The Grand Adventure of Jacques Cartier

Jacques Cartier’s little ships began their grand adventure in 1534. His brilliant skills of navigation brought his crew safely across the stormy Atlantic Ocean to the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. The two ships together carried about sixty sailors. Cartier was the first French explorer and his exploration gave France control of Eastern Canada. From this location Frenchmen would carry on exploration to the north, south, and west for the next two hundred years.

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As Cartier’s ships passed a small island, now called Funk Island, the sailors were amazed to see more sea birds than anyone could imagine. ” All the ships of France might load a cargo of them without once perceiving that any had been removed,” said Cartier.”and in the air were a hundred more birds than on the island itself.” Tired of the salt meat they had eaten on the long voyage from France, the crew went ashore,eying the birds hungrily, within a short time they had filled the ships larders with fresh meat, and after gorging, they salted down the rest for the future. They saw their first polar bears but the polar bears were too wily to be caught.

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Sailing up the Newfoundland coast and southwest, Cartier found the Gulf of Saint Lawrence opening before them. There were many birds here, among them ducks, and geese. The men eagerly collected their eggs. With the long voyage and scanty supplies all eatables were welcome.

Cartier was the first white man to leave a record of visiting here but not the first one to visit. Cartier found this out the next day when his ships met a large fishing vessel. He discovered these waters had been fished for the last thirty years by Frenchmen and Spaniards from the north coast of Spain. Maybe even before Columbus landed on the American shores.

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Disappointment was apparent at the sight of the barren rocky shores of Newfoundland. Nothing but a little sour soil that would only grow moss and a few stunted shrubs were to be seen. It was a grim picture but the lay of the land began to improve as they traveled inland. In the middle of the Bay, at Bryan Island, they found grassy meadows, fields of oats, peas, strawberries and fields of herbs. They saw bears and walruses. Impressed by the huge trees on Prince Edward’s Island they landed time and again to stare at the giant trees.

They caught glimpses of strange men darting around in the forest with feathers in their hair. Then the Indians came in their canoes, beckoning them to the land, but when the ships came near, the Indian ran away. More canoes rowed toward them and called out greetings. Cartier was afraid and frightened them off by firing a canon. Next day many canoes of Indians came with furs to trade and Cartier sent two men ashore with knives and hatchets. The Indians had never seen iron tools before and traded all the fur they had for tools.

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Cartier completed his voyage and took back with him two Indians he had kidnapped. He returned eight months later with the two Indians who had learned to speak French. Cartier would continue his exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence which brought him to the mouth of the Saint Lawrence River. During the next two hundred years Frenchmen would push south from the Saint Lawrence Valley to the Susquehanna, the Ohio, the Mississippi, the Gulf of Mexico, and westward through the Great Lakes, almost to the Rockies. But Cartier was the one who led the way.

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