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THE VOYAGE OF JOHN CABOT, 1497.
1490, had migrated from Italy to England .* The said Caboto may have been among the first, "in whose hearts the fame and report of the successful undertaking of the Genoese Columbus increased a great flame of desire to undertake some- thing alike notable." The Venetians and Genoese, from time immemorial, had been rivals; and a Genoese success would always create a Venetian jealousy; as, in the same manner at a later time, a French undertaking was always followed or accompanied by a similar English enterprise.
Among the three sons of John Cabot, the most prominent and talented was Sebastian, the second in age. From his early childhood this young man, like Columbus, had paid attention to the study of geography and navigation ; and had, at an early age, already acquired "some knowledge of the sphere. He understood, by reason of the sphere, that if one should sail by way of the north-west, he would by a shorter track come to India, than that by which Columbus had sailed." ¡ In short, Sebastian Cabot had a pretty good idea of the usefulness of what we, at present, call great circle- sailing. His father, John Cabot, had probably the same idea ; nay, in this respect he may have been the instructor of his son. Probably both father and son, each talented and well instructed, worked out together their plan for a north- west passage, and for a route from England in the most direct line to " Kathay" and the oriental world.
The section of the great circle, or the most direct line from
* If it is true, as Eden says, that Sebastian Cabot, according to his own statement, was born in Bristol, his father must have been settled there before the year 1477, the probable time of his son's birth. [But Contarini, the Venetian ambassador at the Court of Charles V., says, that Sebastian Cabot told him that he was born in Venice; which other circumstances confirm .- ED.]
t This he is reported to have stated himself in the conversation men- tioned in Ramusio, I. c.
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England to China and Japan, the countries for which the Cabots planned their expedition,* would pass to the north of Norway, along the northern shore of Siberia, and through Behring's Strait into the Pacific Ocean. And so it appears, that the Cabots, if they had " understood the sphere " quite right, ought to have planned an expedition for a north-east, instead of a north-west passage, as they actually did. But. we must here bear in mind, that the Cabots, like all their contemporaries, believed Asia to stretch much further toward the east than it really does. Even if they did not agree with Columbus in the belief, that " Española" (St. Domingo) was Japan, which may be doubted; still they must have hoped, that they might hit upon Kathay, at least not very far from the longitude of the islands discovered by Columbus, where Martin Behaim, on his globe, and probably also Bartholomew Columbus on his "map of the world, presented to King Henry," had laid them down, in about a central line of what we now call the Pacific Ocean. And to this region " a great circle," or the shortest route, conducts from England a little to the west of the North Pole ; and a voyage to Ice- land, and further in that direction, would not fall far out of their way. It was not until a long time after, about the middle of the sixteenth century, when it had been generally recognized and acknowledged, that China and the east of Asia lay much further south-west, that Sebastian Cabot pro- posed and tried a north-eastern passage, very reasonably thinking, that Kathay might be much sooner reached by the Siberian route.
If the Cabots, through their Icelandic connections, had heard any thing of countries lying to the south-west of Iceland, this may have attracted them still more to the north-
* That, from the beginning of their expedition, they had Kathay (North- ern China) in view, is said by Sebastian Cabot himself in Ramusio, 1. c.
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THE VOYAGE OF JOHN CABOT, 1497.
west. For, either they must have believed that these coun- tries, once known to the Northmen, were already a part of the Indies and Kathay ; or, at least, that being islands, they might serve as intermediate stations on the route to those countries, according to the views which had induced Toscanelli to point out to Columbus the islands of " Antilia," "St. Bran- dan," and others, and to recommend them to him as stations for reposing and refitting on his long voyage to the Indies.
Before laying their scheme of a north-western voyage to Kathay before Henry VII., the Cabots appear to have induced their Bristol friends to make some preliminary voy- ages to the west, or some attempts to find out new countries in that direction. "The people of Bristol have for the last seven years," says Don Pedro de Ayala, a Spanish envoy in England, in a letter to his sovereigns, Ferdinand and Isa- bella, dated July 25, 1498, "sent out every year two, three, or four light ships (caravelas) in search of the islands of Brazil and the Seven Cities, according to the fancy of that Italian (John Cabot)."" The " seven years," literally taken, would carry us back beyond the time of the first voyage of Columbus in 1492. But the Spanish envoy probably did not intend to fix his date very accurately, and we may, therefore, suppose, that he only meant to say "a number of years ago." The islands of the Seven Cities and of Brazil were probably depicted on the map which Bartholomew Columbus presented to Henry in 1488, in the same manner that they had been before on the map of Toscanelli, and afterwards on the map of Behaim. They may, therefore, after 1488, have been a sub- ject of conversation in England ; and it is not improbable,
* See this recently discovered letter, deciphered and translated by G. A. Bergenroth, printed in his Calendar of Spanish State Papers, vol. 1, p. 177, and copied in the Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, Oct. 21, 1865, p. 25. Cambridge, 1866.
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that John Cabot may have induced the Bristol men to make a search after them ; as the Portuguese, after having heard the views of Columbus, made an unsuccessful search in a west- ern direction.
Some learned geographers have even thought, that the Cabots themselves made such a preliminary voyage to the new world as early as in the year 1494; and that, on this voy- age, and not as is usually supposed on that of 1497, they first discovered the shores of the North American continent. They were induced to think so, principally, by a certain map of the world, which has been ascribed to Sebastian Cabot ; which has been recently found in Germany ; and which gives the above-mentioned year as the date of the great discovery.
This map of the world, according to an inscription con- tained on it, was engraved in the year 1544. It is a compila- tion of all the discoveries made up to that year, and of the then current geography of the entire world. It contains very few hints on the original discoveries of the Cabots. I shall treat of this map and examine it, after having spoken of the subsequent discoveries in the first half of the sixteenth cen- tury. I will then state the reasons why I do not think very highly of this document, and bring forward all my doubts about this so-called discovery of the continent of America, in the year 1494 .* I will only state now that I have not been able to convince myself of the reality of such a voyage, and that I omit it altogether.
It was in the year 1495, that the Cabots laid their great scheme of a north-western expedition to Kathay before King Henry, who readily gave his assent to their plan, and, in their favor, issued a patent and commission dated March 5, 1496.
This patent gave permission to John Cabot and his three
* See Appendage 4 to Chapter LX. of this volume.
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THE VOYAGE OF JOHN CABOT, 1497.
sons, Lewis, Sebastian, and Sancius, to sail with five ships, "under the royal banners and ensigns to all parts, countries, and seas of the east, of the west, and of the north, and to seek out and discover whatsoever isles, countries, regions, and provinces, in what part of the world soever they might be, which before this time had been unknown to Christians." The king gave them further license "to set up the royal banners and ensigns in the countries, places, or mainland newly found by them, and to conquer, occupy, and possess them, as his vassals and lieutenants."*
This patent, of the contents of which we give here only what may be called the naval instructions with respect to the route and aim of the voyage, is drawn in the most vague and general terms. We find in it no allusion whatever to Kathay or a north-west passage. Of all the regions of the world to which the voyage might be directed, the south only is excluded ; probably because it was considered as belonging already to Spain and Portugal, and therefore closed by them to English discoverers. The north, west, and east are mentioned. That the north and west were particularly intended, we learn from the statements of Sebastian Cabot himself, that a voyage to Kathay by a northern route, was his and his father's, and probably also the king's intention.
According to this patent, the patentees liad to arm and fur- nish their vessels, to buy victuals, and to provide all other things necessary for the expedition at their own cost. Henry granted them nothing but his royal authority and protection, and a passport to foreign powers.
This was probably the reason that they were not able to make use of the royal permission of March, 1496, until the
* See this patent in Hakluyt's Divers Voyages, edited by the Hack- luyt Society, p. 19. London, 1860. [It is in Latin, and is also copied by Hazard, "Historical Collections," vol. 1, p. 9 .- ED.]
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year 1497. To raise the necessary funds, to fit out their ves- sels, to procure the goods which would be suitable for the market in Kathay, with which country they hoped to com- mence a profitable traffic, detained them for more than a year.
At last they sailed from Bristol in the spring of 1497. And as all the best authorities on this voyage say that they were only a little more than three months absent, and make them return in the beginning of August, their departure must have taken place in the early part of May.
It is said by some authorities, that at the outset they had four vessels, and that one of them was called the "Matthew," being the Admiral's ship, having the commander on board. How many of these ships accompanied the expedition to the end, is not clear ; at any rate, the " Matthew " was the vessel which first touched our American shores, and the only one, as far as is known, which returned in safety to Bristol.
There can be no doubt that the commander of the expedi- tion was John Cabot, the father ; and that, consequently, to him is due the discovery of the continent of North America effected on this voyage. In the grant from the king above quoted, John Cabot is the principal patentee ; the sons are mentioned only collectively, and as subordinate companions of the father. Another patent was granted by the king in the year following the voyage of 1497, and is exclusively directed to John Cabot. It asserts quite clearly, " that he, by the commandment of the king, had found the new-discov- ered lands." Notwithstanding this direct evidence, a modern writer, Mr. Biddle (in a work very ingenious, but somewhat too subtle and acute, where he makes the son Sebastian his favorite and hero), for certain reasons has tried to render it doubtful, whether John Cabot commanded this expedition, or even accompanied it. In this he has followed the authority of some early writers, and has given the command, with the.
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THE VOYAGE OF JOHN CABOT, 1497.
whole success and honor of the undertaking, to the young son, Sebastian .* That John Cabot had come to England " to follow the trade of merchandise," can be no decisive objec- tion against his venturing to conduct a naval expedition in person, and of course with the assistance of expert pilots and mariners. We know very little of John Cabot's former life. He may have been a merchant, and yet an expert navi- gator. At all times, particularly in that of the Cabots, both occupations were followed by the same individuals. Before the sixteenth century, it was usual for merchants to accom- pany or conduct their own commercial expeditions. Amerigo Vespucci was a clerk in a mercantile house, and also a great traveler, and a cosmographer and astronomer. In Spain and Portugal, merchants, licentiates, graduates of the Universi- ties, and doctors, became not only sailors and discoverers, but also military and naval commanders and conquerors.
Sebastian Cabot, the son, whom this author has endeavored to substitute in the place of the father, was, at the beginning of the year 1497, when the expedition sailed, perhaps only nineteen, or at most, twenty years old, having been born, according to Humboldt, in the year 1477 .; At this period of his life he may have been an "enthusiastic geographer," but certainly he cannot have been an experienced and "accom- plished "# navigator, fit for the command of a fleet. There is probably no case on record, of a young man of nineteen or twenty years having been put at once at the head of an im- portant expedition of discovery to unknown and far distant regions, particularly by a king like Henry VII, who was no enthusiast, and who is described as having been "of a wary, cautious, most circumspective, and quiete disposition."
* See Biddle's Memoir of Sebastian Cabot, p. 42 seq. London, 1832.
t See Humboldt, Kritische Untersuchungen, vol. 2, p. 445.
# So he is called at this period of his life by Biddle, 1. c. p. 51.
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THE VOYAGE OF JOHN CABOT, 1497.
That in later times, several Spanish and other authors should sometimes have overlooked the father, John, and that all merit should have been given to the son, Sebastian, is easily accounted for. The father disappeared-probably died-soon after his return from this expedition. But the son lived for more than sixty years afterwards, became a celebrated navigator and cosmographer, and altogether an important person, employed in the service of the kings of England and Spain. His fame in this manner eclipsed that of his father, and the results and merits of the whole expedi- tion were, by several old historians, attributed wholly to him, whilst the father, John, was forgotten, particularly in Spain, where he never had been present .*
* [The following extract from the Sforza archives of Milan, under date of 1487, confirms Dr. Kohl's view on this subject. "News received this morning from England by letters dated the 24th of August." .. . "Also some months ago, his Majesty sent out a Venetian, who is a very good mariner (John Cabot), and has good skill in discovering new islands, and he has returned safe, and has found two very large and fertile new islands; having, likewise, discovered the Seven Cities, four hundred leagues from England, on the western passage."
The letter of Pasqualigo, found in the archives of Venice, dated August 23, 1497, also furnishes direct evidence of this fact; after speaking of his return from the great discovery, he says: " The king has given him money wherewith to amuse himself till then" (the next spring), "and he is now at Bristol with his wife, who is also Venetian, and with his sons; his name is Zuan Cabot, who is styled the Great Admiral," etc. This letter is dated London, 23d August, 1497, and is written in Italian. These documents would seem to put at rest the questions both of the command and the time of this first expedition of discovery. Yet it is suprising, that Hakluyt, who was almost a contemporary of Sebastian Cabot, having been born five or six years before Cabot's death, and who was familiar with the leading adventurers and discoverers of the day, and probably better acquainted with the various voyages which had been undertaken than any other man of his time, should have persisted to the last in asserting, that the first Cabot voyage was performed in 1496, and by Sebastian Cabot. In his recently discovered and unpublished treatise of 1584, in which he vehe- mently appeals to the English government to engage in colonization, ho
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THE VOYAGE OF JOHN CABOT, 1497.
Of the other persons, pilots, masters of vessels, and other members of this expedition, we hear scarcely anything with certainty, though we might gather some names as probably belonging to persons who went with the Cabots. Among them there may have been many Bristol mariners, acquainted with the navigation of the Northern Ocean, at least as far as the seas of Iceland. The Cabots would probably have tried to attract into their service also, some Portuguese and Spanish sailors, accustomed to the navigation of the Atlantic Ocean.
Relative to the course which the Cabots followed on this voyage we have no definite information. Sebastian Cabot appears to have written the events of this voyage, as well as of the other voyages performed during his long life ; but unhap- pily these precious writings are lost to us. How they disap- peared is uncertain .* With respect to all the particulars of the voyages of the Cabots we are, therefore, left to proba- bilities and to a few scattered hints and notices.
From the intention which the Cabots had to follow as near as possible the shortest line from England to Cathay, that is to say, a line which passed near the North Pole, we should think, that, in starting from England, they would have sailed in nearly a northern direction. If they knew nothing of
more than once affirms, that the first discovery was made in 1496, and by Sebastian Cabot. He says, "A great part of the continent, as well as of the islands, was first discovered for the King of England, by Sebastian Gabote, an Englishman, born in Bristow, son of John Gabote, in 1496." Again he says, "Nay, more, Gabote discovered this large tract of firme land two years before Columbus ever saw any part of the continent. . . . Columbus first saw the firme lande August 1, 1498, but Gabote made his great discovery in 1496." The very interesting and instructive Ms. of Hak- luyt, above referred to, which was brought to light early in 1868, through the exertions of the Rev. Dr. Woods, a member of the Maine Historical Society, then making researches in Europe, will be printed, for the first time, in a volume of this Society's Transactions, next succeeding the present, within a few months .- ED.]
* See upon this point, Biddle's Memoir, p. 221.
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THE VOYAGE OF JOHN CABOT, 1497.
Greenland and of the great ice-barrier along the "Mare congelatum," we should expect to find them on the old beaten track.of the Bristol men to Iceland, or even on a direct line to the Pole. But, probably, the Bristol men, and also the Cabots who had conversed with them, were sufficiently acquainted with the dangers of the ice surrounding Iceland and the Pole. It is not less probable, that, from their long intercourse with the Northmen and Icelanders, they knew something of that great ice-locked east coast of Greenland, which, as a long barrier, lies stretched out to the north-west and south-west of Iceland ; and that it would be useless to try that way for a passage to Asia. The Icelanders may have acquainted them with their old "Gunningagap," that broad passage at the south and west of Greenland, which we call Davis' Strait. It is for these reasons, no doubt, that we do not find the Cabots exactly on the shortest northern route to Cathay, but much to the west of it, on the shores of New- foundland and Labrador ; for it was on the coast of one of these countries, certainly, that their first landfall was made.
In former times it was usually supposed, that the Cabots made their landfall near some cape of the island of New- foundland. But nearly the whole of Newfoundland is in a much more southern latitude than Bristol. And if their landfall had been made there, they either could not have taken from Bristol a north-western route, as it was their intention to do, or they must have been driven from this route by northerly winds very much to the south. This is one of the reasons which should induce us to expect a more northern point for the first landfall of the Cabots.
In the examination of this question, Mr. Biddle * has come to the conclusion, that this landfall of the Cabots on the coast of the North American continent, or what they called their
* See Biddle's Memoir, p. 52 sey.
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THE VOYAGE OF JOHN CABOT, 1497.
" Prima vista" (the first country seen), must be found on the coast of Labrador in 56° or 58º north latitude. In this lati- tude he thinks the Cabots for the first time came in sight of the continent of North America, on the 24th of June, 1497. And after him, Baron Humboldt and several other dis- tinguished authors have adopted this latitude for Cabot's landfall.
In an inscription contained on an old map of the world, engraved in the year 1549, the authorship of which is ascribed to Sebastian Cabot, the country surrounding this landfall is described as being very sterile, but full of wild animals, and particularly having an abundance of white bears .* These white bears of the country, as Sebastian Cabot himself once told his Spanish friend, Peter Martyr, used to catch with their paws the fish, which were their favorite food .; The white bears, consequently, were quite at home in the country which the Cabots saw on the 24th of June, 1497. This agrees much better with the coast of Labrador than with that of Newfoundland, to which the white bears very seldom, if ever, come down.
Just as unfavorable a description of the country of their landfall is given in the above-quoted letter of the Venetian Pasqualigo, where it is said, that the Cabots did not meet any human being in the country which they discovered in 1497. This could certainly happen only on the coast of Labrador, thinly inhabited by Esquimaux, and not in any of the more southern countries.
Moreover, the author of the above-quoted map of the world, supposed to have been Sebastian Cabot, says in an inscription, that he and his father found an island opposite the
* See this inscription, amongst others, printed in Nathanis Chytraei Variorum Itinerum Delicia, p. 787. Herborvæ, 1594.
f See Peter Martyr, De orbe Novo, p. 533. Parisiis, 1587.
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THE VOYAGE OF JOHN CABOT, 1497.
country of their landfall, to which they gave the name St. John, in consideration of the name of the saint, on whose day it was discovered. We find on several old maps, for instance, on that of the famous Belgian geographer, Orte- lius, of the year 1570, depicted in this latitude an island called "St. John's" (or S. Juan). Ortelius says, that he had seen an engraved map of the world, made by Cabot, and he may have taken that island from this map.
All these considerations incline us to believe, that Biddle and Humboldt and their followers were right in putting down the first landfall of the Cabots, and their "prima vista" on the coast of Labrador in the high latitude of about 56° or 58º N.
Against this view has been brought forward, as a decisive testimony, that map of the world, engraved in the year 1544, ascribed to Sebastian Cabot, which was lately discovered in Germany, of which I have already stated, that it contained, instead of the year 1497, the year 1494, as the date of the first discovery. This map gives for the landfall, instead of the coast of Labrador, a much more southern country, namely, the coast of Cape Breton Island ; and, moreover, makes Cabot's " Island St. John" to be our present Prince Edward Island. I shall examine this point and the other contents of that map after I have spoken of the subsequent discoveries in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. I will only state here, that I am not satisfied with the correctness of the posi- tion given on this map to the "Prima Vista." With respect to my reasons for this view, I refer the reader to my essay on this map, which he will find in Appendage No. 4 to Chapter IX., of this volume.
Whether the Cabots, from their landfall on the coast of Labrador in 1497, sailed still further north, and how far, we do not know. We are also uncertain on the question, how
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VOYAGE OF SEBASTIAN CABOT IN 1498.
far from their landfall they went to the south. We hear only, that they sailed along the coast about three hundred leagues .* As they had intended to sail to the north-west, and had turned their backs on the south, we should be inclined to measure these "three hundred leagues," for the greater part at least, along the coast of Labrador north of their landfall. Some part of it, however, may be located to the south of their landfall, along the southern coast of Labrador and New- foundland, in sight of which they may have come on their homeward route, after having been baffled by ice in the north. It appears to me probable, however, that the principal dis- covery of the island of Newfoundland by the Cabots was not made on this first voyage, but on the second expedition, in 1498, hereafter considered.
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