Canada, for more than sixty years, was invariably drawn from a point only as high up as the rapids near Hochelaga, where Cartier's pro- gress was arrested in 1535 and 1541.
All the activity of the French in the north-east, during this period of internal disturbances, was confined to the fishing-banks of Newfoundland. To these banks, the fisher- men of the little ports of Brittany and Normandy continued their yearly expeditions after Cartier, in the same manner as they had done before. And it may be, that to them we are indebted for some new names which we find on maps after the middle of the sixteenth century, which were not on those of Cartier.
We shall show hereafter, that this continued action of the
----
-
347
ROBERVAL AND CARTIER'S EXPEDITIONS.
fishermen of Brittany and Normandy gave rise, not only to Cartier's expeditions, but to another series of Royal expedi- tions, which at last put the French in full possession of the north-east of America, and made them there one of the prin- cipal powers, threatening for a time to overwhelm the terri- tory of New England. But these events belong to the end of the sixteenth century-the happier reign of Henry IV. Before coming to this period, we have other important inci- dents to relate.
APPENDAGE TO CHAPTER IX.
1. ON CHART, No. 1Sa, OF NEWFOUNDLAND AND THE GULF OF ST. LAWRENCE, BY GASPAR VIEGAS, 1534.
In the imperial library at Paris, there is a Portulano, composed of five or six sheets of parchment. Every sheet contains a chart, depict- ing a section of the world. The principal charts represent the regions on the Mediterranean Sea, and are all executed with great care. Among them is a sheet, of which we give a copy in No. 18 a.
The names on all the charts of this Portulano are Portuguese, and on one of the sheets the name of the author, " Gaspar Viegas," and the date of his work, " 1534," are carefully written in embellished letters .*
I know nothing of Gaspar Viegas, nor could my friends in Paris give me any information respecting the author, or his map. That part of the sheet containing the present map is so defaced, that the names on it are scarcely legible; but the general configuration, and the outlines of the coasts represented upon it, are clear. It is so interesting in con- nection with our subject, that I have introduced it here.
The chart represents Cape Breton, a part of Nova Scotia, the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and Newfoundland. It places in the midst of the ocean some islands which do not exist at all, but which, notwithstanding, were laid down on many old Portuguese and Spanish charts, un- der the same names, as " Aredonda," "Do bretan," " de Juan Esteva- nez," etc.
I have here given the names as they were copied by M. D'Avezac, and I will begin the examination of them and of the coasts represent- ed, at the north-east coast of Newfoundland.
Though we know nothing of the first name in the north-east " S. fco," nor its latitude; still it appears certain, that it must be some northern point of Newfoundland. But the Strait of Belle Isle is not found on the chart. Newfoundland is not depicted as an island, but as a large
* The celebrated French geographer, M. D'Avezac, first drew my attention to this work, and kindly communicated to me a sketch of it. A fac-simile was afterwards taken in l'aris, of which our map, No. 18 a, is a copy,
Newfoundland and the Gulf of St. Lawrence by Gaspar Viegas 1534.
SVSHIA
: time:
2. Jan of:
Aredonda
i. do breta S. p
C.Rafso
S. Maria
S. Andre
C. da tromenta
SC do pilote
C. do Batal
C. do Marcato.
c.da Volta
Rie fremofo
ER.das poblas
ORio
ODER Real
3
Borja Pas "Rojas
0,00
2 domono
25. 100
5 MAXON
-
VI virues
400
S. paulo A. da gente
Ceiria C.frev luis C da Boavista 2.93.da.
A.da. traveça
coftachã
pria
ASPAR
349
CHART OF GASPAR VIEGAS, 1534.
peninsula, and part of the continent. This indicates, that Newfound- land was first proved to be an island by Cartier's survey of its " back- side," or its western coast, in 1534, and by its complete circumnaviga- tion in a subsequent voyage.
Some of the Portuguese names on the eastern coast of Newfound- land, are reproduced on this from former charts, and are well known to us as "C. de Boavista," "C. Frey Luis," " Ceiria," etc. Some others not mentioned on former Portuguese charts, are new to us, as " Baia das Rojas," "Rio Real," etc. Viegas may have taken them from the reports or charts of Portuguese fishermen.
The south-eastern point of Newfoundland has its old Portuguese name, " C. Rasso" (Cape Race). Its southern coast has its true direc- tion from west-north-west, to east-south-east; and the great bay in the midst of it, now called Fortune Bay, is accurately depicted, and also Placentia and St. Mary's Bays, east of Fortune Bay; though they are not represented in their true proportions.
The western half of the south coast of the island, proceeding from Fortune Bay, has on our map no great bays, in conformity with the ac- tual condition of the coast. And the Portuguese names given to points on this section, as "S. Maria," "S. Andre," "C. da tormenta," " C. de piloto," " XI virges," etc., are nearly all of them new to me. They were probably given to the respective places by Portuguese fish- ermen.
The south coast ends with "C. da volta" (Cape of return), which is probably the name of our present " Cape Ray," the southern projection of the island upon the grand entrance to the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
The opposite Cape of this great channel has no name given to it, though the island of Cape Breton, and the Gut of Canso, are plainly enough indicated on the chart.
On the western side of the Gut of Canso, which is the eastern coast of Nova Scotia, the following names occur: "C. do Bretan," "S. po" (San Pedro), "S. Paulo," " R. da gente." These names were intended for the island east of the Gut of Canso, and were written by the map- maker on the place where they stand, because there was more room. for them than in the place where they belong.
"C. de Bretan" (Cape Breton) is a name found on many old charts, first applied to the cape, and afterwards extended to the whole island, which now bears that name. "S. Paulo" is also a name often met with on the east coast of Cape Breton. Cartier in the report of his voyage of 1535 affirms, that on this occasion he planted here this name. He was not, however, quite correct in this statement, the name having been previously attached to it on such old charts as this of Vie-
350
CHART OF GASPAR VIEGAS, 1534.
gas. He only adopted and confirmed the name previously given. At present it is attached to the well-known rocky island, " St. Paul's," standing in the midst of the entrance to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and is its principal land-mark for vessels entering it.
The entrance to the gulf has nearly its true proportion, but not so the gulf itself. It is far too small; and is depieted as closed in the north-west, where the Strait of Belle Isle should be shown. The prin- cipal southern entrance to the gulf had been represented, as I have be- fore observed, on many former maps; for instance, on that of Ribero, made after Gomez. * But on no former chart had the Gulf of St. Law- rence been so clearly and correctly indicated, as on the map we are ex- amining; and this is the principal reason for introducing it here. It is the best introductory map for the voyages of Cartier, which we have been able to find. It was made in Portugal in the same year in which Cartier made his first exploring expedition; but it was finished before the results of Cartier's expeditions could have become known to Vie- gas, or any other person in Europe.
I can give no explanation of the names written on the coasts sur- rounding the gulf, " Rio fremosa," " Rio da traveça," " Rio pria," "Cos- tacha," and several others. They go to prove that Portuguese and French fishermen had circumnavigated the gulf long before Cartier, which indeed is rendered probable by other reasons.
The long inlet or river at the north-west of Cape Breton, running east and west, and having similar proportions with the Bay of Cha- leurs, is probably that bay, to which some names were added on the original, which are now illegible.
The only indication of the mouth of the great river of Canada on our map is an inlet in the north-west of the chart, to which the name " Rio pria " is given.
Newfoundland is represented as a very great country, and the Gulf of St. Lawrence, to which no name is given, as a rather small gulf. These circumstances may explain Cartier's proceedings on his voyage of 1534. We should suppose that he might have been acquainted with maps like this before us, or that of Ribero of 1529, and therefore have been aware of a channel and a gulf between Cape Breton and New- foundland. Still we find that in his voyage of 1534, instead of using this broad passage to the gulf, he entered it by the Strait of Belle Isle ; and when on his return he passed out of the main entrance, proclaim- ing that he had discovered a new and shorter route to France, we can- not resist the inference, that he did not know of this broad southern
· See our map, No. 16.
.
-- 4
1
351
FRENCH MAP OF EAST COAST, 1543.
channel. He must have supposed, that the gulf to which the Strait of Belle Isle conducted, was distant from a smaller gulf near Cape Breton, which had been drawn on Ribero's chart, and reproduced on that of Viegas. When, therefore, he passed out of the main channel, he was surprised to find that both channels conducted to one broad gulf, of which he had previously no knowledge .*
2. CHART, No. IS, OF CANADA AND THE EAST COAST OF THE UNITED STATES, FROM A MAP OF THE WORLD MADE IN 1543.
M. Jomard, in his " Monuments de la Geographie," furnishes a fac- simile of a large and excellent representation of the world, to which he has given the title " Mappe-monde peinte sur parchemin par ordre de Henri II, Roi de France" (Map of the world drawn on parchment by order of Henry II. king of France). M. Jomard puts its date at " about the middle of the sixteenth century." M. D'Avezac, after a careful examination of the map, has come to the conclusion that 1542 must be adopted for its date.t M. D'Avezac therefore thinks that the map was made by order and at the cost of Francis I, though perhaps for the use of Henry II, who was then the Dauphin.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.