The New World in the North : 125 



aroused a good deal of attention and accounted, in part, for the voy- 

 ages of Jacques Cartier. 



In 1534 Cartier made his first voyage going west with two ships 

 and a complement of sixty men. Cartier went through the Straits of 

 Belle Isle and found a harbor in the river beyond. While at anchor 

 here, a big fishing barque from La Rochelle came into the neighbor- 

 ing anchorage. Here is a fine example of the unheralded presence of 

 fishermen. Cartier is credited with discovering the St. Lawrence but 

 fishermen are already using it as an anchorage. Cartier explored 

 Gaspe and Chaleur Bay. He went up the river as far as Anticosti 

 Island. He sailed again the next year, traveling up the St. Lawrence 

 as far as Montreal. He wintered there and returned successfully. 



In 1541 there was another expedition in which Cartier set out from 

 St. Malo with five vessels. Nominally, Roberval was supposed to have 

 joined this expedition and to be in charge of it but it was Cartier 

 who carried the matter through. Again he spent the winter on the 

 St. Lawrence but did not succeed in two attempts to get beyond the 

 La Chine rapids. 



Verrazano's voyages, together with those of Cartier, laid the back- 

 ground for the French claims to American territory. 



Cartier 's voyages started from the same ports that were used by 

 the fishing fleet and followed the same courses that were used by 

 fishing vessels, including, as we have seen, the approaches to the St. 

 Lawrence River. 



In much the same way Martin Frobisher, beginning in 1576, made 

 three attempts to discover a northwest passage which carried him to 

 Greenland, to Labrador and finally even into Hudson Strait. The 

 story of Martin Frobisher 's becoming diverted by so-called "fool's 

 gold" of Labrador and of his returning with a shipload of iron py- 

 rites to England is so well known as not to require repetition here. 

 We should not lose sight of the fact, however, that his original in- 

 tention was to find a way to the Orient by a northwest passage. From 

 the time of Frobisher on, for centuries, there was continuous discus- 

 sion and planning in England and elsewhere in Europe as to the 

 methods of reaching the Orient by way of a northwest passage. From 

 this time also there were frequent attempts by many exploring expe- 

 ditions to discover the passage. 



It was only ten years after Frobisher 's efforts that John Davis com- 

 menced his voyaging. In 1585 he was on the west coast of Greenland; 

 one of his ships, the Moonshine, having as master John Ellis. To- 

 gether, they made friends with the Indians and Davis left an extensive 



