Jacques Cartier witnesses a treatment for scurvy

Abstract

In 1535, when Jacques Cartier landed in Canada for the second time, he sailed up the Saint-Lawrence, and spent the winter at Stadaconé. His ships were frozen in the ice for five months. A strange disease attacked the indigenous population, and then the French sailors. In a two month period, almost all Cartier's men became sick. Facing such a tragic situation, the explorer carried out an examination on a dead sailor and described what would later be called scurvy. The Indians were able to extract a medicine from a tree called Anneda. This medicine worked quickly and allowed the sailors to leave Canada in May. However, 25 of the 112 sailors had died during that icy winter.