Samuel de Champlain

English: , On March 7th 1604, Samuel de Champlain, map-maker for Henry IV of France, sailed for L'Acadie with its newly appointed Lieutenant-General, Pierre du Gua de Monts. A second ship followed with Pont-Gravé who had explored the St. Lawrence River region of Tadoussac a year earlier (1603) with Champlain. The ships carried some 100 men, either skilled tradesmen or former prisoners, as settlers., In early May the ships reached Nova Scotia. Rounding the southern tip of the peninsula (Cape Sable), Champlain and de Monts continued to look for a suitable settlement site along the southern shore beside la Baie Française (Bay of Fundy). In his book Des Sauvages on these travels, Champlain says they had found a good site in the Annapolis Basin, an area he named Port Royal. The expedition's Lieutenant-General de Monts was not satisfied, so they continued along the northern coastline of the bay., As Champlain's later published book, Des Sauvages, tells us, on June 24, 1604 (Saint's day for John the Baptist) they entered the mouth of a great river. "One of the largest and deepest rivers we had yet seen which we named the river St. John because it was on that day [June 24] we arrived here." The men were not interested in exploring the river further as the reversing falls stopped the sailors and frightened them. Champlain writes, "After rounding a point it narrows again and forms a waterfall between two lofty cliffs where the water runs with such great swiftness that if a piece of wood be thrown in, it sinks and is never seen again.", The expedition continued exploring the coastline. Later that month Sieur de Monts selected a tiny island in the St. Croix River as the first settlement for Acadia. While that settlement was not successful, Champlain's detailed maps, charts and writings of his 1604 explorations along the Atlantic coast to Cape Cod helped guide others along that coast for the next 100 years. The harbour and St. John River were now recorded on European maps. ,