Samuel de Champlain's suspicions were immediately aroused by the information he had received, yet he dared not dismiss it out-of-hand. It was the autumn of 1612. Champlain, lieutenant-governor of New France and founder of the settlement at Quebec, had returned to Paris to combat intrigues against his colonization efforts within the royal court. There, he had been reunited with Nicolas de Vignau, one of the young men Champlain had sent to live among his native allies in North America - the Algonquin and Huron peoples - to interpret their language and customs, and learn their secrets. Now, Vignau claimed he had learned a secret of inestimable value: a route to the fabled Northwest Passage.
Vignau amongst the Natives
In June 1611, Vignau - likely still in his teens - had been dispatched by Champlain to live with the Kichesipirini, an Algonquin tribe. He had travelled up the Grande Riviere (today's Ottawa River) with his hosts to their village, where he lived as the guest of their famed war chief Tessouat. He remained there until the spring of 1612, developing a strong preference for life among the natives, which offered an exhilarating freedom from the rigid order and religiosity of the colony at Quebec - and the allure of nubile, sexually-liberated Indian girls.
In the spring, Vignau made the return journey down the Grande Riviere, shooting its numerous treacherous rapids with his Kichesipirini companions in birch-bark canoes. The Algonquins transported him to Quebec, and he subsequently boarded a ship bound for France. Several months later he was in Paris, recounting a remarkable story to Champlain.
Discovery - or Deception?
Vignau declared that, during his time with the Kichesipirini, he had reached the Northern Sea (Hudson Bay). Furthermore, he claimed that a round trip to this Sea from the Great Rapid (today's Lachine Rapids) on the St. Lawrence River required only seventeen days.
Champlain had first learned of the Northern Sea from his Indian allies in 1604, and believed that it led to the Northwest Passage - the elusive short-cut to the riches of the Far East. Thus, Vignau's claim was potentially momentous, for the nation that found and controlled the Northwest Passage would achieve a significant - and sustainable - advantage over other European nations trading in the East.
Yet Champlain was suspicious. Through discussions with the Hurons and Algonquins, he had already formed a rough idea of where the Northern Sea must lie. He also knew of a little book that had recently been published by the Dutch hydrographer Hessel Gerritsz, which included a map depicting the latest attempt by Henry Hudson to probe for the Northwest Passage. The book recorded that Hudson's crew had spent the winter of 1611-12 at 52 degrees northern latitude (corresponding to the southern part of today's James Bay). By this reckoning, the distance from the Great Rapid to the Northern Sea would be at least 500 miles on a straight line. To Champlain, a skilled cartographer and navigator, Vignau's reported travel time seemed ludicrously short.
Vignau continued his narrative. On the shore of the Northern Sea, he had seen the wreckage of an English ship. He had also learned the fate of her 80-man crew. They had sought refuge ashore and, half-crazed by hunger, attempted to steal food from a near-by Indian tribe. Caught in the act, they were all killed and scalped - except for one young boy. He was now being held captive by the Nebicerini (or Nipissing) tribe, whose homeland lay to the northeast of the Kichesipirini, and their chief wished to make a gift of him to Champlain.
These revelations did not so much assuage Champlain's doubts as fire his imagination, for aspects of Vignau's tale were corroborated by Gerritsz' book. The shipwreck could have been one of Hudson's ships; if so, the boy held by the Nebicerini might possess valuable first-hand knowledge regarding Hudson's explorations of the Northern Sea.
Having warned Vignau that his life would be forfeit if he was lying, Champlain then consulted with his key backers and business associates. Without exception, they believed that he should return to New France and investigate Vignau's claims personally.
Outward Bound
Champlain sailed for New France from Honfleur on 6 March 1613 - after Vignau had been compelled to swear an affidavit that he had seen the Northern Sea before two notaries. He landed at Tadoussac on 29 April and, after pausing briefly at Quebec to observe the colony's progress, set off up the St. Lawrence to the Great Rapid with a small company - including Vignau - in two shallops. When he had last seen the Algonquins, they had promised to meet him there in late May of 1613: true to their word, they appeared on the 24th of that month.
Champlain knew that, in order to reach the English boy and the Northern Sea, he would have to pass through the Algonquins' territory on the Grande Riviere. He also knew how jealously they protected their lucrative middleman role in the fur trade; consequently, they would be reluctant to let him venture beyond their homelands and establish relations with other tribes. A deception was required. Champlain told the Algonquins that he wished to travel north to enlist other tribes in a war against the Iroquois, and asked them to supply guides and canoes for the journey. However, the Algonquins were wary, providing only two canoes and one warrior as a guide. Along with Vignau, Champlain selected another interpreter - Thomas Godefroy - and two anonymous Frenchmen to accompany him.
The little group departed the Great Rapid on 27 May, setting off on a course that would become known as the route des pays en haute. They endured an inauspicious beginning, requiring two days to get clear of the Great Rapid due to the inexperience of the two unnamed Frenchmen in handling a canoe. They continued upstream to the body of water (today's Lac des Deux-Montagnes) that marked the confluence of the St. Lawrence and the Grande Riviere. This was the extent of Champlain's previous inland explorations.
At the mouth of the Grande Riviere, Champlain used a small brass travelling astrolabe to calculate his latitude - 45 degrees, 18 minutes north. The Northern Sea was still at least 500 miles distant on a straight line, even further via waterways and portages. Champlain's initial suspicions of Vignau were promptly rekindled. Yet the expedition's potential rewards - the English boy, the Northern Sea, the Northwest Passage - were too great to resist.
On the Grande Riviere
The little company started up the Grande Riviere, heading north-west. The river was still swollen by the late spring run-off, making the journey slow and dangerous: it was often necessary to disembark and portage. On the first day, Champlain nearly drowned in the rapids at Longue Sault when the current seized the fully loaded canoe that he was tracking, yanking him into the water.
Along the route, they encountered various Algonquin tribes. To each, Champlain repeated the story that he was travelling north to enlist additional tribes to fight the Iroquois: from each, he received warnings not to travel beyond Algonquin territory. In one such encounter, Champlain did manage to secure two additional native guides who were more familiar with the country than his original one.
On 6 June they reached the Cheneaux rapids, where an argument erupted between Vignau and the Algonquin guides. Vignau wanted to continue their journey on the river. The Algonquins balked and told Champlain - through the interpreter Godefroy - that Vignau meant to lead him into danger. They recommended proceeding overland to the summer camp of Tessouat, Vignau's former host. This route was shorter, but the canoes would have to be abandoned. Champlain, his distrust of Vignau now thoroughly aroused, opted for the mosquito-infested overland route.
Two days later, having travelled a total of 125 miles from the Great Rapid, they reached Tessouat's camp on Lac des Allumettes.
A Deception Unmasked
After exchanging greetings with the Kichesipirini chief, Champlian explained that he had returned to fulfill a vow to support an attack on the Iroquois. He then repeated the story that he was on his way to the lands of more distant tribes - including the Algonquins' neighbours, the Nebicirini - to recruit them for the fight.
Tessouat received Champlain's words coolly, replying that his warriors had just returned, triumphant, from a battle with the Iroquois and were not prepared for another sortie any time soon. The chief was adamant that Champlain should not visit the Nebicirini, claiming they were not warriors but sorcerers who sent death among his people, and describing the extreme dangers the journey would entail.
Champlain knew that the Kichespirini and Nebicirini tribes were, in fact, strong allies, so Tessouat's attempts to dissuade him reinforced his belief that the Nebicirini were holding the English boy. He responded that Vignau had travelled to the land of the Nebicirini and encountered none of the perils described by the chief.
He had barely finished speaking when the Algonquins turned on Vignau in a murderous fury. Tessouat angrily declared that Vignau had never visited the Nebicirini, and that the interpreter had not spent a night away from Tessouat's lodge during the time he lived with the tribe. Calling Vignau a liar, he demanded the youth's death.
Champlain's position was precarious. He could not turn Vignau - who was holding to his story - over to the Algonquins, but he feared losing his own life if he failed to appease them. He offered a compromise: he would end his journey and return to Quebec, taking Vignau with him. The Algonquins acquiesced, and Champlain then turned the situation to his advantage, convincing Tessouat to dispatch warriors with forty canoes loaded with beaver pelts to accompany him.
Champlain's flotilla departed Tessouat's camp on 10 June. As it sped downstream through the territories of other Algonquin tribes, the number of fur-laden canoes increased to eighty: their precious cargo would salvage the trading season for Champlain's colony.
In Conclusion
On 17 June Champlain, his French companions and his Algonquin escort reached the Great Rapid, where some of his business partners awaited him with keen anticipation. There, Vignau was made to confess his lies before the Indian chiefs who were present and the assembled Frenchmen. Vignau begged pardon of them all, claiming his acts were motivated by a desire to return to the Algonquins, and pleaded to be left with them so that he might attempt to reach the Northern Sea and thus make amends.
Champlain pondered. He didn't believe Vignau had fabricated the entire story of the English wreck and the boy. Perhaps, while wintering with the Algonquins, the interpreter had overheard some related discussion between Tessouat and emissaries from the Nebicerini - who traded with the Cree nation at James Bay. Perhaps he could learn more if given the opportunity.
Champlain agreed to pardon Vignau and to send him back with the Algonquins to their homeland, but the Indians refused: they would take other Frenchmen, but not the disgraced Vignau. Champlain, reasoning that he could probably obtain the desired intelligence via other means, accepted their position. Vignau, a man with nowhere to go, then disappeared into the wilderness. He was never seen again by another white man, and his name never re-appeared in Champlain's copious writings.
Sources
- Fischer, David Hackett. Champlain's Dream. Vintage Canada, 2009.
- Hunter, Douglas. God's Mercies: Rivalry, Betrayal and the Dream of Discovery. Doubleday Canada, 2007.
- Trudel, Marcel. The Beginnings of New France. McClelland and Stewart Limited, Toronto, 1973.
Peter Stone - After a thirty-six year career with a major Canadian financial institution, I succumbed to a long-standing yearning to pursue ...
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