Second voyage, 1535–1536 Jacques Cartier

route of cartier s second voyage.



this spanish chart of saint lawrence river, ca. 1541, contains legend in front of isla de orliens says: here many french died of hunger ; possibly alluding cartier s second settlement in 1535–1536.

jacques cartier set sail second voyage on may 19 of following year 3 ships, 110 men, , 2 iroquoian captives. reaching st. lawrence, sailed up-river first time, , reached iroquoian capital of stadacona, chief donnacona ruled.

cartier left main ships in harbour close stadacona, , used smallest ship continue on hochelaga (now montreal), arriving on october 2, 1535. hochelaga far more impressive small , squalid village of stadacona, , crowd of on thousand came river edge greet frenchmen. site of arrival has been confidently identified beginning of sainte-marie sault – bridge named after him stands. expedition proceed no further, river blocked rapids. cartier river northwest passage , rapids preventing him sailing china, rapids , town grew near them came named after french word china, la chine: lachine rapids , town of lachine, quebec.

after spending 2 days among people of hochelaga, cartier returned stadacona on october 11. not known when decided spend winter of 1535–1536 in stadacona, , late return france. cartier , men prepared winter strengthening fort, stacking firewood, , salting down game , fish.

from mid-november 1535 mid-april 1536, french fleet lay frozen solid @ mouth of st. charles river, under rock of quebec. ice on fathom (1.8 m) thick on river, snow 4 feet (1.2 m) deep ashore. add misery, scurvy broke out – first among iroquoians, , among french. cartier estimated number of dead iroquoians @ 50. on visit domagaya french fort, cartier inquired , learned him concoction made tree known annedda, spruce beer, or arbor vitae, cure scurvy. remedy saved expedition destruction, allowing 85 frenchmen survive winter. in journal, cartier states mid-february, out of 110 were, not ten enough others, pitiful thing see . frenchmen used bark of entire tree in week on cure, , dramatic results prompted cartier proclaim godsend, , miracle.

ready return france in may 1536, cartier decided take chief donnacona france, might tell tale of country further north, called kingdom of saguenay , said full of gold, rubies , other treasures. after arduous trip down st. lawrence , three-week atlantic crossing, cartier , men arrived in saint-malo on july 15, 1536, concluding second, 14-month voyage, cartier s profitable.