In Northern Mists Volume Ii Part 23

"I believe Your Highnesses have heard how the King of England has fitted out a fleet to discover certain islands and mainland that certain persons, who sailed out of Bristol last year, have a.s.sured him they have found. I have seen the chart that the discoverer has drawn, who is another Genoese like Columbus, who has been in Seville and Lisbon to try to find some one to help him in this enterprise. The people of Bristol have sent out yearly for the last seven years a fleet of two, three or four caravels to search for the island of Brasil and the Seven Cities, following the fancy of this Genoese. The King has determined to send out an expedition because he is certain that they found land last year. One of the s.h.i.+ps, on which a certain Fray Buil sailed, recently came into port in Ireland with great difficulty, the s.h.i.+p being wrecked.

"The Genoese continued his voyage. After having seen the course he has taken and the length of the route, I find that the land they have found or are looking for is that which Your Highnesses possess, because it is at the end of that which belongs to Your Highnesses according to the convention with Portugal. It is hoped that they will return in September. I will let Your Highnesses know of it. The King of England has spoken to me at various times about it; he hopes[318]

to derive great advantage from it. I believe the distance is not more than 400 leagues. I told him I believed the lands that had been found belonged to Your Highnesses, and I have given him a reason for it, but he would not hear of it. As I believe Your Highnesses are now acquainted with everything, as well as with the chart or mapa mundi that he [i.e., this Genoese] has drawn, I do not send it yet, though I have it here, and it seems to me very false to give out that it is not the islands in question."

[Sidenote: Cottonian Chronicle]

According to the Cottonian Chronicle, the King

"at the besy request and supplicacion of a Straunger venisian [i.e., John Cabot], ... caused to manne a s.h.i.+p ... for to seche an Iland wheryn the said Straunger surmysed to be grete commodities,"[319] and it was accompanied by three or four other s.h.i.+ps of Bristol, "the said Straunger" [i.e., Cabot] being leader of this "Flete, wheryn dyuers merchauntes as well of London as Bristowe aventured goodes and sleight merchaundises, which departed from the West c.u.n.trey in the begynnyng of Somer, but to this present moneth came nevir Knowlege of their exployt."[320]

[Sidenote: Fabyan's account]

Hakluyt, in "Divers Voyages" (1582) [cf. Hakluyt, 1850, p. 23], has a rather fuller version of this account, quoted from Robert Fabyan, where we read that the s.h.i.+ps from Bristol were

"fraught with sleight and grosse merchandizes as course cloth, Caps, laces, points, and other trifles, and so departed from Bristowe in the beginning of May: of whom in this Maior's time returned no tidings."[321]

"This Mayor" would be William Purchas, who was Lord Mayor of London until October 28 (November 6, N.S.), 1498. Thus, if this is correct, the expedition had not yet returned in the late autumn.

[Sidenote: John Cabot probably never returned from the voyage of 1498]

The information contained in Ayala's letter, that one of Cabot's s.h.i.+ps had put in to Ireland, is the last certain intelligence we have of this expedition, which was looked forward to with such great hopes. John Cabot now disappears completely and unaccountably from history, and his discovery, which the year before had attracted so much attention, seems to have been more or less forgotten in the succeeding years, and is never referred to in the later letters of the Spanish Amba.s.sadors in London. It may, therefore, seem reasonable to suppose that the expedition disappeared without leaving a trace. The probability of this is confirmed by the fact that two years and a half later, in March 1501, Henry VII. again granted letters patent, for the discovery of lands, to three merchants of Bristol and three Portuguese, without mentioning Cabot; it is merely stated that all former privileges of a similar kind were cancelled. But according to some old account books from Bristol, found at Westminster Abbey, John Cabot's royal pension of 20 a year was paid as late as the administrative year beginning September 29, 1498. This, as Harrisse and others think, shows that Cabot returned from the voyage and was still alive in that year. But this seems to be uncertain evidence. The money need not have been paid to him personally; it may have been paid to his wife or his sons or other representatives during his absence on the voyage, and we cannot conclude anything certain from it. As the pension is not entered in the following years, it seems rather to show that Cabot was really lost, and the money was only paid during the first year of his absence.

It has been supposed that the following is another proof of the partic.i.p.ators in the voyage of 1498 having returned: the accounts of Henry VII.'s privy purse for 1498 show that on March 22 and April 1 the King advanced money (sums of 20, 3, and 40s. 5d., in all about 650 in the money of the present day) to Launcelot Thirkill (who seems to have had a s.h.i.+p of his own), Thomas Bradley and John Carter, who were all going to "the new Isle." Probably these men may have fitted out their own s.h.i.+ps to accompany Cabot's expedition; but we do not know whether they sailed. This is probably the same Launcelot Thirkill who, according to an old doc.u.ment, was in London on June 6, 1501, when he and three others whose names are given (perhaps his sureties) were "bounden in ij obligations to pay" 20 to the King before next Whitsuntide. Possibly it was this loan received from the King for the voyage, which he then had to repay. If he really started, it may be supposed that his s.h.i.+p was the one that put back to Ireland; and this doc.u.ment is therefore no certain proof of any of the other four s.h.i.+ps having ever returned. For that matter they may all have been lost in the same gale. But in the year 1501 the s.h.i.+p that returned from Gaspar Corte-Real's expedition is reported to have brought back to Lisbon a broken gilt sword of Italian workmans.h.i.+p from the east coast of North America; and it is also stated that two Venetian silver rings had been seen on a native boy from that country. It has been a.s.sumed that these objects may have belonged to some of the partic.i.p.ators in John Cabot's expedition of 1498, which in that case must have reached America, and there met with some disaster.

It is difficult to say more of this voyage. That John Cabot should have returned after having reached America, and after having sailed a greater or less distance along the coast without finding the riches he was in search of, appears to me unlikely. Such an a.s.sumption would provide no explanation of the complete silence about him. As the foreign Ministers had followed this expedition with so much attention, we might surely expect them to say something about its having disappointed the great expectations that were formed of it; and in any case it was unlikely that the whole should be buried in complete silence, which, on the other hand, is easily comprehensible if nothing more was heard of the expedition, since it may all have been forgotten for other things which claimed attention. Thus the story of Giovanni Caboto, the discoverer of the North American continent, ends, as it began, in obscurity. He was too early with his discovery. England had not yet developed her trade and navigation sufficiently to be able to follow it up and avail herself of it; this was not to come until about eighty years later.

[Sidenote: Sebastian Cabot's voyages doubtful]

But John Cabot's discovery was not altogether unheeded in the years that followed; it was considered of sufficient importance for his son, Sebastian Cabot, by appropriating the honour of it, to acquire much fame and reputation in his day as a great discoverer and geographer. But whether he ever made discoveries on the east coast of North America is very doubtful; indeed, it is not even certain that he ever undertook a voyage to these regions. There can be no doubt that he himself a.s.serted he had done so repeatedly and to different men, though his various utterances, so far as we know them, agree imperfectly. We see, too, that as early as 1512 he had the reputation of being acquainted with north-western waters, since he obtained an appointment in the service of King Ferdinand of Aragon on account of the remarkable knowledge he claimed to possess of "la navigacion a los Bacallaos" (the voyage to Newfoundland) [cf. Harrisse, 1892, p. 20]. But Sebastian Cabot seems, on the whole, to have been one of those men who are more efficient in words than deeds. It was the habit of the time to be not too scrupulous about the truth, if one had any advantage to gain from the contrary, and Sebastian was evidently no better than his age. If his utterances are correctly reported, he endeavoured, when his father had long been dead and forgotten, to claim for himself the honour of his voyages, in which he succeeded so well that for many centuries he, and not his father, was regarded as the discoverer of the continent of America. In the legend on the map of the world of 1544, it is true, he was modest enough to share the honour with his father, and this legend is at the same time the only evidence which might point to Sebastian as having been present on that occasion; but, as we have already seen, no great importance can be attached to it, and it is not confirmed by contemporary statements about the voyage. His a.s.sertion that he had been in north-western waters is in direct conflict with statements in the protest made on March 11, 1521, by the Wardens of the Drapers' Company of London against King Henry VIII.'s attempt to obtain contributions towards an expedition to "the newe found Iland" (the coast of North America) in 1521 under the command of Sebastian Cabot. The protest says:

"... And we thynk it were to sore avent? to joperd V s.h.i.+pps w? men and goods vnto the said Iland vppon the singuler trust of one man callyd as we vnderstond Sebastyan, whiche Sebastyan as we here say was neu?

in that land hym self, all if he maks reports of many things as he hath hard his Father and other men speke in tymes past," etc.

This statement is clear enough, and, coming as it does from men who were acquainted with his father's services, it cannot be disregarded. It is also confirmed by a remarkable statement in Peter Martyr's narrative (in 1515) of an alleged voyage of Sebastian Cabot (see later), which concludes:

"Some of the Spaniards deny that Cabot [i.e., Sebastian] was the first discoverer of the land of Bacallaos, and a.s.sert that he had not sailed so far to the west."

This might point to his really having made a voyage, but, in the opinion of the Spaniards, never having reached the coast of North America.

[Sidenote: Beginning of the Newfoundland fishery]

The immediate consequence of John Cabot's discovery of the continent of North America was probably that the practical merchants of Bristol, who were accustomed to fis.h.i.+ng ventures in Iceland, at once sent out vessels to take advantage of the great abundance of fish that John Cabot had found in 1497 and that had evidently made so deep an impression on his crew that they told every one about it. But the English fishermen were soon followed, and, indeed, outstripped, by Portuguese, Basque and French (chiefly Breton) fishermen, and thus arose the famous Newfoundland fisheries. The cause of the fishermen of Portugal and other countries having followed so soon was doubtless the discovery of Newfoundland by the Portuguese Corte-Real on his voyages of 1500 and 1501 (see next chapter).

But of the development of this fishery we hear little or nothing in literature; just as in the Icelandic literature of earlier times these fis.h.i.+ng expeditions of ordinary seamen are pa.s.sed over; in the first place, they were not "notable" travellers, and in the second, men of that cla.s.s in all ages have preferred to avoid advertising their discoveries for fear of compet.i.tion.

[Sidenote: Expeditions from Bristol in 1501 and following years]

From various doc.u.ments and statements we may conclude that fresh expeditions were sent out from Bristol in 1501 and the following years; but these were Anglo-Portuguese undertakings and may have been occasioned, at any rate in part, by the discoveries of the Portuguese, although, of course, the knowledge of Cabot's voyage may have had some significance.[322]

On March 19 (28), 1501, Henry VII. issued letters patent to Richard Warde, Thomas Ashehurst and John Thomas, merchants of Bristol, who were in partners.h.i.+p in the enterprise with three Portuguese from the Azores, John and Francis Fernandus [i.e., Joo and Francisco Fernandez] and John Gunsolus [Joo Gonzales ?].[323] They were given the right for ten years "to explore all Islands, Countries, Regions, and Provinces whatever, in the Eastern, Western, Southern, and Northern Seas, heretofore unknown to Christians," and all former privileges of this kind, granted to "any foreigner or foreigners," were expressly cancelled. This last provision must refer to the letters patent granted to Cabot in 1496 and 1498.

[Sidenote: Expedition in 1502]

That this new expedition from Bristol really took place and returned before January 1502, seems to result from the accounts of Henry VII.'s privy purse, where on January 7, 1502, there is an entry: "To men of Bristoll that found Thisle 5."[324] In 1502 there was possibly a new expedition, as in the same accounts there is an entry of September [24], 1502: "To the merchants of Bristoll that have bene in the Newfounde Lande, 20."[324] According to a doc.u.ment of December 6, 1503, Henry VII. further granted on September 26, 1502, to the two Portuguese, ffranceys ffernandus [Francisco Fernandez] and John Guidisalvus [Gonzales ?] a yearly pension of ten pounds each, for the service they had done to the King's "singler pleasur as capitaignes unto the new founde lande."

Hakluyt states (1582) in "Divers Voyages" [1850, p. 23], after Robert Fabyan's Chronicle, that in the seventeenth year of the reign of Henry VII. [i.e., August 22, 1501, to August 21, 1502][325]

"were brought unto the king three men, taken in the new founde Iland, that before I [i.e., Fabyan ?] spake of in William Purchas time, being Maior.[326] These were clothed in beastes skinnes, and ate rawe fleshe, and spake such speech that no man coulde understand them, and in their demeanour like to bruite beastes, whom the king kept a time after. Of the which vpon two yeeres past after I [i.e., Fabyan] saw two apparelled after the maner of Englishmen, in Westminster pallace, which at that time I coulde not discerne from Englishemen, till I was learned what they were. But as for speech, I heard none of them vtter one worde."[327]

These natives must have been brought back from the expedition of 1501 or from that of 1502 (if the latter returned before August 21 ?). They were most likely Eskimo, since Indians with their darker skin could scarcely have looked like Englishmen. It might even be supposed that they came from Greenland, and were descendants of the Nors.e.m.e.n there, in which case their resemblance to Englishmen is most naturally explained.

[Ill.u.s.tration: North-western portion of Robert Thorne's map, of 1527 (copy of a Spanish map of the world)]

[Sidenote: English voyage in 1503]

On December 9 (18), 1502, Henry VII. again granted letters patent to Thomas Ashehurst, Joam Gonzales, Francisco Fernandes and Hugh Elliott for a voyage of discovery to parts not hitherto found by English subjects.

That this projected expedition took place in 1503 is possibly shown by an entry in the accounts of the King's privy purse: "1503, Nov. 17. To one that brought hawkes from the Newfounded Island. 1.L." [cf. Harrisse, 1882, p. 270].

It seems that it must be the same voyage to the north-west that is mentioned by Robert Thorne of Bristol in his letter of 1527 to Henry VIII.'s Amba.s.sador in Spain. Thorne was then living in Seville, and was interested in Indian enterprises. He tries to induce Henry VIII. to send an expedition to the Indies by way of the Polar Sea, and sends with his project a rough copy he has had made of a Spanish mappamundi. He says that he has inherited the "inclination or desire of this discoverie" from his

"father, which with another marchant of Bristow named Hugh Eliot, were the discoverers of the New found lands, of the which there is no doubt, (as nowe plainely appeareth) if the mariners would then have bene ruled, and followed their Pilots minde, the lands of the West Indies (from whence all the gold commeth) had bene ours. For all is one coast, as by the Carde appeareth, and is aforesayd."

On the map the northern east coast of America extends uninterruptedly to the north (see the reproduction), and upon it is written: "the new land called laboratorum," and along the coast there is: "the land that was first discovered by the English." It might appear as though it was really the present Labrador that was then discovered; but this is hardly the case; what we see on the map is probably Greenland,[328] which is here moved over to America as on other Spanish maps, and the east coast of which is given a northerly direction as on Ruysch's map of 1508.

It is possible that another expedition set out in 1504; for in the accounts of the King's privy purse we find an entry on April 8, 1504, of 2 "to a preste that goeth to the new Islande." We see thus that there is a probability of many expeditions having left England for the west and north-west at this time, and that thus Greenland, Newfoundland, and doubtless also Labrador had been reached by the English; and this would explain their being recorded on Spanish maps as discoverers of the northern part of the east coast of America. But we have no further information about these voyages.

Just as we have seen that the note on Robert Thorne's map of 1527 (that the English had discovered the northern part of the east coast of America) must probably refer to the expedition of 1501 or to one in the following year, so it is doubtless discoveries of the same voyages that are alluded to on Maggiolo's compa.s.s-chart of 1511 (see reproduction, p. 359), where a peninsula to the north of Labrador is marked as "Terra de los Ingres" [the land of the English]. On later maps, such as Verrazano's of 1529, Ribero's of 1529 (see reproduction, p. 357), the Wolfenb.u.t.tel map of 1530, and others, Labrador is marked as having been discovered by the English, sometimes, indeed, with the addition that they came from Bristol. As already mentioned, no hint is to be found in trustworthy doc.u.ments of Sebastian Cabot's having taken part in these expeditions or having been in any way connected with them, and there is therefore no ground for a.s.suming this. And the remarkable thing is that even his father's name is not mentioned in connection with them, though it was so few years since he had sailed from the same port.

[Sidenote: Accounts of a voyage of Sebastian Cabot in 1508-1509]

We find, however, in various works of the sixteenth century records of voyages to northern or north-western waters, supposed to have been made by Sebastian Cabot; which may be due, directly or indirectly, to himself.

Formerly there was a tendency to connect these statements with John Cabot's voyages of 1497 and 1498 [cf. Harrisse], but this a.s.sumption seems to have little probability. G. P. Wins.h.i.+p [1899, pp. 204, ff.], on the other hand, has pointed out with good reason that according to Sebastian Cabot's own words the voyage was undertaken by himself in the years 1508-9; but even this appears to me uncertain; in any case I doubt that he reached America.

We hear of a voyage to the north-west said to have been undertaken by Sebastian Cabot from Peter Martyr (in his Decades, 1516), from the Venetian Minister to Spain, Contarini, especially in a report to the Venetian Senate in 1536, from Ramusio (1550-1554 and 1556), from Gomara (1553), and from Antonio Galvano (1563).[329]

We may expect the most trustworthy of these authorities to be Peter Martyr, who was the oldest, and who knew Sebastian Cabot personally; but certain main features of the voyage are to some extent common to all the accounts. If we compare these, the voyage is said to have taken place somewhat in the following manner: the expedition, consisting of two s.h.i.+ps with three hundred men,[330] was according to Peter Martyr fitted out at Sebastian's own cost, but according to Ramusio it was sent out by the King. They sailed so far to the north (according to Gomara, even in the direction of Iceland) that in the month of July they found enormous ma.s.ses of ice floating on the sea; daylight was almost continuous, and the land was in places free of ice which had melted away. According to the various accounts Cabot is said to have reached 55, 56, 58, or 60.[331]

According to Galvano they first "sighted land in 45 N. lat. and then sailed straight to the north until they came to 60 N. lat., where the day is eighteen hours long [sic], and the night is very clear and light. There they found the air cold and great islands of ice [icebergs ?] but no bottom with soundings of seventy, eighty, or one hundred fathoms,[332] but they found much ice which terrified them."

When, according to Peter Martyr, their hopes of making their way to the west in these northern lat.i.tudes were thus annihilated by the ice, they sailed back to the south and south-west along the North American coast, as far as the lat.i.tude of Gibraltar, 36 (according to Peter Martyr), or to 38 (according to Gomara and Galvano), while according to Ramusio's anonymous informant they sailed as far as Florida.[333] From thence the expedition returned to England.

With regard to the date of this voyage, we are told in the continuation of Peter Martyr's Decades [Dec. vii], written in 1524 (published 1530), that "Bacchalaos [i.e., Newfoundland, or the northern east coast of America]

was discovered from England by Cabot sixteen years ago." According to this the voyage took place in 1508. In Contarini's report of 1536 [cf.

Wins.h.i.+p, 1900, p. 36] it is said of Sebastian Cabot's voyage that on his return he "found the King dead, and his son cared little for such an enterprise." As Henry VII. died on April 21, 1509, it would be during the autumn of that year that Cabot returned; but then he must have sailed before April, which is unlikely, at any rate if it is a question of a voyage up into the ice to the north or north-west, such as is described.

That he should have sailed in the previous year and not returned until after the King's death is still more improbable.

These accounts contain so many improbabilities, and to some extent impossibilities, that it is on the whole extremely doubtful whether Sebastian Cabot ever made such a voyage to the north-west. That he did so is contradicted in the first place by the already quoted protest against Sebastian of the Wardens of the Drapers' Company, which was issued in the name of the various Livery Companies of London, and which is of great significance, as it was written so soon after the events are supposed to have taken place that they must have been in the memory of most people; and it must have been easy for the King to inquire into the justification of the protest (cf. above, p. 330).