Even then Roberval was not ready to leave.

Cannon, powder, and a varied equipment that had been purchased for the voyage were still lying at various points in Normandy and Champagne.

Cartier, anxious to follow the king's wishes, could wait no longer and, at length, he set out with his five ships, leaving Roberval to prepare other ships at Honfleur and follow as he might.

From first to last the relations of Cartier and Roberval appear to need further explanation than that which we possess.

Roberval was evidently the nominal head of the enterprise and the feudal lord of the countries to be claimed, but Cartier seems to have been restless under any attempt to dictate the actual plan to be adopted, and his final desertion of Roberval may be ascribed to the position in which he was placed by the divided command of the expedition.
The expedition left St Malo on May 23, 1541, bearing in the ships food and victuals for two years.