Father Jamet did not return to Quebec, and he was therefore replaced as commissary by Father Le Caron, who appointed Father Huet as his assistant.  The vessel conveying the party sailed from Honfleur on April 11th, 1617, under the command of Captain Morel.  The passage was very rough, and when within sixty leagues of the Great Bank of Newfoundland, numerous icebergs bore down on the ship like huge mountains.  Father Le Clercq says that in the general consternation Father Joseph, seeing that all human succour could not deliver them from shipwreck, earnestly implored the aid of heaven in the vows and prayers which he made publicly on the vessel.  He confessed all, and prepared himself to appear before God.  All were touched with compassion and deeply moved when Dame Hebert raised her youngest child through the hatchway to let it share with the rest the good father’s blessing.  They escaped only by a miracle, as they acknowledged in their letters to France.

The ship arrived at Tadousac on July 14th, and mass was said in a little chapel which Father Huet had constructed with poles and branches, and a sailor stood on either side of the altar with fir branches to drive away the cloud of mosquitoes which caused great annoyance to the celebrant.  The mass was very solemn.  Besides the French, there were many Indians present who assisted with devotion amid the roar of the cannon of the ship, and the muskets of the French.  After the service a dinner was given by Champlain on board the vessel.  On the arrival of the party at Quebec some days after, they found that the inhabitants were nearly starving, and that Father d’Olbeau was anxiously awaiting the news from France.

Both Champlain and Father Le Caron were obliged to confess that their mission had been unsuccessful.  What, therefore, was to be done?  To return to Old France would have been contrary to the intentions of the Recollets.  They had been sent to Canada by their superiors, and they had no order to act contrary to their instructions.  After having studied the situation they resolved that Father d’Olbeau should visit France, see the king in person, and place before him the settlers’ condition and their own.  During his absence Father Huet undertook the charge of the mission at Tadousac, and Brother Pacifique du Plessis was appointed to teach catechism to the Indians of Three Rivers.

It was at about this time that Father Le Caron performed the first marriage ceremony in Canada, the contracting parties being Etienne Jonquest of Normandy, and Anne Hebert, eldest daughter of Louis Hebert.