Hamel, the city surveyor, had
thought it proper to call the attention of the Literary and Historical
Society to
The remains of a vessel lying at the brook St. Michel, which
falls into the River St. Charles on the north bank about half way between
the General Hospital and old Dorchester Bridge. This vessel was supposed
to be the Petite Hermine, one of Jacques Cartier's vessels left by
him at the place where he wintered in 1535-6.
"The existence of this vessel had been known to persons frequenting the
place for a great many years. Part of it, the farthest out in the stream,
had been carried away for firewood or otherwise, and the forepart of the
vessel was covered with clay and earth from the adjoining bank to the
depth of six or seven feet. This was in great part removed, leaving the
keel and part of the planking and ribs visible. The vessel had been built
of large-grained oak, which was mostly in a good state of preservation,
although discolored, and the iron spikes and bolts were still strong. The
bolts in the keel, contrary to the usual practice, had been placed in from
below. This is the spot where Jacques Cartier, is supposed to have
wintered. The tide rises in the entrance of the brook, where the vessel
lies, about six or seven feet. This entrance forms a semi-circular cove,
on each side of which towards the St. Charles, the earth is elevated so as
to have the appearance of a breastwork; the bank to the west of the cove
is about eighteen feet high, and it was then covered with thick brush
which prevented its being fully examined. The distance of the place from
town is about one mile; the road is over the Dorchester Bridge and along
the north bank of the St. Charles." - (Quebec Gazette, August 30, 1843).
(From the Quebec Gazette, 30th August, 1843.)
"In the last number (August 25th, inst.,) of Le Canadien there is
an article of deep interest to the Canadian antiquarian: The long agitated
question as to the where or whereabouts Jacques Cartier, on his second
voyage from France to this continent spent the winter of 1535-6; whether
at the embouchure of the river bearing his name emptying into the St.
Lawrence some ten or eleven leagues above Quebec, or in the little river
St. Charles to the north of and at the foot of the promontory on which
Quebec is built, is now, it would seem, about to be solved and
satisfactorily set at rest by the recent discovery of the remains of a
vessel, doubtless of European construction, supposed to be those of La
Petite Hermine, of about 60 tons burthen, one of the three (La Grande
Hermine, La Petite Hermine, and L'Emerillon), with which on the 19th
of May, 1535, that intrepid navigator left St. Malo.
The article alluded to, which we believe to be the work of the editor
himself (Mr. McDonald) of Le Canadien, logically establishes from
Jacques Cartier's narrative that the place of his wintering, or Sainte
Croix, as he named it, can be none other than the little river St.
Charles, as we now call it.
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