THE CLOSE OF CARTIER'S CAREER Great doubt and uncertainty surround the ultimate fate of Roberval's attempted colony, of which Cartier's expedition was to form the advance guard.

Roberval, as already seen, had stayed behind in France when Cartier sailed in 1541, because his equipment was not yet ready for the voyage.

Nor does he seem to have finally started on his expedition for nearly a year after the departure of Cartier.

It has been suggested that Roberval did set sail at some time in the summer of 1541, and that he reached Cape Breton island and built a fort there.

So, at least, a tradition ran that was repeated many years later by Lescarbot in his Histoire de la Nouvelle France.