The portrait of Jacques Cartier on the 1c is precisely like that which appears on Canada's first 10d stamp. In Gibbons' Stamp Weekly for January 16th, 1909, the following interesting account of Cartier's voyage appears:—
In the year 1533 Jacques Cartier was empowered by Philipp Cabot, “the Admiral of France,” to fit out ships “to explore new territories, to gain them, by robbery or otherwise, for France, and at the same time to endeavour to find a north-west passage to Cathay”. As long before as 1506 the Florentine explorer, Giovanni Verozzani, had seized the territories of North America lying to the north of the St. Lawrence River in the name of the King of France, but the seizure had never been enforced, and remained a seizure only in name.
On this, his first voyage, Cartier discovered Newfoundland, and, sailing on, anchored off the northerly coast of the Gaspé Peninsula, by which the River St. Lawrence sweeps into the gulf of the same name. The season was very late, however, and bad weather was to be expected, so Cartier was obliged to set sail for France without delay. He took with him to France two sons of an Indian chief, and they caused great excitement in Paris.
King Francis I was so pleased with this exploit that on October 31, 1534, he nominated Captain Jacques Cartier to be “Royal Pilot” (Pilote Royale), and had three more ships prepared for him to make a second voyage to Newfoundland. Preparations for the departure were hurried on at St. Malo, Cartier's birthplace, and at the beginning of May all was ready for the departure.
Three ships took part in the voyage, viz.: La Grande Hermione, La Petite Hermione, and La Hermionette. The first two were vessels rated at 120 and 80 tons respectively, and the last was a galleon of 40 tons. On the after part of the first two vessels there were no less than three decks as superstructure, while forward there was only one deck. They were provided with the full naval armament of the sixteenth century; on the gunwale were mounted small cannon, and also a battery of mortars or similar weapons.
The galleon was a long slender ship of extremely low freeboard, rakish rigged as a single-master, both sails and oars being used as a means of propulsion; two small cannon were mounted forward, and a round dozen arquebuses were also carried. The total company and passengers of the three ships were only 110 all told.
On the morning of May 19th, 1535, the little flotilla set forth on its long voyage of exploration after having saluted the town with every gun on board.
On September 14th of the same year Cartier sighted land, which spread itself out on either side of the ships as far as the eye could reach, and found signs of a village; the place was called Canada by the natives, the meaning of the word in the native language being “The Town”. This village was the seat of “government”, and was occupied by an Indian chief called Donnacona; it was situate right on the shore of the bay formed by the junction of the rivers St. Charles and St. Lawrence. The village seemed to consist of huts built irregularly on the steep sides of a mountain, the spot later being the position of the southerly and easterly quarters of Quebec.
