Unfortunately, Verrazano did not write a detailed account
of that part of his voyage which related to Canadian
waters. But there is no doubt that his glowing descriptions
must have done much to stimulate the French to further
effort. Unhappily, at the moment of his return, his royal
master was deeply engaged in a disastrous invasion of
Italy, where he shortly met the crushing defeat at Pavia
(1525) which left him a captive in the hands of his
Spanish rival. His absence crippled French enterprise,
and Verrazano's explorations were not followed up till
a change of fortune enabled Francis to send out the famous
expedition of Jacques Cartier.
One other expedition to Canada deserves brief mention
before we come to Cartier's crowning discovery of the St
Lawrence river. This is the voyage of Stephen Gomez, who
was sent out in the year 1524. by Charles V, the rival
of Francis I. He spent about ten months on the voyage,
following much the same course as Verrazano, but examining
with far greater care the coast of Nova Scotia and the
territory about the opening of the Gulf of St Lawrence.
His course can be traced from the Penobscot river in
Maine to the island of Cape Breton.
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