In Northern Mists Volume Ii Part 21

... and John Jay junior, of 80 tons burthen, sailed out of the port of Bristol [to navigate] as far as the island of Brazil ["insulam de Brasylle"] on the west side of Ireland, ploughing the seas by ... and ... Thlyde [Thomas Lyde or Lloyd ?] is the most expert seaman in the whole of England, and on the 18th of September [27th of September N.S.] the news reached Bristol that after having sailed the seas for about 9 months they had not discovered the island, but on account of storms had returned to the port ... in Ireland to allow the s.h.i.+ps and men to rest."

Parts of the MS. being illegible, it does not appear whether John Jay, junior, was one of the leaders of the expedition or (as Harrisse thinks) one of the owners of the s.h.i.+ps, but in any case we must suppose that the Thomas Lyde mentioned above was the actual leader or navigator. The "nine months" ("9 menses") must either be a clerical error for two months or for nine weeks, either of which would fit the dates given, while nine months is meaningless. This must at any rate have been a serious attempt to find lands in the west, twelve years before Columbus's discovery of the West Indies; and this was not the last attempt made from Bristol to find this happy land, for in 1497 Ayala, the Spanish Minister in London, writes:

"For the last seven years the Bristol people have equipped every year two, three, or four caravels to go in search of the islands of Brazil and of the Seven Cities,[281] following the imagination of this Genoese."

[Sidenote: Giovanni Caboto]

"This Genoese" is Giovanni Caboto, or John Cabot, as he was called in England. We find only a few casual statements about this man, who was to give England the right of discovery to a new continent, and who, together with his fellow townsman, Columbus, forms the great turning-point in the history of discovery; for the most part an impenetrable obscurity rests upon his life and activity.[282] As he is often called, e.g., in letters from the contemporary Spanish Amba.s.sadors in London, "this Genoese," or "a Genoese like Columbus," we must suppose that he was born in Genoa; but from existing State doc.u.ments of the republic of Venice it appears that Joanni Caboto obtained his freedom in Venice on March 28, 1476, after having lived there fifteen years, which was the legal period necessary to enable a foreigner to become a citizen of the republic.[283] From the statements of contemporaries we must conclude that John Cabot was a capable seaman and navigator, with a good knowledge of charts and cartography; he also constructed a globe to ill.u.s.trate his voyages. This is no more than was to be expected of a Genoese, trained in the Venetian school, which at that time was the foremost in seamans.h.i.+p. It may, therefore, be regarded as probable that John Cabot was familiar with the leading ideas of the geographical world of his time. Thus, while still living at Venice, he may have heard of the idea of reaching Eastern Asia by sailing to the west, which was put forward, notably by Toscanelli, as early as 1474, and in this way it is possible that, independently of Columbus, he may have thought of accomplis.h.i.+ng this voyage to the fabulous riches of the East by a shorter route than that which the Portuguese sought to the south of Africa. In support of this it may be mentioned that in 1497 he himself told the Minister of Milan in London, Raimondo di Soncino, that

"he had once been at Mecca, whither spices were brought by caravans from distant lands, and that those who brought them, when asked where the said spices grew, answered that they did not know, but that other caravans came to their home with this merchandise from more distant lands, and these [other caravans] again say that it is brought to them from other regions situated far away." Soncino adds that "Cabot reasons thus--that if the eastern people tell those in the south that these things come from places far distant from them, and so on from hand to hand, then, granting the earth to be round, the last people must obtain them in the north-west; and he says it in such a way that, as it does not cost me more than it costs, I too believe it...."[284]

It is not improbable that Cabot may have thought that as, on account of the spherical form of the earth, the circ.u.mference of the lines of lat.i.tude decreases towards the north, the shortest way over the western ocean to the east coast of Asia must lie along the northern lat.i.tudes (cf.

Posidonius, vol. i. p. 79). But we cannot lose sight of the fact that Cabot did not advance this until long after the first voyage of Columbus, and it is, therefore, uncertain whether the idea occurred to him before or after that time. When this journey to Mecca took place we do not know.

Pedro de Ayala, the Spanish Minister in London, says in a letter to Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, in 1498, that Cabot is "another Genoese like Columbus, who has been in Seville and Lisbon, endeavouring to obtain help for this discovery" [i.e., of land in the west]. The question is whether this "who" refers to Columbus or Cabot. The latter appears more likely, as it seems superfluous for the Minister to inform Ferdinand and Isabella that Columbus had been in Seville. But here again we do not learn when Cabot may have made this journey to Spain and Portugal, whether before or after Columbus's voyage in 1492. In any case it may point to his having been occupied for a long time with plans of this sort.

[Sidenote: John Cabot arrives in England, circa 1490 ?]

Nor do we know when John Cabot came to England; but perhaps it was about 1490 that he settled in Bristol. If he really came there with ideas of making for Asia across the western ocean, he certainly found a favourable soil for such plans in the port which had already sent out s.h.i.+ps in 1480 to look for the island of Brazil. But it is also very possible that these plans occurred to him after he had heard of this expedition, and had become familiar at first hand with the ideas of western lands which dominated the minds of the sailors of Western Europe (Englishmen and Portuguese) of that time. With the many fresh arguments he brought with him from Italy and the Mediterranean countries, it cannot have been difficult for him to induce the merchants of Bristol to make fresh attempts to find these countries in the west or north-west; and, to judge from Ayala's letter of 1497 about the expeditions sent out annually for the previous seven years, he seems to have been persistent.

We do not know whether Cabot himself took part in the attempts made after 1490. None of them seems to have met with any success before 1497, for otherwise it would have been mentioned. But it was while the people of Bristol were occupied with such enterprises that Cabot's great fellow-countryman, Columbus, made his remarkable voyage across the ocean farther to the south, in 1492, and found a new world, which he took to be India. With that came the awakening with which the time was pregnant. The news of the achievement, which fired all the adventurers of Europe, must soon have reached Bristol, and put new life and a wider purpose into the old plans.[285] That Cabot now became the soul of these plans is clear enough from all the facts, and we see from existing public doc.u.ments that at the beginning of 1496 he was making special efforts to get an important expedition sent out, and was applying to the King of England for protection and letters patent to a.s.sure to himself and his three sons, Lewis, Sebastian and Sancto, the profit of the discoveries he expected to make on this expedition, which was to consist of five s.h.i.+ps.

[Sidenote: Cabot's letters patent, 1496]

The letters patent were accorded on March 5 (14th N.S.), 1496,[286] and give Cabot and his sons the right under the English flag

"to sail in all parts, regions and bays of the sea, in the east, west and north, with five s.h.i.+ps or vessels of whatever burthen or kind, and with as many men as they wished to take with them, at their own expense, and to find, discover and investigate whatever islands, countries, regions or provinces belonging to heathens or infidels, in whatsoever part of the world they might be, which before that time were unknown to all Christians." They also had the right as va.s.sals or governors of the King of England, to take possession of whatsoever towns, camps or islands they might discover and be in a position to capture and occupy. They were to give the king a fifth part of all merchandise, profits, etc., of this voyage or of each voyage, as often as they came to Bristol, to which port alone they were bound to return. They were exempted from all duty on goods they might bring from newly discovered lands, and were given a monopoly of all trade and traffic with them. Furthermore, all English subjects, both by land and sea, were ordered to afford the said John, his sons, heirs and a.s.signs, good a.s.sistance, "both in fitting-out their s.h.i.+ps or vessels, and in supplying them with provisions which were paid for with their own money."

As the south is not mentioned among the regions which might be explored, and as the new countries might not be known to Christians, it is clear that Cabot is here enjoined not to frequent those waters where the Spaniards and Portuguese had just made their most important discoveries, and thus run the risk of bringing England into conflict with the Spanish or Portuguese Crown.

[Sidenote: Cabot's preparations and plans]

As the letters patent bear the same date (March 5) and are to some extent couched in the same terms as Cabot's pet.i.tion, they must have been granted as the result of previous negotiation and agreement between Cabot and the King, and must therefore contain Cabot's plans for the new voyage, which were thus already formed in March 1496, when he had doubtless made at all events some preparations for the expedition.

That Cabot's plans had been spoken of at the English Court as early as January of that year appears from an existing letter from Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain to the Spanish Amba.s.sador in England, Dr. Ruy Gonzales de Puebla. The letter is dated March 28 (April 6, N.S.), 1496, and is an answer to a letter, now lost, of January 21 (30, N.S.) from the Amba.s.sador. The answer is as follows:

"You write that one like Columbus has come to propose to the King of England another enterprise like that of the Indies, without prejudice to Spain or Portugal. He has full liberty. But we believe that this enterprise was put in the way of the King of England by the King of France in order to divert him from other business. Take care that the King of England be not deceived in this or any other matter. The French will try as much as they can to lead him into such enterprises; but they are very uncertain undertakings, and are not to be commenced for the moment. Moreover they cannot be put into execution without prejudice to us and to the King of Portugal."[287]

It will be understood from this that Cabot's plans had attracted attention in London, and that great importance was attached to them; consequently they must have been discussed for some time before the granting of letters patent. For this reason also, we must suppose that Cabot was prepared for his expedition in March 1496. It seems therefore unlikely that this was the expedition which did not leave until the year following that in which he applied for the letters patent, all the more so as the expedition of 1497 consisted of only one s.h.i.+p.[288] If we may interpret Ayala's words of 1498 literally, that Bristol had sent out s.h.i.+ps yearly for the seven previous years to search for the island of Brazil, etc., then we must suppose that Cabot actually set out in 1496 with the projected expedition of five s.h.i.+ps, but for some reason or other turned back without having accomplished his object. After having been unfortunate in so large an undertaking, Cabot may have found it less easy to enlist support for a fresh attempt in 1497, and was thus obliged to content himself with one small s.h.i.+p and a scanty crew (eighteen men).[289] It may also be supposed that as the earlier expeditions consisting of several s.h.i.+ps had failed to find the land they were looking for, Cabot as a practical seaman wished to make a pioneer expedition with a small swift-sailing craft and a picked crew, before again embarking on a large and costly undertaking. He was more independent, and could sail farther and more rapidly to the west, than when he was tied by having to keep a fleet of several s.h.i.+ps together.

[Sidenote: Sebastian Cabot's partic.i.p.ation in 1497 doubtful]

Cabot's sons, who are mentioned in the letters patent, may have taken part in the voyage of 1496; on the other hand, it is less probable that they were among the eighteen men in 1497.[290] It is true that his son Sebastian claimed to have been present as one of the leaders of the expedition, but he also claimed to have made the voyage alone, so that no weight can be attached to his words. In any case, he must have been very young at that time, and he cannot have played any important part. Nor is a word said about him in a single one of the letters from contemporary foreign amba.s.sadors in London, and in Pasqualigo's letter of August 23, 1497, we are told of John Cabot after his return that "in the meantime [i.e., until his next voyage] he is staying with his Venetian wife and his sons in Bristol." This does not seem to show that any of the sons had been with him; and the protest of the Wardens of the Drapers' Company of London (see later) against Sebastian as a navigator points in the same direction.

Not a line have we from Cabot's own hand either about this important voyage of 1497 or any other. We hear that he made maps of his discoveries; but these too have been lost, like so many other maps that must have been drawn during this period before 1500.[291] We can, therefore, only draw our conclusions from the statements of others, some contemporary and some later.

The most important doc.u.ments giving trustworthy information about John Cabot's voyage in 1497 are the following:

[Sidenote: Most important authorities for the voyage of 1497]

(1) The three letters from his two compatriots in London: one from the Venetian, Lorenzo Pasqualigo, to his two brothers in Venice, dated August 23 (September 1, N.S.), 1497; and two letters from the Milanese Minister, Raimondo di Soncino, to the Duke of Milan, dated August 24 (September 2, N.S.) and December 18 (27), 1497.

(2) An entry in the accounts of the King of England's privy purse, from which we see that Cabot was back in London by August 10 (19, N.S.), 1497.

(3) The map of the world, drawn in 1500, by the well-known Spanish pilot, Juan de la Cosa.

(4) A Bristol chronicle by Maurice Toby, written in 1565, but from older sources.

Besides these may be mentioned a legend on the map of the world of 1544 which, according to what is written on it, was the work of Sebastian Cabot. But even if this be correct, the legend is of no great value, as he cannot be regarded as a trustworthy authority.[292]

[Sidenote: Pasqualigo's letter of Aug. 23, 1497]

Lorenzo Pasqualigo writes on August 23 (September 1, N.S.), 1497, to his two brothers in Venice, amongst other things:

"Our Venetian, who set out with a little s.h.i.+p from Bristol to find new islands, has returned, and says that he has discovered 700 leagues [Italian nautical leagues] away the mainland of the kingdom of the Great Khan ('Gran Cam') [China], and that he sailed 300 leagues along its coast and landed, but saw no people; but he brought here to the King some snares that were set up to catch game, and a needle for making nets, and he found some trees with cuts in them, from which he concluded that there were inhabitants. Being in doubt he returned to the s.h.i.+p,[293] and was three months on the voyage, and this is certain; and on the way back he saw two islands on the right hand, but would not land so as not to lose time, as he was short of provisions.

He says that the tides are sluggish and do not run as here [i.e., in England]. The King has promised him next time ten s.h.i.+ps fitted out according to his desires, and has given him as many prisoners to take with him as he has asked, except those who are in prison for high treason; and he has given him money to enjoy himself with in the meantime, and now he is with his Venetian wife and his sons at Bristol. His name is Zuam Talbot [sic, for Cabot], and he is called the Grand Admiral and great honour is shown him, and he goes dressed in silk and the Englishmen run after him like madmen, but he will have nothing to do with any of them, and so [do] many of our vagabonds. The discoverer of these things has planted on the soil he has found the banner of England and that of St. Mark, as he is a Venetian; so that our flag has been hoisted far away" [cf. Harrisse, 1882, p. 322].

[Sidenote: Soncino's letter of Aug. 24, 1497]

The Minister, Raimondo di Soncino, writes on August 24 (September 2, N.S.), 1497, to the Duke of Milan, amongst other things:

"Some months ago ('sono mesi pa.s.sate') his majesty the King [of England] sent out a Venetian who is a good sailor, and has much ability in finding islands, and he has returned safely and has discovered two very large and fertile islands, and found as it seems the seven cities[294] 400 leagues to the west of the island of England. His majesty the King here will on the first opportunity send him with fifteen or twenty s.h.i.+ps..." [cf. Harrisse, 1882, p. 323].

[Sidenote: Soncino's letter of Dec. 18, 1497]

On December 18 (27), 1497, Soncino again writes to the Duke more fully about Cabot's voyage:

"Perhaps amongst Your Excellency's many occupations it may not be unwelcome to hear how this Majesty has acquired a part of Asia without drawing his sword. In this kingdom is a Venetian called Messer Zoanne Caboto, of gentle bearing, very skilful in navigation, who, seeing that the most serene Kings, first of Portugal and then of Spain, had taken possession of unknown islands, proposed to himself to make a similar acquisition for the said Majesty. After having obtained the royal privilege, which a.s.sured to him the use of the dominions he might discover, while the Crown retained the sovereignty over them, he gave himself into the hands of fortune with a small s.h.i.+p and eighteen men, and sailed from Bristol, a port on the west of this kingdom; and after pa.s.sing Ireland farther west, and then steering to the north, he began to sail towards the eastern regions [i.e., westwards to the lands of the Orient, thus making for the east coast of Asia], leaving (after some days) the pole-star on his right hand; and after a good deal of wandering ('havendo a.s.sai errato') he finally came to the land ('terra ferma'), where he raised the royal banner and took possession of the country for this Highness, and after having taken some tokens [of his discovery] he returned. As the said Messer Zoanne [John] is a foreigner and poor, he would not be believed, if his crew, who are nearly all English and belong to Bristol, had not confirmed the truth of what he said. This Messer Zoanne has the description of the world on a chart, and also on a solid sphere which he has made, showing on it where he has been; and in travelling towards the East he went as far as to the land of the Tanais [i.e., Asia], and they say that the country there is excellent and temperate, and expect that brazil-wood (il brasilio) and silk[295] grow there, and they declare that this sea is full of fish which can be caught not only with the seine, but also with a dip-net [or bow-net ?], to which is fastened a stone to sink it in the water, and this I have heard related by the said Messer Zoanne.

And the said Englishmen, his companions, say that they took so many fish that this kingdom will no longer have any need of Iceland, from which country there is a very great trade in the fish they call stockfish. But Messer Zoanne has set his mind on higher things, and thinks of sailing from the place he has occupied, keeping along the coast farther to the east, until he arrives opposite to an island called c.i.p.ango [i.e., j.a.pan], lying in the equinoctial region, where he thinks that all the spices of the world, as well as jewels, are to be found." Then follows the reference to his visit to Mecca, already cited (p. 296). The letter continues: "And what is more, this Majesty, who is prudent and not prodigal, has such confidence in him on account of what he has accomplished, that he gives him a very good subsidy, as Messer Zoanne himself tells me. And it is said that his Majesty will shortly fit out some s.h.i.+ps for him, and will give him all the criminals to go out to this land and form a colony, so that they hope to establish in London an even greater emporium of spices than that at Alexandria. The princ.i.p.als in this enterprise belong to Bristol; they are great sailors, and now that they know where to go, they say that the voyage thither will not take more than fifteen days, if they have a favourable wind on leaving Ireland. I have also spoken with a Burgundian of Messer Zoanne's company, who confirms all this, and who wishes to return thither, because the Admiral (for this is the t.i.tle they give Messer Zoanne) has given him an island; and he has given another to his barber [surgeon ?] from Castione,[296] a Genoese, and both consider themselves counts, nor do they reckon Monsignor the Admiral for less than a prince. I believe some poor Italian monks who have been promised bishoprics will also go on this voyage. And if I had made friends with the Admiral when he was about to sail, I should at least have got an archbishopric; but I thought the benefits that Your Excellency has reserved for me were more certain..." [cf.

Harrisse, 1882, pp. 324, ff.].

As confirming and to some extent supplementing what is said in these letters, we have various statements in the letters of the two Spanish Amba.s.sadors about the voyage in the following year (see later); they both say that the newly discovered country lay not more than four hundred Spanish leagues distant.

[Sidenote: Toby's chronicle]

In Maurice Toby's Bristol chronicle of 1565, we read of the year 1497:

"This year, on St. John the Baptist's day, the land of America was found by the merchants of Bristowe in a s.h.i.+ppe of Bristowe called the 'Mathew,' the which said s.h.i.+ppe departed from the port of Bristowe the second day of May, and came home again the 6th of August next following."[297]

Of course this chronicle was written long after the voyage took place; but it is extremely probable that it was taken from older sources; for it agrees in every way (both as to the length of the voyage and the time of the return) with the contemporary statements of the Italian Ministers, with whose letters the author of the chronicle cannot possibly have been acquainted. I can, therefore, see no reason why this statement should not be correct. But the most important authorities are the letters referred to.

[Sidenote: Cabot's western course in 1497]

If we compare all this we shall get a fairly complete idea of the voyage of 1497. After sailing round the south of Ireland, probably in the middle of May according to our calendar, Cabot would at first have held a somewhat northerly course. If this is correct, he may have done so for several reasons: unfavourable winds, which in May are prevalent from the south-west; the idea that great-circle sailing would prove the shortest way;[298] fear of encroaching on the waters of the Spaniards and Portuguese to the south; finally, perhaps, an idea that the course to Asia was shorter in northern lat.i.tudes (?). But we cannot tell what reasons decided him, nor whether he steered very far to the north at all; for it must be remembered that in speaking to a foreign Minister he may have had good reason for making his course appear somewhat northerly, lest it might be said that the lands he had arrived at were those discovered by the Spaniards. In any case, it was not long before he made for the west as rapidly as possible towards his goal, and we cannot, therefore, suppose that he went very far north. And it is expressly stated in Soncino's first letter that the lands lay to the west of England, and in the letters of the Spanish Amba.s.sadors in the following year we read that, after having seen the direction taken by Cabot, they thought that the land he had found was that belonging to Spain, or was "at the end of that land." This again does not point to any northerly course.

Many writers have thought that from Soncino's statements about the courses a conclusion might be drawn as to where on the American coast Cabot made the land; but this is impossible. In the first place Soncino's words are anything but definite; besides which, of course, Cabot could not steer in a straight line across the Atlantic, but with the frequent contrary winds of May and June was obliged to shape many courses, and often had to beat; in fact, we are told as much in Soncino's words, "havendo a.s.sai errato."

Every one who has had experience of the navigation of sailing s.h.i.+ps knows how difficult it is under such conditions to make way in the precise direction one wishes, however good one's reckoning may be; currents and lee-way set one far out of the reckoned course, and on a voyage so long as across the Atlantic the lee-way may be considerable. Whether Cabot was able to correct his reckoning by the aid of astronomical observations (with a Jacob's staff or an astrolabe) we do not know, but we hear nothing of lat.i.tudes, so that it is not very probable (cf. also Columbus's gross error in lat.i.tude). Especially during the first part of the voyage currents and prevailing winds may have set Cabot to the north-east; but he may also have encountered, particularly during the latter part of the voyage in June, heavy north-westerly gales which set him still farther to the south, and he may thus have had a southerly lee-way. In addition, as Dawson has so strongly insisted, the error of the compa.s.s must have set him to the south. Whether Cabot was aware of the error, and remarked its variation during the westward voyage, we do not know; it is possible, since we know that Columbus remarked this variation during his first voyage; but in any case, Cabot doubtless paid as little attention to it as Columbus in his navigation. Unfortunately we do not know the amount of the error at that time, but by examining the relation between the true direction of the coast-lines and those we find on the most trustworthy compa.s.s-charts (especially the Cantino chart) of a little later than 1500 (which are drawn in ignorance of the error), I have attempted to reconstruct the distribution of the error in the Atlantic Ocean at that time (cf. chart below); of course, this is purely hypothetical. According to this, during Cabot's voyage westwards the error would have varied from about 6 east at Bristol to about 30 west off the coast of America. If we suppose that he was able to follow a magnetic western course the whole way from the south coast of Ireland, then he must have pa.s.sed quite to the south of Cape Race in Newfoundland. But we are told that he first held somewhat to the north, though we do not know how much, and, on the other hand, his lee-way may have set him at least as far to the south. The a.s.sertion that the course mentioned by Soncino must have brought Cabot to land in Labrador or Newfoundland is thus untenable. Nor does it agree with Soncino's allusion to the country as excellent and temperate, and one where dye-wood and silk might be expected to grow. If this be explained away as due to the usual propensity of discoverers at that time to exhibit the newly found countries in the most favourable light, which is very possible, it is not so easy to explain why we do not hear a word about their having encountered ice on the voyage. If on his western voyage Cabot came to Labrador or the north-east coast of Newfoundland some time in June, it is improbable that he should not have seen icebergs, and it is equally unlikely that the Italian Ministers should not have mentioned this, which to them would be a great curiosity, if they had heard of it; we see, too, that later, in descriptions of Sebastian Cabot's alleged voyage, the ice is mentioned above all else. Even if John Cabot might have kept quiet about the ice, lest it should cool the hopes raised by his narrative, it is not likely that his crew would have done so, if they had met with it. But although other statements of the crew are reported, we do not hear a single word about ice, nor even of icebergs, which are common enough on the Newfoundland Banks at that time of the year, and would be an entirely new experience even to Bristol sailors who were accustomed to the voyage to Iceland. From this we must suppose that in the course of his beating to the west Cabot was set so far to the south of the Newfoundland Banks that he did not encounter icebergs, and that he first made land somewhere farther west.[299]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Hypothetical chart of the variation of the compa.s.s in the Atlantic, circa 1500]