Concerning the picture on the 20 cent stamp, "Arrivée de Cartier, Québec 1535," we find some interesting details given by M. Th. Lemaire:[188]—
In 1533 Jacques Cartier obtained from Philippe de Chabot, Admiral of France, authority to arm ships "to voyage, discover and conquer in
New France, as well as to find, by the North-west, the passage to Cathay." On his first voyage he touched Newfoundland, but the advanced season obliged him to return to France. King Francis I thereupon ordered him, as a "royal pilot", to arm three vessels for a second voyage. On the 19th of May, 1535, the flotilla set out from St. Malo. It was composed of two ships, the Grande-Hermine of 120 tons and the Petit-Hermine of 80 tons, and a galley, the Hémerillon, of 40 tons. These are the ones shown on the stamp. The ships were built with the high bows and sterns of those days, and were armed with "falconets" (small cannon) along the sides and "culverins" (long cannon) in a battery on the bridge. The galley was long and narrow, low in the water, and was propelled both by sails and oars; it was armed with two small cannon forward and a dozen large arquebuses. The complement of the three ships comprised in all—officers, gentlemen, volunteers, chaplains, sailors, workmen, servants—a hundred and ten men.
On the 14th September, Cartier arrived at an Indian village, Stadaconé, called also by the natives Canada (or the town), the residence of the chief Donnacona. This village was built on the bay which the river St. Charles forms where it flows into the St. Lawrence, against the steep flank of a mountain, on the spot where now is built the south-eastern section of Quebec. The 20-cent stamp represents this arrival of Cartier at Stadaconé, the future Quebec.
Samuel de Champlain, whose effigy figures on the 1 cent stamp beside that of Cartier, was sent by Henri IV in 1603 to found a settlement in Canada. On his first voyage he sailed up the St. Lawrence river and established friendly relations with the native chiefs. On the second expedition, in 1608, he disembarked on the 3d July at the foot of the promontory of Stadaconé, accompanied by only thirty men.
His first care was to find a favorable place to built a "habitation" with a view to wintering there. "I could find nothing more convenient or better situated, said he, than the point of Québecq, so called by the savages, which was filled with walnut trees." It was on the same spot where, seventy-three years before, Cartier had constructed a fort of tree trunks.
Thanks to the activity displayed by all, the "habitation" was quickly finished. It was composed of three main houses of two stories, each measuring fifteen by eighteen feet. The magazine was thirty-six by eighteen feet, with a six foot cellar. Champlain lodged in the same building with part of the workmen, but on the first story. The other buildings served for the workmen and for storing the arms and munitions. In an ell back of Champlain's quarters, several artisans slept beside their forge. All around the buildings a gallery six feet wide served as a promenade. A ditch fifteen feet wide and six feet deep served to protect the colonists from the aggressions of the savages. Champlain had several breastworks thrown up outside the ditch where he placed his cannon. There remained, between the habitation and the river, only a strip of land about twenty-five feet wide, and behind,
on the side of the cape, a plot of cultivated ground about 100 to 120 paces by 60 paces. There Champlain had wheat and rye planted and also set out vines.
As with the Jubilee stamps, some special sets were made up for presentation purposes. The following press clipping gives the details:[189]—
As the Prince of Wales is an enthusiastic collector of stamps, His Royal Highness will no doubt be very pleased to receive the set of the special tercentenary stamps which will be presented to him at Quebec. The stamps will be held in small gold boxes, enclosed in a handsome large box of Morocco leather. A second set accompanies the gift in a special gold box. On the cover of the large box is the Prince's crest and a gold plate inscribed as follows: "Set of Canadian postage stamps issued upon the occasion of the Quebec tercentenary, 1908. Presented to His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales by Hon Rodolphe Lemieux, Postmaster-General of Canada." Sets of these stamps, in boxes with appropriate crests and monograms, will be presented to Earl Grey, Sir Wilfred Laurier and Hon. Rodolphe Lemieux.