Not for five years after his return in 1536, therefore, did Cartier again set out for the St. Lawrence.  This time his sponsor was the Sieur de Roberval, a nobleman of Picardy, who had acquired an ambition to colonize a portion of the new territory and who had obtained the royal endorsement of his scheme.  The royal patronage was not difficult to obtain when no funds were sought.  Accordingly in 1540 Roberval, who was duly appointed viceroy of the country, enlisted the assistance of Cartier in carrying out his plans.  It was arranged that Cartier with three ships should sail from St. Malo in the spring of 1541, while Roberval’s part of the expedition should set forth at the same time from Honfleur.  But when May arrived Roberval was not ready and Cartier’s ships set sail alone, with the understanding that Roberval would follow.  Cartier in due course reached Newfoundland, where for six weeks he awaited his viceroy.  At length, his patience exhausted, he determined to push on alone to Stadacona, where he arrived toward the end of August.  The ships were unloaded and two of the vessels were sent back to France.  The rest of the expedition prepared to winter at Cap Rouge, a short distance above the settlement.  Once more Cartier made a short trip up the river to Hochelaga, but with no important incidents, and here the voyageur’s journal comes to an end.  He may have written more, but if so the pages have never been found.  Henceforth the evidence as to his doings is less extensive and less reliable.  On his return he and his band seem to have passed the winter at Cap Rouge more comfortably than the first hibernation six years before, for the French had now learned the winter hygiene of the northern regions.  The Indians, however, grew steadily more hostile as the months went by, and Cartier, fearing that his small following might not fare well in the event of a general assault, deemed it wise to start for France when the river opened in the spring of 1542.

Cartier set sail from Quebec in May.  Taking the southern route through the Gulf he entered, early in June, the harbor of what is now St. John’s, Newfoundland.  There, according to Hakluyt, the Breton navigator and his belated viceroy, Roberval, anchored their ships side by side, Roberval, who had been delayed nearly a year, was now on his way to join Cartier at Quebec and had put into the Newfoundland harbor to refit his ships after a stormy voyage.  What passed between the two on the occasion of this meeting will never be known with certainly.  We have only the brief statement that after a spirited interview Cartier was ordered by his chief to turn his ships about and accompany the expedition back to Quebec.  Instead of doing so, he spread his sails during the night and slipped homeward to St. Malo, leaving the viceroy to his own resources.  There are difficulties in the way of accepting this story, however, although it is not absolutely inconsistent with the official records, as some later historians seem to have assumed.[1]