DON DE DIEU

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DON DE DIEU

Post by shipstamps » Fri Sep 12, 2008 5:39 pm



The Canadian Post issued at stamp in 2008 of 52c for the “Founding of Québec City 400 years ago.
The following info was given by the Canadian Post on this issue.

The Algoquin called it Kebec, which in their language meant “the place where the river narrows.” Samuel de Champlain saw it as a place full of promise. Today, we know it as the historical walled city of Québec, and the 400th anniversary of its founding will be celebrated with a joint issue between Canada Post and France’s La Poste.

When Champlain and his associates travelled up the St Lawrence River in 1608 after five long years of struggling to survive in Acadia, they were looking for a place to call home closer to their fur trade. They came upon Kebec and, nestled under the bluffs of Cap Diamant, they built a sturdy Habitation, designed to last. The tip of the Cap Diamant promontory was a strategic point that allowed them to keep watch over the St Lawrence and control traffic on the river. The dwelling they built served as a residence, a fort and a storage place for food and furs. Within a year, Amerindians were visiting regularly and trading furs for European goods.
In 1615, the colony also became a staging ground for missionaries. But even Champlain could hardly have imagined that his settlement would be the trade cradle of French civilization in North America and home to the French in Canada for another four hundred years.

By the mid-1800s, the place the Alonquine people called Kebec, had become the third largest maritime city in North America, was a major outlet for lumber and wheat, and was attracting attention as a “masterpiece of art and nature.”

From the vessel used by Samuel Champlain when he founded Québec in 1608 is not much known.
She carried the name of DON DE DIEU (Gift of God)
Her tonnage is given of around 160 tonnes, with a length of 90 feet.

Most probably she is the same vessel as depict on the 2004 Canadian stamp of 49c in the background of this stamp is a sailing vessel depict, to commemorate the 400th Anniversary of the founding of the first French settlement in North America at Acadia at St Croix Island. Located between the border of Canada and America in the state of Maine.

The nobleman Pierre Dugua, Sieur de Mons, commanded an expedition of 5 ships under which the DON DE DIEU as flagship, carrying 120 men.
The expedition set sail from Havre-de-Grâve (now Le Havre) in March 1604. On board was also the explorer and cartographer Samuel de Champlain.
The men landed at the island of St Croix, but after scurvy overtook the men in the winter, nearly half died.
The next summer the settlement on the island was dismantled and they made a new settlement at Port Royal, Nova Scotia.

13 April 1608 DON DE DIEU sailed from Honfleur, France with on board 31 settlers bound for the St Lawrence River. On board also Samuel Champlain.
26 May passed Cape St Mary, New Foundland.
03 June arrived at Tadoussac, Québec, where the Saguenay River meets the St Lawrence River.
Not possible to move freely there, he sailed upstream the St Lawrence, arriving off Cap Diamant on 3 July, landing the same day. This date is remembered as the founding date of Québec City.

What happened thereafter with the DON DE DIEU I could not find.

Source: many web-sites and http://www.canadapost.ca

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