SAILING CRAFT 47 



fore and aft. This invention introduced the 

 era of modern seamanship. But Cartier has 

 another, and much more personal, title to 

 nautical fame, for he was the first and one 

 of the best of Canadian hydrographers, and he 

 wrote a book containing some descriptions 

 worthy of comparison with those in the official 

 ' Pilots ' of to-day. This book, well called his 

 Brief Recit et Succincte Narration, is quite 

 as easy for an Englishman to read in French 

 as Shakespeare is for a Frenchman to read 

 in English. It abounds in acute observations 

 of all kinds, but particularly so in its sailing 

 directions. Compare, for instance, his remarks 

 on Cumberland Harbour with those made in 

 the latest edition of the St Lawrence Pilot 

 after the surveys of four hundred years. Or 

 take his few, exact, and graphic words about 

 Isle-aux-Coudres and compare them with the 

 entries made by the sailing masters of the 

 British fleet that used this island as a naval 

 base during the great campaign for the win- 

 ning of Canada in 1759. In neither case will 

 Cartier suffer by comparison. He was captain, 

 discoverer, pilot, and surveyor, all in one ; and 

 he never failed to make his mark, whichever 

 role he undertook. 



Like all the explorers, Jacques Cartier had his 



