Samuel deChamplain is missing. He has been for almost 400 years. No one seems to know where the legendary explorer is. The whereabouts of such a prominent historical figure should surely be recorded and marked by archeologists and historians. Yet the famous explorer and the father of New France is no where to be found. His remains are lost somewhere in Quebec City, continuing to elude discovery for centuries.

Recently I came across a book from 1876 that describes his tomb being discovered in 1850 but then lost again to history. Intrigued by this mystery, I studied old books, maps and other clues that show the great explorer could be subterraneanly buried in in the basement of a Subway restaurant, or more likely, hidden underneath a nearby city park. But hold the hot peppers, let’s go to Quebec City to see if this could be true.

THE QUEST BEGINS

Samuel Champlain. French navigator, cartographer, draftsman, soldier, geographer, ethnologist, diplomat, and chronicler. He made 20+ trips across the Atlantic and founded New France and Quebec City in 1608. Probably the most important figure in Canadian history yet no one seems to know what happened to him after he died in Quebec City on Christmas Day, 1635. Being the “Father of New France” and having explored hundreds of miles of North America, there are countless places, streets, and structures that bear his name and monuments built to commemorate the famous adventurer. However, no monument exists to mark the location of Champlain’s final resting place. I find this extremely odd, and had no idea he was missing until I went on a  vacation to Quebec City and jokingly asked our tour guide where Mr. Champlain was so I could say hello. The tour guide calmly, but seriously replied, “We have no idea where he is…maybe you can find him.” And so my quest began to find what happened to our most famous and intrepid explorer who seems lost in time.

MAPS

As with all great adventures, gathering many maps can help visualize the subject being studied. They are precious resources that lay out many details at the the time of their creation. Records of 1600s Quebec City are scant at best, but I did manage to find a map of the city drawn in 1640, only five years after Chaplain’s death. This would be a good starting point. Other maps were collected to cross reference information with current Google Maps.

Upon closer examination of the 1640 map there is an intriguing area marked “Chapelle Champlain” beside a cathedral called “Notre-Dame-de-Recouvrance”. This is where, according to records of the time, that Champlain was laid to rest after his death while a separate tomb was being constructed to honour his remains. But that cathedral and the chapel were destroyed by fire later in 1640, and construction began on a new tomb for Champlain. Did they rebuild and place Champlain in the same spot? That is not known, but using the 1640 maps we can superimpose its location on a current Google Map of the area, matching up key locations to properly align and sync the maps.

After alignment and ghosting the map over a current map, the Champlain Chapel, it seems the area in question lies under a street called Buade Street. In fact, there are plaques at the location that recognize Champlain was once there, yet no definitive proof of his remains has ever been found here. On this street there is a Chinese Restaurant, A Subway and souvenir shops.

In a book I found from 1876 called “Quebec Past and Present: A History of Quebec” by J.M. Lemoine, page 119 describes Champlain being moved around after the 1640 fire, so  his final resting place is likely elsewhere.

ANOTHER MAP

A later map, dated 1664, shows the rebuilt church and some curious unlabeled small buildings, of which one of them could be the newer tomb for Champlain. Also labeled is the “Fort Du Sauvages” , a fortified area used by the local indigenous Huron tribe, whom Champlain had been under friendly terms with. It would seem appropriate that the friend to both the settlers and the natives would be laid to rest near his close allies of the time, so those curious little buildings were marked.

Ghosting over that aligned map with a current map, we can again see where that location is. The possible tomb lies on a hill near the Post Office, on a winding street that is as as old as the city itself. There is also a cemetery marked on the map, and it would also seem fitting that Champlain’s Tomb would be located in the only cemetery of the time.

FURTHER RECORDS

In addition to the map evidence pointing to Champlain’s location, there are a few records in old books of where Champlain might be located. The most compelling record I found is an entry called “Champlain’s Tomb” by Dr. J.M. Harper from the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec from 1883.

In this record, Harper explains that in the 1850s workmen were removing an old wall for some waterworks when they dug into a stone chamber. The “vault” as they called it contained a coffin within which were bones, a femur of which the workman who found it said was “very strong”. The workman made sketches of everything, and even made note of an inscription on the side of the vault that said “Samuel de Champlain”. When asked what he did with the bones, the workman responded by saying that “they had been examined and laid away, he knew not where”. The sketches, the bones and the chamber were then never heard from again.

The vault was either buried over, destroyed or both. So Champlain’s final resting place continues to be lost. Perhaps we can locate the records in city archives of this waterworks mentioned. In the meantime, let’s find out where this vault would have been located…

FINDING CHAMPLAIN

Using the maps and descriptions of these locations mentioned in the old records, we can visualize where they are. It seems the one possibility is under Buade Street and the Subway, but that seems unlikely as that was where he was first kept “in waiting” as they built the second, and final burial chamber.  Archeologists digging in this first chapel area did find stone ruins of the “Chapelle Champlain” but that was just a holding chamber, that later was destroyed by fire anyway. It’s the second vault we need to find, the one mentioned by the workers who discovered a tomb inscribed with Champlain’s name in the old original graveyard marked on the maps. This is where Champlain was laid to rest for centuries until 1850 when it seems he was accidentally discovered and subsequently lost again.

Studying the maps and texts where Champlain might be hiding, there is currently a park called the Montmorency Park National Historic Site, once the original 1660s cemetery where Champlain’s Tomb originally stood.

In 1688 the land was owned by Monseigneur de Saint-Vallier, who used the site for the first Episcopal Palace. Between 1693 and 1695, Saint-Vallier built a new palace but the project was ambitious and only half of the building was completed. During the siege of Québec in 1759 the building half destroyed.

In 1831 the old building was sold to the government, whereupon a new building was constructed (this is when the waterworks men uncovered the tomb of Champlain) which later burned, was rebuilt, then burned again in 1883. The cursed lot was cleared out and it then became the park it is today. Yet, no mention at all on any plaques in this park that it was once an old cemetery that could contain the buried tomb of Champlain.

CONCLUSION

If we use the information provided by the old maps, the old records and the 1850 supposed discovery of Champlain’s tomb, it seems that all this time his lost chamber has been hidden underneath a park. The waterworks that are mentioned seemed to still be in place, as manholes and drainage grates show, but who knows when those were installed, and if they are indeed the original 1850s waterworks mentioned.

Perhaps Champlain was so revered and special, he was secretly hidden in a crypt we’ll never find.

It seems a shame that there has been no recent effort to locate the final resting place of one of this country’s greatest explorer’s, mapmakers and founders. His physical remains may be lost forever, but if we looked more closely in this park with GPR (ground penetrating radar) and other modern technology, maybe at least we would be able to finally mark the spot where he did rest, hidden for centuries, quietly overlooking the very city he founded 400 years ago.

Andrew King, February, 2018 

SOURCES

Google Maps

Engraving from Jean-Baptiste Franquelin, 1668

Click to access NS_19_CHAMPLAINS20TOMB.pdf

“Quebec Past and Present: A History of Quebec” by J.M. Lemoine

BING MAPS

Morrin Cultural Centre