Voyages of Samuel de Champlain, vol 3 | Page 4

we coasted heading northeast and
north for more than fifteen leagues. At last we were obliged to sail
towards the west, greatly to our regret, inasmuch as we could find no

passage, and should be obliged to withdraw and sail back on our track.
Unfortunately for us we were overtaken by a calm, so that it seemed as
if the swell of the sea would throw us upon the ice bank just mentioned,
and we got ready to launch our little boat, to use in case of necessity. If
we had taken refuge on the above-mentioned ice it would only have
been to languish and die in misery. While we were deliberating whether
to launch our boat, a fresh breeze arose to our great delight, and thus
we escaped from the ice. After we had sailed two leagues, night came
on, with a very thick fog, causing us to haul down our sail, as we could
not see, and as there were several large pieces of ice in our way, which
we were afraid of striking. Thus we remained the entire night until the
next day, which was the twenty-ninth, when the fog increased to such
an extent that we could scarcely see the length of the vessel. There was
also very little wind. Yet we did not fail to set sail, in order to avoid the
ice. But, although expecting to extricate ourselves, we found ourselves
so involved in it that we could not tell on which side to tack. We were
accordingly again compelled to lower sail, and drift until the ice should
allow us to make sail. We made a hundred tacks on one side and the
other, several times fearing that we were lost. The most self-possessed
would have lost all judgment in such a juncture; even the greatest
navigator in the world. What alarmed us still more was the short
distance we could see, and the fact that the night was coming on, and
that we could not make a shift of a quarter of a league without finding a
bank or some ice, and a great deal of floating ice, the smallest piece of
which would have been sufficient to cause the loss of any vessel
whatever. Now, while we were still sailing along amid the ice, there
arose so strong a wind that in a short time the fog broke away,
affording us a view, and suddenly giving us a clear air and fair sun.
Looking around about us, we found that we were shut up in a little lake,
not so much as a league and a half in circuit. On the north we perceived
the island of Cape Breton, nearly four leagues distant, and it seemed to
us that the passage-way to Cape Breton was still closed. We also saw a
small ice bank astern of our vessel, and the ocean beyond that, which
led us to resolve to go beyond the bank, which was divided. This we
succeeded in accomplishing without striking our vessel, putting out to
sea for the night, and passing to the southeast of the ice. Thinking now
that we could double this ice bank, we sailed east-northeast some

fifteen leagues, perceiving only a little piece of ice. At night we hauled
down the sail until the next day, when we perceived another ice bank to
the north of us, extending as far as we could see. We had drifted to
within nearly half a league of it, when we hoisted sail, continuing to
coast along this ice in order to find the end of it. While sailing along,
we sighted on the first day of May a vessel amid the ice, which, as well
as ourselves, had found it difficult to escape from it. We backed our
sails in order to await the former, which came full upon us, since we
were desirous of ascertaining whether it had seen other ice. On its
approach we saw that it was the son [1] of Sieur de Poutrincourt, on his
way to visit his father at the settlement of Port Royal. He had left
France three months before, not without much reluctance, I think, and
still they were nearly a hundred and forty leagues from Port Royal, and
well out of their true course. We told them we had sighted the islands
of Canseau, much to their satisfaction, I think, as they had not as yet
sighted any land, and were steering straight between Cape St. Lawrence
and Cape Raye, in which direction they would not have found Port
Royal, except by going overland. After a brief conference with each
other we separated, each following his own course. The next day we
sighted the islands of St. Pierre, finding no ice. Continuing our course
we sighted on the following day,