How They Got There: French Explorers

Dauphin Map of Canada, circa 1543 Jacques Cartier sailed into Newfoundland in 1534 with a fleet of three ships; his flagship was a carrack, the Grande Hermine. The other ships were the Emerillon and the Petite Hermine. Since the carrack was ill-suited for shallow water, he used l'Emerillon to sail up the St. Lawrence River. When he returned to France, King Francois I gave him the Grande Hermine as a gift for his journeys. He used this ship (as well as l'Emerillon) again in his 1541 voyage. As Cartier and his successors (Samuel de Champlain, Rene Cavalier) established forts and settlements in the area, it became necessary to adopt native watercraft such as canoes.