International Hydrographic Review, Monaco, LXI (1), January 1984
THREE CENTURIES OF FRENCH HYDROGRAPHY
IN CANADA
by Jean B O U R G O IN '* ’
This is a revised and abridged version o f a paper presented to the Centennial Conference o f the
Canadian Hydrographic Service, Ottawa, April 1983. It is reproduced here with the kind permission o f the
Director General o f the Canadian Hydrographic Sen ice.
THE GREAT DISCOVERIES AND CANADA
It is well know n that the aim o f C hristopher C olum bus in 1492 was to reach
C hina an d Jap a n by navigating continuously w estw ard — and th at he was
convinced he had landed there. T he truth h ad to be faced a few years later w hen
N unoz de B alboa saw the South Sea for the first time in 1513, in the region o f
Panam a an d w hen M agellan sailed through into the Pacific O cean on 28 N ovem ber
i 520 : the b arrier form ed by th e coasts o f A m erica was an obstacle for m ariners
o f the R enaissance period seeking C ipangu a n d C athay. The m yth o f a sea route
to the W est to reach C hina by cutting through the A m erican continent was thus
born follow ing the discoveries o f M agellan. B elief in a “ N orth-W est Passage” ,
which the French im agined to be in the region o f C anada, lasted until the end o f
the 18th C entury. A fter Jacques C artier, C ham plain, Jolliet, F ath er M arquette,
C avelier de la Salle and d e la Varendrye, C h ateau b rian d still set out with this
intention in 1791.
The “ land o f m arvels” , source o f spices and precious m etals, th at M arco Polo
had described at the end o f the 13th C entury, becam e a veritable nautical m irage
in the m inds o f the western pow ers.
The forerunners o f Jacques Cartier
Official expeditions, o f w hich we will speak later, represented only one aspect
o f the true picture. Fisherm en w ere the first discoverers o f the “ N ew L an d s” , as
they called them ; that is to say, the shores o f th e northern A m erican continent
(*) Ingénieur Général, Director, Service Hydrographique et Océanographique de la Marine, 3,
avenue Octave-Gréard, 75200 Paris Naval, France.
(N ew fo u n d land). The w idespread fam ine of the early 16th C entury and the 150
“ m eatless” days per year im posed on C hristians easily account for the popularity
and success o f w haling and cod-fishing enterprises off the shores o f the New
W orld. From 1506 onw ards, subsequent to the breaking o f the alliance with C astile
in 1475, the French and the Portuguese were present in all the coastal provinces
o f C an ad a , fishing for w hale and cod. The fact that Portuguese pilots and
cosm ographers settled in France m ust certainly have favoured the creation o f the
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F i g . 1. — “ La p e s c h e des m o r u e s v e r te s et sè c h e s” ( B a n k a n d s h o r e cod -fishing), inse t f ro m “ C h a r t of
A m e r i c a s ” by N. de F e r , 1698 [Fr. Bibl. N at. G e D D 2987 (8511 B)].
fam ous “ D ieppe School” , to w hich we will return later. It is significant, in this
context, to recall th at Jacques C artier was also an in terp reter o f Portuguese. In the
first h a lf o f the 16th C entury, nearly 150 ports o r harbours — in N orm andy,
B rittany, in the regions o f S aintonge and B ordeaux and in the Basque country —
were fitting out fleets for w haling and cod fishing. Fishing o f “ m orue verte” (salt
cod) — o r “ fishing on the m ove” — took place over th e Banks, out o f sight o f land,
w hilst fishing o f w hat was term ed “ m orue sèche” (dried cod) — or sedentary
“ sh o re” fishing — took place w ithin sight o f the coast.
F isherm en played an im p o rtan t part in the birth o f French hydrography in
C an ad a. They were at the source o f the need for surveying and from the great
m aritim e m ovem ent they generated cam e the cartographic inform ation that served
as a basis for the first N orm an hydrographers.
Jacq u es C artier (1491-1557)
It is to Jacq u es C artier th at m ust fall the h o n o u r o f having taken possession
o f “ New F ran ce” — or C a n a d a — in the nam e o f his sovereign, since those who
h ad preced ed him — John C ab o t, a V enitian in the service o f the King o f England,
in 1497, an d G a sp a rd C orte Real in 1501 — left no official record o f their voyages.
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F i g . 2. — C h a r t o f “ N e w F r a n c e ” ( a n o n y m o u s ) , 1665 (Fr. Ste H i s t o r i q u e d e s A r m é e s , M a r i n e , se rie s 67,
i t e m 2).
An exp erien ced pilot, an expert in to p o g rap h y , presum ed to have accom panied
V errazano in 1524 during his ex p ed itio n to N ova Scotia and N ew fo u n d lan d ,
Jacq u es C artier h ad over 15 y ea rs’ navigational experience beh in d him w hen he
was p resen ted to F rançois I an d com m issioned to direct an expedition with the
p u rp o se o f discovering the fam ous “ N orth-W est Passage” .
Jacq u es C artier set sail from S aint-M alo on 20 A pril 1534 for his First voyage,
w ith tw o 60-ton vessels an d 60 m en. R eaching N ew fo u n d lan d after a crossing o f
only 20 days, he entered the G u lf o f Saint Law rence th rough the Strait o f Belle Isle,
retu rn in g th ro u g h the sam e S trait an d sailing back to S aint-M alo, w here he arrived
on 5 S eptem ber 1534.
O n 19 M ay 1535, Jacques C artier put to sea for a second voyage, with three
ships an d 110 m en. The ex p ed itio n party w intered at Q uebec (S tadaconé),
ice-bound an d suffering from scurvy. They began the return journey by sailing
along the south coast o f N ew foundland, and arrived back at Saint-M alo on 6 July.
Twenty five sailors h a d died but Jacques C artier had proved that N ew foundland
was an island and th at the Saint Lawrence was a river.
Jacq u es C artier died on 1 Septem ber 1557 at the age o f 66, ignored by his
contem poraries.
The beginnings of French hydrography : the Dieppe School and Canada
D iep p e was, from the late 15th century onw ards, the cradle o f a School o f
H ydrography of great renow n. T he D ieppe pilots, inheritors o f the Lusitanian
trad itio n , were, at one and the sam e tim e, explorers, teachers, and authors o f
treatises on hydrography and navigation, besides being cartographers. They have
left us w onderful globes from w hich it is possible to trace the developm ent o f the
ch artin g o f C anada, especially o f N ew foundland.
N ew fo undland was originally charted as a peninsula attached to Labrador.
Follow ing Jacques C artier’s discovery o f the Strait o f Belle Isle in 1534, the D ieppe
carto g rap h ers m ade it into an archipelago o r an island, as can be seen on the globe
o f D esliens in 1541 and th at o f Desceliers in 1546.
A fter it had been portrayed in the form o f a peninsula, then as an archipelago,
real progress was accom plished w hen N ew foundland was shown as a com pact
trian g u lar shape. This was done o n the C hart o f the W orld by N icolas Desliens in
1566 an d on another by Pierre de Vaulx in 1613.
T h e beginnings o f colonization in C anada, in 1605, m ark the end o f this first
stage o f discovery an d conquest, characterized, as regards hydrography, by the very
sm all scale globes o f the D ieppe School and the charting o f itineraries along the
great w aterw ays penetrating inland.
THE 17th CENTURY :
THE HEIGHT OF FRENCH INFLUENCE
AND PRESTIGIOUS CARTOGRAPHY
Champlain and the early stages of colonization
T he colonization o f C an ad a did not begin until the arrival o f Samuel C ham ­
plain, early in the 17th C entury. H e first directed his efforts tow ards the A cadian
region (N ova Scotia), w here he founded Port Royal (A nnapolis) in 1605. He then
en co u rag ed the first settlers along the banks o f the Saint Law rence on the very site
w here th e French were to settle in greater and greater num bers, and he founded
Q uebec in 1608. A fter the d eath o f C ham plain, in 1635, the creation o f M ontreal
in 1642 and the setting up o f religious m issions and trading posts along the route
to the G reat Lakes and the M ississipi were further m ilestones in the French
o ccu p atio n o f C anada.
F i g . 3. — M a p o f t h e W o r l d by J e a n G u é r a r d , 1625 ( F r . Bibl. N at. H O A r c h . N ° 10).
F i g . 4. — C h a r t o f N o r t h e r n A m e r i c a (i n s e t ) by J e a n Baptiste L o u is F r a n q u e l i n , 1688 ( F r. Ste H i s t o r i q u e
d e s A r m é e s , M a ri n e ) .
C olbert promotes the development of hydrography
The results o f colonization rem ained m ediocre, however, until the advent of
C olbert, the great M inister o f Louis XIV, in 1661, and the annexing o f “ New
F ran ce” to the royal possessions (1663). U nfortunately, the am bition to own
p erm an en t settlem ents in “ New F rance” clashed with sim ilar, rival am bitions on
the p art o f Britain. The tem porary fall o f Q uebec in 1629 and o f the A cadian region
in 1659 were im portant events highlighting this situation, prior to the bitter
struggles betw een the French and British colonies in N ew foundland, based at
Plaisance and S aint-John’s, respectively, during the wars o f the League of
A ugsburg (1688-1697) and the Spanish Succession (1702-1713)
In the m aritim e field, it is relevant to stress F rance’s rem arkable sea pow er
betw een 1680 and 1688, and the prom otion o f “ shore” fishing, which encouraged
recruitm ent into the Royal French Navy.
This was the background against which hydrography developed in C anada.
T he D ieppe School had given the Navy its best pilots, and C olbert took care to
include hydrography in the great efforts he deployed in reorganizing the Navy. In
1661, he had his D epartm ent take responsibility for the D ieppe School of
H ydrography. Then he created the Academ y o f Sciences in 1666 and the Paris
O bservatory in 1667.
t/A MB, II *r.T~
F i g . 5. — C h a r t o f t h e G u l f o f Saint L a w r e n c e a n d t h e G r a n d B ank o f N e w f o u n d l a n d , 1736 (Fr. Bibl.
Nat. H O series 125, div. I, item 12').
The m apping o f C an ad a in the 17th C entury essentially consisted o f
reco n n aissan ce and exploratory cartography b ase d on the keeping o f navigational
records in o rd e r to provide sea charts. Very gross errors o f longitude subsisted, but
these w ere o f merely relative im portance in th e portrayal o f the coasts a n d the sea
bed, w hich gradually becam e m ore refined sim ply by the use o f com pass, log and
so u n d in g lead.
The im m ense territory discovered offered boundless scope to hydrographers.
They played a m ajor part in the spread o f settlers, who m ore often than not
travelled in lan d along the waterways. One rem arkable fact springs to m ind : in
Q uebec itself, in the last q uarter o f the century, a F rench-C anadian school o f
hydro g rap h y an d cartography was created, w hich was rendered illustrious by
J.B. F ran q u elin . The prestigious cartography w hich developed during this period
show ed th e value placed by the royal pow ers o f the time on th at very evocative and
sym bolic form o f sovereignty — the chart.
THE 18th CENTURY :
DECLINE OF FRENCH INFLUENCE IN CANADA
AND ADVANCES IN HYDROGRAPHY
France’s territorial losses
T he Treaty of U trecht (1713), w hich p u t an end to the S panish W ar o f
Succession, sanctioned the first losses o f territory suffered by F rance in northern
A m erica. F rance recognized the suprem acy o f B ritain over H u d so n Bay, N ew found­
lan d a n d N ova Scotia; it kept its territories along th e Saint Law rence, in the region
o f th e G re at Lakes and the M ississipi, an d th e islands o f S aint-Jean (P rince E dw ard
Islan d ) a n d R oyale (C ape B reton), as well as th e fishing rights along the coasts o f
N ew fo u n d lan d betw een C ape B onavista an d Pt. Riche, w ith access from the no rth
to th e coastal strip know n as the “ French sh o re ” .
To com pensate for the loss o f the capital o f the A cadian region, Port Royal,
w hich h ad been used as a base in the w arring race against the N avy o f New
E ngland, F rance lost no tim e in setting u p fortifications at Louisburg, on lie
R oyale, w hich thus becam e th e m ain centre o f French defence in C anada.
C o n sid ered to be im pregnable, Louisburg’s existence was, however, short-lived
(1720-1758). It was taken by the British for the first tim e in 1745, th en again in 1758,
du rin g the Seven Y ears’ W ar, an d this tim e it was razed to the ground. The tow n
o f L ouisburg was built with stone and bricks b ro u g h t from Europe. T raffic through
th e p o rt was heavy : 500 ships carrying fifteen to tw enty th o u san d m en anchored
th ere each year.
A fter th e fall o f Louisburg, the way to Q uebec lay open for th e British. The
surveys guaranteeing the safety o f navigation for the fleet o f over 200 ships w hich
sailed up th e Saint Lawrence w ere executed by C ap tain Des Barres. H e had u n d er
his o rd ers th e fam ous C ook, aboard the Pembroke. D uring th e night o f 12
S eptem ber 1759, the British tro o p s attacked the Plains o f A braham , the final
bastio n before Quebec. Wolfe, the British C om m ander-in-C hief, and M ontcalm ,
the to w n ’s defender, were w ounded in the encounter and both died on the same
a ftern o o n o f 13 Septem ber.
T he Treaty o f Paris, signed by B ritain, F rance, Spain and Portugal on
10 F eb ru a ry 1763, p u t an end to the Seven Y ears’ W ar and signified the surrender
o f th e F rench colonies in northern Am erica. France relinquished to Britain :
C a n a d a an d w hat is now New B runswick and all the adjacent islands, including
Ile R oyale (C ape B reton) and Ile Saint-Jean (Prince Edw ard Island). In N ew found­
land, F ran ce retained its fishing rights and received the islands o f Saint-Pierre and
M iquelon.
T he Am erican W ar o f Independence ended twenty years later, in 1783, with
the T reaty o f Versailles betw een France an d Britain, giving France full sovereignty
over Saint-Pierre-et-M iquelon and m odifying the French fishing rights on the
eastern an d northern coasts o f N ew foundland. The new rights extended from Saint
J o h n ’s C ape to C ape Ray (instead o f from C ape Bonavista to Pt. Riche).
Great steps forward in hydrography
T he 18th C entury was the richest period as regards progress in hydrography
and navigation. C olbert had h ad the great m erit o f appreciating that the volum e
and im portance o f the techniques and resources required for hydrography
w arran ted direct intervention by the State. The decisions he m ade bore fruit
th ro u g h o u t the 18th C entury, am plified by sim ilar efforts on the part o f the British.
The g reat problem rem ained th at o f determ ining longitudes : it was not until 1770
th at th e final difficulties were overcom e, by m easuring h o u r angles directly using
a chronom eter. At about the sam e time, B orda m odified H adley’s octant, m aking
it in to a reflecting circle, the use o f which was even m ore convenient and accurate.
This step forw ard m ade it possible to substitute the hydrographic circle (or
so u n d in g sextant) for the com pass for m easuring horizontal angles, thus obtaining
excellent positioning accuracy. M ackenzie Ju n io r (1774) and B eautem ps-Beaupré
(1791-1792) were the prom oters o f this vital innovation in the technique o f
h yd ro g rap h ic surveying.
It was in this technical context that hydrography in C anada developed. The
g radual im provem ent in astronom ical position fixing m ade it possible to link up
p artial results into coherent wholes, especially in the second h alf o f the 18th
C entury. On the French side, a young lieutenant, the M arquis de C habert, was
com m issioned in 1750 and 1751 to conduct a series o f astronom ical and geodetical
o bservations in C anada. At the sam e time, the M inister o f the Navy had about
fifteen vessels fitted out in Q uebec with officers and pilots who were assigned the
task o f surveying the coasts and waterways. Finally, each o f the King’s ships was
required system atically to com plete a hand-drawm chart allotted to it fo r the
p u rp o se o f collecting inform ation.
If it was young C habert w ho gave the initial send o ff to scientific surveying
in n o rth ern Am erica, it is to the fam ous C aptain Jam es C ook that falls the h o n o u r
for having given a correct overall view — although essentially based on estim a­
tions — o f the coasts o f N ew foundland (1765-1767). It was he, again, who, during
his th ird voyage in 1778, carried out the first thorough reconnaissance survey o f the
west coast of northern Am erica.
A few years later, in 1786, La Pérouse w as assigned the m ission o f carrying
o u t reconnaissance surveys o f the parts o f the coasts which had not been seen by
C ook, o f seeking a possible way through into H udson Bay, an d o f studying the
possibilities o f fur trading with C hina. A lthough his reconnaissance surveys w ere
very ra p id ones, La Pérouse was the first to suspect the existence o f the string o f
islands along the coast o f no rth ern Am erica. A few years after La Pérouse, d u rin g
th e sum m er cam paigns o f 1792, 1793 and 1794, and taking all the tim e necessary,
V ancouver surveyed these coasts in m uch greater detail.
THE 19th CENTURY :
FRANCE CONTINUES ITS HYDROGRAPHIC EFFORTS
IN CANADA
T he political events of the 19th C entury affected F rance less an d less in
C an ad a . Indeed, all that was left to F rance was S aint-Pierre-et-M iquelon an d
fishing rights in N ew foundland.
In th e m aritim e field, three im portant factors are relevant :
— Firstly : the gradual replacem ent, from 1820 onw ards, o f sail by steam ,
illu strated by the first regular trans-A tlantic service started in 1840 by the
“ C u n a rd ” , from H alifax.
— Secondly : the gradual fall-off, from 1850 onw ards, o f the “ sh o re” fishing
in N ew foundland, following the revival it h ad enjoyed ju st after the wars o f the
“ E m p ire” period in France. The P arliam ent which N ew foundland had in 1833, an d
the increase in popu lation, m ade it m ore a n d m ore difficult to m aintain a F rench
com m unity on the “ French shore” . The “ E ntente C o rd iale” , signed in 1904
betw een France an d Britain, pu t an end to F rance’s exclusive fishing rights in
N ew fo u n d lan d . But on the o ther hand, Saint-P ierre-et-M iquelon h a d becom e an
im p o rtan t centre and the cod-fishing vessels w orking on the Banks w ent there to
u n lo ad th eir fish.
— Thirdly : the laying dow n o f certain regulations for m aritim e traffic
ap p ro a c h in g n o rthern Am erica. The fam ous M aury, who invented “ Pilot C h arts” ,
was th e in itiato r o f the recom m ended routes to and from landfalls in C an ad a .
A lready in 1855 he was aw are o f the d an g er to N ew foundland fisherm en a n d th eir
b o ats from trans-A tlantic traffic in the area. F o u r great routes w ere officially fixed
in 1898, for two different periods o f the year and tw o directions o f traffic
(E u ro p e -*• Am erica and A m erica -» E urope), respectively. H ow ever, from 15 A u­
gust u n til the m onth o f O ctober, the system in force exposed fisherm en o n th e
G ra n d Bank, at night and in fog, to collisions w ith steam ships. F or th at reason, the
F ren ch “ C om pagnie G énérale T ran satlan tiq u e” , despite the expense a n d the delays
involved for its ocean liners, stopped sailing over the G ra n d B ank d u rin g the
fishing season from about 1900 an d took routes which w ent fu rth e r south o f the
area.
T he 19th C entury saw few changes in surveying techniques once the new
m ethods invented by the British and the French h ad been recognized and adopted.
The problem o f determ ining longitudes had at last been overcome. Triangulations
and progress in topography served as a fram ework for positioning at sea, carried
out using a sextant, o r hydrographic circle. The lead line continued to be used for
sounding depths.
O n the other hand, the increase in sea traffic created new needs. For ships
o f g reater draft, able to travel at greater speeds, it was necessary to undertake
system atic surveys, seeking out shoals and m arking fairways, and to keep nautical
docum ents up to date by m eans o f notices to m ariners (from about 1850).
French surveying continued very seriously in N ew foundland, Saint-Pierre-etM iquelon an d on the Banks, especially during the second h alf o f the 19th Century.
The work carried out along the same lines by the British and the French
resulted in detailed charting o f all C anadian waters. Cook and Lane had been the
authors o f the first m odern chart o f N ew foundland, at the end o f the previous
century. They were also the authors o f the first Sailing Directions for C anada. But
the French m ade their contribution in the sectors for which they were responsible.
CONCLUSION
R etracing the history o f French hydrography in C anada leads us to conclude
by highlighting the following :
— C anada appears to be both the first country in northern America
discovered by the French and also the region presum ed to be the most
likely fo r a sea passage to the F ar East. Jacques C artier was seeking this
fam ous passage when he took possession o f C anada.
— French hydrography in C anada, because it extended over a very long
p eriod, is a typical exam ple o f the developm ent o f this technique through
the ages.
— F rance had the privilege o f being the first country to chart C anada, but
the slow decline in French influence in the 18th Century, following the
Treaty of U trecht, which coincided with the period o f the greatest
technological advances in hydrography, gave the British the advantage o f
producing th e first com plete m odern cartographic portrayals o f C anada.
— By being present for over three centuries in C anadian waters, French
hydrographers set u p an absolute record for work carried out beyond the
shores o f the m etropolis. And if one adds the fact that French possessions
in C anada were lim ited, from 1763, to the islets of Saint-Pierre-etM iquelon, one realizes that the C anadian page o f the history o f French
hydrography illustrates in its own way the role played by France in the
past as a nation with a m aritim e calling.