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Voyages of Samuel de Champlain V3

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The small map will serve very well for purposes of navigation, provided the
needle be applied properly to the rose [229] indicating the points of the
compass. For instance, in using it, when one is on the Grand Bank where
fresh fishing is carried on, it is necessary, for the sake of greater
convenience, to take a rose where the thirty-two points are marked equally,
and put the point of the magnetic needle 12, 15, or 16 degrees from the
_fleur de lis_ on the northwest side, which is nearly a point and a half,
that is north a point northwest or a little more, from the fleur de lis of
said rose, and then adjust the rose to the compass. By this means the
latitudes of all the capes, harbors, and rivers can be accurately
ascertained.

I am aware that there are many who will not make use of it, but will prefer
to run according to the large one, since it is made according to the
compass of France, where the magnetic needle varies to the northeast, for
the reason that they are so accustomed to this method that it is difficult
for them to change. For this reason I have prepared the large map in this
manner, for the assistance of the majority of the pilots and mariners in
the waters of New France, fearing that if I had not done so, they would
have ascribed to me a mistake, not knowing whence it proceeded. For the
small plans or charts of Newfoundland are, for the most part, different in
all their statements with respect to the positions of the lands and their
latitudes. And those who may have some small copies, reasonably good,
esteem them so valuable that they do not communicate a knowledge of them to
their country, which might derive profit therefrom.

Now the construction of these maps is such that they have their meridian in
a direction north-northeast, making west west-northwest, which is contrary
to the true meridian of this place, namely, to call north-northeast north,
for the needle instead of varying to the northwest, as it should, varies to
the northeast as if it were in France. The consequence of this is that
error has resulted, and will continue to do so, since this antiquated
custom is practised, which they still retain, although they fall into grave
mistakes.

They also make use of a compass marked north and south; that is, so that
the point of the magnetic needle is directly on the _fleur de lis_. In
accordance with such a compass many construct their small maps, which seems
to me the better way, and so approach nearer to the true meridian of New
France, than the compasses of France proper, which point to the
northeast. It has come about, consequently, in this way that the first
navigators who sailed to New France thought there was no greater deviation
in going to these parts than to the Azores, or other places near France,
where the deviation is almost imperceptible in navigation, the navigators
having the compasses of France, which point northeast and represent the
true meridian. In sailing constantly westward with the purpose of reaching
a certain latitude, they laid their course directly west by their compass,
supposing that they were sailing on the one parallel where they wished to
go. By thus going constantly in a straight line and not in a circle, as all
the parallels on the surface of the globe run, they found after having
traversed a long distance, and as they were approaching the land, that they
were some three, four, or five degrees farther south than they ought to be,
thus being deceived in their true latitude and reckoning.

It is true, indeed, that, when the weather was fair and the fun clearly
visible, they corrected their latitude, but not without wondering how it
happened that their course was wrong, which arose in consequence of their
sailing in a straight instead of a circular line according to the parallel,
so that in changing their meridian they changed with regard to the points
of the compass, and consequently their course. It is, They therefore, very
necessary to know the meridian, and the declination of the magnetic needle,
for this knowledge can serve all navigators. This is especially so in the
north and south, where there are greater variations in the magnetic needle,
and where the meridians of longitude are smaller, so that the error, if the
declination were not known, would be greater. This above-mentioned error
has accordingly arisen, because navigators have either not cared to correct
it, or did not know how to do so, and have left it in the state in which it
now is. It is consequently difficult to abandon this manner of sailing in
the regions of New France.

This has led me to make this large map, not only that it might be more
minute than the small one, but also in order to satisfy navigators, who
will thus be able to sail as they do according to their small maps; and
they will excuse me for not making it better and more in detail, for the
life of a man is not long enough to observe things so exactly that at least
something would not be found to have been omitted. Hence inquiring and
pains-taking persons will, in sailing, observe things not to be found on
this map, but which they add to it, so that in the courte of time there
will be no doubt as to any of the localities indicated. At least it seems
to me that I have done my duty, so far as I could, not having sailed to put
on my map anything that I have seen, and thus giving to the public special
knowledge of what had never been described, nor so carefully explored as I
have done it. Although in the past others have written of these things,
yet very little in comparison with what we have explored within the past
ten years.


MODE OF DETERMINING A MERIDIAN LINE.

Take a small piece of board, perfectly level, and place in the middle a
needle C, three inches high, so that it shall be exactly perpendicular.
Expose it to the sun before noon, at 8 or 9 o'clock, and mark the point B
at the end of the shadow cast by the needle. Then opening the compasses,
with one point on C and the other on the shadow B, describe an arc AB.
Leave the whole in this position until afternoon when you see the shadow
just reaching the arc at A. Then divide equally the arc AB, and taking a
rule, and placing it on the points C and D, draw a line running the whole
length of the board, which is not to be moved until the observation is
completed. This line will be the meridian of the place you are in.

And in order to ascertain the declination of the place where you are with
reference to the meridian, place a compass, which must be rectangular,
along the meridian line, as shown in the figure above, there being upon the
card a circle divided into 360 degrees. Divide the circle by two
diametrical lines; one representing the north and south, as indicated by
EF, the other the east and west, as indicated by GH. Then observe the
magnetic needle turning on its pivot upon the card, and you will see how
much it deviates from the fixed meridian line upon the card, and how many
degrees it varies to the northeast of northwest.




CHAMPLAIN'S LARGE MAP.

GEOGRAPHICAL CHART OF NEW FRANCE, MADE BY SIEUR DE CHAMPLAIN OF SAINTONGE,
CAPTAIN IN ORDINARY FOR THE KING IN THE MARINE. MADE IN THE YEAR 1612.

I have made this map for the greater convenience of the majority of those
who navigate on these coasts, since they sail to that country according to
compasses arranged for the hemisphere of Asia. And if I had made it like
the small one, the majority would not have been able to use it, owing to
their not knowing the declinations of the needle. [230]

Observe that on the present map north-northeast stands for north, and
west-northwest for west; according to which one is to be guided in
ascertaining the elevation of the degrees of latitude, as if these points
were actually east and west, north and south, since the map is constructed
according to the compasses of France, which vary to the northeast. [231]


SOME DECLINATIONS OF THE MAGNETIC NEEDLE,
WHICH I HAVE CAREFULLY OBSERVED.

Cap Breton . . . . . . 14° 50'
Cap de la Have . . . . 16° 15'
Baye Ste Mane . . . . 17° 16'
Port Royal . . . . . . 17° 8'
En la grande R. St Laurent 21°

St Croix . . . . . . . 17° 32'
Rivière de Norumbegue. 18° 40'
Quinibequi . . . . . . 19° 12'
Mallebarre . . . . . . 18° 40'

All observed by Sieur de Champlain, 1612.

REFERENCES ON CHAMPLAIN'S LARGE MAP.

A. Port Fortuné.
B. Baye Blanche.
C. Baye aux Isles.
D. Cap des Isles.
E. Port aux Isles.
F. Isle Haute.
G. Isle des Monts Déserts.
H. Cap Corneille.
I. Isles aux Oiseaux.
K. Cap des Deux Bayes.
L. Port aux Mines
M. Cap Fourchu.
N. Cap Nègre.
O. Port du Rossignol.
P. St. Laurent.
Q. Rivière de l'Isle Verte.
R. Baye Saine.
S. Rivière Sainte Marguerite
T. Port Sainte Hélène.
V. Isle des Martires.
X. Isles Rangées.
Y. Port de Savalette.
Z. Passage du Glas.

1. Port aux Anglois.
2. Baye Courante.
3. Cap de Poutrincourt.
4. Isle Gravée.
5. Passage Courant.
6. Baye de Gennes.
7. Isle Perdue.
8. Cap des Mines.
9. Port aux Coquilles.
10. Isles Jumelles.
11. Cap Saint Jean.
12. Isle la Nef.
13. La Heronniére Isle.
14. Isles Rangées.
15. Baye Saint Luc.
16. Passage du Gas.
17. Côte de Montmorency.
18. Rivière de Champlain.
19. Rivière Sainte Marie.
20. Isle d'Orléans.
21. Isle de Bacchus.

NOTE--The reader will observe that in a few instances the references are
wanting on the map.

CHAMPLAIN'S NOTE TO THE SMALL MAP.

On the small map [232] is added the strait above Labrador between the
fifty-third and sixty-third degrees of latitude, which the English have
discovered during the present year 1612, in their voyage to find, if
possible, a passage to China by way of the north. [233] They wintered at a
place indicated by this mark, 6. But it was not without enduring severe
cold, and they were obliged to return to England, leaving their leader in
the northern regions. Within fix months three other vessels have set out,
to penetrate, if possible, still farther, and, at the same time, to search
for the men who were left in that region.


GEOGRAPHICAL MAP OF NEW FRANCE, IN ITS TRUE
MERIDIAN.

_Made by Sieur Champlain, Captain for the King in the Marine. 1613_.

+o Matou-ouescariny. [Note: This figure is inverted on the map. _Vide
antea_, note 59, p. 62.]
o+ Gaspay.
oo Ouescariny. [Note: _Vide antea_, note 47, pp. 59, 81. The figure oo is
misplaced and should be where o-o is on the map, on the extreme
western border near the forty-seventh degree of north latitude.]
o-o Quenongebin. [Note: This figure o-o on the map occupies the place
which should be occupied by oo. _Vide antea_, p. 58, note 46.]
A. Tadoussac.
B. Lesquemain.
C. Isle Percée.
D. Baye de Chaleur.
E. Isles aux Gros Yeux. [Note: A cluster of islands of which the Island
of Birds is one.]
H. Baye Françoise.
I. Isles aux Oyseaux.
L. Rivière des Etechemins. [Note: This letter, placed between the River
St. John and the St. Croix, refers to the latter.]
M. Menane.
N. Port Royal.
P. Isle Longue.
Q. Cap Fourchu.
R. Port au Mouton.
S. Port du Rossignol. [Note: The letter S appears twice on the coast of
La Cadie. The one here referred to is the more westerly.]
SS. Lac de Medicis. [Note: This reference is probably to the Lake of Two
Mountains, which will be seen on the map west of Montreal.]
T. Sesambre.
V. Cap des Deux Bayes.
3. L'Isle aux Coudres.
4. Saincte Croix. [Note: St. Croix on the map is where a cross surmounted
by the figure 4 may be seen.]
4. Rivière des Etechemins. [Note: This appears to refer to the
Chaudière. _Vide_ vol. I. p. 296.]
5. Sault. [Note: This refers to the Falls of Montmorency.]
6. Lac Sainct Pierre.
7. Rivière des Yroquois.
9. Isle aux Lieures.
10. Rivière Platte. [Note: A small river flowing into Mal Bay. _Vide_
Vol. I. p. 295; also _Les Voyages de Champlain_, Quebec ed., p. 1099.]
11. Mantane. [Note: _Vide_ Vol. I. p 234.]
40. Cap Saincte Marie. [Note: The figures are wanting. Cape St. Mary is on
the southern coast of Newfoundland. _Vide_ Vol I. p. 232.]


ENDNOTES:

228. The determination of longitudes has from the beginning been environed
with almost insuperable difficulties. At one period the declination of
the magnetic needle was supposed to furnish the means of a practical
solution. Sebastian Cabot devoted considerable attention to the
subject, as did likewise Peter Plancius at a later date. Champlain
appears to have fixed the longitudes on his smaller map by
calculations based on the variation of the needle, guided by the
principles laid down by Guillaume de Nautonier, Sieur de Castelfranc,
to whose work he refers in the text. It was entitled, _Mécométrie de
l'eymant c'est à dire la manière de mesurer les longitudes par le
moyen de l'eymant_. This rare volume is not to be found as far as my
inquiries extend, in any of the incorporated libraries on this
continent. There is however a copy in the Bodleian Library at Oxford,
to which in the catalogue is given the bibliographical note: _Six
livres. Folio. Tolose, 1603_.

It is hardly necessary to add that the forces governing the variation
of the needle, both local and general, are so inconstant that the hope
of fixing longitudes by it was long since abandoned.

The reason for the introduction of the explanation of the maps at this
place will be seen _antea_, p. 39.

229. The rose is the face or card of the mariner's compass. It was
anciently called the fly. Card may perhaps be derived from the Italian
cardo, a thistle, which the face of the compass may be supposed to
resemble. On the complete circle of the compass there are thirty-two
lines drawn from the centre to the circumference to indicate the
direction of the wind. Each quarter of the circle, or 90°, contains
eight lines representing the points of the compass in that quarter.
They are named with reference to the cardinal points from which they
begin, as: 1, north, 2, north by east, 3, north-northeast; 4,
northeast by north; 5, northeast; 6, northeast by east; 7, east-
northeast; 8, east by north. The points in each quarter are named in a
similar manner.

230. The above title is on the large map of 1612. This note is on the upper
left-hand corner of the same map.

231. For this note see the upper right-hand corner of the map.

232. In Champlain's issue in 1613, the note here given was placed in the
preliminary matter to that volume. It was placed there probably after
the rest of the work had gone to press. We have placed it here in
connection with other matter relating to the maps, where it seems more
properly to belong.

233. This refers to the fourth voyage of Henry Hudson, made in 1610, for
the purpose here indicated. He penetrated Lomley's Inlet, hoping to
find a passage through to the Pacific Ocean, or, as it was then
called, the South Sea, and thus find a direct and shorter course to
China. He passed the winter at about 52° north latitude, in that
expanse of water which has ever since been appropriately known ass
Hudson's Bay. A mutiny having broken out among his crew, he and eight
others having been forced into a small boat, on the 21st of June,
1611, were set adrift on the sea, and were never heard of afterward.

A part of the mutinous crew arrived with the ship in England, and were
immediately thrown into prison. The following year, 1612, an
expedition under Sir Thomas Button was sent out to seek for Hudson,
and to prosecute the search still further for a northwest passage It
is needless to add that the search was unsuccessful.

A chart by Hudson fortunately escaped destruction by the mutineers.
Singularly enough, an engraving of it, entitled, TABVLA NAVTICA, was
published by Heffel Gerritz at Amsterdam the same year. Champlain
incorporated the part of it illustrating Hudson's discovery in his
smaller map, which is dated the fame year, 1612. He does not introduce
it into his large map, although that is dated likewise 1612. A
facsimile of the Tabula Nautica is given in Henry Hudson the
Navigator, by G. M. Asher, LL.D. published by the Hakluyt Society in
1860.

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