La Grande Hermine

In 1534, Jacques CARTIER, a French navigator born in SAINT MALO (1491-1557), was sent by François 1er of France to search for a passage to Asia in the northern part of the New World.It was aboard GRANDE HERMINE, a vessel specially chartered for this voyage that he reached Newfoundland and CANADA, whose shores had been discovered by CABOT, a Venetian navigator, in 1497, and which he visited three times. He earned the title of “Discoverer of CANADA”. GRANDE HERMINE was a vessel of exploration used for peaceful purposes that carried no armament.