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Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to rigiit and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Un des symboles suivants apparaftra sur la dernidre image de chaque microfiche, selon le cas: le symbols -^ signifie "A SUIVRE ", le symbols 7 signifie "FIN". Les c&rtes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent dtre filmis d des taux de reduction diff6rents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre reproduit en un soul clich6, il est fiimd d partir de Tangle sup6rieur gauche, de gauche d droite, et de haut en bcs, en prenant le nombre d'images ndcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants iilustrent la m^thode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 M t 6 4 5 SIBA8TIAN CABOT. m John and Sebastian Cabot. :r,r BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE, WITH DOCUMENTS. BY j^i.A]^CESCO TAKDUCCI. TRANSLATED FROM ITALUf^ BY HENRY F BROWNSOX. DETROIT: H. F BROWNSON, PUBLISHER, 83 AND 35 COJfGRESS STREET, WEST. IRfiS. ongregg i„ the year Eighteen n„^^ BV HENRY F. BRoWNSoT ""' ""''''' '''^■ In the Offlce of the Llhm-i we Ubrarian of Conerew ., «, ''P^atWa«hington,,>.C. TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. The original edition of this work in Italian is published at the charge of the Royal Commission of National History of Venice. This translation is authorized by that Commission as well as by the Author, A comparison of the translation with the original publication will show that they vary in some places. In every instance of the sort, the variance has been suggested or authorized by Professor Tardiicci, and will be conformed to in the next Italian edition. The Author's letter of Dedication shows how he was led to wite this story of the Cabots; and points out the propriety of such work after the publication of his "Life of Christopher Columbus," and the seasonableness of the work as his contribution to the Festivals now celebrating in honor of the gr.-at Genoese and the discovery of America. Next in time, as in importance, i the discovery of the Bahamas and West Indies by Columbus, was the discovory of the northern part ot America by the Cabots, I may be pardoned for adding that the latter discovery must be regarded by the historian as infinitely more beneficial to mankind than the former. I'liesc two discoveries, the fir>t by a Genoese, the second by Vene- tians, transferred the control of tlie world's commerce from Genoa and Vvmice to the Iberian peninsula and the British Isles. Genoa and Venice gave birth to the Ii.t'm-s wlvse achievements were to iv translator's prefacb. Btrip tbem of the glorious rank they had prevJously enjoyed, and raise two other utates to the pinnacle of greatness, where they vied with each other in ingratitude to their great benefactors. The importance of the discovery of John Cabot, and its con- tinuation by his son Sebastian, can hardly be over-estimated. It is nothing derogatory to the glory of Christopher Columbus, who must ever be honored as the greatest of discoverers, to say that John Ciibot preceded him in the attempt at trans-Atlantic discovery, and ultiiough San Salvador was discovered nearly two years before the English possessions were, Cabot would have sucrseeded had Colum- bus never lived. Nor does it amount to any thing to say that the discovery to the north would have been the inevitable result of European acqurvint- ance with the West Indies; for it is equally true that the discovery of these and of all south would have followed the discovery of "New- foundlan^^" Cabot had been for years looking for land to the west, led by a course of reasoning similar to that which influenced Co- lumbus, and had Columbus never lived, would have been Columbus. Columbus and Cabot looked for a land of gold and spices. Colum- bus found the lands rich in precious metals, and the result there has been four centuries of cruelty, slavery, and oppression, of des- potism and anarchy. Cabot found a land whose only wealth was in the cod-fish that swarmed on its coasts; b-U that land became the cradle of liberty and justice, of rpsistance to tyranny and oppres- sion, the refuge of the enslaved and down-trodden of every clime. The world, humanity, is better, nobler, happier, for the discovery made by Cabot; has any real benefit to mankind resulted from the lands south of us ? Let not this be taken as casting any slur on the character or senti- ments of Christopher Columbus. What happened was against his will, and in spite of all he could do to prevent it. Cabot was, appar- translator's preface. scovery [•om the Lr senti- linst his appar- ently, a man of bis times. Columbus was above and beyond all times. No pent-up notions contracted bis heart ; bis aspiratio.'is were sublime; bis affections as broad as the universe. The man who wrote, as Columbus did in one of his letters, "I say that the Holy Ghost works in the Christian and in tlie Jew ; in the Moor and in every one in every religion;"* may have lived in the Fifteenth Century, but bis soul is at home in the Nineteenth. ' Columbus sought for a new world that the Gospel might be made known to millions who had never beard the glad tidings of salva- tion; and for gold that he might subsidize hosts for the delivery of the Holy Land. The Cabots sought to discover unknown regions for the sake of the discovery and the extension of commerce and geographical knowledge. ... Tiie untiring industry of our author in the examination of the rec- ords and documents has enabled him to fix the date of the dis- covery of the American Continent by John Cabot and his sons as June 24, 1494. His acuteness in historical criticism has established the Venetian nationality of both John and Sebastian; the discovery by Sebastian of Hudson Strait, Hudson Bay, j»nd Fox Channel. He has successfully defended Sebastian Cabot from the only serious charge ever brought against him, and given a faithful portrait of him as a leader who may have made a mistake in his policy towards the mutinous officers he was obliged to take with hira on his expe- dition of 1526 ; but was always just and fair, and only deficient at times in the severity he should have exhibited. This expedition, in the light of the new documents used by Tarducci, takes on quite an- other aspect than it pi-eviously presented. It is further claimed for Sebastian Cabot that to him is due the • Let not Oolumbus, nor the present writer be misapprehended. There are other workiD{;g of the Holy Ghost besides that of sanctifying grace. VI translator's preface. commercial greatness of England ; and if so, of course also that of the United States, Sebastiar Cabot, moreover, was the first to propose, and to at- tempt to sol re the great problem of tlie north-west passage, — a prob- lem which may yet remain unsolved till the next century; but to which we owt some of the most sublime examples of heroism and endurance the human race can boast of. Columbus stands on a solid pedestal as the greatest of the world's discoverers, but Tarducci claims for the Cabots a rank above all othen; except Columbus himself, and it is most conformable to the fitness of things that the same author should have written the life of all three. Detroit, Jan. 16,1893. H. F. BROWNSON. I /• » To THB COUNTESS GABRIELLA SPALLETTI, ROMB. Most Noble Countbss : As the Centenary Festival of the Discovery of America is near at hand, I have pondered much what I could do to take an active part in it, it seeming to me that, after writing the Life of Christopher Columbus, I was almost under a moral obligation to be something more than a ,aere spectator. After much reflection I resolved to write about the Cabots. I saw plainly that the task was serious, and one that might well affright greater ability than mine ; but the subject entered so opportunely, or rather so rightfully, into the Festival, that its seasonableness overcame ray hesitation. In fact, the Cabots were the first to discover the mainland of America, less than two years after Christopher Columbus's discovery ; so that, after the great Genoese, no one ha? an equal claim to hi remembered and celebrated at these centenary Festivals. I set myself therefore to work with all the vigor I am capable of; and all the time which the obstinate malady of my eyes allowed rae to employ, and which the occupation of teaching left me free from the duties of the school, I have dedicated to the Story of the Cabots. Nor has the difficulty of the path, great as it has been, ever lessened my zeal or tired my energy while I had it ever in view to arrive in time and not fail to make some contribution to this Festival. I had already travelled a great part of my way, and the hope of finish- ing all began to become a certainty, when an unforseen difficulty threatened to render useless all my care and labor. In the scarcity of Tin DEDICATION. doouraents on the Cabots, it was moat important for me to have therecordH of the suit against Sebastian Cabot, wliich arc preserved in the SpaniHh archives, and never published nor studied by any one, and a few other documents, either known only by name or erroneously known, which are kept in the same arohivi'S. My anxiety to procure copies of them, or at least to know somewhat fully their contents, was as great as their importance. But wherever I turned to knock, I found people too busy to attend to me. I thus found myself on the point of either giving out my work sadly defective, or putting off iis publication indefinitely. The former I would not do, and the latter was painful to me. But in a happy moment I thought of you and of your many connections and 1 wrote to you explaining ray case. You took the matter to heart, and soon afterwards 1 re- ceived beautiful copies of the coveted documents. ' , • , . Now, then, that I reach the bank at last, and present to the Public my history of the Cabots, such as it is, it ia right that I siiould place your name in front of it, for you have been in a certain fashion a colaborer in my work. I know that what I present you is too little, but the Poet said : * ;• , "I give thee all, I can no more. Though poortlic offering be. " r' ; V - But though my book lack the merit that would make it a worthy offering to a polished and noble Lady, I trust that the attestation it bears of my gratitude will render it acceptable in your eyes. PiOBBico. August 1, 1892. Your most Dev. and Obt. FRANCESCO 1 ARDUCCI. * " Nd che pnco io vi dia da imputar sono; iM quaato io posso dar tutto Vi doao. " « • OONTENTa Translator's Preface, Dedicatory Letter, . *" Tii CHAPTER I. John CabofB Native Land. ' '*•■ CHAPTER IL '^Z^Z~Jl^T^''°T'^ Enpland.-Voyagesof th» People of tbe North Selrt ^'"'-^^^'^ "^ J^l'" Cabot.-His Endowments of Mind and 3* CHAPTER HL The First Discovery of 1494 CHAPTER IV. ^Ufl/*'';;;"^:? ,^'"f '*"* ^' *^^ '^»* J""^" Cabot arst discovered in 1494 -Attempt to deprive him of ihe honor «n ' " • • • • 01/ CHAPTER V. • ThoFirstLettersPatent.-Expeditiuuof 1497, *..... M CHAPTER VI. CHAPTER J. Sebastian Cabot. ' • W CHAPTER VIII. Expedition of 1498 ' 90 CHAPTER IX. A Period of Obscurity, 110 CHAPTERX. SebasUan Cabot passes to the service of Spain, , . . . 116 11 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XI. FAflX Sebastian Cabot back in England 121 CHAPTER r.n. Sebastian Cabut discovered the Strait and Bay which were afterwards named from Hudson, 128 CHAPTER Xra. Return to Spain, 138 CHAPTER XIV. Repented attempts to find a passage throuL'h the new lands 6t America to reach the eastern shore of Asia. — Magellaii. — Resentment of Portugal against Spain on account of his voyage 147 ' CHAPTER XV. Sebastian Cabot put at the head of an expedition to the Moluccas, 151 CHAPTER XVI. Sailic I of the expedition, >. • • • 161 CHAPTER XVII. Continuation oi the voyage, 177 CHAPTER XVm. Exploration of the River La Pliitii, ...... .106 CHAPTER XIX. Diego Garcia, . . . .... . • • • • 814 CHAPTER XX. - > v; Cabot's Return to Spain, ......... 226 CHAPTER XXI, Arrival in Spain, »•• 245 CHAPTER XXII. Return to England, . 261 CHAPTER XXIII. Project of navigation to the North-East .272 CHAPTER XXIV. Expedition to the North-East 383 CHAPTER XXV Sfbasiian Cabot's Death, . . . . » • . . • 302 Appendix, ,..•...•.••« 818 JOHN AND SEBASTIAN CABOT. CHAPTER I. John CaboVs native land.* August 11th, 1472, the senate of Venice, Nicholas Trono Doge, conferred citizenship of Venice, by virtue of a new natur- alization law, on one Luigi Fontana of Bergamc'. Many others, after Fontana, obtained the same Venetian naturalization, but in their case the secretary of the senate instead of register- ing the whole decree eacn time, merely recorded that the same privilege as to Fontuna was granted to such a one on such a day and yeai- : simile privilsgiv.m factv,m fv.it promdo viro etc. Among tlio names so mentioned we find tiiat of John Cabot for tlie year 1476, and this is the first appearance ofthat name in history, f The naturalization conferred by Venice, not considering or- dinary citizenship which had its special duties and rights, was of two sorts, one inferior, called de intus, the other greater, and called dc intus etextra:hoih had to be voted by the senate. The citizenship de intus only admJtted to certain inferior emplo)"^- ments and the exel-cise of certain rights within the city; that of intus et extra extended also to all the rights of a Venetian citizen outside of Venice. John Cabot received this latter * See Appendix 1. t Simile privilegium factum fuit Jnanni Cabwto rub dnce cuprascripto 1476. THE LIFE OF JOHN CAB01. [I h and by unanimous vote on March 28, 1476.* To acquire this citizensliip, besides services to the Republic, only two condi- tions were at that time requisite, namely, uninterrupted resi- dence in Venice for 15 years at least, and to have borne during that period the burdens and imposts of the Venetian govern- ment. f But whence did he come ? where was he born ? Till within a few years this question had not aroused the curiosity of the learned , and as the few documents concerning him spoke of him as a Venetian, he was always called so without further inquiry. The question was started by a document discovered by a Prussian, G. A. Borgenroth in the archives of Simancas.:j: This document is a cypher despatch which Don Pedro de Ayala, Spanish ambassador to the Eng- lish court, sent to his sovereigns July 25, 1498, informing them of the discovery made by the English of certain islands and continents, encroaching, as he believed, on the rights of Spain. Now Ayala in Ms dispatch calls the discoverer of these islands a Genoese like Colnmhns, and in two other places where he mentions him, he calls him a Genoese. The discoverer of whom he is speaking is .John Cabot. Later, the searches of Henry Harrisse brought to light from the same archives two despatches of Ruy Gonzales do Puebla, anotlier Spanish ambassador to England, in which John Cabot is also given as a Genoese. Moreover, he is likewise called a Genoese in some English chronicles, which words had escaped the atten- *1476 die 28 Martii, Quod fiat piivilcgium cirilitatis de intus et extra Joanni Caboto per habitationem annorum xv. juxta consuetum.De parte 149. De no>i O. Nou sinceri O. This document is taken from the records of tlie Vene- tian Senate, aeries called Senato-Terra, as relating lO the government of the main-lf.nd, and commencing in 1440. It was first published by Romanin, iStoria Documentata T. iv. p. 453. f Q"icumque annis xv. vcl inde supra, Vcnetiis coutiuue habitasset ; factiones et onera nostri dominii ipso tempore subeundo a modo civis ct Venetua aosttr esset. X Simaucas isji small city in the province of Valladolid, in t|ie castle of which the Spanish archives are kept, uot only those of the Peninsula and the adjacent islands, but also those of the former Spanish states iq Flanders, Italy, and Portugal. VEXETIAN CLAIM. O tion of historians until Borgenroth's discovery started the qi.estion as to tlie native land of John Cabot. The learned Prussian's discovery was joyfully received by the patriotic Ligurians who labored witli praiseworthy zeal to find further support for the vague assertions of the Spanish ambassadors and the English chronicles. On the other side, the Venetians, who luul always before been proud of John Cabot as a fellow-countryman were not idle, but wiped the dust off charters and documents to combat the pretensions of Genoa and confirm their own claims. But the result of ihe re- searches was not satisfactory to the zeal of either side. At Venice tradition would have him born in an insignificant place called Castello, peopled mainly by sea-faring men, and the zealous inhabitants inscribed this tradition on a stone for the infor- mation of strangers ; but it had no better or older con- firmation than an anonymous article in a Venetian journal of the last century containing these words : "It is the constant and undoubted report that he was a Venetian, and rv3 are able to assert that he was born at Castello,"* Carlo Bulk) patriotically claims for his own Chioggia the honor of being the cradle of John Cabot, but only his love of his own country could have discovered any argument or indication in support of his claim ; fo^ here too all depends on the authority of an anonymous writer in an annual of 1786, who says : "Cabot, a V^enetian, bor)i at Chioggia discovered North America for the English."f What proof do these anonymous writers bring of their assertion ? None whatever. Foderico Stefani expressed a doubt that the name Caboto was originally written Cha' Botto or Ca Botto,:|: which would be a strong proof that he was a Venetian, for this cha' or ca', an abbreviation of Casata (house or family), is very com- mon in Venetian surnames, as may be seen in the historic sur- * Minerva, a Venetiaa journal, 1763, cited by Pasini, 1 Navigatori at Polo Artico, Venezia, 1880. tC. Bullo, La Vera Patria di Mcoldde' CoriH e di Giovanni Caboto, Chioggia, Duse, 1880. t See ArcJdvio storico di T jw«trt— Essay by Rawdon Brown. Venezin, Autonel!!, 1865, n. 143. 4 THE LIFE OF JOHN CABOT. names, Ca'da Mosto, Ca'da Pesaro, and also in those of many city families. The doubt is ingenious, and if it cotdd be sup- ported by any instance of ancient spelling it might be of some weight in favor of Venice, but no such instance can be found. The investigation has, then, been wholly fruitless, so far as concerns Venice. On the part of Genoa, the most pains-taking investigator has been Cornelio Desirxxoni, but at the conclusion of his labor he was forced to confess that he had unfortunately been able to find nothing.* Reducing the matter, then, to simple induction, he is inclined to look for the birthplace of John Cabot in Savona, because he finds in that city two surnames, one not very dissimilar to, the other very like that he is in search of, namely, the patrician family of Gavotto, and the plebeian Cabuto. The former furnished masters of ships in the very days of John Cabot ; the second can be traced back in the history of Genoa as far as the XII century undei the name of Cabutius or Cabutus ; and contemporary with John Cabot there were several persons named Cahutto, amongst others one Sebastian. Again we meet a Sebastian Cabutus in the XVI century.f This repetition of the name Sebastian in the same family would not be without weight in our case, as one of the three sons of John Cabot wa» also called by that name, considering the custom then and now, and much more then than now, of renewing in families from generation to generation the names of those who have gone before. And not only at Savona but also in many other parts of Liguria, !ire found surnames more or less resembling Caboto, and even at Port Maurice the same surname is sometimes met with.;}: *"It will naturally be asked if any trace can be found 'n our documents of Buch events, persons, ana families. Unhappily we have found nothing, or the same as nothing. Still here are at least some hints of family names." From the Oiornale Ligustieo. Anno 1. Sugli Scopritori Qenovesi, p. 314. Id. Intomoa Oiovanni Caboto, Qeuovese, Documenli, etc. Oenova Istituto del Surdi-Muti, 1881. f Id. Sugli Seopritori Oenovesi, p. 314—316. X "We have documents proving tliat, the family of Caboto (written precisely as John used to sign it) exists in Port Maurice from the year 1253 and down Genoa's claims. 6 But similar, and jven identical, surnames are found in every part of Italy, even in i)laces the farthest apart, without any presumption of relationship. Harrisse has found in notarial acts 115 Columbuses all living in the XIV and XV century at Genoa and in its environs ; and amongst them were several with a father Domenico and a grandfather Gio- vanni, precisely like Christopher Columbus : and yet, in spite of the concordance of date and the identity of baptismal name, not one had any degree of consanguinity with Christopher Columbus.* And this is easily explained when we remember the arbitrary and loose way in which surnames were formed in the middle ages, f And even if this argument based on the similarity of surname were valid, it would not help us much, for surnames resembling Caboto, are not wanting even in the dogeate of Venice;}: and a single one w'ould invalidate the argument in favor of other places. So that it is clear that this argument, unaccompanied by others to support it, can be no guide in the obscurity through which we are passing. Some seem to have found a strong basis for Genoa's claims in a dispatch from Raimondo da Soncino, the Duke of Mil- an's ambassador to England, who when writing to his mas- ter of the return of John from his voyage of discovery, among many other things reports that the discoverer "has given an island to a certain barber of his from the neighbor- hood of Genoa." § By barbers, at that time, not only the vul- gar, but even the law meant the lower class of surgeons. || But that possessive pronoun hia sounded to their ears as though it had been his felloiv-countryman, and therefore they made through an uninterrupted series of jrenerations as far as the end of the XV century," G. Doneaud, I CaMo di Porto Maurko in the Provincia, a weekly journal of Port Maurice, 19 Nov. 1881. In tlie number for Nov. 26, the author cites in support notarial instruments of 1252, 1276, and 1434, *Jean et SeMstien Cabot, par Henry Harrisse, Paris, Leroux, 1883, p. 12. + See my article Sui Sopranomi, in the Rassegna Nazionale, Anno ix. PI- renze, Cellini, 1888. X See Bullo, 1. c. p. xxx. 8 See App. xiii. I See Desimoni, Intorno a Oiovanni Caboto etc., p. 87. 6 THE LIFE OF JOHN CABOT. I.-; John born in the Ligurian Castiglione, a small hamlet in the neighborhood of Chiavari.* But such interpretation of the pronoun Jm seems to me too arbitrary ; nor did any one ever, on licaring a man speak of his servant, suppose him to mean that the servant was born in the same place as himself. Since, then, the most diligent research has failed to con- firm or refute the generic assertions of the two Spanish ambas- sadors and the English chronicles cited, there is nothing left but to examine these assertions by themselves and determine what force they have or may have. To do this it will not only greatly help us, but it is even necessary to hear the others first who say John Cabot was simply a Venetian, giving the name of his adoptive country, without regard to the place of his birth. First comes John himself, in his petition to the King of England March 5, 1496, — " To the King our sovereign lord. Please it your highnes. . . to graunt unto John Cabotto citizen of Venice."f 'i'lie King follows the same in the letters patent granted in conformity with the petition : " Be it known and manifest that we have given and granted to our beloved John Cabotto Citizen of Venice and his sons, otc.":j: Next comes Lo- renzo Pasqualigo, a Venetian merchant settled in Bristol who was present when John Cabot returned from his discovery, and witnessed the great demonstration made in his honor by the English. Writing of which immediately afterwards to Venice he not only calls him repeatedly a Venetian, but takes note with the lively pride of a fellow-citizen of the honor paid to the flag of Venice. "This Venetian of ours is come. . . and is with his Venetian wife . . . and planted on the lands he discovered a great+with an PjUglish standard and one of St. Mark,he being aA'^enetian, so that our ensign has been carried far,"§ Don Rai- *M. d' Avezac, Les Natigatiomterre-neuviennes de Jean etSebastien Cabot, In the Bulletin de la noeiete de geographie, Tome xviii, Paris, 1869. t See Appendix xv. i"Notum sit et manifestnm qnod (]ediransetcouce8simu3...di!ec*.i3 nobis Jo- hanni Cabotto, civi Venetiarun etc. filii8....dicti,. .Joliannis." See Appendix v, g See App. X. 1 h -^^I^^B c iwSSt m '#k^|B ss'isBk i^,?^m fei^gflB .ii'.-''-lxWm m \ CONTEMrOUARY DOCUMENTS. 3S Cabot, in nobis Jo- lendix v. mondo da Soncino ain'oassador of thoDukeofMilan toE- .gland, also wrote at once to the duke, and in his dispatch gives the discovery as made by a Venetian :— "Item the King's Majesty had sent a Venetian some months ago."* And writing again on the 18th of December of the same year, he continues to speak of him in the same manner : "There is a popular Venetian in this Kingdom named messer Zoanne Caboto."t The King of England grants fresh letters patent February 3, 1498, in which, and in tiie address which precedes them, John is always called a Venetian citizen : "Please it your High- nosse ... to graunte John Kabotto Veneciane . . . We graunte to our well beloved John Kabotto Venician. . ."+ ^ The documents mentioned are all from contemporaries who knew John Cabot personally and spoke with him, and were all written in his life-time. To these I may add the words of Sebastian Cabot, which, though written many years after the death of John, still, as those of his son, luay b*^ considered iS cont mporary. Sebastian, in his chart of 1544, near the newly discovered land placed this inscription : "This land was dis- covered by John Cabot Venetian. "§ In the documents, then, which have reached us and in the public and private charts, all the contemporaries and acquaint- ances of John Cabot call him a Venetian. The only excep- tions to this rule beginning with an unknown merchant and continued by ambassadors and ministers and the king himself, are the two Spanish ambassadors. Was it accidental, or was there a reason for it ? If accidental, it is not worth discussing : if there was a reason, it should arise from the conditions of the times, the facts, or the persons. Lot us then briefly recall these conditions, and let the necessity be an excuse for antic- il)ating mention of events which must be told over again later at greater length. After repeated attempts John Cabot had discovered a new * See App.xii. t See App. xiil, j See App. xiv. § "Esta tierra fue descublerta por Juan Caboto, Veneciano, y Sebastian Caboto su hijo, anno del nascimiento de nuestro Salvador Jesu Cliristo de mccccxciiii." 8 THE LIFE OF JOHN CABOT. n Ml land, and applied to tho King of England, in reliance on this discovery, for license and privileges for further voyages and discoveries. Henry VII consented and on the 5th of March 1496 granted the letters patent asked for. Spain at this time was all eyes to guard against a surprise being attempted from any side against tho privileges the bull of Alexander VI gave her over all discoveries made or to be made beyond the line of partition fixed by that pope himself.* It was therefore natural that Puebla, her ambassador to the court of England, as soon as informed of the negotiations of John Cabot with Henry VII, should at once report them to his government. This re- port he sent on the 21st of January 1496, that is to say, forty days before the letters patent received the royal signature. So great had been his watchfulness to learn and make known the result. Puebla's dispatch is unfortunately lost, but its loss so far as concerns the present question is supplied by the answer of the Spanish sovereigns, which undoubtedly according to the custom of al) state offices repeated in reply tho very words used in the dispatch. Now the Spanish chancery made this answer : "As to what you say that one like Columhua has gone there to put England on an undertaking like that of the In- dies. . *\ This shows clearly that Puebla, when v/riting his dispatch, wholly intent on the danger threatening Spain, had so little in view the person of the discoverer that in order to indicate him he uses the most general and vague expressions and only says otie; "One has gone there like Columbus," etc. And in fact what difference did it make in the danger to Spain whether he was an Englishman, or a foreigner in the service of England ? What was important for the ambassador to make known, and for Spain to learn, was that an expedition like that of Columbus was preparing for the discovery of new regions for the benefit of England. The name of the leader of the expedition was so little important to be known, that it could very well be omitted entirely without at all diminish- *Fernando Colombo, i/istone, c. xlii.—Heriera, Hist. Ind. Dec. 1. lib. xx. c. 4.— Navarrete, Colec, Dipt, xxiii. t" Quanto a lo que desis que alia es yda wo como colon pain poncr el Rey de Inglaterraen otro negocio como el de la8 yndiiis. . ." See App. vl. m etc. ^ rUEnLA's DISPATCHES. 9 inff the danger or importance of the matter. And to have culU'd liim one without uny addition of country or nation, is iMluivalcnt to omitting liim altogotlier. But do not tlio words like OtlnmbvH, hint from what part ho came ? Not at all : tliey simply mean that the discoverer wished to do for Eng- land what Columhus had done for Spain, and it is easy to un- derstand that this comparison would occur at once to the writer's mind when the purport of the dispatch was precisely to prevent any one from entering, to the injury of Spain, on the way opened hy ChristoTiher Columhuj. But the pressure ana soliox.a'ion of Spain had no tjffect, and John Cabot continued on his road of discovery. During the ex- pedition of lli>8, Puebla writes again to his sovereigns : and in this dispatch the expression which lie uses to designate him, while remaining just as uncertain as to the person of the dis- coverer, is a little more definite as to the place from which the discoverer came : and where he at first had simply said "One like Crlumbus," he now says, " Another Genoese like Colum- bus "* Did this addition drop casually from Puebla's pen without any attention on his part, or did he write it with deliberate pur- pose ? Let us first examine the second supposition. As to the fact itself of the discovery and of the danger to Spain, we have seen that it \\rs not affected one atom either way by the person of the discoverer ; Puebla could then have had no motive for the addition on this account. Was he led to make it by any reason which he saw in the person of the sovereigns to whom he was writing ? What did it matter to Ferdinand and Isabella whether that discoverer was a Genoese or a Venetian ? The motive then must be looked for in the person of Puebla himself. But what could it have been ? To defend this honor for Genoa ? But what glory for Genoa was the dis- covery made by John Cabot in face of that of Chris- topher Columbus ? And to Puebla, a Spaniard, what mat- tered the glory of Genoa ? It was not zeal of patriotic affection. Was it a pedantic itching for historical accuracy ? * El Rey de Inglaterra embio cinco nans armadas cnu otro genovet eomo colon a buscar la isla de Brazil." See App. xv. 10 THE LIFK OF .TOIIX ('A150T. ri ■! i 1 '!i, It is ridiculous to tliink so. Puc'l)]n's intorcst in determining accurately tlio person of llie discoverer was so great that ho never mentions Ids name or surname, but calls liim simply another (lenocHe. And if we luid not learnt fiom other do(!U- ments tliat the author of the discovery re[)orted by him to his sovereigns was John (-abot, with all his dispatches we should still bo ignorant who th'm other was who was put by England on the same career as Columbus. And even admitting that Puebla, contrary to the common practice of calling him a Veneti'in, had wished to designate his true countrjs what could history gain from the accuracy, if the disi)atch wa.. in cypher and was to remain buiicMJ in the archives and hidden from all eyes ? AV^as Tuebla, again, a num to trouble 1dm- self about these historical ininuim ? The little wc know of lum shows him to have been venal, grasping, and niggard to a degree hardly credible of one in liis high position.'* Such are not the kind of persons to busy themselves with historical sweepings. — But he was in close relation with the Genoese merchants in London, and n\ight have had from them exact information about Cabot. — His relation with the Genoese is very true, but the only document that records it shows that its purpose was to fill his coffers M'ith gold, not historical research.f And in regard to these Genoese merchants, we saw a short while ago a Venetian mer- chant writing at once to Venice to give notice of the dis- covery and relating it with great satis "<^.ction as conferring glory on Ids country. Is there any record of any Genoese writing about it to Genoa ? And yet amongst those merchants * See in Bergenroth's Calendar of Spanish state papers (vol. i, No. 206, 207, p. 166), the petition of the Spanish merchants against him, and Dr. Breton's let- ter—From H. Harrisse, 1. c. p. 19.— Puebla was accustomed to visit the English court very often. One day King Henry asked his court if they knew why Dr. Puebla came, and they replied, "to eat." lb. Rep. from London, no. 204, 207. ■f-The Genoese merchants had incurred a certain penalty, and employed Tuebla to procure their discharge. He obtained their pard)n, but demanded 500 crowns for recompense ; whereupon the Spanish rierchants were greatly shocked and denounced him to the commissioners sent m 1498 to inquire into his conduct. puebla's ptspatches. 11 tliore were some of ji:rent merit, so much so that the Kiu^ of Ku^fland employed them on dii)h>matic missions to the Pope iinicen que seran venidos para al el Beptiembre, vista la derrota que llevan iiallo que lo que buscan es lo que voestras Altezas poseen, el Re me ha fa- blado algunas vezes sobrello espera liaver muy gran interesse. Creo que no iiay de aqui alia CCCC leguas." See App. xv. t " el Rey de Inglaterra ha fecho armada para descubrir ciertas islas y tierra flrme el ijventador es otro genoves como Colon Del armada que hizo que fueron cinco naos fuerou avitallados por un afio .... vista la derrota que llevan hallo que es lo que han hallado o buscan lo que vuestras Altezas poseen . . . sperase seran venidos para el Septiembre. . . . E) Rey de Ynglaterra me ha (ablado algunas vezes sobre ello. . Espera aver muy gran interesse. Creo que no ay qualro cientos leguas." See App. xvi. t See Raw ion Brown, Calendar vol. i, n. 780, 783. THE ENGLISH CHRONICLES. 15 tnes : ho ry great Bvo it is cs from t [ there in )n, — pre- abot, but id by the dispatch only the ent ques- ts, and as in speak- "aiiother xpression at he had ountry of fland, his Fames IV ow from was witli of infor- , always ils con- loves como jor UB afio. Ique llevan I me ha fa- reo que no Hertas islas Del a&o .... |an lo que re. . . . E) aver muy ri. cerning Cabot are furnished by Aya5a all concern him as dis- coverer, that is, he speaks of his activity, his genius, his in- iluenco with the seamen of Bristol ; but has not a sylLnhle in regard to him personally ab an individual. Each of the three times when he lias o(;casion to mention him, ho never uses his name or surname, but always indicates him by the general term (kvocse, which he had found in Puebla's disijatch. The authority of Tuebla is therefore of no force ^n the pres- ent n^-'^stion; that of Ayala, of none. J ; Let us come now to the chroniclers. The English chroniclers of the first half of the XVI century never mention the name of Cabot : as neither, for that matter, do they mention the name of Christopher Columbus or Americo Vespucci.* To them the New World and the voyages to it and the dis- coveries there do not seem to have existed. This silence ceases in 1559, in reference to Wiiloughby and Chancellor's voy- age to the east by way of the northern seas. The tragic end of the brave AVilloughby was probably the reason of their record- ing it rather than the importance of the expedition itself. This expedition, as we shall see, was principally the work of Sebastian Cabot, the son of John, and the chroniclers who re- * Not to be continually repeating tl'e citation I give notice liere, once for all, that ia tiie few remarks on these chroniclers I follow Harrisse's exposition in his Jean et Sebastien Cabot, p. 15 et s., and often translate his words literally. This work of llanisse and Biddle's Memoir are the two greatest works written on the history of the Cabots. But neither author intended to give a complete work on the two voyagers. But the different q\iestions they under- took to examine they investigated with much depth and learning. Ilarrisse, for instance, treats iU great length on the first period of the history of the Cabots, but skims over the last period of Sebastian's residence in England, and hardly mentions his thirty yeans' scrvicein Spain. Harrisse's work is divided into four parts : the first examines, as I said, the history of the Cabots ; the second treats of the cartography of the first half of the XVI century ; the third gives a chronology of the voyages to the north of Cape Breton from that of .Tohn Cabot to .John Urdaire's in 1550 ; the forrth collects the richest appendix of documents that had so far appeared concern- ing the Cabots. A bibliogrrphy of the history of the Cabots is addled at the end. How much I have availed myself of these two authors is shown by the frequent references to their names and works. 16 THE LIFE OF JOHN CABOT. late it, show the very important part which he had in it. Thus the Epitome of Chronicles in the third edition which was pub- lished in that year. 1559, in the second part when relating the expedition of Willoughby, says : " In this meane whyle there were th.ae noble shippes furnyshed for the great adventure of the unknown viage into the easte by the north seas. The great encourager of this viage was Sebastian Gaboto, an Eng- lisheman borne at Bristow, but a Genoways sonne." Ten years later, in 1569, the chronicle of Richard Grafton appeared, and in that also we read : *'About this time there were three noble ships set forth and furnished for the great adventure of the unknown voyage into the east by the North seas. The great doer and encourager of which voyage was Sebastian Gaboto an Englisheman borne at Bristow,but was the sonne of a Genoway." Thirdly come the chronicles of Raphael Holhished, repeating word for word that " About this time there were three notable ships set forth and furnished for the great adventure of the un- known voyage into the east by the north seas. The great doer and encourager of which voyage was Sebastian Gaboto, an Englisheman, born at Bristow,but was the son of a Genowaies." It is remarkable how freely the old chroniclers copied one another without giving the source of their ntirrative. But even if it were a very rare occurrence, could there be the least doubt that these three accounts have the same origin? — that, Grafton copied from the third edition of the Epitotne, or that Holin- shed copied either from that edition, or from Grafton's chron- icle, which is the same thing ? Consequently the whole import- ance and authority of the account rests on the third edition of the Epitome of Chronicles. Now, let us sec what that is, and what credit it deserves. The Epitome of Chronicles is only the chronicle of Thomas Lanquet or Lanquotte, continued down to the reign of Eliza- beth.* The first edition of this chronicle ajipearcd in 1549, and naturally makes no allusion to an event which happened in 1553. and in reference to which the name of Sebastian Cabot is introduced. The second edition came out in 1554 a vear II * Thomas Lanquet lived from 1521 to 1545. THE EPITOME OF CHRONICLES. 17 after that event, but no copy of this can be found* The third edition, bearing the title Dpitmic of Chronicles, was published at London in 1559, by Robert Crowley. It is divided into three parts ; the first gave Lanquet's chronicle, the second re- produced the part added by Thomas Cooper in 1549, and the third contained the new addition made by Crowley.f The words referring to Sebastian Cabot are found in the second part, written by Bishop Cooper. Immediately after the publication of the Kpitow.e, Cooper himself gave a new edition, which was the fourth, of Lanquet's chronicle, with the continuation he had made to it, and again printed it, the fifth edition, in 1565. Now, in both the fourth and tiie fifth edition, Cooper relates the voyage of 1553 with the same details that are found in the third edition published by Crowley ; but, in giving the name of the principal author and promoter of it, he says simply that it was "Sebastian Cabot," without one syllable as to his or his father's nationality. How was this ? Cooper himself gives us the explanation of it ; for in both the fourth and fifth edi- tion he protests against every sort of alteration, by omission or addition, which Crowley had nuxde in his work for the edi- tion of the I'Jpifotnc of Chronicles. "Wherein," he says, " as I saw some thynges of myne lefte out and many thynges of otliers annexed . . . greatly blame their unhonest dealynge, and openly protest that the Edicion of this chronicle set foorth by Marslie and Ceres in the yere of Christ 1569 is none of myne. . ." Thomas Marshe was the publisher, William Seres the printer of the Kpitovie. Consequently the Genoese nationality which the English rhomas If Eliza- n 1549, Ippened Cabot a year * La secondc edition est de 1554. Nous n' avons pu lu trouver da.is les bibli- tl)(\itics, Hiirrisse. p. 23. |- An Epitome of Chronicles, contoyninge the whole discourse of the histories . . .(if this lealtne of Eiiglmid. . . tirst liy Thomas Lanquet, secondly. . . by Thomas Coopek, . . . tliiidly. . . by liouKur Crowi.ey. Anno 1559. Loudiiii, In ;i((iil)us TliomiLs Miirshe, imprinted at London l)y Williiim Sere.s, — Robert 'lowley, boru in the first 15 years of IhoXVI century, deceased In 1588, wap at once publisher, bookseller, poet, controversialist, and preacher of the Re- fnrm, of wliich he was one of the most zealous apostles. — Thomas Cooper WM Ih-st a physician and afterwards a bi-liop ; born .about 1617, he died in IftM, 18 THE LIFE OF JOHN CABOT. 1 ;■. I, chronicles bestow on John Cabot is the personal assertion of Crowley, an assertion not only unsupported by documents, but which he accompanies with a falsehood, attributing it to Cooper who had not made it, but twice denies it. Now, what confidence can be put in a man's assertion, who so disingenu- ously lays his hand on another's work, alters it at pleasure, and deceives us in giving us as tJie testimony of a third person what is nothing but his own caprice ? But why should Crowley have made the false assertion ? The cause is clear. Sebastian Cabot was an English subject by adoption, but it was not so clear as the English would have wished that he was born in England and not brought from Venice in his infancy. Now, Crowley, with his free way of mak- ing history say whatever he thought it ought to say, when he came to the place where Cooper's chronicle mentioned Sebas- tian Cabot, boldly added that he was of Italian descent, but born in England: but in designating the province from which his fatlier came, as Genoa was at that time in everybody's thoughts in relation to discoveries on account of Christopher Columbus, carelessly, like Puebla before him, wrote Genoa in- stead of Venice for Italian in general. The error, in Biddle's opinion, was a very natural mistake of a contemporary in view of the fame of the Genoese Columbus.* If any one, reject- ing all suppositions however reasonable, claims Crowley as authority in history, let him tell me where Crowley learnt that Sebastian Cabot was of Genoese descent. Certainly not from the Spanish dispatches ; for these were shut up in the ar- chives of Spain ; nor from English, Spanish, or Italian writers, for not one had said so before himself. The conclusion aeems to me so natural that I shall spend no more words on the matter. Now comes Stow, and here the question is more diffi- cult to solve. Richard Hakluyt, in his Divers Voyages touching the Viscovcrie of America, published in 1582, in- * "The very phrase'a Genoa's son,' employed to designate Sebastian Cabot, may be considered as the not nnuatural mistake of a contemporary, referring as it does to the country of Columbus, vitb whose fame all Earope was ring- ing from side to sHe." Memoir, p. 44—46. THE ENGLISH CHRONICLERS. 19 rtion of snts, but ig it to w, what iingenu- are, anr) 1 person sertion ? ibject by lid have rht from J of mak- when be cd Sebas- cent, but )m which crybody's iristopher ^Tenoa in- i Biddle's porary in lie, reject- owley as arnt that not from the ar- writers, on aeems s on the lore diffi- Voyofjrii 1582, in- tlan Cabot, y, referrint! pe was ring- serted a memoir which he preceded with a notice that it was "taken out of an okl chronicle written by Robert Fabyan, some time Alderman of London, which is in the custody of John Stowe, citizen, a diligent searcher and preserver of an- tiquities."* Tlie Memoir begins thus : This yeare (1498) the King (by lueanes of a Venitian .... caused to man and victuall a shippe."t The same author subsequently published his great col- lection of all tlie navigations and voyages of discovery made by the English in general : {.,nd in the second edition, pub- lished from 1598 to 1600, inserting the same passage taken from Stow where at first he simply had "by meanes of a Ven- etian," now says, "by meanes of one Tohu Caboto, Venetian ;" that is, instead of the vague indication of nationality, it de- termines tlie name and surname of tliat Venetian. Had Hak- luyt inadvertently omitted that name in the first collection, or did lie bodly insert it of his own head in the second ? Let us delay answering this question for a moment. Stow's collection was also published after his death, and tliere we find the same narrative precisely as it is given by Hakluyt ; but in the single point where the two editions differ as we have pointed out, Stow's collection is at variance with both. It says : "This yeare one Sebastian Gavoto a Genoas Sonne borne in Bristow . . caused the king to man . . .";{: It is clear that the original account of the old chronicle has been falsified. By whom ? Before answering, let me briefiy recall to the reader's memory who Hakluyt and Stow were, for a knowledge of their persons and characters may aid us to take a few steps in the obscurity of this question. * It is useless to go into the question wliether the chronicle from wliich Stow obtained this extract really belonged to Robert Fubyan or not. For information on that point the reader is referred to the defence made by H. Ilarrisse (1. c.) against Biddle (Memoir, 1. c). What is important is to know that it was very old, and the source of the narrative is contemporary with the navigation of which it treats. As to this all agree, t See App. viii, X See App. ix. 20 THE LIFE OF JOHN CABOT. 'mm ■ Richard Hakluyt, born about 1553, and deceased in 1C16, was the greatest writer and collector of memoirs relatinjr to the voyages and navigations ot discovery made by the Eng- lish in the northern seas. Learned in ancient and modern languages, professor of naval history, in active correspond- ence with Ortelius, Mercator, and all the principal mathema- ticians and astronomers that could aid him by their learning, he was the highest authority in England on mat- ters of navigation, and not only individuals, but cities and navigation societies applied to him for advice. As to his collection, it is still amongst the best, not of England only, but of the whole world. The appreciation of the English for this collection, especially of navigators and discoverers, is shown by the facts that in his life-time Bylot, who had Baffin for his pilot, gave the name of Hakluyt to an island in Baffin's Bay; Hudson whose name is borne by the great in- land sea of North America, called a cape of Spitzberg after Hakluyt whilst he was still living ; and finally during his life- time also, a river discovered by English navigators in 1611 near Petschora was called by his name.* . John Stow was born of poor parents about 1525, and brought up to the tailor's trade. For forty years his life was passed among needles and thread, but in the few leisure hours which his trade allowed him he had always been a fond reader of legends, chronicles, histories, and all that told of the times that were past. By such reading he grew to be so attached to old memoirs that when about 40 years of age, he threw down his needle, devoted himself to collecting them and followed his new profession with the fuith and enthu- siasm of an apostle. Short of means, he made long journeys afoot to hunt over and ransack colleges and monasteries, and no matter how worn and torn might be the rags of old papers which he found, he kept all, reviewing, connecting, copying, comparing, annotating with truly wonderful ability and good sense. Arrived at fourscore years, and no longer capa- ♦ Hakluyt Island in Baffin's Bay is at 77" 25' N. and 64° 20' W.— Cape Hak- luyt lies in 79° 47' N. and 60° 51' E. THE ENGLISH CHKONICLKRS. 21 blo of earning a livolihood, ho applied to the king, and .James I, consenting to his petition, granted to the man who had saved treasures of memoirs for EngHsh history, the fa- vor of wearing a beggar's garb and asking ahns at church- doors ! In this abject state, forgotten and despised, he died two y«ars later in 1G()5.* Which of the two would be likely to lay his rash hands on the old chronicle attributed to Fabyan, the learned Hakluyt, or the devoted Stow ? — Both ; and each in good conscience according to the different point of view from which he re- garded the matter. Let us begin with Stow. It must be re- membered that Sebastian Cabot's fame always stood high in England, but precisely because his splendor was so great, it al- most eclipsed the name of -John, his fatlier. Even now we see English writers remarking the fact, that many do not even know that there were two (-abots and the glory of their dis- coveries is divided between them and not given all to Se- bastian. f Would it be a hazardous supposition that Stow, like so many others, confounded the two persons under one name ? I cannot believe so, when I reflect that he was running here and there in search of old papers and memoirs among moth- eaten rubbish and on dusty shelves; and that the name of John Cabot, after all the search that can be made, only appears in England in the royal patents of Henry VII, and carefully preserved and guarded in the state records, to which the learned and famous Hakluyt could have free access, but the poor and despised Stow would not have had if he had asked it, which he certainly did not. Stow, then, had before him an old account of a discovery made by the English in the time of Henry VII, under the lead of a foreigner, whose name and surname were not given. John 8tiype, Life of John Slow, London, 1720. f "Familiar as is the name of Cubot to ail who are acquainted with the his- tory of maritime discovery, it is not, perhap.s, so generally known that there are twoof the name, John and his more celebnited son Sebastian, between whom the credit of the discovery loosely attributed to 'Cabot' must be divided." Edward Clienev, Notices concerning John Cabot and his son Sebastian, Preface, London, 1856. \>>m 99 THE LIFE OF JOHN CABOT. That they were not given is not a supposition, but an assertion, and this is its basis. In the British Museum, among the manuscripts of the Cotton collection, there is an old anonymous chronicle which relates the same fact which Stow has given us under the name of Robert Fabyan.* Now the two chronicles are so completely alike, not only in the sub- stance of the fact, but in the language almost word for word, as to prove without any restriction that they are both from the same source. The reader may satisfy himself of this with his own eyes by turning to them in the Appendix and com- paring them one with theother.f But the Cotton manuscript, in the place where Stow has put Sebastian Cabot, says simply "a stranger Venetian." As the account which Stow gives us under the name of Fabyan agrees with that in the Cotto- nian collection in every thing else, it should also on this point. If any extrinsic proof were needed to confirm the justness of this reasoning, we have such proof in Hakluyt's account as he gives it in his first collection where he puts simply "a Vene- tian," as does the anonymous writer in the Cottonian col- lection. But Hakluyt got his account from Stow ; therefore the memoir furnished by the tailor had in the original the words "a stranger Venetian." How then did Stow, when in- serting this memoir in his collection, come to make so ma- terial an alteration? Harrisse has pointed out how it must have occurred. Stow, in his collection, immediately after the frag- ment of which we are speaking and which was taken from Robert Fabyan's chronicle, inserts another fragment from Humphrey Gilbert's discour.se, in which Sebastian Cabot m.: i [i,.. ' * It hears the title : "Clironicon reruin A.ngliae et series maiorum et vice- comitum civitatis London ab anno primo Henrici tertii ad annum primum Hen- rici B." Tlie writing belongs to llie first years of Honry VII. See Harrisse, 1. c. p. 33. f "Les premieres llgnes rappellent tropi' extraitde Fabyan telquelledonne Ilaliluyt dans son edition de 1583 pour ne pas y voir le prototype du recit attribu6 au digne Alderman (K. Fabyan) Harrisse, p. 33—34. And further on : "Les mots . . . dans 1' extrait du manuscrit cottonien et dans celui de Robert Fabyan tel quel le rapportent John Stow et Richard Hakluyt, obligent !a critique d. reconnaitre que ces trois extraita se ressemblent trop pour ne pas provenir de la mSme source."— See and compare App. vii— viii— ix. THE ENGLISH CHRONICLERS. 23 but an [useum, there is !t which * Now tlie suh- or word, ith from his with Lud com- iiuscript, s simply 3W gives he Cotto- iiis point, istness of ceount as "a Vene- nian col- therefore ginal the ■um et vice- rimum Hen- arrisse.l. c. is spoken of and mention made of an English expedition led hy him to the north-west in the time of Henry YII: thiit is to say, to the same place and at the same time as the voy- age related by Fabyan.* Stow supposed the two writers were speaking of the same expedition : and as Fabyan says that the expedition was led by a foreigner from Venice, and Sir Humphrey gave the command to Sebastian Cabot, he at once concluded that Fabyan's "stranger Venetian" was the person named by Humphrey Gilbert ; and to make Fabyan's account clearer, in place of slramjcr he gave the name of Sebastian Ca- bot. This substitution made, it was a natural consequence that the word Voietiau should give place to the expression "a Genoas sonne borne in Bristow ;" for Stow treats of Se- bastian Cabot on another occasion, and that is when relating the expedition of Sir Hugh Willoughby, encouraged and undertaken at his instance. In relating this fact he follows the account of Crowley who, as we have seen, says Sebastian Cabot was " borne at Bristowe, but a Genoways sonne. " These words, by a natural association of ideas, would occur to Stow's mind when inserting the name of Sebastian Cabot in the ex- pedition related by Fabyan, and as ho had inserted them on Crowley's authority in the expedition of 1553, he again sub- stitutes them for the "stranger Venetian" in the expedition narrated by Fabyan. f Let us come now to Hakluyt. The memoir which he had from Stow was undoubtedly as we find it in Stow's collection ; that is, the voyage of which it speaks is attributed to Sebastian Cabot " a Genoa's sonne." This is evident from the lieading prefixed to the n^nnoir in every edition of Hakluyt, which is : "A note of Sebastian Cabot's first discoverie taken out of a chronicle by Robert Fabyan until now unpublished, in the custodie of John Stow, a diligent preserver of antiquities.":}: These words are in open • See App. ix. 2nd Part. t . . . . Stow cherchant tl remedier au vague de 1' expression "a Venetian" et voyant par Humphrey Gilbert (qu'il cite immediatment apris, ) que la decouverte etait attribuee a Sebastien Cabot, petit alois avoir pris snr lui d' interpoler le passage de Fabyan, et ajoule les mots "flla de Genois" empruutes a Crowley. Harrisse, p. 33. t See App. viii. 24 THE LIFE OF JOHN CABOT. contradiction with the narrative given by Hakluyt. In fact, in his first collection ho says the expedition was led by "a stranger Venetian"; in the subsequent, he gives the command to "Jolni Cabot Venetian." The heading tlien is not Hakluyt's. but Stow's. If Stow put Sebastian - Cabot's name in tlie heading why would ho not insert it in the body of th(^ narrative ? He did so in his collection. And then Ilakluyt must have again altered the memoir received from Stow. But why ? and on what grounds ? For it is absurd to suppose that a man like Ilakluyt would make history follow his caprice. Hakluyt had gone deeper than any other Englishman into tho history of those navigations and he knew from other indisputable documents which ho handled, read, studied, collated, with the greatest care and honesty, that tho author of the voyage related in that fragment was not Sebastian Ca- bot, and therefore there was certainly an error in tho name. What could he do ? What any one else would have done in tho same case ; that is, ask to see the original to be sure whether it was correctly copied. And when he saw that the original had "a stranger Venetian," he replaced in his col- lection the true reading of the text. The reading he gives agrees so well with the chronicle in the Cottonian collection that it seems to me certain that he has given the true reading of the text which Stow possessed. Afterwards, when revising his work for a second collection, he must have believed he would help the reader's understanding of the story by inserting the name of the "stranger Venetian," by which addition, without violating the truth of the text, ho only rendered clearer the general expression of the chron- icler. And ho did so. But why when he corrected Stow's error in the body of the narrative, did he leave it untouched in the heading? Because this was not of the slightest importance in his collection, and therefore he paid no attention to it, but left it as ho found it. If others prefer to suppose that Stow only changed tho heading, but loft the text unaltered, it turns out still better. The testimony of Stow thus falls to the ground, deprived of all historical support : and with it falls every argument VENETIAN NATTTUALIZATION. 25 In fact, id hy "a onnnand lakluyt's, e in the ly of tlio Ilakluyt )in Stow. > suppose is caprice, man into om other ,, studied, lie author astian Ca- tlic name. ;e done in ;o be sure w that the n his col- he gives collection le reading cction, he standing '^cnetian," the text, le chron- s error in ed in the Drtance in t, but left tow only turns out 'M for the opinion that would make John Cabot n Genoese. Then it only remains for history to go back and call him v. Ve- netian, as at fir.st, by virtue of the citizenship obtained from Venice. But does his obtaining this citizenship prevent us iVoMi believing that he may have been Venetian also })y hirtii ? Ilarrisse answers that it is absolutely impossible for us to do so : and in sui)port of iiis answer brings a decree made by the Ke[)ublic of Venice in KilS. "This year," says one historian, "extending the privilege! of the ancient Vene- tian Dogoatc, it was decreed that whoever, born witliin the tract from Grado to (/'avar/erc, had lived with a fixed resi- dence in those lands, should be a citizen of the one and the other class."* Now, says Ilarrisse, if John ('al)ot had been born in any part of the Duchy, by force of this decree, from the fact of his birth, he would h.ave been a Venetian citizen. If, then, he applied for naturalization, it means that ho came from outside of the Duchy. f The reasoning of the learned American would be unanswerable if the decree he brings forward had possessed in the legislator's mind, and in fact, the perpetual force of law. But in my opinion it is not so. To mo that decree was a purely transitory arrangement by which the right of Venetian citizenship was offered to all who at the time of its publication were already born within the limits of the republic and had a permanent residence there. It has nothing to do with later times. The laws of Venice on this subject of citizenship of foreigners underwent so many and such frequent changes in the XIV and XV centuries that it can excite no wonder if we give a general law like this only temporary force and effect. Let the reader see a specimen of this facility of change, and then judge whether it is as I claim, or not. — In 1305, it was decreed that all children of lawful wedlock domiciled in Venice for 25 years should be counted as Venetian citizens.;]: * Vettor Sandi, Sttrria Civile della Bepubblica di F^nezta l.iii. lib. vi, cap, 2, p. 345. t Jean et SebaMian Cabot. 1. c. t Vettor SaDdi. Prindpii di Storia civile della Repubblica di Venezia. T. i, lib. iv, cap. v, p. 813. Cristoforo Tettori, Saggio della Storia civile della Sepubblica di Venezia, T. i, p. 102. '■'\n 20 THE LIFE OF JOHN CAnOT. J illllilji; mm\ In 1348, after the grcnt pln^iK'oftlmt your, nil forei^iiora wcm'c declared citizens if tlitiy wero miiiricd and Mettled in the circle of the city with their family for two yearH.* In 18!»1, llicir liherality waa unlimited. It wan decreed tiuit any foreigner coming to dwell with his family in Venice had only to l)i' inscrihed in the registers of the purveyor of the Ivcpuhlic in order to acquire at once all the rights of a (citizen. f In 1107. following another plague, the title of citizen was granted to any foreigner who would nnirry a Venetian woman and come and settle in Venice. ;}; After 1407 there is no record of any change, hut it is certain that there was a change, for the citizenship granted to John Cahot imposes conditions ditlerent from those re- quired hy the laws just mentioned. And if I am right, this change was made and fixed by the veiy decree of August, 1472, under which citizenship was conferred on Lodovico Fontana. Let the reader judge from tlie beginning of that decree. "Nicolo Trono, — By the grace of God, Doge of Venice etc. "To all and singular the friends and lieges etc. "By the present writing we wish to make known to you that amongst the i hough ts which we revolve in our mind, one of the principal is that of treating with great care the ati'airs of our subjects and devoted lieges, and securing their advantage. This adds to the splendor of our authority and our lieges, seeing our solicitude- for them, are strengthened and increased in their loyalty and devotion to us. Therefore wishing to reward their merits by favors, we have determined to estfililish as follows : * That any one who has resided for 15 years or upwards uninterruptedly in Venice and during this period borne the burdens and imposts of our government, shall be henceforth our Venetian citizen ; and for ever and everywhere enjoy the privilege of Venetian citizenship and all other benefits, liber- * Sandi, ib. T. ii, p. 814. f Marco Ferro, Dizionario del Diritto comune e Veneto, Tomo iii, p. 189. t Sandi, ib. T. Ill, lib. vi, cap. 2, p. 345.— Tettori. Ib. T. 1, p. 108,— Cecchetti, II Doge di Venezia, Vcnczia, 1864, in 8vo. p. 246. f HIS ATTACIIMKNT TO VENICE. 27 ties, and immunitios possosaod und t'lijoyed by other Venetlnns and our citizens. And us Luij,^ Fontanu, formerly from Her- giiuio, is shown to have resided 15 years we receive him as a Venetian and our citizen."* 'llie first part of this decree has nothing to do with any iiiirticular person, but it is wholly impersonal. A general 1m w is established applying to all who come under its con- ditions. Wj have then a real change of the former laws : the Venetian method of conferring citizenship starts here on a new path. In fact, the naturalization of Fontana is based on the fact (iiat he comes under the ctmditions established in the first part of the decree. — For all the others that come after him the chancellor says : Simile primkgivrn factv,ia fvU in favor of such and such a one, that is, it is shown that such a one had the requisites set forth in the tirst part of the decree, and there- fore was admitted to Venetiar. citizenship. — It is consequently by the rule of this decree alone that the question of John Cabot must bo decided ; previous laws have nothing to do with his case. Hut as regards the more registering of this decree when the chancellor signed each case of naturalization, there is a variation in the registers, which I do not think was accidental, but if I am right, may 1 ave an important bearing on the present (luestion. The chancellor of the Duchy registered the whole of the decree of August 11, 1472, in favor of Lodovico Vontanii from Bergcnno, in the lengthy formula used in Chan- cery, with all the details of the requisites, burdens, rights, etc., which had to precede or followed naturalization. After Fon- tana, the chancellor gives the names of 16 others on whom citizenship was conferred under the same conditions, but in these cases, instead of repeating the decree each time, he says simply. "Simile privilegium factum fuit provide viro etc.,"such a year. Now of these sixteen, he sometimes mentions the foreign country from which they came, as was done in Fontana's case ; and sometimes not. Why this difference? It cannot be said that the chancellor began in one manner, and then for brevity's sake ♦See App. ii. 28 THE LIFE OF JOHN CABOT. i ■ I followed the other ; for the two manners intersect one an- other ; after five with the name of the country comes onj v.ith- out it: then two with, and then others again without: the la.st is given again with the name of tho country. I regard this as indicating that those without any name of country were sons offoreigners, but born in Venice. Finally I add — and if the argument by itself and unsupported is a weak one, it must, I think, have great weight preceded as we have seen by so many inductive reasons — I a Id that tlie little which we know of John Cabot shows him so bound in affection to Venice, that I cannot imagine him otherwise than as born, growing, and brought up amidst the memories of the glories of the Queen ofthe Adriatic. Forso, even from liis earliest years as a suckling in his mother's arms he hears Venice talked of; the first conceptions of power, greatness, glory that are presented to his fancy, are of Venice: the first impressions deep stamped on his tender heart, come from Venice. As his in- fant mind gradually opens at school to the first rays of reason, and as his maturer fancy spreads over newer and vaster hori- zons it is always in the greatness and glory of Venice that his spirit moves and is nourished as he learns how far she sends her fleets, whence she draws her wealth, and how great is the number of her ships, her forts, and her soldiers. And the stories that could not fail to be told of so many Venetian travellers, continually passing over unknown lands and seas, opening new regions to men's knowledge, must have kindled his fancy, not with the delight of mere curiosity and wonder, but with the enthusiasm of patriotic sentiment. In Venice he passes these happy years when life seems all to smile ; at Venice the seal of love is stamped on his heart, and he forms a family, and feels for the first time the rapture of being called father. His firct labors are for Venice and with Venetians, the ships ho goes aboard of, the wares he buys and sells, the ports he sails to, the merchants he talks with, everything speaks to him of Venice. So I can conceive how such a man led by the circum- stances of life to betake himself elsewhere, carries ever witli him the image of his dear cit3% always present in his thought, THE COMMERCE OF VENICE. 29 always fixed in his heart : and on the day when he too shall place liis signature on the great hook of fame, he will wish with the sweet tenderness of a son that by the side of his name shnll also he written that of his native land. Such was, so acted John Cabot. When in 1497 he took possession of the new land he had discovered, he raised there the banner of En^dand in whose name he took possession, but together with that ho would have the flag of Venice also raised in triumph. Why so ? Venice had taken no part whatever in fitting out thatcxpedition, it could make not the least claim to the rights or profits of that land, for ho sailed in tlie name of England, for the sole profit and advantage of England. Why then join to the banner of St. George that of St. Mark ? There could be only one reason, to birid the name of his native land to the glory of that discovery. And who else could feel in his heart this need — I say delil)erately need, for there are moments when attachment to one's ])irth-place so fills the heart with emotion that it must have vent in a record, a word, or a sigh — who else but one who was Venetian in mcdiMis et visceribus f vm CHAPTER IT. i Venice — ftn relations witli FjiKjlaiid — Voijni/CH of the iieople of the north in the No>iJi.ScaH — Yoidh of John Cabot — Ilia Endow- mcnts of vhind and heart. Proceeding in our narrative, we continue in the dark : and having no direct hght, it will be well to make our way a little clearer by what we can gain from a knowledge of Venice and its condition at the time of which we are treating. The fall of Constantinople into the hands of the Turks had been a fearful blow to the power and greatness of Venice ; l)Ut the blow was still too recent for its effects to be fully seen and felt : so that she still went on glorious and powerful in 30 THE LIFE OF JOHN CABOT. u 'I the richness of her commerce. Alone of all states she had re- lations and treaties with every part of the known world; there was no sea unknown to her vessels, no region not reached l»y her wares. From the English and Russians in the extreme north to the Moors, Hindoos, Tartars, and Mongols in the furthest lands of the east and south, the earth was all overrun as with a net of roadways over which Venice sent and le- ceived her merchandise and merchants. Every year, as soon as spring brought back the favorable season, an immense caravan of ships and merchants, partly on state, and partly on private account, sailed from Venice to spread over the east and the west, and everywhere they found their own consuls, privileges, warehouses, even in Siain and Cambodia. On their arrival they found the wares and products of other peoples and other lands ready and waiting to be embarked on the ships of the Venetians, rnd 'th and l)y them to be distributed amongst the nations '1 , ^.-s the com- merce of every people jjassed through the hands of Venice, she furnished all the markets, to her flowed in the wealth of all na- tions.* ' ■ ' ' " -■• . -^. ^>■v>" ■ >.:-"■■■,/ -.^ v.,,^ In a city where public and private life found the greatest opening for their activity and energy in commerce and navi- gation, it is natural that we should find the most diligent ami devoted cultivators of geography. After Marco Polo, justly named the Christopher Columbus of the eastern regions of Asi.i. Venice presents us a series of voyagers and geographers, not less wonderful for their number, considering the times, tln.n for the intrinsic value of their voyages and labors. In the half of the XIV century, Marin Sanudo, the elder, made • voyages to Cyprus, Armenia, Alexandria, Rhodes, Ptoun, he visited Slavonia, Germany, Flanders, Alsace, Franco ; . wonderful extent of country and peoples to one who thinks of the condition of the roads in those days, and the difficulty and danger of communication between different countries. He has left us a valuable book of his travels, rich in notes and obser- vations, on the customs, laws, and condition of the different na- * Romauin./S^ona IJocum. iii. 7. VENICE IN THE XIV. AND XV. CENTURIES. 31 le had re- )rld ; there 3ached l)y e extreme ols in the 11 overrun nt and le- favorable its, partly Venice to hero they ni in Si a in wares and waiting to th and by ,-s the coiu- k'^'enice, she h of all na- le greatest and navi- ligent aiul 'olo, justly nisof Asia, pliers, not nies, tlu.n n the aad«_ toi.^-i ranee ; < thinks of culty and s. Hohns nd obsei- erent na- tions he visited, and he added maps representing the Medi- terranean, the sea with the continent, the Holy Land, Egypt, etc.* The following century saw first the two brothers Nicolas and Antony Zeno coursing, bold navigators and explorers, over the unknown seas of the north-we.st of Europe; and next Luigi dii Mosto opening new paths to navigation in the dreaded seas of the African coast ; while Nicholas de' Conti labored for more than 20 years to penetrate and explore regions of Asia, either wliolly unknown, or known only by name. And whilst these and many others — whom it would take too long to mention •ill — were furnishing by their reports a precious treasure of jiew information about peoples, places, products, other Vene- tians, at home, in the silence of their libraries, were studying to improve and multiply maps and geographical charts, from the Portolan of the Genoese Visconti, executed at Venice in 1318 to the marvellous planisphere of Fra Mauro completed about 1470. The brothers Pizzagano published in 1357 a Map of the world as then known ; Marco Trevisani in 1378 gave a sort ot ('osmography in six books; 1426 beheld the hydro-geograph- ieal charts of Giacomo dei Giraldi; 1430 those so celebrated of Andrea Bianco : and eight years later, in 1444 Pietro Versi pul)li^^hed his Raxoti.de' Afarinicri, followed by his Ilaxon de Martuloio per namgnre a mcnte.f Thus the name of Venice was sounded throughout Europe, not only as the greatest emporium of commerce, but also as the iir.st school of geographical knowledge. Thither flocikcd Flem- ings, Portuguese, Germans, foreigners of every nation, to learn of Venetian masters mathematics and navigation, the arts of cartography and map-coloring. In the judgment of Karl Hitter, Albert Durer owes mainly to his studies in Venice the •Ai^ostiiii Scrittori Venezinni. 1 , 440. Tlie title of the book is "Liber Secretorum Fiik'liuin Cnicis super terrae siinoltie rcenperfitione." It-s aim was, as the title indicates, to arouse Cbristemloin to an energetic crusade, sliowing how to conduct it, the roads to follow, the places to attack, products, populations, etc. IRomauin, St. Locum, ill. 7.— iv. 450 1^ 32 THE LIFE OP JOHN CAROT. wonderful ability shown in his geographical drawings.* It is my conviction, as I have already said, that it was in these schools tliat the young John Cabot was brought up to know and love the sea, and that the education there received found its necessary coniplenient in practical life amongst tlic bold youths who made the name of Venice feared and re- spected in ever}'- land and on every sea. But too great ob- scurity shrouds the view, and we can only follow him in im- agination in the dauntless activity of big youth in which he was training for the great enterprises he carried out in his man- hood. The only mention of him that we find in this first period of his life, is made by Don Raimondo da Soncino in his letter to the Duke of Milan, in which he relates that John "^abot Lold him "that he had formerly been in Mecca where :,nces are brought by caravans from distant countries, and when those that brought them were asked where tlie spices grew, they replied that they did not know, but these goods were brought to their country from far-off lands by other caravans who said they had been brought to them from regions still more reniote."f These words, few as they are, give us an indi- cation of the extent of his commercial navigations, and a sure proof of his desire to look l)cyond the horizon which bounded the navigation and commerce of that time. From this extreme limit of the Venetian commercial world at the end of the Red Sea, history to find John Cabot again takes us Avith a rebound to the opj^osite extremity in the seas of the North to the ports of England. There were very extensive com- mercial relations between Groat Britain and Venice, and even in tlie first half of the XIV century wo find mention of Vene- tian embassies to the rulers of those islands for extending and securing that trade. ;{: There was in England a flourishing col- ony governed in a rcpul)lican form by its own consuls and a council of merchants, among whom were many patricians of * Die Enlkunde iin Verliillmisse zur Natiir timl Goscliicbtc des Mcnscliens, Berlin, 1832-54. t See App. xiii. By Mecca w; England then came last of maritime nations, and was wlmlly without the circle of the enterprises in which the activity of the Fortunuese was exercised. But the report of what was doing in the southern seas had a s[)ecial effect on the fancy of the few seamen who wandered about the j)orts of England, owing to the memory preserved in their traditions of similar attempts ♦Agoslino Siii,nedo, in Ravvdoii Brown's " Pielimiiiury note to the records [of Venice," ISC'!. f"Set)astiano Oiiboto mi ilissi! clii; scndosi partito suo padre da Vcnc-zia giil Imnlti anni et nndato a stare- in Ii)uiiilltrr;i a far iiU'rcaiitiL'." Uanuiiiio. See rAiip, xix.— And Lorenzo I'asqnaligo, "e con so nio!:('r venitiana, u co so floli [a liiisio." See App xi. t The reader will perceive that T allude to the Genoese Antonio Usodimnre and |lie Vi'netiaii Lidsti Cadamosio. lo whom is due the discovery of the Cnpe ^cnli! Ul mds, wliioh at, this time wa** thi most important result that had heen cUievud hy the expeditions promoted '"V I'riiic Henry. .-is S4 THE LIFE OF JOHN CABOT. by their fathers long before in the seas of the North. The fame of the achievements in the southern seas must more than ever re- new this recollection and stimulate by example to beginning again the interrupted work with greater vigor. For us the memory of those traditions starts some years later, but there can be no doubt that the English mariners had always a more or less lively remembrance of them as a matter closely in- teresting their imagination and pride, for the more backward a people is in civilization the more tenacious it is of its oral traditions, and because in the poverty of relations with other countries in which England then was there could be no more acceptable subject of conversation to seamen. If in the course of time this remembrance faded and was even lost, it was pre- cisely because more recent voyages and discoveries furnished vaster and pleasanter themes for their discourse, and the faint remembrance of ancient deeds is obscured by the splendor of fresher achievements until by historical research or chance is restored to the light of day what had long lain buried in profound obscurity. Let the reader recall to his memory the adven+"TT.iia life of the Normans, or Northmen, who, sustained by the doctrine of Woden promising Paradise to those slain by hostile steel, issu- ing with savage boldness from their native shores of Jutland or Scandinavia, plouglicd the seas of the north with their little fleets, and threw themselves now on this land now on that, rob- bing and devastating everywhere. On one of these excursions in 861, Nadod, one of their pirates, driven by the fury of the winds and tempests to a frightful distance northwards, dis- covered Iceland.* A colony was at once settled in the new land and continued in these new seas the same bold course as they had followed in those of their mother country. The same chance which occurred to Nadod in 861, was often repeated in coimection with other lands. In this manner one * Some indentify Iceland with the Thiile of the ancients ; others regard Tlnile as Mainland, tlie central island of the Orcades, unwilling to believe lliat the ancipnts ventured so far north in their voyages. But even admitting tlmt the ancients knew of Iceland, that covdd have had no material influence on Nadod's discovery, all trace of it having been lost. THE DISCOVERY OF GREENLAND. 35 Erik Raude (Erik the Red) in 983 touched the eastern shore of Greenland at <^bout 64° of Latitude, and coasting around its southern extremity (Cape Farewell) he went on to establish himself in the gulf and i^ord of Igaliko on the western coast.* A colony started here in 985. Sailing thither in the next year young Bjarn, son of Herjulf one of the founders of the colony, was driven from his course by a furious storm accompanied with cloudy darkness. When after a few days the sea was again calm and the sky clear he found himself in front of a different land from the one he was seeking. There are various opinions as to what precise land it was, but it was cer- tainly a part of North America. Numerous colonists flocked thither from Greenland, and seem to have increased in popula- tion and prosperity.! But Greenlaiil, which is represented as then blessed with a habitable climate, afterwards, from causes not yet well explained, became unhabitable for its severe cold and eternal frost. :j: From this cause, and from the loss of the fierce energy of the old Normans, every bond with the old world was broken, and even the memory of it vvas lost, so much so that when, at the end of the XV and in the XVI century, new expeditions from Europe reached its shores, every one believed that they were then first brought to the sight of white men. And but for the minute scrutiny of recent historical criticism, which from the slight- est indication, can extract materials for rebuilding the past, nothing would be known of those old adventures. But if all memory of them was lost to history, it is certain that in the tales and fancy of the mariners descended from those old Normans, there must have remained some recollection, even though wrapped up in legends. And the seamen of Eng- land were the descendants of the Normans. This is all the more likely if we consider that from time to time similar cases to that of the Normans were happening, of ships driven from their course by the wind and cast on distant shores lost in the Ocean's immensity. It will suffice to mention the case of An- tonio Zeno, whose being driven by storm on a little island lost ^1 •G. Gravier, ib. c. iv \'Id. ib. c. V. t Id. P. iii. Ch. i 36 THE LIFE OP JOHN CABOT. :!.:^ lp!l:jfl in the middle of the ocean, became the occasion of the fa- mous voyages of himself and liis l)rother in the northern seas. He went again to where the tempest had driven him, and re- lated his adventures, and voyages, and his and his brother's deeds and bravery are known to the whole civilized world. But who shall say how many other mariners that are un- known may have been in the same case and were afterwards unable to regain their accustomed harbors and describe to their comrades the fearful sliores they had seen ? Moreover Iceland certainly retained the memory of the old Norman voyages and discoveries in the Eddaa, religious songs of its bards, and the Sogas, the traditional legends of its people. Some like memory of them must have been preserved in England. At the tale of the Portuguese voyages and discoveries in the southern seas these traditions would naturally bo illuminated with un- usual splendor to the mind of the English mariners, and strongly attract them to tempt again the unknown regions of the northern seas so bravely and fortunately sailed over by their ancestors. It v/Rs under the impulse of these examples and appeals, that in H80 the citizens of Bristol launched a small ship, and giving the command to the ablest seaman they had, sent it west of Iceland in search of the island of Brazil.* The expedition lasted two months, from July 15 to Sep- tember 18, and returned without any result. The failure of this expedition seems to have destroyed all their courage for a new attempt ; for the Spanish ambassador, writing to his king of the discovery by ('abot, and mentioning the other attempts made some years before by the men of Bristol begin- *"I480diejullijnavis . . .et. . . J()h(ann)is.Tay iunioiisponderis SOdoliorum inceperunt viagiutn apud portnm Bristolliic de Kyngrode usque ad iusulam (iu Brasylle iu occidentali parte Hibernice, sulcando maria per et .... Tblyde est magister scientiflcus mariuarius tocius AngliiE, et nova veneruiit Bristollise die luna; 18 die septembris, quod dicta navis velaverunt maria per circa 9 (sic) menses nee invenerunt insulam sed per tempcstiis maria revcisi sunt usque portnm. ... in Hibernia pro reposicione navis et mariniorum." Itinerarium Willelmi Botoner, diet de Worcestre, ms. in the Library of Hie College of Corous Ciirisli at Cambridge. From Harrisse, Jean et Sebastien Cabot, p. 44. HIS EARLY LIFE. 37 the fa- ll seas, iiul re- :otlier's world, are un- arwards to their Icelaiul voyaj^es ,rds, and line hkc i. At the southern with un- Liers, and 'Cgions of Lied over appeals, ship, and 1(1, sent it nin^in 1491, gives all the merit of them, or rather throws all the l)lame of them according to his view, on John Cahot.* At tliis point we feel more strongly the importance of knowing what man Cabot was, and how prepared for the dirticultics and dangers of tlie new path : but he is still sur- rounded by the obscurity of night. Wo must be content with the few marks saved from time's destroying work, and by their aid represent to our mind approximately whflt he must have ])eeii. Wo have seen at Mecca he first showed his in- terest in voyages and discoveries by his inquiries from the merchants of the east. The information then gathered we shall find him putting to use after many years, and drawing from it arguments lO support his calculations and determine the cour.so he should pursue to su(!ceed in his discoveries. This activity of his mind in collecting on all sides proofs and prob- ahih'ties for the plans he was meditating, is evidence that he was not an adventurer driven by accident to the career of discovery : but an acute and calculating mind ever intent on seeing and providing for his needs. Soncino calls him "a dis- tinguished mariner v/ith gtcai ability in discovering new isl- ands;! of? fine genius well skilled in navigation. ;{:" The charts and spheres composed by him are also mentioned by Soncino,§ and by the Spanish ambassador Pedro de Ayala ;|| the Cot- tonian Manuscript in the British Museum ;!" and the contem- porary chronicler Robert Fabyan, or whoever may have been the author of that chronicle."** Few as these data are, they show that when John Cabot started on his voyages of discovery, he had acquired not only a long experience of sea life, but also a broad and deep prep- Ms ^■. K 1 -1- , r * We shall speak of them presently. + See App. xii. X See App. xiii. j^ " Messer Zoanne ha la descriptlone del moudo in una carta e anchc In una sphera solida che lui a fatto." lb. xiii. II Ayala, App. xiii. " lo he visto la carta que ha fecho el inventador la carta o mupa mundi que este ha fecho." f "A stranger Venetian, which by a cart made himself expert In Knowing of the world." App. vii. ** "A Venetian, which made himself very expert and cunning in Knowledge of the circuit of the worlde and ilandes of the same as by a carde .... he shewed." App. viii. 38 THE LIFE OP JOHN CABOT. tl m aration of mind for the wants and requirements of his new career. He was poor : Raimondo da Soncino tells us so expressly ;* and even without his testimony, we should have inferred it with certainty from the gift of £ 10 which the King of Eng- land made him after his discovery : for although Henry VII was miserly beyond all belief, such a present would not bo made to one who was not obliged to count his pennies in order to live.f In this condition, " a stranger and poor," as Soncino calls him, what hardships of toil, journeys, and repulses, must he have endured before he found any one to listen to him and advance the means and necessary aid to carry out his idea of sailing for new discoveries ! The dispatch of Ayala gives us a slight opening through which we catch a glimpse of the long and thorny road he must have travelled before he reached the goal. "He has been," says the dispatch, "in Seville and Lisbon trying to get some one to help him in this discovery. " ;{: The words are few, but indicate a great deal. Let us recall the life that Christopher Columbus had to lead before he found any one to listen to him ; and our imagination will be able to depict the vast and sad field of the toils and disappointments of John Cabot. It nowhere appears whether his journeys to Spain and Portugal were before or during his attempts with the citi- zens of Bristol, and, all data wanting, it is useless to put for- ward suppositions. Of his moral qualities, we can only speak of his great generosity of heart, shown by freely bestowing on his friends and those who had aided him the benefits which in his enthusiasm he hoped to gain by his discovery.§ If in this distribution vanity at finding himself elevated by his dis- covery to so great importance in the eyes of all had some little part, there still is shown a great depth of kindness which prevents his shutting himself up in the haughty pride of his greatness, but makes him invite his friends and companions to share his triumph. * See App. ziii. f See ch. v. uear the end. X -^PP- x^i. § App. xiii. f mSCOVEHY OP NKWFOI'NDLAND. m In the extreme dearth of inl'ornuition concerning the moral and intellectual endowments of John Oabot, and his whole life in general, it is a comfort to see that all speak of him favor- ably, and every break in the thick darkness enveloping him either shows us a trait of his genius and energy, or some proof of his goodness of lieart. CHAPTER III The first J HKcovenf of 1494. The Spanish Ambassador, Ayala, wrote to his government in July 1498: "for seven years past, the people of Bristol, in- cited by the fancies of this Genoese, have furnished two, three, or four caravels each year to go in search of the islands of Brazil and the Seven Cities."* We have seen that the per- son indicated by Ayala under the name of Genoese was John Cabot. These few words are all the mention that has reached us ot the first steps of our navigator in his career of discovery. It only remains then for us to consider what efforts he must have made to induce the people of Bristol to follow him again ni his attempts at discovery and his energy in keeping them firm to the trial after repeated failures, Ayala's words tell us clearly that the sole object of his voy- age from the first was to find one of the islands said to be scat- tered in the Ocean, and which for so many years had excited the fancy ot the men of the sea. It would, therefore, be a mistake to suppose he aimed at reaching the coast of Asia by the weet ; this greater undertaking was resolved on when the news reached London of the first voyage of Christopher Colum- bus, t This follows clearly from the words of his son Sebas- •"Los de Bristol, ha siete ano que cada anos an artnado dos, tres, cuatro cara- Telas para ir a buscar la isla del Brasil y las siete cludades con la fantasia deste Genoves." App. xvi. t Into this mistake L. Hugues among others, has fallen. He says ;"Diirii)g the M I-1I' 40 THE LIFE OF JOHN CABOT. I tiiin, us wo slinll hw (urtlicr on, wlicn our story slmll liriii<; us to speak of him.* After tlie diseovery by Cliristoitlici (/'olunihus. John Cabot, returning to his aeeustonied ntteni|tl. instead of .snilin^r at runchtni on the lioundless waters <»f tlic Ocean, steered ri^lit to tlie west in the certainty of findiii<:, after tlio exaniph; of tlii; jj^rcat (Jenoese, the eastern sliorcs of Asia. Tlie hil>orsthat had been in vain on fornior searches, now that lie had a lixed term in view, were crowned with success. lie found land, and he believed and jud<,a'd it to be- long to the empire of the Grand Khan, f This was on June 24, 1494. His son Sebastian has loft us a record of the fact in the Planisphere he compo.sed in the year 1544. To the rij^ht and left he places various legends and inscriptions in explanation of various points of the Planisphere ; and one of these in the original Spanish reads thus : " This land was discovered by John Cabot, Venetian, and Sebastian (Jabot, his son, the year of the birth of Our Saviour Jesus Chri.st 1404, on the 24th of June, in the morninfj^, to which they jtj^a- he name First Land Seen, and to a great island which is op} the said land they gave the name St. John because it was discovered that day. "J The Latin version which accompanies this Spanish inscrij)- tion says more particularly that the island was called St. John after the Baptist, whose feast was celebrated on that day by tlie Catholic Church.§ In no other place besides Sebastian Cabot's !" :il repeated attempts made by John Cabot to reach Asia by 'xay of the Wed, Coliiitibus discovered the West Indies." Le Navif/azioni di O. Caboto, in the Memorie delhv societil ireografica Italiana. Vol. i, p. 287. The only hiHtorical source for what John Cabot wanted and souglit in liis first voyages we find in tliis dispatch of the ambassador Ayala, and llie islands of Brazil and of the Seven Cities which he mentions, have not tlie slightest connection with the cnstern coasts of Asia, but were supposed to be situated in the middle of the vast Atlantic Ocean. 'Ihis inexactness however, in no Way diminishes the merit of ihe distinguished writer who is a zealous ctdlivator and explainer of the his- toric geographical studies of our old navigators. * In chap. vii. f Se« App. xi, xiii. i See App. iii. |"Terram banc olim nobis clausam aperuit Joannes Cal)otus Venetus, necnon 8el)astianu8 Cabotus ejus Alius anno ab orbe redempto 1494, die vero 24 Julii (sic) hora 5 sub diluculo, qua terra prima visa appellarunt, et Insula quandil magna ei apposita. Insula divi Joannis nominarunt, quippe, quae solemn! die THK DATE OF THE DISCOVERY. 41 I'lMiiisplicro, is any ivcoid found oltliis discovery; sotluitthoro lijis Ikh'M ^rwit discussion on this inscription, wlicihcr it should !)(> iidniittcd as it stands, oi- an error he lield to have occurred ill tninscrihin^ it. And even now, Mlthous les evenements, et qui poiirrait n' Ctre (lu' un lapsus du graveur : MCCCCXCIIII pour MCCCCXCVII ; erreur d' autuut hahhisse's objectionh. 45 bv the inscription in Latin, which has the same date 1494, not in Roman letters, but in Arabic figures, because lie believes for various reasons that this translation was made afterwards in the Notlierlands or Germany, without Cabot's being able to correct tlie mistake.* l?iit tliis is only a suspicion : his rcsal reason for rejecting lli;U (lute is that it does not seem to hnu to agree with certain (l(»cuiuonts which we have concerning the discoveries of John Cabot. Let us examine his doubts. January 21, 1406, Puebla informs his sovereigns in Spain that "One has gone like Columbus to propose to the King of England an under- tiikiiig like that of the Lidies." From the reply of the S^ian- ish Sovereigns, says ILirrisse, it appears that this project was at that time a novelty at the English Court. So far we are {i<,nec(l, but he adds : " If Cal)(»t had already made a voyage like Columbus in search of Cathay and had discovered two years before countries which were believed to be the Kingdom of the Grand Khan or leading to it, the andjassador would not have attached importance to prcijects which could now l)c of no conse(juence, and the Catholic Kings would have abstained from making itthesul)ject of so significant a diplo- matic coinmunicatioii " f I confess th:i* 1 cannot si'ize the thread of Ilarrisse's reasoning. If the 1 ;iid was alr< idy dis- covered Cabot's project was of no ('"n sequence ? On the con- trary, it seems to me that the dang "v Spain was not in the material fact of the discovery, but in it.-^ possesKi'>n by some gov- orument whose flag should open to it the ptn n of commercial If the charts plus fiicile ft commettre que les deux iireniiers i. rappoches d la base, formeut uu V." 1. c. p. 56. *" Lii fraduction latine dit bien : Anno nb orbe redempto 1494, en rl.iffrcs rdiiiiiiiis ; mais cette version a ete faite posteneiireinent D, h\ redactii de la lc'i;un(ie espagnole, dans les Pays-Bas, ou eu Allemague, saas que Cabot put c'drrii^er le lapsus." — lb p. 5G, aote. f'Le langage de la depOcslie iiidiqueque ceprojet etaii alursunenouveaufii a lacour d'Aiigleterro SI Cabot avail dejil fait uu voyage couime Colon '> 4 rcclierche du Catliay et avait decouvcrl depuis deux ans des pays qu' on :oy- iiitCtic le royaume du Grand Khan, on y couduire, I'aniliassadeur n'aurait pas attache d'itnporlance tides projc'ts desormais .'^aus portee, et les liois Catiioliques se soraient abstenus d'en faire 1' objet d'une corainuuication diplontialique iiiissi significative." 1. c. p. 57. 46 THE LIFE OF JOHN CABOT. i iL!;!;;iiiai " ' connections. This is precisely what John Cabot's request aimed at: and it was therefore with his application that the danger of Spain commenced. In fact the privilc3 Ml .-n i . 1 X y y / wm il-;ii^ li! 11 : - i\ •i :.i!Ji; 48 THE LIFE OF JOHN CABOT. injurious to the rights of Spain. The Englisli chancery would therefore prudently keep silence concerning that first discov- ery, and speak in general terms so as to give less ground for tho complaint of Spain, who in face of the uncertainty of the fad would be less suspicious, especially as the expeditions sent out for years back by others and even by CJabot seemed to promise for this attcii i pt the same vain waste of toil and cxj)ense. It was ditferent when Cabot had planted the English banner in his discovery, and proclaimed that new land the property of England. The complaints and protests of the Spanish court would be more easily blunted against an actual possession. Moreover, was the English government so surely persuaded of the discovery by John Cabot as to be willing to authenticate it by its word without further evidence ? I think not, an^ England from court to people, he says : " This master Jolm a poor man and a for- eigner, would not have been believed, if his comj)anions, nearly all of whom are Englishmen and from Bristol, had not borne witness to the truth of what he tokl."^ This he Avrote of tlie discovery made by Cabot after receiving his grant, that is to say, made under the flag and in the name of the King of Eng land. If so little credit was given him then, when he was clothed with official garb, what would have been given him when presenting himself as a mere private individual ? Nor does this view contradict the conviction before expressed that the discovery of 1494 was used, as the main argument for ob- taining the grant applied for, l)ecause for that purpose it was enough for the council of the crown to liave oven a doubt that it might be true since the government ventured notbing — neither money nor name — in gi-anting the request, but only gave authority to raise its Hag in such places as inujht he discov- ered. If the previous discovery was true, England was sure to gain ; if false, it lost nothing. * See App. xiii. ry would it discov- id for the [■ the fact 3 sent out ) promise se. It wa.s I bumier property ish court ossession. suaded of henticate not, and ; for this discovery ,here was court to md a for- ipanions, I, had not rote of the that is to if of Eng'' 1 he was iven liiia lal? Nor 3ssed that nit for ob- ose it was louhtthat lotliinji; — , but only ; he (/'/.scoc- as sure to 'f: '.m I ' ,' f- «! ' m r: Esa tiera fue descubierta por loan Caboto Veneciano, y Sebastian Caboto 8U hijo, anno del nasciraiento de nuestro Salvador Jesu Christo de M. CCCC. XCIIII, a veinte y quatro de lunio, por la mannana, ala qual pusieron nombre prima tierra vista, y a una isla grande que esta par de la dha tierra, le pusieron nombre sant loan, por aver sido descubierta el mismo dia la gente della andan vestidos depieles de animales, usan en sm guerras arcos, y flechas, lancas, y dardos, y unas porras de palo, y hondas. Es tierra rauy steril, ay en ella rauchos orsos plancos, y ciervos miiy grandes como cavallos y otros muchos animales y semeianteraente ay pascado infinito, soUos, salmoeri, lenguados, rauy grandes de vara enlargo y otras muchas diversidades de pescados, y la mayor raultitud dellos se dizeii bacealaos, y asi mismo ay enla dha tierra Halcones prietos cuonio cuervos Aquillas, Perdices, Pardillas, y otras muchas aves dt diversas raaneras. -^PW-^W^PIHI THE DATE 1494. 49 But let us carry the question to a new field where we can move with more freedom and surety. The ambassador, Ayala, lias told us that John Cabot began his expeditions in 141)1 and continued them regularly every year. Did he from the be- Lnuniiig apply for the grant which he asked for and obtained in WW), or did he not ? We have no knowledge, but with one or (lie other supposition we must necessarily get at the truth. If he had asked for and not obtained it, what moved the govern- ment to give in 1490 what before it had refused ? It seems to nic that the only reason supposablo is that Cabot's expeditions had begun to give good grounds to hope for success, and Ihi'so grounds can only be a first proof of discovery. If Caliot had asked nothing before, why did he ask something now? If the confidence of those who had aided him in past expeditions still continued, there was no reason for seeking new aid to continue his course. If it had decreased, how could he, "a poor man and a foreigner," arouse all at once in tlic government that confidence which his old and tried friends had lost under his constant ftiilures ? I can very well under- stand that if he had presented himself to the government as wholly unexperienced, he might by his arguments and calcu- lations convince it of his ability to seek for and discover new lands ; but what force of argument could convince it of his ability in discovery now when a trial repeated for many years in succession proved the contrary ? If, in the expeditions from 1491 on, he had not considered it necessary to obtain authority in case of discoveries to plant the royal banner and declare them the property of the Crown of England, why should he think it necessary in 1496 ?— Because then in sup- port of his demand ho could only allege the hope of discov- ery, and now he presented, instead, the proof of a discovery made. In conclusion, from whatever side I view the matter, I lind all the circumstances uniting with full accord to con- linn the date of Sebastian Cabot's Map; and therefore with inti- mate conviction, I declare for the discovery of 1494, attested by an eye-witness, — or rather one of the discoverers. The claim of John Cabot of having touched the American continent four years and thirtv seven days before Christopher 4 1 I i ''< r' ■ r. 50 THK LIKH OK JOHN CABOT. Columbus is then confinncd. * This takes nothing from Uio glory of that giant amongst discoverers ; for after he luid opened the way, it was simply an accessory honor for him (o have advanced more or less, but it is not a slight boast for one of his followers to have preceded every one else in reaching the mainland of the Now World. ■ I :i'i'ir' ■' lifr yitii illllibiitii M'l il!lifi|f!'i tLtiiin«tiltM;i**l it" CHAPTER IV. • What Point in North America it ivas that John Cahot first discov- ered ill 1494. — Attempts to deprive him of the honor. What was the point that .John Cabot discovered to wliicli he gave tlie name of Fird-Seeii, f The name of Newfoundland so similar in meaning to that of First-Seen, has long been generally believed to be that where Cabot first landed ; and this seems the more likely as to the west of the island of Newfoundland in the Culf of St. Lawrence, there is an islet called St. Jolin, the very name given by Cabot to the island | he discovered at the same time with the main-land. But the nam(^ Newjonndlnnd gives rio aid to our researches, because at first the English called by that name all their discoveries in the northern part of America, whi^h, for nearly a hundred years only known as a fishing station, had come to be re- garded as an appendage to the great Banks to which their ships resorted for their rich fisheries. As the only portion of all that land with which the fishing vessels had constant relations was the island close to the great Bank, it is not to be wondered at Lhat the nunc of Newfoundland, common to the whole region, was gradually restricted to the island alone | and became its proper name.f * Columbus first beheld Uie Continent of America opposite to the island of Trinidad, on bis third voynge, August 1, 1498. SeeTarducci, Life of ChrMophA Columbus. Vol. ii p. 60. t A memoir of Sebastian Gahot with a Review of the History of Maritime J5jsc(* ■t> WHAT LAND WAS FIRST FOUND. 61 As to the island of St. John, not to look for other argu- ments, it is sufficient that it is historically proved that it was so called by Cartier in 1534, because on the Feast of St. John, June 24, it terminated his circuit of the gulf which he had begun on the 10th of May. At present, abandoning the misleading guidance of names, it is usual to place the first landing at the island of Cape Breton, and this new opinion is Diised on the Planisphere of Sebastian (Jabot, who, as we have seen, accompanied his father on that discovery. On this, where the lands arc drawn that were discovered in North America, there is a peninsula, the northern end of which according to the scale of the chart lies almost in the latitude of 48°, 30', imd at its north-east extremity are these words, " First Land seen." Further back, to the west, at a short distance from the peninsula and nearly in the same latitude, at the beginning of a broad gulf is a large island which the chart calls " Sam Joan." The figure 8 placed near this land refers tlie reader to the corresponding number in the legends accompanying the Planisphere, and under this is found the inscription already given, where it is said that this land was discovered June 24, 1494, by John Cabot and his son Sebastian. In material configuration no part of North America agrees perfectly with the form presented in Sebastian Cabot's Map, but this was the common fault of all the maps then made of America, a necessary consequence of the slight and imperfect cacquaintance with it then possessed. But the general shape of the peninsula as well as the correspondence of the latitude 'T i 'i^- J '. +i^. '^nPi ; •!-,'i crj etc.p. 56. This work was published at Philadelphia, in 1831, and at the same time printed and published in London. In England its sale was large, and a new edition was issued the next year, in 1832. The author's name was not given, but it was afterwards known to be the work of a lawyer, Richard Bid- I (Ue.of Pittsburgh, Pa. As I have before said, it is the first profound work on i the Cabots. It is not a history, but an historical work, of value for Cabotiaa studies,for the author has enjoyed meeting various difficulties and solving them, and besides great acuteness of mind he applies extensive erudition in tlie Eng- lish voyages and navigations. One great fault of the work is tlie arrangement of tlie matters treated of and of the arguments : but a still greater is the au- 1 thor's obstinate partiality in favor of Sebastian against the merits and rights of [his father John Cabot. I have used the second edition of Loudon. 1832. ■;»k iii t 52 THI-: LIFE OP JOHN CABOT. II undoubtedly represents tlie regions wliero Nova Scotia and Capo Breton Island are situated. As the inscription, " l"'irst Land Seen," is at the north-east extremity of this region it must correspond to the northern extremity of Cape Breton Islund. But where near Nova Scotia and the island of Cape Breton ean we find any thing like the island which Sebastian (!ubot on his chart represents as further within the gulf and a short distance l)eyond the peninsula ? In Prince Edward's Island, which is just west of Cape Breton, and which lias olso been known as St. John. True, the island seen by Cabot was discovered the same day as "First-seon-Land," and the distance from Cape North to Prince Edward's Island is seventy -twd miles, a distance too great to bo made the same day that "First-seen-Land'' was discovered. But if I see clearly, (Jabot does not say that they touched the island the same day, but merely that they gave the name of St. John to an island opposite, and which was discovered the same day."^ The term discovered may be very well applied to what is merely seen, and so the difficulty as to the distance disappears, for they saw the mainland at live in the morning, .'ind therefore in the long days of that time of the year, had aiuplo time dur- ing the day to proceed far enough to see, if not to reach, Prince Edward's Island. Harrisse measuring too mathematically the relative posi- tions of the north-east point of the peninsula on Sebastian Cabot's chart and the island of Cape Breton, places the first land seen not at Cape North, which is the northern point of Cape Breton, but at Cape Fourchu or Perce, which is on its eastern side.f By doing so, the distance from tiie first point of land seen to Prince Edward's Island is so in- creased as to render it absolutely impossible for both to have been seen the same day. As an essential part of the agree- *".... y a una isla grade que eata par de la d lia tierra le pusieron noinbre Sant JoaD, por aver sido descubierta el mismo dia." App. iii. A. +"n y a an Canada deux caps Perc6. Celui qui se trouve sur la cote N-E de r lie du cap Breton, et «n autre situe daus la baie de Gaspe, prfis du mont Joli ou Cap Tiennot. . . . C'est le premier de ces deux caps qui est le ndtre, d'apr la carte de Bayfield precitee." Harrisse, p. 65. ■ron nombrt Sebastian's planisphere. e» mont lotwccn the indications of tho Pliinisphoro and the ac- count in the Legend is tlierchy lost, tho possibility that tho firtit liuuling was at Capo Breton Island necessarily fails. But tiio fact that for want of exact knowledge tho Plani- sphere unites tho island to the nminlund and makes it a con- tinuiition of it frees us from the scruple of a mathematically exact agreement, tho more so as tho capes are not many miles apart. But, it has been asked, if Sebastian Cabot knew the region of Nova Scotia and (Jape Breton Island so well as he shows in his Planisphere, how does it happen that the Spanish charts, which must have passed under his revision as chief Pilot, do not give the same indications, but remain so far behind his chart? How explain that all tho charts of that day have a long extent of coast in the northern parts of America, with this inscription or its equivalent, "This land was discovered by tlio English from Bristol,"* and on none of them is Cape Breton Island comprised in that long space, but on all the English discoveries begin at the north of Newfoundland and follow the coast of Labrador ? All this has naturally given rise to a suspicion that as Se- bastian Cabot did not publish his Planisphere until after the exploration of those parts by the Frenchman Jacques Cartier, he drew these places from information obtained from others rather than from his own knowledge. Tho former of these questions may be answered with the wordsof Sir Humphrey Gilbert who informs us that the Span- ish and Potuguese pilots were forbidden under pain of death, to trace on their navigating charts any mark whatever which might put other states on the track of discovering the sighed- for passage leading to the East Indies. f • Note taken from the chart of Diego Ribeiro (1539), the second of the so- called Weimar charts. +"The Spaniards and Pnrliisrals. . . have commanded that no pilot of theirs upon paine of death, Should plat out in any sea card, any thorow passage." llakluyt, iii, p. 23. Leone Pancaldo, Magellan's companion, in consideration of 2000 ducats bound himself by notarial deed to the Representative of the King of Portugal, September 30, 1531, "di non insegnare ad alcunolastradaaipaesi ultimamente '1 64 TiHE LIFE OJ' JOHN CABOT. H\ II ill' lll I 1' 1 I In consequence of this prohibition, Sebastian could not pre- viously indicate the gulf opening to the west of " Land lirst seen ;" but was free to do so in 1544, when his secret no longer amounted to any thing, the position of the gulf being gen- erally known in consequence of Jacques Cartier's exploration. The second objection, it seems to me, falls to the ground when it is noted that Sebastian Cabot places at Cape Breton Island the mere fact of its being the first discovered ; whilst the further navigations and explorations of the English were along the lands of Labrador. Hence it was natural for the map-makers to give the name of English lands to those where the English vessels had generally gone and still went, and not to the mere point which had simply witnessed their first arrival. But let us take the first chart that mentions the Eng- lish discoveries, — that of Juan de la Cosa, pilot of Christopher Columbus, — composed in 1500, that is, soon after John Cabot's discovery and many years before the places around Cape Breton were known to the world or made famous by the explorations of the French navigato..' : and let us see if that first chart ex- cludes this island from the English discoveries. First of all, let uz observe that at this time neitlier the Spaniards nor those of any o^her nation than the Englisli had yet sailed to the lands of North America, so thiit it must necessarily be admit- ted that Cosa obtained his information from English sources ; and perhaps Kohl's ^»inion is well founded, that Cosa indi- cated those places from a copy of John Cabot's own chart sent to Spain by Puebla or Ayala, ambassadors in England. * In fact, the latter writes in his dispatch, "I believe your High- nesses are already advised of all this, and also of the charter map of the world which he made, and / do not send no^v the one scopevti, e a non fare atctina carta geografica che indicasse quel cammlno." G. B, Bei-loro, Elogio di Leone Pancaldo. Ill 1527 Rolieit Thome, an Englishman of whom we shall have occasion to gppnk further on, sendinj^ a chart from Seville to the ambassador cf Henry VIII to Charles V, cautions him to keep secret from whom he received it,"l)c cause it might be a cause of pain to the maker." Hakluyt. iii, p. 129. * "There is no difficulty in tlie supposing that a copy of tlie chart of Ciibot may have been sicn by Coss in i500." KoM, Hist, of the discovery of Maine, p. 153. From Harrisse, p. 104, ^^^'^^l'*i eOSA S CIIAUt. 55 '■.■ml irhkh I JMve here."* What he did not send then he may very well liave sent soon after either of liis own motion or by rcfiuest. In Cosa's chart in the Inchest part of the drawing, to the weet is marked '* Cabo do Ingkiterra" and beside it is a small English flag. Another such flag is marked fur- ther south near a cape of St. John, and an island called Trini- dad ; three more flags follow lower down as far as a cape and a sea bearing the words 'discovered by the English." Tliis stretch of land engraved on the present maps would be from about the middle ot Davis Strait to Cape Hatteras ; that is to sav, approximately the extent of coast along which according to Raiiiusio, Cabot had passed. It may be, as Desimoni con- jectures, that Cosa's chart should be regarded as including two periods of discovery, indicated by that cartograplier by the different Legends . 1. 'A cape further east with the name Cabo de Inglaterra, with the island under it, and 2. an extent of land and a sea further south and west with the legend, Mar do- scubierto por Ingleses." f riie fact is that the first map which shows the lands of North America not only does not restrict tlie English discoveries to tliC north ot Newfoundland, but on the contrary carries them uctuoso',s account amounts to. We know that John II, King of Portugal, was inclined to accept the proposal of Christopher Colunihus, hut they could (uiiie to no agreement because "John wanted him to accept of the usual reward given to those who discovered lands or islands on tho African coast," and Christopher Columbus demanded much more, saying that " his plan was totally different from any that had been carried out previously," and "not in any wise to be compared with simply advancing on a path al- ready known."* King John, notwithstanding the great results promised by Columbus, was undwided whether to accept or refuse his offer, and submitted it to the board that had charge of all matters relating to maritime discovery, and of which the greatest geographers and astronomers of the kingdom were naturally members. Tlic board declared the project of ColiimhiiH aHogcthcr extravagant and visionary. Not satisfied with this answer. King John ordered a new inquiry and referred the matter to his privy council, which declared that no account should be made of the proposal of Christopher Colnmlms. Still the King was determined on a trial, and get- ting possession of the maps and drawings whicli Columbus had prepared in support of his proposal, he secretly sent a ship in tho direction and by the course which Columbus had traced. But the mariners after proceeding a good distance to sea, turned back ^^ridicuUng the project of Columbus as the dream of a feeble mind that saw land where there was and coidd be only loaterJ'jf How could the board and the privy council have declared the project of Columbus extravagant and visionary, how could the mariners ridicule and laugh at it, if Cortereal had pre- viously seen and visited the lands beyond the Atlantic ? Fructuoso says, and Cordeiro repeats, giving even the decree * Tarducci, Zii/e of Christopher Columbus, Yo\. i. p. 67. t Tarducci, lb. pp. 69, 70. 62 THE LIFE OF JOHN CABOT. 1 i.itiii lifejiii of King Affbnso, that Cortereal in reward of his services re- ceived the governorship of the island of Terceira : but I find that when the two Portuguese, Gonyalvez Varco and Tristao Vaz Texeira with tlie Italian Porestrello discovered the island of Porto Santo and the Madeira group, to reward them and en- courage them in further enterprises, with the ownership they were given the government of the same lands they had dis- covered.* When, in 1460, the Genoese, Antonio da Noli, was sent to ascertain the number of the Cape Verde Islands which An- tonio Usodimare and Luigi Cadamosto had discovered four years before, he too was given the government as well as the charj^e of colonizing those lands, and held it until his death. How- happens it that four years later Portugal takes an entirely diflcrent course with Cortereal, and instead of sending him back to colonize and govern the land he had discovered, sends him in the opposite direction to govern a land dis- covered and colonized by others ? As soon as a new land or island was discovered Portugal was at once careful to extend its knowledge of it and attempt its colonization ; what reason caused it to act differently with the "Terra de Bacalhao," and suffer it to fall into such oblivion that but for the record of it made by an obscure historian almost a century and a half afterwards, it would never have been known of? But there is yet another knot to untie before Caspar Fructuoso's course can run smooth. The famous globe of Martin Behaini constructed at Nuremburg in 1492, shows all the lands known and discovered up to that time ; how happens it that it has no indication, of any sort, of the land found by Cortereal ? No one was more likely to know^ of it than Behaim, for he was a most learned cosmographer, and endeavored most zealously to show on his globe all the land that was then known, and he not only lived at the court of Portugal, but was a member of the special board appointed by the Portuguese Monarch to inquire into the means of improving navigation, and in 1484, not contented with hearing the report of others, but wishing to know from his own sight the new discoveries, accompanied * Tarducci, lb. p. 31. and PORTUGUESE CLAIMS. 68 Diego Cam as the cosmographer of the expedition. No one was in a better position to know of Cortcroal's discovery, no one more desirous to bring it to tlie knowledge of the civil- ized world. Homo may, perhaps, bo impressed by seeing that the const where John Cabot's first discovery was made bears a number of Potuguese names of gulfs, capes, rivers, and not one is called after Cabot. This fact is one of the arguments on which Lucian Cordeiro insists the most to prove his com- patriot's prior discovery.* But the difficulty bursts and dis- appears as soon as it is squeezed in the hand. We have al- ready mentioned that on their first voyage the Cabots touched at the northern point of Cape Breton Island, but that after- wards they and the English who followed them, continued their navigations more to the north along the coast which they called of the Baccalaos and which is now known as Labrador. On the other hand, the Portuguese Gaspar Cortereal, son of loao Vaz,in 1500, sailed to and explored the seas and lands near the place of that first discovery. He naturally gave Jiames to the places he discovered, and as these places came to be gen- erally known and began to bo visited by shi])s from Europe after his navigation, it is easy to see why they should j^e called by the names he gave, and no trace should remain of the gen- eral term First-Seen-Land given by the Cabots, which only indicated the simple record of the first discovery, and left for European navigators no designation for the special knowl- edge of the places. It is also well to remember that the Portuguese and Spaniards at that time possessed the field of discovery, and the fresh results obtained by them were looked for in Europe and at once made known ; whereas the Eng- lish were coming forward for the first time, and with a discov- ery which seemed of no importance. Is it any wonder, then, that the matter was not known in Europe, and that the mod- est advance of these new champions should be eclipsed by the noisy and pompous arrival of champions already every- * Luciano Cordeiro, Be la decouverte de V Amerique, Paris, Veuve I . AiUaud et C. 1876, p. 80. P... t| - .^1 \ ! • ■ , I ii I. .•If 1 ij5 •i ' 64 THE LIFE OF JOHN CABOT. 1= lti ill*! fuiiMii w-\' ■■;#!. ■;, m where known and colobratod ? But, it is said, in tho Atlas of Vaz Dourado preserved in tho Libiary of ^[uni(•ll, the majxjf North America along the coast-line of Labrador bears tlu; names of (inlj of loCio and Land of lodo Vai. And a copy of the same map made in Goa in 1571, has tlie same names* And what then ? Is the name of a person given to a place an argument to prove that he discovered it ? If that is so, Prince Edward's Island must have been discovered by the father of the present Queen of Great Britain.f And an inmense num- ber of other islands and lands must have been discovered by the Isabellas, Carolines, Mai-iannes, Ferdinands, Philii)-^. Georges : i a word, the reigning houses of Spain, Portugal, England could boast of a fine number of Princes and Princesses who were navigators and discoverers. They had the same part in discovering the islands and lands bearing their naino that loao Vaz had in discovering the gulf and land named after him. The oidy diHerence is that if tho names of princes were sometimes troduced out of gratitude, it was moie often from adulai.>>n, whilst hero it was the noble and holy affection of a son. It is nothing strange that Gasjmr Cortereul among the many names he was conferring should have given his father's also to a gulf and a land. Nor is it wonder- ful that so many years later in designating tlie map of those places there should be found amongst others tho name of loao Vaz. CHAPTER V. The first Letters Patent. — Expedition of 1497. The three different accounts which we have of the old Bris- tol chronicle agree in saying that John Cabot drew the King of England into his design by force of the knowledge ho *Pe8cl)el, Oeschichte der Entdeekungen, p. 330.— From the article of L. Hugues before cited, iathe Memorie delln Societd Geografica Itnliana, 1878. t The Du'e of Kent, son of George III. The ishuui was named after bim when he wao in North America at the head of the Briiii>h fleet. VOYAQEH OF 14J)7. 65 showed of how to carry into oflcct the project ho proposed. •This year," says one of llicni, ' tlio King- (by nieuns of a Ven- , ti;m, which iinule himself very cxjiert and cunning in Knowl- edge of the circuit of the world, and ishind.s of t he same as hy a cardo, and other demonstrations reasonable hee siiewed) eaused t(i man and victuall a shippe," etc. The snmo tiling is re- neatcd by tho other two in the same words.* And this is the (inly information we have of the long negotiations which nnist have preceded the granting of the letters patent to John CalHtt hy tlie King of ICngi nid. Henry \'II was reigning at that time, a kin* who with many line (pialities, was soex- tiomoly penurious and mi.serly that 1 doubt if his cMjual ever sat on a throne. As such natures are generally led by thoir fear and dislik-roperty.'^' Whatever the cause of delay, (he undertakinjj; approval in 1490 was not carried into elleet till 1407. In explanation of tlio delay it has heen suggested thai Sjjain raised ohstaclcs tn C'ahot's project, and this may very likely have had soiiio- thing to do with it. But perha[)s the very dilliculty of or- ganizing the expedition is a suliicient explanation, if we con- sider tluit ('ahot was poor, and could not very easily liavc found any one to hear the necessary expense, As the months suited for navigation were those from s[)ring to the miihlle of summer, and the proposed voyage pronnsed tohe long, nuah of the good s(!ason might Imve passed hefore he could get ready, so that it would ho necessary or prudent to wait till tlic next year. In fact the ex[)e(lition sailed in 145)7 in the lie- ginning of May, and it could not have heen ready hy that time in 14!)(), less than two months from the granting of the patent required for the voyage. . ' - How many ships composed the expedition? Pasqualigo bays in general terms " with a vessel"; Soncino more specinlly, "with a vessel and 18 persons." f The contemporary chron- icle of Bristol, in the Cottonian collection as well as ;'.n the collections of Hakluyt and Stow, has it a ship manned at the king's expense and three or four other small vessels furnislRil by citizens of Bristol, on which some mercliants of that city and of Ijondon ventured some merchandise.;}: Which of these is the true account ? I notice that the account in tlie chronicle is in contradiction with the words of the patent,whicli expressly provides that the expedition shall be at the sole expense of Cabot ; Init at the same time that the See App. V. f See App. xi. and xiii. X See App. vii, viii, ii DISCOVKKY OK 1407. 67 rhroiiiclor lived on tlio spot ami wroUMlurinj^ the expedition, and uiidtT sucli favorable (•iiruinstaneeH it i» strange that he, only a st('i) from t,ie harhor <»ul of'wliicli Cabol sailed, did not know whether the ships added werethroeor lour,and moreover that his account is very general with no exact details. This iiiakos iiHi suspect that he wrote less of his own knowled;;!' than from licaisay. On tin; other hand, I ohs(!rve thatSoneino is in iiicord with I'ascjuali^o, and with the terms of the letters pat- (iit and ^dvHs the preeisi? numher of men that sailed on the .|iip. This exactness of statement makes me thiidc he searched • tor correct information concerning the expedition ; and as ho idls us that he became a friend of John Cabot, and not only ;.rivos conversations he held with him, but even reports as from Caliot'sown mouth minute jtarlicularsof his futuri; plan. 1 hold that lie had liis infoi'm;ition eoncerninj;' this ex))e(Iition di- nctiy from Jojjn Cabot himself. Jlence I am inclined to be- lieve that the ex} edition was really made with a siuf^le vessel, itiit that on its de})arturo it was joined, from hope of gain, by tlircc or four other small vessels with some small articles of mer- chiindisc for the peoj)le that should be discovered ; but that neither Soncino nor J'asqualiti^o made any account of these, as they were no proper part of the expedition ; perhaps also be- eause disheartened by the leuf^th of the voyage, they returned and loft the real ship of the expedition to pursue her voyage alone. The expedition sailed from Bristol in the beginning of May and returned early in August. This is one of the few points on wliieli the various accounts in the history of Cabot are in ae- eord. The conten;porai'y chronicle in the Cotton collection says that the fleet took to sea in the beginning of summer, which expression in language of seamen may very well be under- stood in the broad sense of the whole season suited for naviga- tion.* And in fact the account as inserted in Hakluyt says more explicitly that the departure was in the beginning of May.f *" — departed from the West Cuulrey iu the begiuniug of somer." See App. vii. T" departed from Bristowe in the beginning of May." See App. xiii. r; ^ I •' .1- j^' 1 -'.e] ■.*■'; WFf 68 THE LIFE OF JOHN CABOT, H ; iHii^ Lorenzo Pasqualigo writing to his brothers on the 23 Au- gust on its return, says it was gone three months ;* then it must have returned early in August. And in the account book of Henry VIl's privy purse under date of the lOtli of that month, we find this note of expense : "To him that found the new Isle, 10 l.f Arriving at the new land, they went ashore and took pos- session in the name of the King of England. There was one circumstance accompanyiiig the act of taking possession which the Venetian Pasqualigo took to heart with much feel- ing and related to his brothers. We have already mentioned it when discussing the native land of John Cabot, as in the great scarcity of documents it seemed to have some influence on the decision of that question. But here, in its proper place, we will briefly relate ii, again. The ship he sailed on was Englisii ; nearly all the seamen who accompanied him in the toils and perils of the voyage were English ;:{: he sailed for the profit and glory of England. On landing, therefore, on the new shore, after planting there the cross, after the cusiom of all discoverers as a sign that they took possession in the name of Christ for the spreading of his Faith and his Law, he planted by its side the banner of Eng- land to mark the new country as tlie property of the Eng- lish crown. And then drawn by that mysterious bond which, at every distance of time and place, brings to us the image of those dear to us, especially in the most solemn and consoling moments ot life ; he crossed in thought through the ocean, passed over England, traversed Europe, and sought on tlie shore of the Adriatic the glorious Queen of the Lagoon.^. Twenty years had passed since he left her, but neither length of time nor distance of place could weaken his tender affection. i^ nd in the new land he had discovered by the side of Christ'.* Cross with the banner of England he planted the flag of Venice,^ * "Le vonudo ato iiostro Veaetiatio che anfld con uno navilio de Bri8to«| trovar Ixole nove. . . .et 6 stalo mexi tre sul viazo." See App. xi. + Hee App, x. t "Li cooipa^oi chi sono qtiasf tutti Insrlesi e da Bristo." See App. xiH. § " Sto inventor di qqe?te cose j1 impiantato suli terreni & trovato una gran I HIS LIBERALITY. G9 Pasqualigo goes on to relate that returning to the ship tliey sailed for 300 leagues along the coast, but saw no person wliatover. They found, however, some springes set to catch frame, and a needle for making fishing nets, which they kept to cany to the king. They also saw some trees cut, f,o that they were sure that the country was inhabited. * That they saw no living soul is easily explained by the fear of the inhabitants, if we remember how in the case of Christopher Columbus the natives fled ^md hid themselves on the first appearance of his o people the new lands, and this was proposed, accord- ing lo Pasqualigo's words, by Cabot himself. :{; But the letters patent of Fel)ruary o, make no mention of this forced colon- ization ; on the contrary they say expressly that" the seid John maye take and receyve into the seid shippes ... all suclio maisters, maryners, pages, and om- subjects as of their owen free wills woll goo and pass with hym .... to the seid Land or lies. " § But probably it should be understood as meaniiij; that their free will was reserved for free citizens, while tlie malefactors in the public prisons were sent by force. From the time of the grant of the second patent, the name of * See App. xiv. f Ibid X Pasqualigo — "Eire. . . .filidatoluUi i presonieridatradiforiin fiioracbe vadiino con Itii come liii a ricliiesto . . . ."App. xi. Soncino— "la "^.lacsta prefata. . .et ultra li dara futli 11 malfatori, et andarano in quelle pae.se ad fare una coloiiia . . ."App. xiii. S See App. xiv. • THE PATIONT OF 1498, 75 John Cabot completely disappears : and the few notices which lom.ain of the navigations of 1 4!)8 prepiired by hiin,all present Ills sou Sebastian as its head. From this all the historians have inferred that he was liindeix'd from taking? command of that expedition, or more [)robably died soon alter the grantingofthe patent. Against this general opinion Desimoni has opposed the examination of Ayala's dispatcii, the most extended and detailed document concerning this expedition which has coiue down to us, and whicii gives clearly the command of the expedition to the same per.son who proposed and organized it.* In fact it begins by referring to the Genoese discoverer who for seven years has been going in search of the island of Brazil and the seven cities; it goes on to ,«!ay that the King has de- termined to make the expedition, having had certain newa that the Genoese liad really found land the year he/ore. It continues by relating how the expedition was struck by a fiuiuus storm and one of the ships turned back, but neverthe- less, the GcnocHC kept on Ims voyage, and t.hat the return of the expedition was looked for in Septembor.f Here it is undeniable that the command of the expedition was assumed by the same person who had discovered land the year before, and had sailed over the northern seas for the last seven years in search of new islands and lands : consequently by John Cabot. But as after the return of the expetlition there is no mention of John Cabot, hut only of Sebastian, as its head, we must suppose, accord- ing to Desimoni, that John perished during the expedition, not l)ofV»re. The reasoning of Desimoni is clear and convinc- inif, and therefoi'e it seems to me that we must accept his supposition and place John Cabot's death during the expedi- tion on tlie new battle-field where be was lighting to enlarge and increase the fruits of his victory. The fame of John Cabot is almost lost to the memory of posterity, and it is only a few years since that the attention of students has l)een agnin directed to him with interest and allection. But it may be said that each of those years has * Intorno a Giovanni Caboto Genovcse, etc— Geneva, Tipografia del It. Isti- liitodoi Sordomuti, 1881— p. 53. t See App.xvi. 'rT'" ir 76 THE LIFE OP JOHN CABOT. t shed additional splendor on his name and merits. Ho suf- fered from what makes a fatlier's greatest happiness, tlio glory of his son, Sebastian Cabot, who was greatest among the great, lived to the ripest old age, held in two nations the highest position in the marine, drew the most lively attention of mankind to his name and his work : so tlutt the figure of the father was lost sight of. And as the son not only con- tinued the father's work, but was his coin})anion and co-op- erator, mankind deceived by the splendor that radiates from the name of Sebastian attributed to him likewise what was the work of his father. Two writers principally have con- tributed to this mistake, Peter Martyr D' Anghicra and Ginni- battista Kamusio, who without the least mention of John as- cribe everything to Sebastian ; and as their writings had a very extreme circulation, the error was spread by them and became general, not even the truthful testimony of Hakhiyt being able to counteract the trumpet of the others, buried as it was in the collection of his big volumes, hardly known liv name, still less read, out of England. But still in tlio splendor of the picture where the great figure of Sebastian shone all alone, it was never possible to eflface entirely that of John. It appeared always low down in the baekgrouiid hardly distinguishable in the shade, but still ever visible, and from there it seemed to say : "And I then ?" The American, Richard Biddle, the first to give to history a profoundly thought-out book on Sebastian Cabot, wished to blot out completely the rest of that figure which ap- peared in the background of the picture, and concentrates the spectator's wliole attention on the figure of Sebastian, spark- ling in the richness of the coloring and drawing. But his ef- forts were i(ll(>, for the more he labored to persuade the be- holder that the figure of Sebastian rose all alone by itself and had no support from another figure, no relation with it, the more the eye felt drawn to the mysterious figure there in tlic background of the picture, and to the ear came more sensibly distinct his question : "And I then ?" In these last years the truth has finally triumphed, ami the documents discovered, though few in nundjei- yet suf- » astian would l)e liii seeond.f Tiiere is no truce anywliere of the other two or of their niotlier, who was still livin<:^ when Jolni's discovoiy created sueh rejoicing in En,t!:land.:[ From the confined (.-icle in which we have till now tuiiied so uncomlbrtaltly we pass at present into a Held of vast extent; but the thick tbii; which has all along obscured this short piitli we had to follow, unfortunately does not leave us, and the little light which here and there breaks through, although sullicicnt to show how broad the lield before us and what a giant w.is laboring in it, is too little to enable us to sec his work and tlio gratitutle that posterity owes to bis genius and energy. We must lament this want of light at the fir.st step we t;ikc in this story as in tiiat of his father Joiin ; for the same question is discussed concerning hini, — whence came he? and where was * GaflFavel snys tliiit : Tlio Letters Patent provided for llie case of John's death uiid Sebiislian's succession to tlie command. "P.iv lionlieur le.s ieltrcs patenfe.s avaictit previi Ic cas, ct son fils Sebasticn en qualite de lepreseulant dumeut autorise, put, malirre .i'n liis birth for Bristol. In (sxaminin;^ thi3(|UC9titm, I l>olievo wo should sot aside all writ«!rs, however celebrated, of later date who hold to either .''ide, lor th(! liuucd from llaiduyt's peu from want of attention, or else tliiit Seliastian'.s brother Saneius was a- socialed with liim in the beginning and for some reason or other afterwards irased to as.sist him. S "Esle desseo . . movio el Rev a traer a sti servicio Sebastian Gaboto ln:;k's ...'•_ Hist. jron. de los Castellanos " — Dec. i. lib. i.\. ''ip. i;;, "''^ciutatus est eas Sebastlanus quidam Cabotus genere Veuetus , . . Fa '"''iinem habeo domi Cabotum ipsuinet coulubernalem interdum. . .. " A pp. xviii. ""W ^ % 'c>l 0^ IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 m Ilia 1^' illtt )i; IM M 2.2 I.I ;: (tt l|20 1.8 Photographic Sciences Corporation ■^ :/. t/j % ^ 11.25 1.4 == == 16 -« 6" — ► -4^^- #1 V ^^w '^ 23 WEST MAIN STRt^T W£33TER,N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 ■ 4"^'.;- -■■ % }; «' ^!i " 'il J:...,-',- .... 80 THE LIFE OF SEBASTIAN CABOT. most subtile matters.* Andrea Navagero who succeeded Contarini in office, July 21, 1524. while Sebastian Cabot was alive and present ;t Francisco Lopez de Goinara, who jmi). lished his general history of the Indies in Spain hardly four years after Sebastian's departure, and whose rank and the character of whose studies allow us no doubt that he knew and conversed with one who was the highest authority in tliat marine, the glorious deeds of which he was engaged in re- lating ;:}: finally Girolamo Ramusio and the testimony of an anonymous writer who had detailed information on his life and voyages from Cabot himself and on his authority, for, if ho was not personally acquainted with Sebastian, he nevertheless had epistolary correspondence with him on tlie subject of discoveries.§ To these should be added wiih special notice Francis Bacon, born a little after Cabot's death, because his testimony ac- quires a special value from the recognized weight of liis opinion, and because he was himself an Englishman,! Let us now look at these testimonies separately and weigh tlieir value. That of the Epitomie of Chromclea is taken from the place, already extracted, where speaking of Sir Hugh AVil- * His words will be given with Eden's further on. }". . . Un' altra armata . . . partirii . . , della quale 6 capitauo uii Se- bastian Caboito Venetiano." — App. xxxii. t "Qui en mas noticia traxo desta tierra fue Sebastian Gaboto Veneciiiuo. "- App. xxi. iii Anonimo :— "Nop sapete a que.sto proposito . . . quel che fece gin uu vostro cittaiiino Veneziaiio" v. App xix. Ramusio : — "... come mi fu scrltto . . . dal Sig. Sebasl'un Gabolto no- stro Vinitiano," From the dedicatory letter to the celebrated Fracastnro preiixed to the tliiid volume of his great collection. I omit from these names tliut of tlit PorlUL'iRse historian Antonio Galvio who w:tembtr 23, 1522. f The Decade was publislied in 1516, and the convereatioj with Contarini occurred towards tlie end of 1523. 84 THE LIFE OF SEBASTIAN CABOT. 111 ■r 4 m house.* Thus it is clear, natural, undoubtable that he had his information from Sebastian's own mouth ; for it cannot be supposed that with such opportunity as he had of leaniinj^ the truth from the very lips of one who was at his side, at his table, at his conversation, he, an historian, would fail to question him and learn the truth from him. Sebastian at that time had no need of Venice, whicli might cast suspicion on his word, but was on the point of hastening to a fresh triuinpliof his navigations with the money and aid of Spain, f and An- ghiera was writing the story of Spanish discovery. There was therefore no reason, direct or indirect, for Cabot untrutlifully to place his birth in Venice. Therefore his repeated declaration at different times, to different persons, under dillerent circumstances, with niany years interval between them, must be held conformed in every thing and throughout to the truth. But then did Eden lie ? Avezac has shown by many proofs that Eden with great dexterity makes history say whatever lie thinks or chooses it should say, and if he showed no scruple in this freedom, there was still less good critical sense. Translat- ing for example, the first three Decades of Peter Martyr d' Anghiera, he came to a place where the historian calls S(!bas- tain Cabot "his concurialis," which means "who is with lue here at the court:" Eden, knowing that Peter Martyr was a member of the Supreme Council of the Indies, translated it that Cabot was also a member of that high board, whereas we have in Herrera the list of all the tnemhers of that council, and Sebastian Cabot's name is not among them.;}: But this might have been an oversight in translating : it is real audacity for him to give the name and surname of the anony- mous writer in Ramusio. Ramusio (and we shall speak of it * "PamiliarTn liabeo domi Cabotiim ipsum ot contubernalem inferdum .... concurialis uoster est, expeotatqin! in dies ut navigia siin parentur .... Martio menseanni fiituri MDXVI puto ad explorandum discessurum." See App. xviii. t See precedinir note. X Revue Gritique d' Ilistoire et (k LitUrature. Premier Semestf, 1870. PP' 365—266. r- eden's testimony, 85 at greater length further on) places in his collection " a great find admirable discourse ... of a gentleman, a very great i)liilos()])her and raatheniatican .... whose name out of respect jgnot given . . "*Eden translated this discourse and coming to this passage, instead of respecting the author's secret, thought it best to satisfy the reader's curiosity by revealing the name, siirnanie, and country ot the anonymous narrator, and made it known that he was the Bologneso Galeazzo Bottrigari, Pope's nuncio in Spain. Where did ho get this information ? lie does not say. On what proof is it based ? He does not tell. But the beauty of it is that when the anonymous speaker made the discourse Bottrigari had been sleei)ing for thirty yenrsin bis grave. f After that, what reliance can bo had on the word of one whoso easily makes assertions openly contradicting the truth ? However, there is a way of explaining the opposing testimony of Eden without olTence to his memory, by sup- posing him to have been the victim of a misunderstanding. Even Avezac, for a moment, advances this supposition. I say " for a moment, " because he hardly hints a suspicion of tliis misunderstanding, before he repeats more vehemently than before his charge of falsehood against Eden. ;{: We may then supp)Ose that Eden had the correct information from Cabot as to his native land, as it had already been given to Peter Martyr and Contarini ; but from lack of attention or other cause he misunderstood his words? and gave them a * "Un grande et ammirabile ragioiiamcnto . . . . (H un gentil' huomo, crandissimo philosopho et niiilliematico, . • . il aomc del quale per suoi rispetti noa si dice. . . " See App. xix. t Galeazzo Bottrigari, Papal Nuncio to Ferdinand, King of Spain, died in Biijiigna, his native country, in 1518, and was buried in a sarcophagus in the cliurcli of St. Francis. Afterwards the sarcophagus was transferred to the Caiiiiiir,ian CRmetery wliere it is siill to be seen. t" Nous croyons raiSDnnaole de soupgonner un qui pro quo dans I'esprit aventureux du compilateur, t, qui probablenient Cabot avail dit eu realite, comnie fi tous les autres, qu'il etait ne & Venise, et avnit 6t6, dfis son jeune uge(qiiattre aus expressement cctte fois), ainene il Bristol par son pdre"— a little after he gives Eden a worse dose, and says "il n'y aura qu'une falsification fantaisiste de plus a porter au compie de Kichard Eden, coutumier du fait.'' p. 266-267. ' J i 86 THE LIFE OP SEBASTIAN CABOT. meaning quite opposite to the true. Let us compare the words of Eden with those of Peter Martyr and we shall soo that this supposition is well founded. Peter Martyr .says: "Sebastian Oabot was by birtli a Venetian but taken by his parents to Enghuid wliilst almost an infant."* And Eden ; " Sebastian C'abot was born at Bristol, but at the age of four years was taken to Venice." Substitute Venice and Bristol tor each other and the two accounts agree. Another thing to hi' observed is, that when Peter Martyr mentions the carryiiiir of Sebastian fn»in Venice to England in his infancy, he gives, although parenthetically, as the reason of his being taken there so young, the custom of the Venetians of living in ;iiiy part of the world for the sake of cominorce Eden does not take the trouble to tell us why .John Cabot took his little child of four years of age on so long a journey as that irom England to Venice, but is careful to inform us that Sebas- tian Cabot was supposed to be a Venetian in conse- quence of tliat journey. The parenthesis inserted by Peter Martyr is Incorporated with the substance itself of the story. Eden's added fact barely hangs on it by a thread, -jul 'dis- closes his desire to give authority for believing what was merely a vague report, but which he was anxious to have thought true. We may add that the information furnished by Eden contradicts good sense. Suppose John Cabot had taken his boy at that tender age to Venice, and brought him had "after certayne hiw of lMievorum et Qolliorum libri duo, Holmie, 1672- cited hy Bliickstone. f "Quicumquo annisxv. . . Vcnctiis continue habitasset." App. ii ^ See App. ^. _-;--. --_--^e iNFLUKxcKi) T!Y coi.r.Mnrs's success. 89 The render inust have rcinurkcd that the anonymous writer has faHcn into two serious niistak(!H of fact, one, that ho iiiiikes .lohit (He in l-liK?, whereas he was still living in 1498; llio other, that he I'xeludes him altofj^ether from the ^lory of tiii'Knjj;lish discoveries and gives all the credit of them to his .son .Sebastian. Further on we shall liave a hotter opportunity to turn to this and other eri'ors of fact in Ramusio's narrative, nt present we niend}'^ call attention to it and pass on. The beginning of the narrative is somewhat confused and, liui for the certain information we Jiave from otiier sources, we might be led to believe that John Cahot's departure from \'('iii('e, and his going to l-higland, and then to London, were all in close succession. This ind(iliniteness of the nai'rative is easily exphiined by reflecting that Anonymous Iiad Ins mind fixed on London, to toll us where and on what occasion Cabot ff)t the starting-point of his glorious career of discovery. Hence he hardly touches in Hying such matters as liave no direct bearing on his })]an, exce})tso far as necessary to under- stand the main point of Ids narrative. But we, who know them from other sources, may enlarge on them and fill the ifap in his narrative. Thus wo understand that in a voyage of his from Bristol to London John C'ahot had his son Hehastian with him, and that this was when the news of Christopher Coliunbus's discovery reached London. Sebastian's young mind, sensitive to strong impressions, felt greatly moved at the discourses and the great marvel that was made at that event, the more so that ho was not only a seaman's son, horn in a city whose glory, power, and wealth were all on the sea, hut because his natural inclin- ation had led him to study geography, and in the profit he had derived from it ho was in a l)ctter condition to appreciate the work and measure the greatness of the famous Genoese than many of his most enthusiastic panegyrists. It was those discourses which fsumed the flame that was smouldering in his heart, and opened to his young fancy the boundless fields of future conflicts in the danger and glory of discovery. The year following Sebastian stamped his name with his father's ill the first discovery cf the American Continent. '■ h r\ t\ 00 The IJPE Ot' HRHAHTlAN CAnoT. CHAPTER VIII. I : > Kxpediiion of 1498. What number of vessels did the expedition of 1498 consist of? — l*as(iuiili<«() hud told his hrothers the year before that the ICin^ promised ten ships for the new expedition : Soncinn wrote the Duke of Milan that there would be from fifteen tn twenty.* The letters patent of February 3 provide for a fleet of six ships :+ but the Spanish ambassador, writing after the expedition had sailed, puts the number at live. J There were but two according to Peter Martyr D'Angliicrn, and Rfimiisio and Goniara agree with him ; but whereas Peter Martyr says they were manned at Cabot's expense.^ Ramusio says they were at the King's ; || and Gomarr. tor want of positive information confines himself to reportiiij; that some; said they were at the King's, and some at Cabot's own expense.^f It would seem a hopeless case to try to open a passage through such intricate entanglements of contradiction, ami that tlie best plan would be to cut it short, sweeping asidi' all this encumbrance of thorns and brambles we find in the *Pasquai.igo :— "El re le fi promesan n. tempo novo navil x . . . " App. xi. SoNCiNo : — "la Maestd tie Re questo primo bono tempo gli vole miiiidaR' XV in XX iiavili." — App. xii. +".... may take at his pleasure vi Englislie Shippes .... " — App. xiv. :j:"El rey de Iniilaterra embio cinco naos."App. xv. Ayala repeats liis colleague's words, as he does throughout : "Delarmmla qin' hizo que fiieron cinco naos . . . "App. xvl. § "Duoissibi navigia propria pecunia in Britannia ipsa instruxit." App. xvii. II "Siibito feci intendere questo mio pcasieroalla Maestide. Re, il qnal . . ■ mi arm6 due caravelie." App. xix. TT "El qual armo dos navios en Inglalerra. ... a costa del Rey Enrique S*p- timo .... otrosdisen qusasu costa .... "App. zzi. m CONTRA DIf Toil Y STATEMENTS. 91 ^viiy. But the mnttor (Unserves a little pntiont labor nnd por- liiiiis tilt' work Hpont on it will not bo unprolitiiblc. For ono iliiii^j;. I Ik'Hovo wo must loiivo out PiiHqiiali^o and Soncino en- tirely, for ncitber could do more tluui repent tlio rumors (Ix'U ciiiTciit. And even admitlinjj; lliiit tlie Kinj^ in tbe bent ot'en- tlmsiiisiii njimed u ititber bi^j^b li^nnv, u more oulm and ae(!U- nilc consideration may bave sbown bim tiuit tbe nund)er men- tioii'd ill tbo loiters patent was sutilcient. As to tbo (»tlier sttitoinents I tliink our labor will succeed best if wo first un- tangle tbe snarl in tbe contradiction between Peter Martyr iiiid Hiiniusio. 1 ii!iv('aln>ndy said, and repeat it ben;, tbat Angbiera wrote and puMisbed bis I)(!cade in wbicb be speaks of tbis cxjnMJi- tioii wliile Sebastian Cabot was a guest in bis bouse. It is tilt refore to my mind undoubted tbat be received or veriiied his information from Cabot's own lips. But the anonymous uliosi^ discourse is reported by Ramusio also had his direct from Sel)astian. How then account for the open contradiction ill fiicir words on tbis jioint ? It would be absurd to suppose that Sebastian wanted to deceive either of them on tbis whilst fjiviiij^ bim correct information on all other matters. We must tben suppose that tbe memory of one or the other was at fault. Of which one ? Of Ramusio's anonymous, because Anj,diiera wrote his information fresh from Cabot's lips ; thd anonymous on the contrary referred to his memory a lon'hich held him back, and the advantage which urged him on, did as such characters usually do vader such circumstf.iicos. He made a show of acting, and urging others, turned tlio merit of their movement in his favor, remaining in the mean- while in the comfort of his own repose. In this King's book of private expenses we read t!io?e entries : — " 22 March, 1408. To Landslot Thirkill of London, upon a prest, for his shipp going towards the Ilande 20 1. •Hume, History of England, ch. xxvi. t Hume lb, THE PART TAKEN BY HENRY VII. 93 — "Delivered to Launcelot Tliirkill going towards the New Isle in prest, 20 1. _"1 April 14D8. To Thomas Bradley and Lancelot Thirkill going to the New Isle, 30 1. "To John Carter, going to the New Isle, in rewarde 2 11."* From these entries it seems to me evident thlit the aid of the King was reduced to helping by loans and encouraging such as wished to take part in the expedition ; and the loans correspond perfectly to tlie character of a miser, for they return i)rincipal and interest. In fact it was natural for the Spanisli ambassador to say the ships of the expedition were sent out by the King, for, no matter who fitted them out, it was still his order that nuido tiicmsail. Now, to the two ships fitted out at Cabot's own ex- pense, add three others itted out by the merchants with the aid of loans from the King's private purse, and we have the precise number of five as given in the Spanish dispatch. I believe this was the actual number of ships that sailed: which is practically tlie number iixed by the letters patent of February 3, 1498, as many reasons, all very likely, may bo found to account for the failure of one of the sliips. But why did Cabot mention to Peter Martyr and llamusio only the two vessels fitted out at his own cxi)ense ? It is impossible to give a clear answer. It nu; y be useful to re- member that Cabot had been very little pleased with England and the support for his discoveries that he found there. Is it not possible that some feeling of irritation made him less just, so that, giving all the honor of the discovery to his own ships, he left to bo regarded as mere accessories the three shi})S of the merchants, doubtless laden with articles and specir.''ens oftrad3? The expedition sailed in the beginning of summer.f 300 persons went with it.± It had two purposes ; to colonize the *y. App. X. t ". . . il Ue mi arm6 due Carnvtllc di tuUo ci6 clie em di blsogno c f u . . . . iiel priiicipiodella slate etcominciui a uavigare verso maestro " App. xix. } Priino leadens c«;» honunihuatercantiun ad Scpteutiionenv Pietro Murtire (i'Aughiera. —App. xviii. — Llevo tnzieulos liombres G^maia, App. xxi. 11 94 THE LIFE OF SEBASTIAN CABOT. M3. iiiHi !;!'"t lands discovered on the previous voyage, tlic other, to proceed further till they reached the land of t^pices, and open com. mercial relations with it. Peter Martyr does n:t give the year in which the expedi- tion of Sebastian Cabot, of which he si:>eaks, took place : Imt as he distinctly informs us that Ir^ was writing of it in 151."). uul the whole Decade in whifth it is mentioned was printed tlif same year, it is certain that his account cannot refer to tli« voyage to the same places undertaken by Sebastian Cabot in 1516.* Neither does Gomara tell us the year, but as his nar- rative is drawn so faithfully after Peter Martyr's that it mimv be en lied a translation of it, he must of necessity follow iiim, and if Anghiera takes us to 141)8, Gomara must refer to the same year. The matters related by Peter Martyr and Gomara moot the account given by Ramusio, but all is thrown into confusion by the date he gives of the voyage as in the year 141)(). This is the third time that we have had to comi)lain of Ramusio as a stumbling-block between our feet involving us in seiioib difficulties; on the two previous occasions we put olf the ((ues- tion, but now it is time for us to stop and inquire into it. Ramusio relates that going with a frientl to visit the cele- brated Fracastoro at his villa of Caphi, lu." found him in the company of "a gentleman who was a great philosopher ami matheinatician,whose name out vfirnprrf. in not f/iven.'" Thi.s jiliil- osopher, as the conversation turned upon the "plan of gdini; to find the Indies by way of the north-west wind" made on thissubject "a long and admiralile discourse and amongst other things related a visit of his to Sebastian Cabot in Spain, and the accounts the latter had given him of his voyages uini discoveries. Ramu.sio, who was then composing his great Colin- * i?eter Martyr after telling of Cabot's expedition for the benefit of Eniilnnd, writes that he is about to commence another for tl«e benefit of Spain and mdi cates the time by theee words : "Martio nicnse cinni fv.ttiri MDXVI put" "il exploraudum discessunim." Even witliout tliem, there coi'M be no doubt, f r the Decade was printed in 1516, tliat is to say, diirins; Uu; expedition tliiil Si bastian Cabot made tliat year to tlie western sea, liefore it was i>()8sible lo luive any information of its incidents or results. 8ee tlie Bibliotheca Americana VcUi- tUsima of U. Hurrisse, p. 153. ii: i!''i RAMUSIO'S ANONYMOUS. 95 tion of Voydges and Navigations, inserted in it this discourse of thegcntlei.aan, putting it in the person of Cabot himself as the Anonymous had done. * We are not told in what year Anonymous mot Sebastian. Avczac supposes it was in 1544 or 1545 ;f but as it is neces- sary to put Ramusio's visit to the Villa of Caphi in 1547 or 1548 (as Avezac admits), it does not seem to me that at the distance of only three or four years Anonymous could have said "finding myself miny years ago in the city of Seville." I tliorofore think the Conversation with Sebastian must have oc- curred some years earlier. The story of Anonymous begins with John Cabot's depart- ure from Venice and his settling at Bristol, tliencc running, or rather flying, he hints at what Sebastian Cabot had done for Englaad, his arrival in Spain, the fresh glory acquired and the high oifice he held there; that is, in a little over a page, it includes a period of time extending from 1477 till beyond 1533, or a space of at least about sixty years, but probably more. This flight over such space of time could naturally allow him to make nothing more than a slight mention of events, but, however slight, the mention is most valuable to us in our great dearth of information concerning Cabot. That his testi- mony is correct and to be relied on is proved by the compari- son we are able to make of his testimony on some points vvitn that of others, and which shows them fully to agree. But when he descends to any details, especially of drite. he has *Toinaso Giimti, who republished Rumiisio's work in 1613, places after tliis Aiionyraous's name, I Icuow not on what croinid tlie addition of Mantuan. From this Marco Poscariui supposed it was the Mantuan Gianrjiaconio Bartolo (Ms. N". 6142 of the Imperial Libriry at Vienna, cited by C. Bullo, La Vera Patria di Giovanni Caboto p. xxviii). Poscariui's opinion has probably no other t,'round tliiin that in Fracastoro's Dialogue Navagcriua sive de Poetica, dedicated to Riiraiisio, oneof the persons introduced in the dialoguu is Joannes Jacobus Biir- ilulo Mautuanus civis. Harrisse, p. 339. We have already seen, in Chapter Vn, that Richard Eden durst assert that he was Galeazzo Bottrigari, Papal Nuncio to Spain, who died as early as 1518. \ Revue Critiqued' Histoire et LUteraturc. Premier semestre, 1870, p. 205. The approximate time of the visit to theVilli" of Caphi is taken from these words of Anonymous in speaking of the Portuguese : " this last battle of theii.s with the King of Cambay." As it was fought in 1546, the expression this could not have been applied to U later than 1547, or at MK.-t 1548. . I 1^ m THE LIFE OF BEBASTIAN CABOT. made the greatest confusion possible. We have already seen that he makes John Cabot die about the time that Christoplicr Columbus returned from his discovery, that is, in IVX',, whereas he was still alive in 1498. We sha'' soon find lain placing the departure of his son Sebastian for Spain, to enter the service of the Catholic Kings, immediately after his return from the voyage of 1498 ; whereiis it is proved that he did nut go to Spain before the death of Henry VII, that is, not before 1509 ;* or rather as we shall see, ho did not in fact go there till 1512. He further says that he went to Spain to serve the Catholic King and Queen hahella ; when that great woman had been dead since 1504.f Such confounding of dates is a most serious fault in an his- torian, but in this particular case of Sebastian Cabot's voyage, if we consider the matter carefully, Kamusio's fault is a very slight one, and most probably none at all. For, in the tirst place, we must remend)er that neither he nor Anon'» aious whose discourse he is reporting, ever had any intention of re- lating a sketch of Sebastian Cabot's life, so that it would be nec- essary to fit its parts in with due division of time and years ; neither had any other view than that of rehiting the voyajj^e of discovery which Sebastian Cabot had made to the northern parts of America. The whole story is, therefore, directed to this purpose, and what there is over and above- and not strictly relating thereto, serves only to tell us how Schastiun came to be in England to make the voyage, and why he (hd not continue the work begun. In the second place, we nuist remember that when Anonymous related his story in Fracas- toro's Villa many years had elapsed since his conversation with Sebastian Cabot in Spain.;}: Now that after so long a * "Familiarem Iiabeo dcmi Cnhotum. Vorntns nnmqtie ex Britannia a reec nostrti Cutuolici) pnst lli-nriei miiimis Brilnnniiie rciris mortem ..." P. Martyiis de Anslieria. De rebus Oceanicis. Dec. iii. lib. vi. Henry VII died in tWO. f "My fiitlier died at the time that news came that Senor Don Ciifistoplitr Ciiliimbns tlie Genoese, had discovered the shore of tlic Indies.. . .1 resolved lo go l)acklo Eniiland. . . .whereon ariivini: I found very crent cumnioiions. . on account of which I came to Spain to the Caliiolic Kini; and to Queen h'l- bella, who received me and pave me n good Hppointmont." App. xix. J "And being iu the city of Seville sorac years ago." App. xix. IF :i RAMUSIO'S ANONYMOUS. 97 time a man of sense, as he was, should repeat a story with suhstantial correctness is very possible where the matter trciitod of is one that greatly interests him ; but it would bo ;i marvel if he carried the same correctness into the details, especially if these details are not essential to the substance of the story. Add to tiiis, that Sebastian Cabot's story, to r;iicli us, has not only had to pass through the memory of Anonymous, but also through Ramusio's. May it not have lost something in this last passage ? Ramusio himself answers hy tlie following declaration which he nuikes before begin- ning the story of Anonymous. " I do not pretend, " he says, " to write his discourse with ;is/i(// iletails as I heard it, for that would require other skill and memory than I possess ; still I will try to give a sum- manj or, as it were, the heads of what / can remember."* If this does not suffice, hear what he says just afterwards, still speaking of the discourse of Anonymous : "With regard to the Mediterranean Sea, I seem to remember that he touched upon T know not what voyage that might be made on it witli great profit, but to what place haa entirely escaped my ■liDuori/:'-^- Now, if Ramusio entirely - forgot all about a voyage of very great j)roflt that could be made right here at liome, on the Mediterranean, is it to be wondered at that his memory should slip on a detail concerning a voyage made more than half a century before in seas entirely un- known ? To account for the mistake of the date as 1496, let us go hack to the visit which Anonymous made to Sebastian Cabot at Seville.;]: The great man receives his visitor with all cour- tesy, and yielding to his request gives him a summary ac- * App. xix. t ll>. "II quale ragionaniento, egli dice, non mi bastti rnnimo di potere iscrivere cosi particolarmente com' io lo luii, percli(5 vi siirla di hisonno ultro inmcno, ei ultra memoria, cbe uou i la inia, piir mi sforzen'i soimnanamente e I f »i( per capi di recitar quel clie mi potrf> ricordnre. A propositi) dul Mar I Mi'iiiierniiieo mi par ricordnre clie toccasse anclie di non so clie viaggio che si Ipixiiii fan; in quello di graudissimo proposilo, ma a che parte emmi al tutto [pmto dalla tnemoria." 98 THE LIFE OF SEBASTIAN CABOT. I|j: count of the voyages and discoveries he had made. As this account included in the brief space of a conversation tin course of many years and events, he was obHged to incntidii the most important things and pass lightly over tlic rest. For us seeking to reconstruct the story of those ovcnt> from the few remaining fragments, it is of greatest importance to fix dates ; but this importance did not exist for Cabot wlin was narrating facts, not fixing dates, nor for Anonymous who on his side had special reasons for wishing to know tin facts. The intention of both was to relate and listen to tlii direction of voyages, obstacles met with, what was seen am! done ; and why the undertaking did not answer its purjjosi. Of all this we find a lapid mention in the account ot Anonymous. There was one thing that had no interest for Anonymous, though it had much for Sebastian, and he coukl not have omitted it. Any one who has read autobiographies, even those of great men, must have observed how they dwell on all the details of their first steps in the career of their {great- ness, and the difficulties they met and overcame, whilst tlitv are concise enough, and often sparing, to the reader's regret, with the facts of the greatest and most general importance. For we all judge theimportanceof things by their impression on us rather than their intrinsic value. This is so general that it has no need of examples to prove it. Now, in the first days of his career as navigator and discoverer, what must have made a deep impression on Sebastian Cabot's mind, sn that it would be in his thoughts and he would be sure to speak of it to any one asking for the story of those first years of his life ? It must have been the patent by which King Henrv VII authorized his father and brothers and himself to sail on new discoveries. Who can say how John Cabot had strui:- gled to procure that longed-for patent ? How many stairs he went up, what repulses he endured, how often, when he believed he had succeeded, he had to begin anew ? To Se- bastian, whose youth and taste inclined him strongly to the sea, this continued alternating between hope and discoura;;e- ment must have been much more painful than to his father: dud in proportion to the anxiety of deferred hope must have KAMUSIO'S ANONYMOUS. 99 been the pleasure of receiving the patent. That day opened cltar and sure to him the road of discovery, and it was im- niNsibie for its date ever to be erased from his memory. He cdiild not have failed to mention that starting-point to one niestioning him concerning his glorious career. It seems to Die most natural (and therefore true) that he commenced the ftncount of his discoveries from the year in which the royal Biitent authorized them, that is, from 1496. His auditor ns not thinking of that, but of the voyage, and when he ieard this given as the starting-point, he took it for the start- liriL'-point of his voyage instead of that of his career. Or it may be supposed with no less probability that Anony- mous caught the true sense of Sebastian Cabot's words and so ppeatcd them, and Ramusio confounded the two events. Ra- lusio liiinself leads me to suppose this, for in his first edition precedes the date of 1496 with the words, saving the truth. "The King .... fitted me up two caravels with «!very thing aeoded, and inis was, saving the truth, in 149^."* So that lamusio himself was in doubt whether he was correctly report- ing or had rightly understood the words of Anonymous. In sub- equent editions, for what reason I know not, this eloquent Sttle parenthesis is ommitted. The date, then, of 1496, given by Ramusio can create no difficulty ; and as in his account he (ngrees with the narrative of Peter Martyr d' Anghiera, it lust be certain that they are both speaking of the same voy- age, and as that mentioned by Peter Martyr refers to 1498, K must place Ramusio's in the same year. Having thus cleared our path of the first obstacle that con- roiited us, let us see what we can put together from the dif- ferent accounts. We know from Ayala's dispatch that the fleet liad hardly got to sea when it was struck hy a violent storm, |»nd one of the ships was so damaged that it went back for afoty to the coast of Ireland. There was a Friar Bull on this Vessel ; most likely a religious sent out for service among the Dlonios whom it was intended to leave in the lands newly dis- * "II Re . . .mi arra6 due caiavelle di tntto ci5 che era di bisogno et fu, salvo Imto, nel 1496." P. 402. -The first edition was published iu Venice by thf Mri o( LucBDtODio Giunti, in the year MDL. . V,.|: fs: I, i< ;■ ► .1 100 THE LIFE OF SEBASTIAN CABOT. ,1' " ■ ■ ii : :■■■ i J t; • 1". ■ it i covered.* Ramusio says in general terms that the fleet on leav. ing England took a course to the r.orth-west.f Gomnra more definitely, that it sailed towards Iceland. :}: Between this island and liristol there was some commerce in relation to fish ; and Biddle thinks that Cabot very prudently regarded it as a place where he could give his men a resting-place on the long vov- age on which he was taking them, and avoid the fatigue which its excessive length might produce on the sailors in the watery solitude.§ Why, instead of sailing due west, did they take a course so far to the north ? It is necessary to pause a little to answer this question, in order that our story may proceed with clear- ness and without obstacles. The Cabots had believed they had arrived at the continent of Asia on their previous dis- covery. But later, whether the eflect of information coming from Spain concerning the discoveries of Christopher Co- lumbus, which told only of new islands, or a more mature and calm study of the stories of Marco Polo, the only authority that could be had on the extreme eastern regions of Asia, who related that in front of those countries there was a long stretch of islands in the sea, or whatever else it nuiy have heen (for it is not possible for us to know all these particulars, and it would not help us if it were); the fact is and of this there is no question, that a change had been effected in Cabot's mind in regard tc the real character of the places he had discovered, and in accordance with this change were his new aspirations and the new purposes of his third expedition. Admitting, then, that the land explored on the previous I voyage was an island, it naturally followed that the conti- ♦App. xvi.— It is strantre that the friar who went with Christopher Co- lumbus to evangelize the New World was also named Buil. Hiinisse asks; " Miffht he not be the same ?" p. 102. If so, it, mnst have been slinme or remorse that induced him to return to Ute New World, tliere to wash away tliedarkj stain contracted there by his infamous conduct towards Cliristopher Coliimliii' See Tarducci's Life of Christopher Columbus. Bitok 1. g1». 31. t App. xix. J Ti i t Prometio . . . de ir por el norte al Cataio , , . y camino la buella de islan- dia — App. xxi. S Memoir, p. 33, THE COURSE TAKEN IN 1498. 101 nent must bo beyond; for no one had as yet suspected that the lands which were discovered belonged to a new continent, it was still the universal conviction that beyond the Atlantic must be the continent of Asia . The aim of the present voy- ajre was therefore limited to finding among these islands a channel giving passage to the mainland. On the previous voyage they had explored a long tract of the coast of Lab- rador without finding its end. On this, to avoid the ne- (■'s.sity of repeating the tiresome sailing along the part of Lab- rador which they had seen the year before, from Jie time of leaving they go up well to the norti-^-vest, and then chango to due west, sure of finding an open sea north of the land a- long wliich they had coasted the previous years, or that at least they should not have far to sail before they came to the end of the coast. On reaching the mainland beyond the isl- ands, it was their intention to sail south until they came op- posite to the island of Cipango, which they imagined to be the centre of the wealth and treasures of the East. "Master John," writes Sonei.o, "has set his mind on higher things, because he thinks that after reaching that place he can sail always close to the shore, further towards the east, till he is opposite to an island which he calls Cipango, situated in the equatorial region, and where all the spices and jewels of the world come from."* And Ramusio more distinctly yet, "Cabot expected to find no land till he came to that where Cathay is, and then from there to turn towards the Indies ; but after a few days he found that it trended to the north, at which sight he was infinitely disappointed ; he returned along the coast to see if he could find a gulf to change the direction, but came to none till he reached fifty-six degrees under our pole, where seeing that the coast turned eastwards, he went back in de- spair 'io explore the same coast on the side towards the south, still with the hope of finding a passage to the Indies, "f "Messer Zoanne ha postol' animo ad mnggior cosa perche pensa, da quello loco occiipato andarsene sempre a Riva Rivapift verso al Levante, tanto cliel sia al npposito de una iaola, da lui chlamiita Cipango, posta in la resione equinocliale dnve crede che nascano tutte le speciarie del mundo et anche le gioie." App. xiii. t "Caboto si peasava di non trovar terra, se non quella dove d 11 Catalo, e dl 102 THE LIFE OF SEBASTIAN CABOT. i'l ■■'•'■: Peter Martyr says nothing of the heiglit of latitude reatlicl on the voyage, but tolls us, "that they went so far north that in the month of July they found immense masses of ice floutingin the sea, and the day was almost continual."* Gomara gives tlie same details as Peter Martyr with the addition of the degrw reached which, instead of being the fifty-sixth as Raniusiohiis it, he says vas the fifty-eighth.t So we are again in difficulty and must work our way tlirougn contradictory accounts. The reader has probably observed that in Ramusio's account there is one point where he ruiij against a truth of fact. The fifty-sixth degree, which ho givij as the final point to which Cabot sailed, takes us right on the coast of Labrador, which instead of trending east, trends to tin north-west, just in the direction that Cabot had supposed. On the other hand, the circumstances mentioned by Peter Martyr, of the masses of floating ice, and the almost continual dav are absolutely irreconcilable with the latitude as given by Ra- musio; for although it may not be impossible to see some stray icebergs in the sea that bathes the coast of Labrador, they are | never numerous enough to make navigation difficult or dan- gerous, certainly not in July, as happened to Cabot. Nor is i the night in that latitude so short as to warrant the expression that the day was almost continual. The same difficulty with a slight difference is found with Gomaras fifty-eighth degree. The skein seemed so tangled as to leave no hope of being able to undo it ; but an acute remark of Zurla's has put its head in our hands , and as his suggestion ]& poi voltaie verso le Indie, ma in capo di alquanti giorni la discoperse rhe coireva verso tramontana, la qunl vista gli fu di infinite dispiacere ; epure andando dietro la costa per vedeie se poteva trovare qualche golfo che voltasse non vi fu mai ordine, flncbfi andato sino a gradi cinquanta sei sotto il nostra polo, vedendo che quivi la co8ta voltava verso levante, disperato di trovarloj se ne torn6 a dietro a riconoscere ancora la detta costa dalla parte veisol'| equinoziale sempre con intenzione di trovar passaggio alle Indie." App. xix, * ". . . primo tendens ad scptenlrionem donee etiam Julio monsevasti'l repererit glacinles moles pclago natantes et lucem fei h perpetuam.. ." App.xviii j t ". ..hasta se poneren cinquanta yocho grados. Aunque el dize muchonmj contandocomoavia por el mes dc Julio tanto frioy peda^os dezelo quenoosol passar mas adelante, y que los dias eran graDdissi>ao8 y quasi sin noclieylnj noches muy claras." App. xxi. . 11. ^ TllE LATITIDE nDACHtD. 109 ftfjrecs perfectly with tho placos jukI fact to which ho refers, it soeiiisto me reasonable to accept and follow it.* lie observed that to have such length of daylight as to make tho day appear ali'iost uninterrupted it is necessary to go at least ten degrees |iijrli(!itlian Raniusio puts it, and reach 00°. There, in fact, enor- mous nuisses of ice may be met with even in the middle of .July, Tlii'se circumstances should suffice to convince us that there is an error in the number 50 given by Ramusio, and that it should i)eO(). But in addition to the circumstances mentioned by Zurla, tlicro is it third which completes the agreement throughout. This lust r think should be examined at some length to remove all question as to Zurla's supposition. Gomara has told us that on leaving Bristol the expedition sailed towards Iceland. If wo cast our eyes over the map, and from the southern point of Iceland along which Cabot sailed with his fleet we follow his course to the west till we come to land, after a few (/«//.s', as Ramusio says, we find it, and it is Greenland in tho same latitude as we found Iceland, for its lowest latitude C3°'2()',and Cape Farewell the extreme southern limit of Greenland extends to 59° 43', and the short distance between them agrees perfectly with Ramusio's expression, "after a few days." Cabot, who expected to find no land till he came to that where Cafkni) is, is infinitely disappointed at this sight. The cuast of Greenland where we have arrived coming direct from Iceland trends to the north, precisely as Ramusio expresses it ; and Cabot returns along the coad to see if lie can find a gulf to change the direc- tion. Hut after a long stretch of land the coast of Greenland turns to the north-east ; wherefore Cabot, according to Ramusio, see- ing that the coast turned eastwards, in despair of finding a gv.lf, turns hack. Here every thing fits into Ramusio's account ; the only variance is as to the point where the land turns to the east ; for Raniusio says it is at 56°, while Greenland shows it to be at 66°, just where great masses of ice float in the sea, and the day is almost continuous, as D' Anghiera says. * Phicido Zurla, Di Marco Polo e degli altri Viaggiatori Venezianipiu illuatri, vol. ii, p. 278. Veneziii; Fuchs, 1818. True, Zurla confounds the present voy- age with that made iu 1516, but lliat takes nothing from the aculeuess of bis view in regard to this particular. I ■ 104 THE LIFE OP SEBASTIAN CABOT. I<1 h'i After this, can wo hositato to eorroct the 50° of Raiiiusio by HulKstituting ()()° u.s ix'oposcd hy Zuria? With tliosi! mattors doanid up, tho (course and plan of Sc- bantian Cabot soom to mo to beconio phiin enough. Tho historian cannot, Uko tho romancor, give free lii^'litto his fancy, but, if ho couhl, what things he would have to think and to say of that "inHnite disappointment," iiml that "despair" with which (.abot in tlic narrative of Aiioiiy. mous pictures his state of mind wlien lie saw the land lutiiiv his forecast and hope, and he was compelled to decide on going back I Those nnisses of ice and that almost perpet- ual day can make no great impression on us, accustomed as we are to so many tales of navigation in the polar sous, aud tolerably acquainted with the lay of the land and tho character of the country ; but facing (!abot and his compan- ions there was the dread of the unknown. How far would tliiit laud extend ? and where would it end ? Would it leave soiiiu passage open ? or would it continue without a break till it joined on to Norway shutting in tho whole sea ? This aji- prehension of a continuous extension of American territory till it united with the northern regions of Europe may soom strange to us with oui knowledge of the geography, but it was most natural it should present itself to Sebastian Cabot's mind. So true is this, that the XVI century was half over and the question whether North America joined Norway or left open a passage by sea, was still vexing the minds of geographical historians. "Why," wrote Ramusio in 1550, "have the Princes not been able to make discoveries to the North where the land of Labrador is, and ascertain whether it joins Norway, jr there is water there ?"* Another thought, not less harrowing, presented itself to Cabot's mind. For, even if tliore should be an open sea there, if these enormous masses of floating ice rendered navigation difficult and dangerous in the middle of July, what would it be when the season * "PerchS non potevan gli Principi. , . .far. . . .discoprir verso tramontana dove d la terra del Lavoratore, et veder se ella si congiunge con la Norvegia, over se vi 6 mare .... V'Raccolta, vol, i, p. 414. B. HIH DIHAPrOINTMKNT. 105 wftfl inoro advanced and they snilin^ fnrtlior nortli ? "Sooing that tilt' ('oiiHt turntMl t'listwiinls, in dcspiiir of lindinii: 'my K'df to (li.in;i:(' till* dir('(!ti()n ho went hack to (vxitloin I Ik; sanio const on tho side towards tho south, .still with thi! hoix* of liiidin^f ii passage to the Indies ; and ho wont us fur us what at present they call Floriihi."* Another dilHculty meets us here. If Sehastian Cahot camo to the coast of Greenland and from there sailed down us far as Florida, looking for an opening, how did he happen not to enter the hroad gulf which o[)ens hetween (freeidand and Lah- rador? Tho most natural answer to this (luestion seems to me, tliiit he supposed the new land seen on this voyage was the continuation of what ho had seen tho year hefore and sailed along its coast for 300 leagues ; and that so supposing, ho did not sail close to the shore from tho point ho had reached in Greenland, hut to save time, ho took the course, with his ships, straight for Lahrador, and so did not observe the broad gulf which he left on his right. However, with such dearth of information wo cannot pretend to reconstruct the whole course of his navigations : it is much if wo succeed in fixing a point hero and there. Peter Martyr D'Anghiera to indicate the place whore Cabot stopped his exploration, uses these words : '*He proceeded so far south as to reach nearly tho latitude of the Strait of Gibraltar, and so far west as to leave Cuba on his left and nearly in the same meridian. "f The precise indication given by Petei Martyr of tho lat- itude as the same as that of the Strait of Gibraltar, leaves no doubt that the most southern point reached by Cabot must bo placed along the shore of Chesapeake Bay. If Ramusio's Anonymous mentions Florida as the extreme point, it is be- * " Vedendo dunqne die la coata voltava verso leviinte, disperato di trovare un qimlclie golfo clie voltasse, se ne torn5 n dietro a riconoscere ancorala delta ensttt dalla parte verso 1' equinoziale sempre con intenzione di trovar passaggio Rile Indie ; e venne sino a quella die diiamaoo ul presente Floiida." Ramusio. See App. xix. t "Tetcnditque tantntn ad meridiem, littore sese Incurvante, ut Herculei fretus lutitudinis fere gradiis aequarit : ad occidentemque profectus tantiim est, Cii- l)am iasulam a leva lOO^tudine graduum pene parem babuerit."— App. N. xvUi. .h;i \ ' t ( ] n«*iiMF 106 tHE LIFE OP SEBASTIAN CABOT. I cause nothing was at that time known of the extent of that pen* insula to the Northwards, and it was very easy to make n mis- take and include under that name not only the f oiiinsula proper, hut also the coast region of Georgia and the Carolinaa* Arriving at the Chesapeake he was obliged to return lo Eng- land for want of piovisions.f Did the colonization, which we said was one of th j purposes of the expedition, take ))lace? That besides the discovery of new lands colonization was also intended, is clearly stated in the documents. In the first place, the number of three hundred persons embarked on tiie ships is too great for a mere expedition of discovery, and can only be explained on the idea of a colonization : and the words of Pasqualigo in his letter, "These English follow hira like fools, but let as many as he can get, and even some of our knaves too, go with nim,":j: can have no other meaning than this, of a colonization. The same sense must be given totlo words of the second patent giving permission to leave to "all suche maisters, maryners, pages, and vur subjects as of their owen free wille woll goo and passe with hym in the same shippes to the seid Lands or Iles."§ Still more definite is Gomara's account which says : "He promised King Henry to go to Cathay by the north, and bring ppices from there in less time than the Portuguese by the south. He went also for the purpose of ascertaining what sort of lands the Indies would be for peopling : he took with him three hundred men."|| Finally, Soncino in so many words says that it was intended to found a colony. "It is reported that the said majesty wi'l soon fit out some ships and moreover will give them all the criminals, and they will go to found a colony in that country, * Ii. Hughes, 1. c. p. 257. f "Et mancandotni ^li la vettovaglia, presi partitn di ritornarmene in Ingbil terra." — Ramnsio, App. xix. X " Sti InglesI li vano driedi a modo pazi epur nevolese tantiquanti n'avr^ con lui, et etiam moUi dei nostri furfanti." See App. zl. §App. xiv. I "I prometio ai rey Enrique de yr por el norte al Cataio y trner de nlln espedit en menod tiempo que Portugueses, por el sur. Y va tambien por saber jiw tierraeran las Indiaa para poblar . Llevo trezieutua hombres." See App. xil INTENDED COLONIZATION. 107 by which means they hope to do a larger business in spices at London than is done at Alexandria." * There was then undoubtedly an intention of colonizing the new lands. What came of it we know not. It is supposed that an attempt at colonizatioi? was made in the land of Labrador, and Gomara teems to give good grounds for this supposition when he says that Cabot made a stop at the land of the Bacallaos.f It would also seem to be confirmed by what the Venetian ambassador to Portugal, Pietro Pasqualigo wrote on October 19, 1501, to his brothers, on the return of Gaspar Cortereal's expedition, only eleven days after it entered the Portuguefue harbors: "They have brought here VII, between men and women and boys.... in their land they have no iron • but they make knives out of some stones ; and likewise heads of arrows. And they have also brought from there a piece of a broken gilt sword which cer- tainly appears to have been made in Italy : one of the boys had in his ears two silver rings which seem without doubt to have been made at Venice";}: True, Pasqualigo refers in his letter to another voyage made by Cortereal the year before, | and so the articles from Europe found in the j)ossession of those savages might have come from his own ships on the previous expedition ; but as Cortereal in 1501 went further north than the land he discovered the year befcire, and consequently nearer to the English discoveries, and all those articles were of Venetian, and not Portuguese manufact- *"A tempo novo se dice che la Maesti prefata armar& alcuai navilij.et ulira li dar^ tulti li malfattori et andaraao in qtiello paese a fare una colon ia, medi- aute la quale sperano de fare in Londres maggior fondaco de speciarie cLe sia in Alexandria." App. xiii. t "Ilehaziendoseen los Baccalaos. App. xxi. t "Hanno conduct! qui vii, tra bomini et femene et putti de quelli. . . .nella terra loro non hanoo ferro ; ma fanno cortelli de alcunc pietre ; et simllmente ponte de f reze. Et quilli ancliora hanno porta de la uno pezo de apada rotla do- rata liiqiial certopar facta in Italia: uno putto de questi haveva ale orecbia du4 lodini de avzento, die senza dubbio pareno atafacti a Venetia." This letter is printed in a hook, now very rare published at Vioenza in 1507, under the title, "I aesi novamente retrovati et novo mondo da Alberico Vesputlo Florentino intitiilato." S"Credono che sia terra ferma la qunl continua in un' altra terra che lanopai- tato, fo discoperta sotto la tramontasa." lb. '?! 1 - i I i- |IT lOS THE LIFK OF SEr.ASTlAN CABOT. ure, it would seem moro natural to suppose they came from the ships of Cabot, who, as a Venetian and sailing from a city where tliere was a most flourishing colony of Venetian mer- chants, would obviously have carried many articles imported from his own city and by his own countrymen. The asperity of the climate probably rendered the attempt abortive. But the climate was not likely to be the main con- sideration : many more persons than had been counted on having remained on board of the? vessels probably caused a diminution of provisions, which prevented Cabot from further exploring the southern coast, for the ships being furnished with a year's supply it is hard to understand how they should have run short in three or four months.* And here, since we have got back to speaking of Labrador a- gain, I will give somewhat in detail the only record which re- mains of this voyage : and perhaps the reader will not be sorry to take a little brea,th after tlie tiresome journey ho has been making amongst notes and discussions. Moreover the brief epi- sode I shall relate belongs partly to the domain of history, for it was the origin of the name Tierra de Bachallaos being then given to what was afterwards, as it is now, called Labrador.f Peter Martyr has preserved it for us, and it relates to bears' fishing. He relates, then, that the place was wonderfully full of * " El Rey. . . .embio cinco naos .... fiieron pioveydos por uu ano." Puebla, App. xy. — "fueron avitallados pour ud ano." Ayala, App. xvi. Andre Thevet says positively that Sebastian Cabot landed full three hun- dred men, but they nearly all died of the cold, although it was in the month of July." Vmy est, qu'ilmistbien trois cens hommes en terre du costed'Irlande au uort ou le froid list mourir presque toute sii compagnie encore que ce fust au moys de juillet". ( App. xxiv). But his lestiniony is too open to sus- picion, for he gets his information concerning Cabot at second hand, and it is certainly not for his care in collecting it that ha merits praise. We hi.ve an immediate proof of this ia the very surname of Cabot which he slmmcfuDy distorts by calling him Babate. And here, without doubt, in speaking of the attempted colonization he commitJ tho mistake of taking for colonists tbe wholr- three hundred who sailed in tho ships of the expedition. t Biddle, on page 246, says that the name of Labrador (Laborer) was in- vented by Cortereal and the Portuguese slavo-merchants to indicate that this Northern coast produced men wonderfully fitted for labor. FAILFKE OF THE COLONY. 109 bears that were harmless to men, and tlicy always saw a num- ber of them seated on the shore awaitin^^ game. The sea in front swarmed with big fishes so closely packed together that at times it was difficult for vessels to force a way through them,* and in gliding hither and thither in their play they some- times got into shallow water near the beach. Then the boars, wiiich had lain in wait on the bank with an eye always fixed on the surface of the water, sprang into the sea. Their sudden appearance and the splash in the water, with their furious bounding to one side and the other, pu!, the happy shoal of iishes in great trouble and disorder. In their confu- sion and anxiety to get into deep water, they swam against and interfered with each other, and hindered their escape, so that the bears were able to pounce upon them and fix their strong claws between their scales. Then followed the strangest and most beautiful contest. The fish made every effort to free himself from the clutch that held him fast, and struggling, turning, sliding in every direction, raised around liim a cloud of spray, within which in transparent coloring was seen the enormous beast of a bear pulled this way and that, now under and now above the water, but always hanging on to his prey till the fish, his strength exhausted, and overcome with pain, gave up entirely and the bear's victory was complete. Then he drew the fish to the bank, where extended at full ease on the sand, he made a most savory repast. Our navigators were pres- ent at one of these contests and enjoyed it greatly, and while it lasted their laughter and shouts from the ships made accom- paniment to the various turnings of the battle, and hailed the final triumph. The indigenes, questioned by signs, made known that they called these fishes Baccalao, and from this word Cabot named the hind in front of him the Land of tin? Baccalaos (Codfish )."t *"Ut etiiim ill! navigia interdum detiiidaicnt." Peter Martyr, dec. iii, lib. vi. f "Biiciillaos Cabotliis ipse terras illas appcllavii, e(i qucd in e.oruni prhir/o t A Period of Obscuriiy- The news of the bad result of the enterprise must have been most unpleasant for the English, and their dejection upon its return equal to the enthusiasm on its departure the year before. It was like passing suddenly from the bright- ness of the noonday sun to midnight darkness. What a load of criticism, ridicule, and invective must have been heaped on the young Sebastian, who had succeeded his father in the command of the expedition ! For, without doubt, those who liad promoted and aided the expedition threw the blame of its want of success on the too great want of age and ex- perience on the part of its leader. There must have been great lament for the loss of John, whose bravery and experience would in their opinion have secured a happy issue of the undertaking. From this general feeling the poor young man's reputation must have received a blow that caused him to disappear wholly from view, and fourteen years passed be- fore he reappears openly shining in the light of day. In the discourse of Sebastian Cabot reported by Ramusio's Anonymous, he says that upon returning to England, he found great commotions of the people aroused and war, and that there was no further thought of navigating the northern seas, and therefore he left that country to seek better fortune elsewhere.* In those words he, no doubt, alludes to the vari- ous attempts of the pretended Duke of York to wrest from Henry VII the sceptre lost by the House whose name he had assumed; to the support which James IV of Scotland gave his * << .presi partito di ritoinarm«ne in Inghiiterra, dove giunto trovai grandissimi tumulti di populi sullevuii et della guerra Id Scotia . . ." App. xix. '^■fnHnnp^pnipil| 1498 TO 1512. Ill pretensions in open war; and to the repeated rising of the people in Cornwall, driven to despair by the excessive burdens imposed on them and the cruelty of those who were employed to collect the payments.* But it was not on his return that all these events disturbed England, nor were they all at once ; they (lid not last long, and victory always smiled without much difficulty on Henry's arms. Fourteen years passed be- tween his return from the voyage and his going to Spain, so that these disturbances could not be called the direct cause of his leaving England. Neither is it strictly true that there was no further thought of navigation in search of new lands and seas ; for some, even though few, undertakings of this nature are recorded. In Sebastian's words, then, rather than the expression of his precise motive, we have the sad echo of wliat in that long interval passed in his mind, when the idea of discovery was greatly exciting his thoughts, and he beheld the possibility of carrying out his plans continually put off by the disorders that disturbed Henry's reign. But durilig that long period of fourteen years, did he re- main a calm spectator of events, waiting patiently for times more favorable to his ideas ? Even if we were told so, we could not believe it. A man who in early youth had given such vigorous proofs of activity, and whom again in mature life, and on to extreme old age, we find most extraordinarily active, it is not possible that in the most vigorous period of life, when even the least inclined to work feel at times the desire and necessity of moving, acting, stirring at some thing, should remain calmly idle ; it is contrary to nature. But what did he do ? Biddle, at this place, cites a book of historical and topograph- ical notices of the City of Bristol, which, under the year 1499, quotes from an old almanac of that city, the following passage : "This yeare, Sebastian Cabot borne in Bristol, prof- fered his service to King Henry for discovering new contries ; which had noe greatc or favorable entertainment of the King, bv,t he ivith no extraordinary preparation, set fort from Bristol, and * Hume's History of England, cb. xxv and zxvi. ■i 'I 112 THE LIFE OF SEBASTIAN CABOT. made greate discoveries. "*It is superfluous to remark how little reliance can be placed on the testimony of almanacs; nor does the ingenious American attach any importance to it, in an absolute way, especially as the chronicler shows clearly l)y the last words that he refers to one of Cabot's other voyages ; yet all erroneous as it is, Eiddle thinks he can obtain from it a gleam of light amid the obscurity of those years. Cabot hud broken off his exploration of the American coast for want of provisions; and he must naturally have wished to resume it at the point where he had left off, until he found the wished-for strait. It would therefore seem very likely that he was apply- ing to the King, proposing new plans for resuming the under- taking, and that the King did not look favorably on his pro- posals : very likely that Cabot was treating not only with the crown, but with private individuals to form a company for a new attempt, but found the door shut on this side also; that then urged by the interior force that led him to resume the sea, he got together a small expedition from his own means, and in some sort of a vessel which he was able to tit out, rushed again into adventures on the unknown path ; which would very well agree with what the almanac says : "with no extraordinary preparation set forth from Bristol." This supposition corresponds very well with wliat Navarrete relates of Ojeda : "It is certain that on his first voyage he found some Englishmen in the vicinity of Coquil)acoa."f Ojeda sailed from Spain May 25, 1499, and was absent only one year.:}: Therefore the dates of Cabot's departure from Bristol and Ojeda's from Spain would very well permit the meeting; mentioned of the English and Spaniards. If Navarrcte's in- formation is correct, there is every probability that these VA\g- lish were led by Sebastian Cabot as the only man in England at that time who was capable of conducting such expedition : * From Seycr " Memoirs liistorical and Topojirapliical of Bristol and its Neiglil)oinlioi)il," p 258. iiimik', Memoirs, Bit. i, p. 91, 92. f " Lo cierto es que Ilojeda en su primer viage liall5 a ciertos Inuleses por las inmediaciones de Coqiiibacoa." Navarrete, iii, p. 41, Coquibacoa is on tbe Gulf of Maracaibo, ou the uorlberu coast of Venezuela. X Navarrete, ib. OTHER ENGLISH VOYAGES. 113 this is so true that when two years later a new expedition was planut'd tlie Portuguese were called on to direct it. These Portuguese were three, John and Francis Fernandes, ;iu(l John Gonsalvez, gentlemen from the Azores ; with them ucro associated three merchants of P)ristol, Richard Warde, Tlionitis Ashurst, and John Thomas. Their patent, dated )hu'ch 11), 1501, is suhstantially the sanie as usually given (or sucli undertakings, and does not require to ho particu- hirlv considered. Only one thing in it is necessary to chserve, (his is that the English monarch in granting to the three l'()rtui,niese a monopoly of trade with the newly-discovered nmutries, covertly, hut with clear meaning, refers to the former cnncessions made to John (y'ahot and his sons, to deprive them of all force and authority contrary to the privileges now ijraiited ti) the three Portuguese and their associates. Not- withstanding, says the decree, the pretensions any foreigner or foreigners may set up under pretext or color of former irraiits.* Nothing is known, or is for our purpose important to know, of the result of their enterprise. But one should he glad to know the reason why Sebastian Cabot's name is not men- tioned. Biddle attributes it to his heing absent on the American coast, again following up his explorations.f But if ilonry consented to the request of these Portuguese, why should ho not have listened to Cahot's ? It can only be be- cause he asked for aid as well as authorization ; whereas the throe I'ortuguese declared they assumed all the risk of their un- dertaking ; and not only assured to the Crown a portion of the eventual profits of their discoveries, but agreed after ten years to cede all rights they might have to them, and leave England their absolute owner.;}: *"Et quod nullus ex subditis nostria eos eorum aliqiiem de ct super posses- sioiie el titulo suis de et ex dictis terris flriuis, insulis ct provinciis se iiliqimtiter oniitra voluntalein suiim expellat qiiovis modo xeu (diquia extraneus aut aliqui 'ttmnei virtute aut colore nlicuitis concessionin nostrae nbi Magno Sigillo Nostra Vyarrete, Tomo fii, p. 86. irw AimiVEH IN SPAIN. 117 bold young man who found liiniself in possession of his father's hoiirdeil treasures,* For the moment the impetuousness of youth incited liim to mihtary glory, and immediately he took part in the wars raging on the Continent, allying liiinsi'lf with Ferdinand King of Hpain, wliose daughter he had iiiiurii'd. Hut who can answer for t'he future? The astute Ferdi- (iiiikI thought it hest to takestej)s to preventdanger and while tlio English Monarch was so well disposed, quietly deprive him of the principal arm he might some day use aguinst him. This arm was Sebastian Cabot. The alliance referred to between King Ferdinand of Spain and the youthful Henry VIH of England was directed against Louis XII King of F'rance. By the terms of the treaty con- cluded between the two sovereigns November 7, 1511, it was a(,'reed that the King of England should land 6000 men in Aquitiiine, and the Spaniard towards the month of April 1512 should dispatch a fleet of forty sail to Southampton for trans- porting them.f It was so carried out. Lord Willoughby, one of the generals of the expedition, took in. his train Sebastian Cabot. We know not in what capacity Cabot went, but from all the information we have, it seems to mo very clear that his going to the war was a mere pretext for leaving England and passing into Spain where King Ferdinand had invited hiiH. That he had not sought this new service, but went by request, is expressly stated by Peter Martyr D' Anghiera and Herrera. Tlie former says : "He was called from England by the Catholic King after the death of Henry VII,"+ and * Hume says of Henry VII. "So insatiable was his avarice By all these arts of accumuhition joiaed to a rij^id frugality in liis expenses, he so filled his cofEcrs.tliat he is said to have possessed in ready money the sum of one million eight hundred thousand pounds : a treasure almost incredible if we consider the scarcity of money in those times." And in a note : " Silver was, during this reign, ihirty-seven shillings and sixpence a pound, wliich makes Henry's treiusure near three millions of our present money." Tliis was noted by Hume in his days (1711—1776): but if we consider the difference in the value of money since his lime we shall see that the value of the sum hoarded by Henry VII was really enormous. Hume's Histai'y of England, ch. xxvi. I See Bergenroth, Calendar, vol. ii, N. .59, 63, p. 58. \ "Familiarem habeo domi Cabotum. . . . Vocatua namque ex Bntanuia arege M % -.1 .'i 118 THE LIFE OF SEBASTIAN CABOT. the latter, narrating Ferdinand'sanxietyaVmut the newly-dis- covered lands, and his cautious glances towards the ishind of Baccalaos, and his desire of gathering around him tli(! \m[ cosraographers of the time, says that these motives inducod him to draw Sebastian Cabot into his service, knowin^^ iii,,, to be an expert man of the sea.* True, in writing to Silws- tian. King Ferdinand says : "You offered your services ;"f but this is merely a form of chancery, for the purpose of keep- ing up the King's dignity. On arriving in Spain Sebastian Cabot had a conference at the city of Burgos, with Lope Conchillos, secretary of (.lnm\ Joanna, and with the Bishop of Palencia, and the terms of his employment were therein settled. ;}; After that, Ferdinand wrote the same day to Lord Willoughby, asking him to send Sebastian Cabot to him, as he required to consult him about some matters relating to his service ; and he also wrote to Cabot himself inviting him to come to him at once at Logrono, where Ferdinand then was. § nottro Catholko post Ilemici majoris Britanniac regis mortem concurialis est." Petri Martyris de Anglieriii, De Rebus Oceanieis et orbe novo. Dec. iii, lib. vi. *"Este (lesseo de descuhiir el eslreclio, y de tener el Rey en su servicio per sonas platicas eu dcscubrimieiitos, y afflrmarle miicliou Cosmographos que necessariamente le avia de aver a la parte de los Bacallaos y otro al occidente ; le movio a truer a su servicio a Sebastian Gaboto Ingles, por tener nolicin que era experto liombre de mar." Herrera, Dec. i, lib. ix, cap. xiii. •^'Ofrecisteis servirnos." See note next but one. XT\\\% Bishop of Palencia must have been John Rodrigo de Ponseca, not yet promoted to tlie archbisliopric of Rosaao, who was general superintendent (if the affairs of the New World, and who made himself notorious by his ill-treat- ment ar ! oppression of Christopher Columbus. S "R. n Vlilor de Uiibi Capitan R. de Iiigl.a He sabido que viene en vtra cnra- paiiiii So'.tastian Caboto Ingles, e porquc yo quiero saber del cosas de ntrO ser- vicio, Ic enbiareis a do estoi." Logrofio, 13 Set.e 512. "Conch [illo] "Obp()[de Palencia] (M.S. in the Library of the Academy of History at Madrid. Coilec. Miiiioz, t. ex. fol. 109.) y'R. a Sebastian Caboto. "Sabeis que en Burgos os hablaron de mi parte'Conchillos 1 el Obp. de Pa- lencia sobie la navegucioii a Ins Biicallos.e ofrecisteis servirnos escribiendo yo a Milor de Uliby, nirO Capitan : hele escrito y con su licencia veuies, a lio estoi." Logrofio, 13 Set.e 512 (lb. fol. 115). The Spaniards translating according to sound the name of Willoughby, made it 1512 TO 1515. 110 This concern on tho King's part to write both requesta tho saiiiy day shows clearly that every thing was settled upon he- twt'cii Ciihot and the Spanish government, and tho conference at Hurgos was merely for tho purpose of closing an agreo- mciit already made. Cabot went at once to ('astile, and Fer- ilinanil, by decree of October 20, 1512, conferred on him tho riink of Captain with a salary of lifty thousand niaravedis yearly, and assigned Seville as his residence while waiting for orders. * The same day, October 20, tho King wrote to liis ambassador to tho English government, ordering him to assist Sebastian Cabot, his captain, who was going to England to arrange bis alfairs and bring away his wife and family.f His wife was called Catharine Modrano, a Spaniard it would seem from the name.:}: From this circumstance, and from tho fact that Peter Martyr says that Sebastian Cabot was called to Spain after tho death of Henry VII, who died in 150!), Harrisse is of the opinion that Sebastian had been in Spain before 1512, but without giving up his English dom- icile, and that it was then that he married. § For my part, I do not regard the building on the wife's name as very con- sistent, for it may very well have been po.ssible for Sebastian to Uliby. Ilerrera also calls biin the stime: 1. c. "El Rey. . . . escribio ii Milort Ulibi.". ♦"Letter from King Ferdinand to tlic Office at Seville, to which was entrusted Ibe maniigement of id! the affairs of the New World. "R. a ofiE. de Sevilla. "A Sebastian Caboto Ingles he echo merced de ntro Cupitan de mar con SO, OOO mrs. de Salario, los que Ics pagarcis aauualm.tc en la forma acostumbrada. "Longroilo, 20 Oct. e 1513. "Conch. "Olipo."— Ibidem.— Hcrrera : "Bebastiauo Qaboto vino a Caslilla, y el Rey ledio liiulo de su capitan, y buenos gages, y quedu en su servicio,y le mandu resider en Sevilla, para le que se ordcnasse." Herrera, 1. c. f'El Rey D. Luis Caro ntrO Embajador etc. "Sebastiano Caboto, ntrO Gapitan va a poner recaudo en su hacienda; a traer su mujer i casa : favoreced su bueno y breve despacho. "Logrniio, 20 oct.e 512. lb." tApp. XX. S"Nous croyons . . . . qu' entre les annfies 1503 et 1509 ou 1512 Cabot, libre d' engagements & I'egard de Henri VII, visita I'Espagne et s'y maria mais sans cesser d' avoir son domicile en Augleterre." •leanet S6bastien Cabot, p. 109-110. / ■ r 'ij^ HI 120 THE LIFE OP SEBASTIAN CABOT. •!- Iiiivt • meet a Spanish woman in England ; thus Christopher Co- himbus met Phihppa Perestrello, an Italian, in Lisbon, and married her. It is by no means necessary to understand hv Peter Martyr's expression j^od rnortnn, the time immediattlv following the deatli of Henry VII. From 1512 to .515 the only record to be found of Sebastian Cabot is in certain schedules of payment of salary, which l)y the King's order was paid him in full without any deduction for the time he spent in England on his own aifairs.* In 1515 Peter Martyr in speaking of him, mentions the friendship he had with him, and the hospitality which he often extended to him in his own house. He calls him also his Concnrialis, and as Peter Martyr wrs a member of the Supreme Council of the Indies, Eden, as we have seen, inter- prets that word to mean that Sebastian was also a member of the council, and many others have repeated it after liim.f But the fact is that Herrera gives a list of all the members of that council, and in it we find Peter Martyr, but no Sebastian Cabot. :j: The proper translation of the word is, therefore, that given by Avezac, namely, that concarialis means *is here with me at court. "§ From Peter Martyr's words it seems that Sebastian Cabot was surrounded in Spain by a strong circle of rivals who tried to detract from his reputation and sap the foundation of his greatness. J This was very natural. Among those Spanish sea- men were some who liad accompanied the discoverer of the New World on his voyages ; there were the companions of Alonzode Ojeda, of Yanez Piiizon, of John delaCosa;and they must all have felt humiliated that a foreigner, a perfect stranger to Spanish navigations, should place liimself at their side and take precedence over many of them. But the hij-h " Sec App. xvii. t In liis Ininslation of the first three Decndes of Anghiera, 1555. X This list is found at the bottom of his DtMription of the Kdst Indicx. S In the Revue Ciliique d' Ilistoirc ct dc Litlcniture, Premier Suinestrc, 1870, p. 205. I "Ex Castellanis non desuntqui Cubolum primum fuissc BuccaloruLn repcr- Inrem necant, taiitumque ad Occidentem telendisse miuiine aflsentiuutiir," P. M. d'Anghiern, 1. c. PEATTI or KINO FERniNAND. 121 position in wliich we liiul him in 1515, shows that he had c'omo out triumphantly over all and every thing. In that year Herrora names him as a member of a commission (•liar?o(l with revising iind correcting all the maps and charts used in Spanish navigation, a duty of the greatest im- portance and delicacy at a time when the principal activity of Spain was directed to navigation and discovery.* Under the same year, Peter Martyr's history relates that an expedition was planned for the next year to make further ex- plorations and discoveries, and that Cabot was to be at its liead.f In fact, in the book of accounts of the Treasury at the House at Seville, is a note of a payment to Sebastian Cabot for <,foing to court to confer with Their ]\Iajesties concerning a voyage of discovery which he was to undertake.;}; But while they were making preparations, King Ferdinand died, Janu- ary 23, 1516. -1 CHAPTER XL Sebastian Cabot back in England. The governments of those days, all centring in the life of the sovereign, always received a severe shock when he died, and tlic whole machinery of the public business felt its effects ill a greater or less degree. In this oscillation there was al- ways a period of uncertainty, of doubt, in the whole civil ad- ministration until the new sovereign had declared his views *"...— poiquc las cartas de niarcar de Casti'la no pareva quo estavan con formes, los oficialcs de la casa de Ht-villa suplicaron al Rey les dlcsse licLMicia puia liazer sobrc ello junta de Pilotos y coiregir las cartas. El Rey lo liivd por hicii . . . . y para la juntii (jue sc avia de liazer, ordeuo Qik^ se bus- ciisscn losmeiores Cosinoirrafos y I'ilolos : muudo a . . . . asentar el salariode Ciipitiin y Cosmografo n Sebastian Caboto, elc." Dec. ii, lib. i, cap. xii. t "Hcbaslianua Cabotus . . . expectat in dies ut iiavisria sibi parentur, quibus arciimim hoc naturre lalcns iam tandem deteeatur. Maitio nieuse auui futuri MDXVI puto ad exploraudum discessurum." 1. c. As to arcanum boc naturtc lalens. See note at that place in App. xvlil. t Sec App. xvii. A. M' 122 THE LIFE OF SEBASTIAN CABOT. of the direction ho wished to give to the machinery of the government. The internal and external relations of the Kinj;- dom of Spain and the different characters of the former ami present sovereign rendered this period of uncertainty ami doubt unusually full of anxiety and danger. Spain was a kingdom of recent formation, and with the new King made its first experiment of trusting its united destinies to the hands of a single sovereign. Externally Spanish honor was pledged in many and distant wars and their fortunate issue was not so nmch hoped for from their own forces and treasure, as from the prudence of Ferdinand and the confidence in him- self which he had inspired in nearly every court. Ho was born and bred and lived in Spain and for Spain, and associated with the heroic Isabella in the glory of having given national unity to the country. On the other hand, Charles, his suc- cessor, was young, only known to Spaniajv' b^ ne, born and bred an Austrian, with his affections mucii more set on liis paternal domains than on the rich inheritance of his grand- father. The suspense of mind was consequently greater in the beginning of the new reign than on other like occasions, and the preparations for Sebastian Cabot's contemplated expedi- tion as well as many other matters were put aside. During this period, which naturally had special causes of anxiety for Cabot, an opportunity was presented for him to return again to the frosts of the North in the service of England for anew expedition in search of the longed-for pas- sage to Cathay by the north-west. But as his servic^^^ < ii]y lasted during this expedition, and after that we ap -^"1 him at his accustomed duties in Spain, we must pre'^i .ui lie had a special permission for his absence from the Spi ' "f government. How he came to be called to England, and on what terms, and who was promoting the expedition, all is dark to us. The grants already mentioned from the King of England to the three Portuguese merely contemplated new explorations and discoveries in the regions already discovered. Nowhere does it appear that any one had proposed to resume the bold idea of the Cabots of opening a passaj^. • to the eastern lands of Cathay across the lands discovo. \. in the mmmi VOYAGE OF 1516. 123 northern seas to the westward. But on September 25, 1513, Vasco Nufiez de Balboa crossing from Darien the cloven heights of the Cordillera, from the tops of those mountains dis- covered the Great Ocean, and settled the question that the lands of America were isolated.* This fact puts Cabot's plan in a new light, and the search after a passage to the eastern lands of Asia acquired the same importance as the first voy- ages of discovery in the New World. As the matter was of the greatest interest for the future of England, Cabot's idea was taken up again, and an expedition got together for a new and more determined experiment. Sebastian Cabot was called n{)on to direct it in the character of pilot. f Of all tlie losses we have to lament in his life this is the most deplorable, that nothing is left concerning this voyage which from many indications appears to have been most im- portant under every aspect. It is only by chance that with much labor we have been able to make sure of its existence. Richard Eden, the personal friend of Sebastian Cabot, is the only one to make direct and clear mention of it. In 1553, dur- ing the life-time of Sebastian, Eden printed at London a transla- tion of the Universal CoHmogrophy of Sebastian Munster, and in the dedication to the Duke of Northumberland, complain- ing of the neglect into which navigation, and discovery had fallen, he writes these words : "If it (manly courage) had not been wanting in other in these our dayes at such time as our Sovereigne Lord of noble memory. King Henry the Eighth, a- * Heirera, Dec. i, lib. x, cnp. i. t Oviedo, in the 13tli chapter of tlic XIX Bonk of his history, relates that an Endi-il. vessel coming from the nciulihoiliood of Brazil appeared at tlie har- bor of San Domingo in the island of Ilispuniola, and requested license to enter tiieie for the purpose of trading; Uiat the comandant of the fort being sus- liicioiis opened Are on it, and the Englisli retired in fear and went to the island if St. Joiin for supplies, complaining loudly of their treatment, and protesting Hint they came with fair intentions of tnifflcking and nothing else. The fact occurred in 1527, liul ILikluyt erroncou.sly puts it in 1517, and so l)(;iieves Unit tlie ves.spl whs commnnded hy Si^tinstian Cabot, and makes one of liis expeditions take place in 1517 to tlio vicinity of Brazil. Purchas {lygrims, vol. iv, p. 1813), Ral)ertsoii in his History of America (Book '"). Lardner in his Cyclopaedia (vol. ii, p. 138), and others have fallen into the same error. I « • H 124 THE LIFE OP SEBASTIAN CABOT. bout the same (eighth )yere of his raygne, furnished and setforlh, cnrtcn shippcs under the governauncc of Sebastian Cahot yd liiuun and one sir Thomas Parte, whose fayant heart "was the cause that that viage to/ce none effect ; if (I say) such manly courajje whereof we have spoken had not at that tyme bene wanting, it myghte happelye have come to passe that rich treasurye called P\^rularia (which is now in Spayne, in the citie of Civile and so named, for that in it is kepte the infinite ryches ])r(nij,'lit thither from tlie nevvefoundland of Peru) myght lon in the backside of the Newfoundland, which of late was dixovcrcd by your Grace^s sn,bjects, until they come to the back- side and south seas of the Indies Occidental. "§ The expression, of late, applied to the new discovery, assures us that Newfoundland seen in 1497, is not referred to, foi the loiijf time that had elapsed, and the numerous voyages tliitlier, would make the expression entirely out of place ; whereas only fourteen years had passed .since the expedition of 1510, and as it pushed northwards to an altitude never before *riakliiyt,, vol.i. p. 235. t III. p. 2;J7. Rymer in his Fnedc-a, vol. xiii, p. 37, reports n roynl piitent for a new e.xpudiiion, DecemhiT 9, 1503, in wliich the name oi' Hugh Eliot is joined with that of Thomas Ashehurst hikI not witli Nicholas Thome's. Hence WL' m\m either admit another pntent whicli we know no bot's charts preserved in the private royal gallery at White- hall in Westminster, as we are informed by Sir Humphnv Gilbert, himself a distinguished navigator, and who in liis youth may have seen and known the great Venetian person- ally.* These are Humphrey's words : " Sebastian Cahota. ... in his charts which ai-e yet to be scene in the (^itwu's Majesty's Privie Gallerie at Whitehall .... aftinuo tliat he sayled very farre westward with a quarter of the North, on the North side of Terra de Labrador the elevcntli of June, until he came to the septentrionall latitude of 0" degrees and a-halfe, and finding the seas still open, sayd that he might and would have gone to Cataia, if the mutinit q{ the Master and Mariners had not bene."f Cabot himself wrote to Jerome Ramusio the same details as those on the chart, as the latter relates in his dedicatnrv letter to the celebrated Fracastoro, prefixed to the third vol- ume of his great collection. Ramusio speaking of New France. as it was called then, or ('anada as it is now, says : "We arc not yet (1553) sure whether that land is joined on to the mainland of the province of Florida and New Spain, or is all divided into islands. And if by that way it is possible to go to Cathay, as was written many years ago by Signer Se- bastian Cabot, our Venetian, a man of great experience and rare in the art of navigation and science of cosmography : he had sailed above this land of New France at the expense of * He lived from 1539 to li)84, and won grent lepvitatlon in hia searcli fnra passage to Catliay by tlie nortlicast of Europe. Tlie story of his voyai'cwas originally publislied in 1570, and republished, but in a mutiluted form, by Ilak- luyt. "t Hakluyt,|;vol. iii, p. 88, m DISCOVERY OF HUDSON STRAIT. 127 King Henry VTT of England, and he told me that liavinji; (rone a long distance towards the west and a quarter to the north-west behind these islands situated along the said land, as far as sixty -seven and a half degrees under our pole, on the 11th of June, and finding the sea open and without iin- iicdimont, he firmly believed he could pass by that way tow- ards eastern Cathay, and would have done so if the wnlke oj Ihe master and insurgent mariners had not forced him to turn hack." * As to the height of latitude reached, Martin Frol)isher put it at 67 degrees,f Herrera 68. :j: But this dift'erence not only is slight, but the mean between them exactly agrees with Ramusio, who says 67°, 30'. It is an exaggerated scruple on the part of Erizzo Minis- calchi that contrary to the full agro ment of these witnesses, makes him loath to admit this voyage of Cabot's for the sole reason that he was not at its head, but only held the office of Pilot ; regarding it as unbecoming and inadmissible that after holding the first rank in other navigations, he should in this have accepted a secondary part.§ In allowing him- self to be affected by this scruple, he forgets with what strength an idea rooted for years in a man's mind, and strengthened by long study and meditation, gains absolute dominion over his thoughts and forces the will and self-love to bend in order to gain the desired triumpli. What though Cabot had over his head the person of Thomas Pert, officers and sail- ors knew that not Pert but he was the Pharos of the expedition * As to the uncertainty expressed by Ramusio wh'tlier Now Prance was all a continuous land with Florida and New Spain (Mexico), it should be remem- bered that John de la Cosa in his famous chart of 1500 makes the land contin- uous from the coast of Labrador to south of the equatorial line. John Sduiner, on the contrary, in his of 1520, divides Norlh and Central America into two parts. As to what is mentioned here about Henry VII, we shall recur to it i.- the Xllchiipter where the same matter is repented by another writer. f'lfind that Gabota was the first, in Kinjr H.-nry VII's days, that discovered this frozen land or seas from sixty-seven towards the North and from thence towards the South, alone; the coast of America to 30 decrees and a half, etc." Ki'porU'of Voyage to Meta Incognita eic. By Thomas Churchyard, Hakluyt, iil. 38. {Hpci, lib. vi, cap. 16. S Erizzo Miniscalchi, '%e Scoperto Artiche" p. 131, note. .■ ' *, \ t 12,S THE LIFE OF SEP.ASTIAN CABOT. i,t: ■ ■,;■ i.- i' 1 1 1 N ■I ^ :« "1 'I r i and to him they looked for light amid the darkness of the way. And if they had succeeded in gloriously carrying out their purpose, it certainly would not be on Pert's forejioad that public opinion would have placed the triumphal ctowh, And besides, in the maritime enterprises of those days instfui- ces often occurred where men of great worth and reputation uc. cepted a .secondary part that they might liave some sliiirc in the expedition : as John de la Cosa in those of Alon/.o dc Ojeda and Rodrigo de Bastidas ; Americus Vespucci in nil four of his voyages ; William Barentz in the expedition nf 151)G led by Ileemcskerck ; AVilliam Baffin in that of KiK; dj. rected by Robert By lot. "" Only too frequently were tlioj^on- ius and the means to lead an expedition in open oppowtion one to another, and in such cases genius must yield to the ^vill and sometimes arrogance of tlie one who puts out the money, reserving for its own reward the satisfaction of l)oin^' the real head of the expedition. But history did justice, uiul the bay discovered by the expedition of 1616 was named after the pilot Baffin, not the commander Bylot. CPIAPTER XII. Sebastian Cabot discovered ike drait and bay which icm afterwards natnedfrovi Hudson. What was the place in latitude sixty-seven-and-a-half degrees, where Sebastian Cabot was compelled by the fear of his companions to go back ? We have no direct information from any quarter, but by putting together various other facts we may be able to throw some light on our subject. The fourth expedition, like the third, aimed at finding a passage to the eastern coasts of Asia ; where would it jjotn look for it ? Certainly not to the place already explored and *L. Huguezin the "Memoric della SDcietil Geografica Italiiina," vol, i, parte Hi. u ^•^^••^mm DISCOVERY OF HUDSON STUAIT. 120 uliifli had given a negative answer to previous researches. The southom part of America to the mouth of the Rio do la I'hita had hccn passed by Spanish and Portuguese ships ; the (tutrul liad hocn explored by the Spanitxrds from the days of (linstopiior Columbus ; the northern from the coasts of Labra- dor to Chesapeake Bay had been visited by Sebastian Cabot himself, in 1498. All that remained, then, to explore was the sdutliorn extremity and the region north of Labrador. The rditii^^iiose and Spanish vessels were busy exploring and cx- iiiiiiiiing to the south, and besides it was too far out of the iriwh of England ; therefore the new English expedition had no way left for it to take but to push its explorations to the iiortli of Labrador. It could not, however, go too far north, for in the previous voyage of 1498 they saw there was land in that direction and that it trended to the north-east. There- fore the course of Sebastian Cabot was designated right to the north-west, to the broad opening between Labrador and Greenland, the precise portion still unexplored, for as we said in its proper placo, from the parallel of 66° where he readied the coast of Greenland, he sailed right down to the coast of Labrador, without taking notice of the wide gulf ho left on his right. But as the English afterwards often re- turned to the land of Labrador, it was very easy to ascertain that it extended far back in the sea towards the north-west. Entering that gulf, is it more probable that he passed througii Davis Strait or the smaller strait of Hudson ? The question is equivalent to this ; what is more likely than tliat Cabot continued at hazard on the open sea and kept along the coast of Labrador, following every bend it makes, towards the places where he wanted to arrive? To the question in this forni, it seems to me, there can be but one answer. His 'ourse from England was therefore straight for the land of Labrador, at the point where his previous exploration ended, and then taking the coast for his guide, he came to Cape 'hudleigh where the land turns, and he turned with it, and !?o found himself sailing m that strait which was afterwards named from Hudson. Let us now see how the few indications which have been 9 , 1 1 ■ ir • ». 1.30 THE LIFE OF SEBASTIAN CABOT. left US agree with these probahlo and natural suppositions of the itinerary of the fourth expedition. After Sebastian Cabot's death repeated attempts were made to find a passage to Asia by the no"th of America and as is natural, his previous voyages served as the rule and guide of those who wanted to continue his work : and Ids not having succeeded was the main argument in opposition to prove that it was idle to renew the attempt. The first tn come forward with great courage and tenacity to resume tlu work of Sebastian Cabot was Martin Frobisher who gave Ids name to one of the bays opening on the eastern coast of Cum- berland. A great contest occurred over his project, for and against it, but the victory remained with those in its favor. Among its most ardent supporters was Humphrey Gil- bert whose name was afterwards distinguished anionjf the most honored in the noble band of discoverers. He had made special studies on this subject, and a certain George Gascoignc, a relative of Frobisher's, knowing this, requested him to show Frobisher what ho had collected so as to derive from it advice and rules for his voyage. Humphrey complied, and Gascoigne printed and published the information thus obtained on the 12th of April 157C, two months before Frob- isher started on his voyage. Gascoigne himself tells us all this in the Preface.* Here, for the purpose of proving that the north of America is not a continuous land, but that there is an opening there by which a passage is given to the east- ern* lands of Asia, we read the following passage, a part of which we have already given, but the whole is inserted here for greater clearness. " Furthermore Sebastian Cabota *"Novvit happened that myself being one(ainong8t many)beholden tothesaid sir Humphrey Gilbert for sundry courtesies, did come to visit him inthewD- ter last past, at his house in Limehouse, and being very bold to demand of him, how he spent his time in this loitering vacation from martial stratagems, lie courteously took me into his study, and there showed me sundry proliiaWe and very commendable exercises whicli be had perfected painfully witli liisown pen, and amongst the rest this present discovery. The which, as well lieciuisc it was not long, as also, because, lunderstood that M. Forboiser, a Kins-mm aj mine, did pretend to travel in the same discovery, I craved it at the said sir Humphrey's hand for two oi three days." Biddle, Memoir, bk. ii.ch. xiii. DATE OF THIS DISCOVERY. 131 hii hix penonal cxpcricri.cc and travel hath act /north, a,nd dcHcrihcd Ihls paHHnfjc in his charts which are yot to bo seono in the (hieen's Mujosty's Privio Gullerio at Whitehall, who was sent to iiuiko this discovery by Kin^ Henry WW, and inkrcd the same fret : affirniinj^ that he sailed very farre wtist- ward with a quarter of tlie North, on the North side of Terra do Labrador the elovonth of June, until ho camo to tho soptoiuptrionall latitude of G7 degrees and a-halfe, and finding the sea still open, said that he might and would luivegone to (ataia, if tho mutinio of tho Master and Mariners had not lu'iio."* Another person who fought hard in favor of Martin Probish- ci's uiulortaking was Richard Willes, the meritorious contin- uator of Eden's work. He puts in the mouth of the opponents who claimed that it was impossible for it to succeed, these words : "Well graunt the West Indies not to continue continent unto the Pole, grant there be a passage between these two lands, let the gulfo lie nearer us than commonly in Gardes wo fiiide it set, naynely, hetivecnc the 61 and 64 decrees North, as [Goninia Frisius f in his mappes and globes imagineth it, I and so left by our countryman Sebastian Cabot, in his Table, I which the Earle of Bedford hath at Cheynies . . . ." X Then speaking in his own person with greater particularity I he continues : "For that Caboto was not only a skilful seaman but a long traveller and such a one as entered personally that nlmujU, sent by King Henry VII. to make this aforesaid dis- covery as in his own Discourse oi Navigation yov may read in his Card, drawn tvith his own hand, that tho mouth of tlie North Western Straight lieth r? car the 318 meridian, between 61 and 64 degrees in the elevation continuyng the same breadth a- bout ten degrees West, where it openetli southerly more and [more,"§ . -; ;, * Hakluyt, vol. iii, p. 38 from the Discourse of Sir Humphrey Gilbert, Inhere the possibility is proved of going by the northwest to Catliuy, cli. iii. t Gemma Regnier, surnamed Frisius or Frizon because born in Friesland iu jHolland, was a celebrated mathemiitician, who besides many otlier works of jreat merit and reputation published a " Mappa Mundi," atLouvainin 1540. |He was born in 1508, and died at Louvajn in 1505. } Hakluyt vol. iii, p. 48, ^ lb. p, 49. isa THE LIFE OF REBA-fiTIAN CABOT. ini I ; n i.H Tlio topographical description corroaponds so oxnotly with ifho true position that '^t' itself alono it would sutlicD to rui;. vinco us that llichanl Willea was spcakinjjj of the vi-ry stmit and bay which wore later called after Hudson, and of no otlnf place. Hut if this is not enough, there is the perfect iifjrtr- mont of the latitude in its conHrniation, Willes's cnleulatioii of the longitude is made from the island of Ferro eastwiini? Now following this direction hot ween ()l°and 04° N. L. we ■coinediri'ctly to the mouth of Hudson {Strait. It istruo tliattlie degrees of longitude from the Island of Ferro to the (^ntniiia of that strait are not 318 as Willes has it, hut 312 ; Imt tht difl'erence very likely should he charged to Willes, wliojudjicd by looking at Cabot's chart, without much attention to the j mathematical exactness in the distance. * The difference in longitude, however, docs not injure | our argument, so long as the latitude, which is the importa point, is given correctly. Finally, Ortelius puts the seal on all this discussion by | his TJientrum Orlnn Tararu/m, pub^'^^hed in 1570, that is to sjiv. forty years before Hudson's ex tion ; and even before Martin Frobisher attempted his -jtige to the same coasts. In that Atlas, in the map he calls "America, i. e. novi orbis doscriptio, " he puts the strait and bay which were afterward! called Hudson's, and the channel afterwards named Foxs which empties into the bay, with an exactness not possible to! any one who had not certain and precise information of the topography of those regions. But where could he have got this information? The answer is had in the Catalogue of I the authors from whom, he says he obtained the neccssnrj information for his work. Amongst these we find Sebastiac Cabot, whose "universal map cut in brass" ho says he hadbe- fore his eyes, f As none of the other authors he names in the ■•— -^- fiiE • *Bi(ldle, Memoir, 'R(^(^k\, ch. 3, pp. 234-235. f CiUologns auctoriim Xtihularum GeogrHpliicariim quotquotad noslramcog nitionctn liactenus pervenere. Sebastiaima Ca^iotus Venetus. Universalem tabulam quam impressan aeneis formis vidimus, sed^ine nomiK | Inci et impressoris. :i DATE OF THIH DIHCOVERY. 133 note give any informjition whatever concerninj? those norti- cru regions, it ronuiins necessary that lio must have ohtaiiiixl it from Cabot. hi tho whole treatment of this cliaptcr I have foUowed al- most in tho steps of Richard liiddle in liis Mttnoir, as it s(HMn8 to mc that what lie says is not only likely or probable, but true. I must confess that the last arj;uiuent di'awn from Ortel- jus's Atlas has given me gome trouble, liiddle did not know of Sebastian Cabot's great j)lanisi)here wliieh is still preserved ill tho National Library at Paris. But wo who know of it must draw our proofs from that, not from Ortelius. l''or al- tliough Ortelius has Hudson Bay and Strait and Fox Chun- iicl with all tho exactness noted by Biddle, Cabot's plani- sphere on the contrary leaves us in tlie dark. From this it would seem most natural to conclude that Ortelius did not obtain his knowledge of thoso pai*ts from Cabot's Ma}). But on thinking it over there seems a way out of this reason iiig. The list of the authors consub d by him proves clearly that Ortelius could not have obtiuiied the existence of that bay and strait from any other source than a chart of ( 'abot's. That Cabot in his charts liad marked a strait in those parts and at that height is proved by the testimony of several per.sons who had seen and studied those charts. It follows then that Ortelius had under his eyes some other chart than that preserved at Paris ; in fact Sir Humphrey speaks of charts preserved in the gallery of Whitehall, not of a single chart. Here I think best to recall wdiat we elsewhere observed, that it was forbidden under pain of death for the Spanish and Portuguese pilots to trace on their sailing-charts any sign that could put other countries on the track of discovering the crtnal sought for and which opened the way to the East Indies.* The chart, from Which the copy at Paris is taken, was made whilst Cabot was in Spain, and even if he had wished to make *" Tbe Spaniards iinii Poitutjals have commanded that, po pilot of theirs upon paine of death, should plat out in any sea card, any thorow passape " Iliikluyt, ill, p. 23 — G. B. Belloro in his "Elogio di Leone Pancaldo" re- ports a notarial act of September 30, 1631, l)y which Pancaldo, a companion of Magellan, bound himself to the King of Portugal for the sum of 2000 ducats not to teach anyone the new way discovered to the Moluccas, and not to make 134 THE LIFE OP SEBASTIAN CABOT. KHIi ' 11!:- : = •■:' :iir:y ■ :''j 1 • i, « :■ !i;i- -, ' ■J hi^ discovery known of the bay which was afterwards named from Hudson, and the two channels communicating with it, he cou'M give no hint of it, for to do so would have been to sign his own condemnation. But when he was in England, beyond all danger from Spain, he added that correction to his plani- sphere. We must then presume that the copies mentioned bv Sir Humphrey Gilbert and that used by Ortelius were taken from the planisphere corrected and improved by the addition of this discovery. It is then beyond question that Sebastian Cabot had sailed through the strait which gave immortal fame to the name of Hudson ; he knew the bay, had seen its expanse south- wards, and indicated that there was a passage through it into a new channel towards the north. But in which of his voyages did he make this discovery? It could not have been in either of the voyages of 1497 and 1498 ; what we know of them excludes it. It could not have been in the period from 1498 to 1512 in which we lose sight of him, for the only sign of him we have during that period, so far from showing him to us in such distant ex- peditions as that of Hudson's Bay, represents him, on the contrary, in the care and anxiety of getting together a few vessels for a vc_^ age which failed precisely on account of the poverty and scarcity of the means with wnich it was under- taken. * Nothing remains then but the expedition of 1516. But it is not necessary to obtain this conclusion from negative proof alone : Sir Humphrey Gilbert's own words place this discovery in that year. Read them over carefully, and you will see what appears to me quite clear. The short extract w made from them is divided in two parts : in the first he says that Cabot discovered and described that strait, and in the sec- ond, that ho sailed to 67° 30' of North Latitude, and was obliged to return by the mutiny of the crews. Are the two parts separated from each other ? No, they are joined closely 1))' means of the present participle : " Sebastian Cabota by his por- any geographical chart showing it. See Qiornale Ligustico Feb. e Miirzo,18(3, p. 56. • See chapter xix. DID HUDSON KNOW OF CABOT's DISCOVERY ? 135 sonal experience and travel 1 hath set foorth and described this passage and entered the same fret ; ajfirmwg tliat he sailed to the Septentrionall latitude of 67* degrees and .... that he might and would have gone to Cataia if the mutinie of the Maister and Mariners had not bene/'* Then the two things form a single whole and arc inseparable one from the other. But we know from Eden that the navigation to sixty-seven-and-a-half degrees and the mu- tiny of the crews was in the eighth year of Henry VIII, or in 151G : therefore the discovery of the strait and bay was like- wise in that year. At first sight this conclusion appears to contradict the ac- count of Richard Willes who says that " Cabot .... entered personally that straight, sent by King Henry VII to make this aforesaid discovery." But a careful attention to the whole of his words will show that he mentions Henry VII, not J,. connection with the particular discovery of that strait, but as a general mention that from him began the navigations of Se- bastian Cabot, on one of which he made the discovery of that strait. In other words, it is as if he had said : " Sehast?an Cabot, sent by Henry VII to discover now lands in the northern seas, entered that strait which is the commencement of the passage now sought after." If we had any doubt about this interpretation it would be dissipated at once by the instance of Ramusio, whose Avords also, as we saw in the last chapter, apparently sound as though Cabot had reached the height of 07 J degrees under Henry VII :— "It was written me by Signor Sebastian Cabot .... who had sailed above this land of New France at the cost of King Henry Vll of England, and he told me how having proceeded a great distance to the west and a quarter north-west, .... as far as G7 degrees and a half .... he thought .... he could pass towards Eastern Cathay." The authority of Eden who wrote in the life-time of Cabot, and was his personal friend, assures as with absolute precision that the altitude of (>7 degrees and a half was reached in the eighth year of Henry * App. xxili. 1 V h : 13G THE LIFE OF SEBASTIAN CABOT. VIII : it is therefore impossible that Sebastian Cabot in his letter to Ramusio put it in the time of Henry VII. How- then, did Ramusio come to fetch in tliis King ? For the i?ame reason that Richard Willes did so. It is with the name of Henry VII that the glorious series of those voyages begins, and the image of the one who had first opened the way pre- sented itself to the mind of the historian in telling of tlicir progress, and as the connection of the two records appeared spontaneous and natural to his mind,with the same spontane- ity and naturalness he joined them in his narrative. But to reach 67 i degrees it is not enough merely to enter Hudson Strait and reach the Bay, it is also necessary to tliroud the channel running into it from the North, now called Fox Channel, and to pass up it a good distance. At that altitude when in his heated fancy he was admiring the sight of the smiling regions of the Grand Khan, the master of tbcsliip warned him to go back, and he was backed by the raging and threatening crew. Fear had seized possessionof their minds and hearts and they could listen to no reason for continuing their course. The genius of the Pilot was obliged to yield to the claims of the master and the violence of the crew. The heart is here op})ressed with the painful thought of the injustice with which fame is distributed to men. When Hudson in 1610 immortalized his name by giving it to the strait and bay, 94 years had passed since Sebastian Cabot liad made them both known to Europe, and not a palm of land on the surface of the earth bears the name of Cabot. And Hudson not only knew of the previous discovery by Sebastian Cabot, but his whole voyage was guided by the notes he had left of it. Of this there is no doubt. Among the various names he gave the new lands he went on visiting, there was even that of Ilakluyt's Headland.* Hakluyt was the famous collector of English voyages and navigations, a work to which we have had constant occasion to refer. It is evident from this that Hudson when giving his name to a promontory in the new lands wished by this honor to attest and publish his gratitude and * Purchas.vol. iii,p.464. INJUSTICE OF FAME. 137 that of the English for the meritorious worlc of that writer. This proof of aflection and acknowledgment is all the more valu- able because Hakluyt was still living, and it is something too rare to recognize the merits of living persons. Are we to believe tbat Hudson whose ambition it was to continue the struggles and achievements celebrated by Hakluyt, had never looked into his book, and only knew him by the fame which pro- claimed his name loudly throughout England ? The supposi- tion is absurd. Others may have read his works out of zeal of patriotic affection and love of the excitement of the story of so many heroic deeds and such endurance; others who desired to follow in the same path and furnish materials for other like histories, must have read them through the enthusiasm which bore them on to similar achievements and for instruction. IIiulsou had read and studied Hakluyt, and he had seen on paj^e 16 of the third volume the extract from Sir Humphrey Gilbert where he relates that Sebastian Cabot discovered that strait, and that he had found it designated in his chart hung in the gallery at Whitehall, and on page 26 he saw the account of Richard Willes who gave also the latitude of the strait. Like Frobisher and Hudson, others who have been vaunted as bold and hardy discoverers enlarging our knowledge of North America, have all had thn principal poinisof the path they wanted to pursue markeii it for them in the narratives of Peter Martyr, Eden, Hakluyt, Willes, nnd Purchas, afti r the report of Sebastian Cabot. But tl; . all had the rep- utation of being first, and hardly in the sliad' v is then ■ sign of the name of the Venetian who showed them the way* * Biddle, Memoir, p. 363 and a. ,"f,,;i. ,"->••. *i-rJ,f'o?7^:w-vrt',77-^ ■;■. -i 138 THE LIFE OF SEBASTIAN CABOT. n CHAPTER XIII. Return to Spain. Cabot probably returned to Spain immediately after the return of tliis expedition, indignant at being stopped just as he stretched forth his hand to seize the coveted palm of vic- tory. But in whatever way the expedition had resulted, it was in Spain a triumph for him that his work had been so- licited by England which had tried it previously in other nav- igations. This was the most effective answer he could make to his detractors and enemies ; and his genius and skill must have gained greatly in the esteem and confidence of the Gov- ernment there. In fact, we find, not long after, a royal or- dinance dated at Valladolid February 5, 1518, conferring on him the office of Pilot-Major.* He was the third that attained to this rank. The first was Americo Vespucci, the lucky Florentine who left his name to all America ; the second was John Diaz de Soils, the famcus discoverer of the Rio de la Plata. f Three years after the latter's death Sebastian Cabot was appointed to this office, the salary of which was the noble sum of 125,000 maravedis a year.;}: The duties of the office are stated in the letter which King Ferdinand wrote to Ves- pucci August 6, 1508, when it was instituted. * Herrera, Dec. ii, lib. iii, cap.vii. "El Rey .... diose titulo de Pilnto Mayor al Capitau Sebastian Qaboto," Dec. ii, lib. ix, cap. vii. + Herrera, Dec. i, lib. vii, cap. i. — Dec. ii, lib. ii, cap. viii. X Id. ib. — "dal Re Ferdinando ful facto capitano cum provisione di cin- quanta m. maravedis, poij ful facto da questo Re prescnte (Carlo V) piloto mHior cum provvisione di altri 50 m. maravedis et per adiutodi cose mi da poij 25m. maravedis cbe sono in tutto 125 m. maravedis " See App. xxvi.— It was the salary fixed for that office when Vespucci was appointed, -^See Navarrete, iii. 178, pp. 800, 301. WOLSEY INVITES HIM TO RETURN. 139 The Pilot-Major was charged with the examination of Pilots in the use of the Astrolahe and Quadrant, ascertaining whether they joined theory to practice, giving certificates, giving tliem instructions for which they were to pay him, and with presiding over the construction of a Padron or model chart, whicli was to be called Padron Real (Royal Model) and to be successively corrected and improved from the in- formation which all Pilots coming from the Indies were obliged to submit to the Casa dc Contratacion in Seville.* The Pilot-Major resided at Seville near "La Casa do Con- tratacion de las Indias," (Ministry of Indian affairs) established in tli.ft city in 1503. To the ministry was annexed, though in what year is not known, a chair of cosmography the first occupant of which must have been Sebastian Cabot as it would seem from the Index of Professors as given by Navarrete.f From the king's letter to Americo Vespucci, it appears that the Pilot-Major by virtue of his office was "Censor of the Professor of cosmography." Two years later, in 1520, Horrcra relates a second time the conferring of the position of Pilot-Major, but with the ad- dition of an order of the Emperor that no pilot should go to the Indies without the examination and approval of Cabot.:|: But it is not clear from his words whether this order was an a(klition made in that year to the authority of the Pilot- Major, or it referred to the duty of examining pilots in general, inherent in the office from the beginning. From the account of Raniusio's anonymous it would seem to refer to the gen- eral examination, and that this charge was included in the riglits and duties of the Pilot-Major. "Do you not know," he * ". . . y porque u losque no supieron raas facilmente lo puedan aprendcr vog mandamos que lea cnsefieis en vuestra casa en Sevilla ii todos ios que lo qucsieren saber, pagaudovos vuestio tral)!ijo."~Navarretc iii, n. 7, p. 301. t ". . . se establicio la catedra de cosmojrrafia y navogacion que explicabael cnsraogiafo de Incasacomo lo iiicieran Sebastian Caboto, Alonsodc Ch(ttes,AlomO desfinta C/'U2."_Navarrei.e, Diaertacion sobre la historia de la Nautica, Ma- drill, 1846, p. 134. I " Diose titulo de Piloto Maior a Hebaslian Gnboto con orden que ningun Piloto pnsase La las Indias sin ser primero por el exanaiuado i aprobado." — Dec. ii, lib. ix, cap. vii. -if-i ■1 'I i ■' ., • ! . "■! t 'it ^ i 140 THE LIFE OP SEBASTIAN CABOT. says, "in connection with this going to find the Indies by the north, what was done by a Venetian citizen of yours, who was so able and experienced in matters pertaining to navigation and cosmography that there is not his equal in Spain to-day, and his knowledge caused him to be placed over all the pilots that sail to the West Indies, so that they cannot do so without a license from him, and on this account he is called Pilot-Major f * But on the other hand, if it was to be understood as a duty inherent in the office itself, wiiy should Herrera have made special mention of that examina- tion and approval ? If one went with the other, when the first was told the second would be understood, and Herrera's repetition becomes useless. Hence I am inclined to believe that the first examination regarded in general all those who wished to take up the career of a pilot, and that the second was a special examination of those pilots who leaving our waters wanted to navigate the seas of the West Indies. However this may have been, it is certain that Sebastian Cabot was placed in very high and extensive authority, and this appointment alone ought to be enou9ch to give his name an honorable place in the glorious band of navigators in that age. But however high the office or important, its nature was such as to furnish the historian with but few details to record. The year following his appointment as Pilot-Major of Spain, or about that time,f we find him again in England, but the cause of his going thither is not known. On this occasion Cardinal Wolsey, the prime minister of Henry VIII and all powerful in English afiiiirs, sent for him and made him great otters if he would reenter the service of England and make new expeditions and discoveries for her. But he excused himself on the ground that he could not accept with- out the permission of the King of Spain to whose service he was bound. He would gladly do it if he had that permission. At this time he met a Friar Stragliano Collona, a Venetian. * Delle namgazioni et Viaggi, he, cit. p. 414. D. ^ t "24 Deuembre, 1522 .... hor ritrovandomi ja tre anni, salvo il vero, in Ingleterra." App. xxvi. PROPOSALS TO VENICE. 141 for whom he entertained great friendship, and who said to him : " Master Sebastian, you take such pains to benefit foreign countries, forgetting your own. Might it not be pos- sible tliat it also might have some aid from you ?"* These words made a deep impressioxi en Sebastian, who at the time replied that he would reflect on it, and the friar coming back to him the next day told him that he had a way of making Venice a sharer in his navigations and could show him how it would be greatly to his advantage. Since he could not have done this if he accepted Cardinal Wolsey's proposal, he wrote secretly to Spain not to give him permission to enter the service of England, but to recall him at once to Seville, as was done.f Sebastian Cabot himself related these things to Caspar Con- tarini, Venetian ambassar>or to Spain, and wo cannot add a syl- lable to his account or take one from it, for he is the only wit- ness to his own words. Still for the nonce he took no action on the new proposi- tion, but kept reflecting on it and maturing it in his mind. Perhaps the delay arose from the difficulty he saw in the way of drawing Venice into the benefits of the navigation of the Now World. Meanwhile at Seville he contracted a close friendship with a Jerome do Marin de Busignole from Ragusa in Dalmatia, and knowing that he was about to proceed to Venice opened himself to him under a vow of secrecy, and en- gaged him to appear in his name before the council of Ten and make known his intention of asking to bo allowed to ap- pear before them in person for the ])urpose of declaring by word of mouth what he had in his mind.;}: In September 1522 the Ragusan executed the commission. § The Ten were in some doubt as to the seriousness of the pro- posal, but considering it to be a matter of grave iniportance, were unwilling to let it fall through. Witli the usual prudence and astuteness of that faiiious council they warily sent in ad- * " Messer Sebastiano vui vi ;ififiiticati cussi grandemente per far beneficio a eenti externe non vi aricordate di^lla vostia terra, non seria possibile clic etiam lei havesse qualche utilita da vui ?"— App. xxvi. t lb. :j: lb. § App. xxv. •I i^ .;L. 'It n til 11 i I 142 THE LIFE OF SEBASTIAN CABOT. I I I I : vancc to ascertain what foundation there was for a good result Rewarding the Ragusan for liis pains witli a sura of money,* they made him write to Sehastian tliat it would give the Ten pleasure to receive him. This letter they themselves sent to the Venetian amhassador in Spain, informing him of the matter, and intrusting him to remit it directly or by the safest means to Cabot's hands. The ambassador was to pre- tend to know nothing unless Sebastian himself should disclose it, and then he was to try to learn his sentiments from IiIkowii lips, as far as possible, and see if he had any good foundation for his action, f On Christmas Eve, 1522, Sebastian was at the Venetian ambassador's house by his invitation and received the letter in a secret conference. He changed color on reading it iind remained for some time in doubt and alai-ni without sayiiifra word.;}: The intrusion of a third j)ers()n in what should have been a secret between the Ragusan and himself excited a sus- picion of treachery ; but he was soon reassured on the am- bassador's telling him that he had been informed of the mat- ter by the council of Ten with orders to deliver to liiin the letter. The conversation was interrupted for the moment, because the ambassador was called away, but was resumed later in the evening and continued at great length. In this conversation besides what wo have related of Cardinal Wolsey's offer and the complaint of Friar Stragliano Collona and the subsequent reflections of Sebastian Cabot, the latter also re- lated that he had at other times thought of transferring to his * "1522. Die 27 Septembris in ColK'cio intervenientibus et ballotantibus, dom- inis Ciipitibus lUustrissimisCnncili X. " Chel sia iniposto al Cameriengo del Conslglio nostro dei X, die deidenari della cassa sua, dar debbi in dono diicali viuti a Domino Hieronimo de Mariu Rairuseo pro bona causa. +16 ^4 Facto mandato. —0 "ArchiviodeiFrari, Venczia, Consigliodei Dieci, Lettere sottoscritte, Filza N. 5, 1522." + App. XXV. t " lo ritiratomi con lui, li detti lalettcra, lui la Icsse et ledendola si niossf! tutto di colore. Da poij letta, stete cussi un poclieto senza dirmi altro quasi sbiggotito et dubbio." lb. mm .. i\ PROPOSALS TO VENICE. 143 own country of Venice the benefit of his navigations, and had talked on the subject with the Venetian Ambassador in Eng- land. 15ut he says nothing of the result of this conversation, and we have been unable to find any trace of it elsewhere. Contarini was charged to find out from Sebastian in what way ho intended to conduct his undertaking, so as to inform the council, and subsequently Sebastian would have been able to appear before them in person. But Cabot re[)lied that he would only disclose his plan to the chief of the Ten, and for that purpose would proceed to Venice under the pretext of recovering his mother's dower. So far they were agreed. But Contarini, who could not well have liked Sebastian's re- fusal to disclose to him his secret, after admitting that the undertaking if successful would be of very great advantage to Venice, began to raise very serious doubts of the possibility of success, founded on the situaiion of Venice in relation to the new lands to which he would have to sail. But Sebastian held firm to his refusal to explain, saying only "I know ; for I have navigated all those countries, and I know it all well,"* and again asserted that he had not accepted England's offer, because if he had done so "no way would have remained for Venice." Returning to the subject a few days later, Contarini repeated the difficulties in the way of the plan, and Sebastian cut short all discussion with these words : " And I tell you that the way and the manner are plain. I will go to Venice at my own expense, they will hear me, and if the plan I have thought out does not please them, I will come back also at my own expense, "f After these first conversations Sebastian returned frequently to the ambassdor's, repeating his determination to go to Venice to perform what he had promised.;}: But the others did not show the same eagerness. Finally, on the 7th of March, he notified the ambassador that lie was obliged to suspend * lb. f'etiovidico che la via ed il modo li facile. Anderft aVenetia amic spese, meudiranno ne piacendoli 11 cnodo per me ezcogitato, iomi ritomerft pur s^ mie Bpese." lb. I App. xxvii. , . ^ * J I- 144 THE LIFE OF SEBASTIAN CABOT. m 1 „ 1 ■ '' \ T ! 1^: i ^^ • ■ 1 for a while his request for permission to proceed to Venico, for fear lest it should be suspected that ho intended goin^ to Enjr. land; and that the suspension would last three months. H^ urged that in the meantime a letter should ho senthinv iVom Venice, of the same tenor as that written to the Kagu.siui, ju which under pretext of recovering his mother's dower tlicy should give him an excuse for going to speak to the Council of Ten.* The Council of Ten with unfortunate slowness iioj,'- lected to answer the letter of Doceiuber 31,1^^22, in whicli ( 'oii- tarini related his conference with Cabot; and only nrouscd themselves when they received the second of March 7, 152:5, in which iie ambassador, after mentioning Sebastian's repeated visits and insistance, wrote that he had requested to put oil' his going to Venice for three months for safety's sake, fonriii;,' that if he asked permission to leave at that time they would regard it as a proof that ho was going to England. Tliat after that period he would go to Venice. And that in the mean- while he recommended that they should have the Ragusan write him as they had done before urging him to proceed to Venice to arrange his affairs. Then the council at last replied and sent the letter in the Ragusan's name which Sebastian liiid recpiested.f The pretext for sending for him was his niotlier and his aunt's dower for the recovery of which the Ragusaii said he had labored, but his personal presence was absolutely necessary.! On July 26 Contarini wrote again to the Ten saying that he had delivered to Sebastian the letter written him in the Ragusan's name; and that he said he was still iirni in his intention and would take steps to obtain the jier- missicm to leave from the Spanish Government.§ This is the last word we have been able to find on the pub- ject. What further happened? It may be that Seba.stian distrusted that in the l(>ngth of the negotiations, the many disi)atches to and fro, something might leak out and i];et to the ears of the Spanish Government, and cause him trouble, and therefore prudently let the matter drop. If ho. Contarini, who from the first conference had manifested very *Ib. \Ib. X App. xxiz. § App. XXX. harrishe's chargk of pkrfidy. 145 little confidonco in his proposal, would certainly not havo run after him to renew negotiations. But in spite of Cabot's protests, I think it much more probable that he was driven to apply ^^ \'enice not so much by patriotic aif'ection, as by his own need, because he saw no other way of carrying out his iilans. It surely was not for the sedentary and peaceful life (if an oflicc-holder that ho went to Spain, however lucrative and lionoral)lo the office maj'^ havo been ; his heart could not hut sigh for voyages and discoveries, and must have fretted l^reatiy in that quiet occupation where ho passed his time over charts and examinations. In this discontented condition his thoughts strayed to Venice, and ho was pleased with tiie hope that in following his patriotic affections, ho might break his chains and find an arm and a flag to carry him through the hattle of the sea. But after ho had sent the Ragusan to Venice, tliere returned to Spain from the Moluccas the ship, "Vic- toria," which had taken part in Magellan's expedition ; and this return at once aroused thoughts and plans of new expedi- tions. * May it not have been that the hopes excited in Cabot by this new order of things weakened his intention of applying to Venice? For, although he assured Contarini that the undertaking ho proposed to his native country was easy and sure, it is impossible but he should have felt the force of the arguments bi'ougbt against it by that very learned ainbassador.f For my part, I stick to this latter ex})lanation, and am confirmed in it by observing the same thing occurr- ing again, as we shall sec, in similar circumstances in Eng- land. Harrisse calls Sebastian Cabot's plan of going to Venice perfidious. Oh, why ? Perfidious is one who breaks faith with another. What obligation had Sebastian Cabot towards Spain ? That of fulfilling the duties incumbent on the office *The Victoria returned to Spain September 8, 1522, and the Senate of Venice on tlic 23nd of the same moutli wrote to its uiiibassador iu Spain the ofiFer of Sebasiiiin Oubot. Tlierefore his offer whs before the return of the vessel. t i^te App. xxvi.— Caspar Contarini, afterwards Cardinal, was a man of profound and extensive learning. Peter Martyr d' Anghiera applied to hiin when 111! met with any diflScult question of geography or cosmography in writ- 10 \ Pf! r ji 140 THE UFE OF SEBAHTIAN CABOT. r , of Pilot-Major. Did lie ovor fail in any of thorn ? Neithci llurris.so nor anybody ol.so ovor said ho, or can say so. Wlmt lie ollorod to Vonico was outsido of tlio duty of a I'ildt-Muiur. It cannot oven bo said that tho plan ho proposed to Vonico originated or was in any wa^ heliied by his office of I'ilot-Mu. jor, for his idea of discovering a passage to the regions of th^ East across tho New World was many years prior to hig ac- ceptance of that office. Is n nuin of honor forbidden to make use of tho most valuable thing at his disposal ? — Hut Spain would have been greatly injured ? — And whatof that?— Tlim. is never a new invention that while the most useful for sonic is not injurious to others : it is tho natural order of tliiiif;s. And proci.scly in this matter of discovery tho prosperity lunl wealth of Spain and Portugal mortally wounded and killnl the })rosperity and wealth of Venice. If Spain In-oke no moral law when for her own interests she carried off from her ally, unwary England, the science and ability of Huhastian Cal)ot, why .should he bo branded with perfidy in olferiiiff to lii< native land the surplus of ability and science which Spain showed no inclination to make use of ? For it is well to re- member that Sebastian Cabot's office was purely sedentary and none at this tijne had talked of employing him in navi- gation and discovery. Indeed, at tho first likelihood of his be- ing so employed he cut off his negotiations with Venice and was wholly at Spain's dispo.sal. And this is to act perfidiously ! In the course of this same year 1523, under date of Novem- ber 16, wo find 10,000 maravedis deducted from his salary as Pilot-Major for the benefit of Maria Cerezo, widow of Am- erico Vespucci, as had been done before from the salary of De Solis.* The year following, at the end of May, in a note of the funeral expenses of Sir Thomas Lovel, K. G. we find a memorandum of reimbursement of a certain John Godervk, ina: liis history. "Agitatus es cura," lie says in one case of this liind, "conveni pasparem Coiitarinium, oratorera apud CfEsarem pro sua Illuslri Itepublics Veneta, omni litterarum geneie non mediocriter erudilum." Dec. v. 7. *Navarrete, L. iii, Doc. xi, xiv, pp. 308, 311, U Magellan's discovery. 147 forbriiipiiiK Hobastian Cabot to London at tho roquostof tbo (lecoftsed.* In tho absence of all other information wo can ineroly rocord tho fact. CHAPTER XIV. llifcalcd nUemptn to find a pansncfe through the new lands of America to reach the eantern nhorc of Asia. — Magellan. — liescnt- wmtoj Portugal agahid S'pain orhacconntofhin voyage. Wk liavo at last reached a place where wo are no longer lolilif^Pfl to f^rope our way, but may run on swiftly for a while. Hut hoUnv going back to speak directly of Sebastian Cabot, Ideem it best to cast a glance around us to recognize the place and time in which we now are. Let not the reader take it ill if I go back a little and refresh his memory of some llliiiijfs. If for a moment I leave the straight path of our |8t(iry,the short time spent will be well rewarded by the greater |clciirness acquired by the things we shall afterwards say. Tho problem which at this time agitated the mind of Span- lisli iiiarinors was the same which troubled the English sea- Imen's mind, to find a way across the new countries of Amer- lica whicli allowed direct navigation from our regions to those lof tho extreme east. But many as the reasons were which Icounsolled England to seek it by way of the north, Spain [had just as many to lead her to seek it instead by way of the outh. Before Spain, the Portuguese had labored to discover a pas- a|i;o south of Brazil, but in consequence of the unsatisfactory *"Item paide the XVIIth day of feb. to John Goderyk of Tory in the countie Oornewall drap in full satysfacon and recompense of his charge costis and jibour conduclyng of Sebastian Cabolt master of the Pylotes in Spayne to ondonaithe request of the testator by Indenture of covenauntes43s4d." "Expenses of the funeral of sir Tliom. Lovell, knt. of the garter, who died at • manor of Essynges, in Endfield, Midlesex, 25 may 1524, paid by his ex- ICutors." 1. 8. Brewer, Calendar Domestic and Foreign, Henry VIII, t. iv, Part. h 154, N. 366. J Trr"'*V»r.:v;j 148 THE LIFE OF SEBASTIAN CABOT. results of the expeditions of 1501 and 1503, they had given up the thought and turned all their attention afainto the passage which the fortunes of Yasco de Gama liad opoi.tj Thus while the Spaniards wore themselves out in lookinirfor a passage by which to bring the treasures of Asia uciops tlie West Indies, the Portuguese, partly by treaties and partly k wars, went on extending their possessions in the Kast Indic-s and the hope of new and unheard-of wealth for their countrv, Among their most distinguished ofhcers in these coll(^uw^ was Ferdinand de Magalhaens or, as he is usually named in \,i<. tory, Magellan, avIio from the experience acquired in tlioje regions and the study and reflection he joined with exporicmt, conscious of his ability not only to leave the common herd of I ofhcers, but also to rise to first amongst the first, returned to | Europe in the hope of obtaining from his King a mm. worthy of the gifts he felt he possessed. But his lioperej altogether frustrated. Then exasperated at his King and I country, he took himself to Spain and offered his services to j Charles V, peisuruling him that the Molucca Islands in the Lid- ian Oce{i!i over which Portugal had already extended her do- 1 minion, were beyond tlie line of partition and hclonf^od to S^)ain ; and he offered to take Spanish vessels tliither, dis- covering the passage so long sought after in the seas of Soiitli j Amei ica. His propoaid was favorably entertained and preparations j begun. When this was known, in Portugal there was great e.xoite- j ment as at an attempt on the rights of the Portuguese Crown, and strong remonstrance was made to the court of 8paiii Prayers and threats were tried in turn on Magelhui, to calm his resentment or frighten him into withdrawing from iiio en- terprise for which he was preparing : his assasi-iir.ati'jii j waseviMi opcMily spoken of, saying that a perjured citizeinvliol attempted sucli injury to his country merited tlio cruebt death.* When all tliis faik^d, recourse was had to lidknk turning into jest Magellan's presumption, his dreams, and] * "y Dtios ftconsenjiiviin que los matassen. porque el negocio quo Iratavan.cn perjudicial a Portugal." Ileneia, Dec. ii, lib. iv, cap. 10 mmt DISPUTE BETWIOI'Hs' SPAIN AND POUTUGAL. 149 Spain's credulity.* But this new weapon proved as blunt IS the otliers, and on September 20, 1519, Magellan sailed. *'It k outside of our subjeet to relate the endless labors, the luinffcr, the struggles endured by Magellan's expedition ; the JKico energy with which he dragged after him rebellious (itHcors and sailors ; his death at the moment of victory ; the r;i<'0 of the Portuguese and the cruel war they made on the weak renuiant of the glorious expedition. For our purpose it suffices to record that on September 8, 1522, more than three years after the sailing of the expedition, the news reached Spain that the passage to the East Indies across the New World was found, and that the Spanish flag had I made the circuit of the globe. Bud of the five ships that sailed, only the Victoria returned I to Spain, and of all the bold and hardy youths that were on the live ships, only 18 men saw their native land again. The losses suffered by the expedition in men and property [were enormous, but after the discovery of the New World, f the greatest and most glorious uf so many glorious enterprises, in those days so celebrated for the feverish activity of discover- ies and navigations, was the finding of the much-sought pas- s;ii,'c through the American lands to those of the East, and [making the circuit all around the World. The rejoicing over lie great event prevented grief and complaint from being Ihoard, and the great hopes it gave of the future compensated pvitli interest the losses of the present. Whilst on one hand, the fancy of adventurers, of men of letters, of all who were liiiterested in the glory of those discoveries, roamed on the new [broad horizons which Magellan's discovery had opened, the jgreed of merchants seized ar.iously on the specimens which [llie Victoria brought back, and counted the vast wealth which Ihat discovery promised. Orders were at once given to pre- piire a fleet for those parts, and when it sailed they set to ftmktofit out another to follow it as soon as might be.f •"Deciau los Portugueses que el Rey do C.istillii peidcria el uusto porque Beruaiido dc Miigallanes era hombre hablador i de poca substanciu, i que non •alilria con lo que promctia. "—Id. lb. t " Se avia maadato, que luogoae apercibiesse «na armada, y que partida ill U \%^ ^ ^f'^T-^ i V W * 150 THE LIFE OF SEBASTIAN CABOT. But great as was the rejoicing which the return of the Vic- toria spread over all Spain, not less strong and loud waslho wail of sorrow throughout Portugal. Every one saw and felt that the meddling of another Power in the treasures of those regions was a disaster to the commerce of Portugal, the con- sequences of which were beyond calculation. When the King learned of the preparations making to send another Heet to the Moluccas, he began to storm the Spanish Monardi with remonstrances, using prayers and threats, every means possible, to stay Spain at that first step ; and proposed that the matter should be suspended until it was ascertained whether the Moluccas were on this side or that of the line of partition.* The Emperor saw clearly what was Portugal's object in mak- ing this proposal : it was to stop the Spaniards in their prei> arations for the expedition, so that he might gain the time needed to place arms and ships enough in those islands to use force, when other means failed, and save his Kingdom from the threatened ruin. But it was important for Clianles V, engaged as he then was in a war with Francis I, King of France, troubled with the Reform in Germany, and constantly threatened with revolt in Spain, not to bring on himself this new enemy. On the other hand, the question of the right of pos- session had been so thoroughly studied and discussed before Magellan's proposal was .'accepted that he could atFord townit calmly for the report of a commission. He therefore showed a good face to King John's proposal, and it was agreed to re- mit the question to a conference of competent persons nomi- aqtiella, se pusiesse otra a puuto, que la siguiesse." Hcnera, Dec. iii, lib.vi cap. 5. * "El Rey don Ivan de PortURal, que de todo era avlsado, parecieiidoleqnf se le salia de las manos, el rnejor y mas rico aprovechamiento que tenia, hiw muclios oficios con el Hey, para que no se embiasse armada a las islas de laEs peceria, hasta que so determinasse a quien partenencian : y que no se le liiz iesae tanto daflo, como eraquitarlc su aprovi-clianiiento, ni que se diesseoca sion a que se malassen los Portugueses con los Castellanos, como lohariaii topandose la una armada con la otra. . ." Herrera, Dec. iii, lib. vii, cap. v And Pietro Martire". . . .quo pacto cum Portugalensibus concludetur, quis* iacturam ingentem perpessuros ex hoc negocio conqueruutur, significabimus Dec. V, cap. vii. INTENDED VOYAGE TO THE MOLUCCAS. 151 nated by both sides. * The Eraj^eror desired to associate with the conference, a committee of some of the most esteemed cos- moiTaphers and geographers of his Kingdom, to aid the dis- cussion by tlieir advice and report to him on its progress. Se- bastian Cabot was a member of this committee.f The conference mot in April, 1524, but as Portugal's interest was to have mat- ters drag on as slowly as possible, there was much discussion but no conclusion come to, till the Spanish Deputies tired of the game determined to end it and on May 31, by a long dec- laration with their reasons, they established Spain's right to the Molucca Islands.;}: As soon as the declaration was received in Spain, govern- ment and private individuals set to work eagerly to make up for lost time. Not two months had elapsed when, on July 24, Uoniinander Loaysa sailed from Corunna with seven ships to help Magellan's men who had been left in the islands of the Ocean, and secure to Spain possession of the Moluccas.§ CHAPTER XV. Sebastian Cahot put at the head of an expedition to the Moluccas. While the government was supplying arms and provisions lor Loaysa's fleet, and sending it to the new possessions in the *"Aunque el Rey conoci bien, que esto era dilacion, para queentretauto tiiviesstii lionipo los Portugueses de entrarseen las Islas y sabia que el iicyde l'u\ igal embiava ordenes y gentc par elio, avieudo passado muchas ' aibaxadns, iilicas de una parte a otra . . pnrque la voluutud del Emperador inuieconsei \ r con el Key de Portugal su deudo y amistad..etc." ib. cap. 5-6. t El Emperi;dor,...mand6 yr a essa Junta a otros Cosmogrofos, y Pilotos, niaestros dehazer cartas de navegar . . . para la declaracion del sitin de las ■'!'»» . . que eran Sebastian Gaboto &n. . . ." Id. ib. cap. 6.— Cabot gave i'is opinion in writing, jointly wiMi Friars Thomas Duran and .John Vespucci, Americo's nephew. - See Navarrcte iv, no. xxxv, p. 339. ed. 1837. t Navarrete, ib. No. xxxvii, p. 343.-Tlic first signature to the Declaration was iliiit of Fernando Columbus, son of Christopher Columbus. See also llerrera, Oec. iii, lib. vi, cap. viii. §Herrera, Dec. iii, lib. vii. — Oviedo, Part ii, lib. 80, cap. 4. 152 THE LIFE OP SEBASTIAN CABOT. i;i Indian Ocean, a company was formed and organized among the merchants of Seville for a commercial expedition to the same places, ■with all the more hope and contidencc of groat profits because Cabot, whose authority as Pilot-Major was nat- urally regarded as of the greatest weight in such matters, had expressed the opinion that other islands besides those dis- covered were scattered over those seas, and not less deserv- ing of exploration than the Moluccas.* Some English mer- chants were associated with the Spanish, among others Robert Thorne, whose memorial to Henry VIII, urging tlie search for a northern passage to Asia, has been spoken of in our Tenth Chapter.f To assure the success of this expedition, the mercliants' company thought of giving the command of it to the Pilot- Major himself :{: The supreme council of the Indies approved ot their wish, and in September gave Cabot permission to take charge of the expedition. § Well pleased with the duty, he at once set about making his preparations. But however honorable the office of directing a company of merchants, it was but ill suited to his genius as a discoverer : he felt himself invited to storms in new seas, the anxiety of dangers unseen by others, and the delight and glory of pointing out to the world the discovery of new lands and peoples. He had there- fore hardly accepted the new charge before he devoted his whole energy to drawing the government into the enter- prise, and from a mercantile one, as it was, to give it an en- tirely different direction, throwing the whole weight of it on the royal treasury, and leaving the merchants only the bur- den of providing the necessary funds for trading. To this end, towards the middle of September, he proceeded * Henera, Dec.ni, lib. iv, cap. 20. + Hakluyt, vol. i, p. 215. t"Liis muesUas quo la iino Victoria tinxo de In.s espteias, y otrascosasdflds M()]uco.s, dio animo a iiiiiclios liombres de Sevilla, para solicitar a Bcbastiiiu Gabotn, Piloto mayor del Rey a ofrecer de liazer a quel viage, promelicDdo de arniarle para ci."— Ilerrera, Dec. iii, lib. x, cap. i. §"Spenimus fore ut Sebrtstiaiins Cabotiis Baccalorum repcrtor, cui circilcr Kal. Septenibris siipplicanti, ex ncRtri senatURaiictoritate permissa est iiaviga- tionis perquiiendae potcstas, l/Teviore tempore ac felicioiibus avibim sit red- Ilunis, quam Victoria uavia." P. Martire (rAiigUiern, Dec. vii, cap. 6. THE MOLUCCAS EXPEDITION. 153 fii to court, and setting forth the groat advantages of the coop- eration <)f the merchants of tSevi lie, he asked the government for four sliips furnished and equipped with every thing needed.* The government approved of Cahot's views, and on March 4, 1525, the conditions of its concurrence in the expedi- tion were agreed on. After fixing the proportion of the ex- penses and profits of the government and of tlie jnercliants' company, it was settled that Cahotsliould have with him not less than three ships, with autliority to increase the number to six, of the burden and crews tixed upon, and ho should sail by Magellan's Strait to the Moluccas and other islands in those regions. From there he was to go in search of the isl- ands of Tarshish and Opliir, of Eastern Cathay, and of Cipango, loading at each of these places and others that he siiould discover along his passage, all the gold, silver, precious stones, pearls, and the like, that he could find, f On his re- turn he was to sail close along the whole southern coast of the new continent of America.;}: It is unnecessary to say that Cathay corresponds to the northern part of the modern empire of (!hina, Ophir and Tarshish are places mentioned in the Bihle ; from the former Solomon with his fleet brought great quantities of gold ;§ and the latter is named in one of the *"Qimtuor navium classiculam, omnibus ad rem maritimiim facientibus et cnminodis tormentonim vasis paratam, ab Caesareo aeraiio Cabotus poposclt, socios ait se repurissc Hispali, quae Sebilla dicitiir, comiuerciorum omnium la- dioortiin emporio, qui sub spe raagni liicri, ud classicule commcatumot caetera nt'cessaria, ducalorum decern milliiim sua sponte summam obtwleiitit. Ad offeremlam partecipum snciorum obligaliouem circiter idus seplembiis a nobis (iiiuissiB est Cabotus." Id. ib. t "... .a quatiode Maipo del afio passado de rail quinientos y veyute cinco, capitulo con el Key en Madrid, que yria con tics navios o mas, hasta seys, por el estreclio de Magallanes en dcmauda de las islas de Molueos, y de laa tiemas que avian sido descubiertas . . . . y ansi iiiisnio en hiiHfii de Iuh otras isliisy tierras de Tursis, Oflr, y el Cafajo Oriental, y Cipango. . .|.ara car- gar Ids navios del oro, plata, y piedras preciosas, perlus etc ... . que hallasse, assi en aquellas islas, como en otras tierra*, ((ue en el viage descubriessc. . . ." Herrera, Dec. iii, lib. x, cap. i, E. Ajip N xxxix. t "His perlustratis et prudenti dilijiciitia pertractatis, nostri putati contin- emis latus australe universum abradent." Pielro Marlire d'Angbiera, Dec. vii, cap. 6. 8 "Classim quoque fecit rex Salomon misitque .... in classe ilia :^t « • ■ I.! ■■■ n A mi-M 154 THE LIFE OF SEBASTIAN CABOT, Pscalms iis a very rich place, from which men were to come with gifts to the Messiah.* It was long disputed among interpreters of the Bible where these two places were situated and to what modern lands they correspond, and the most divergent opinions were; put forward. It is enough for our purpose that both were gen- erally placed in the east, and as imagination had grcilly worked up the wealth of those places, the desire to louth them was one of the most cherished dreams of navigators and discoverers. There was still greater desire to reach the island of Cipango, "abounding with gold, pearls, and gems," as Paul Toscanelli, the physician, wrote to Canon Fernando Martinez of Lisbon, "and the temples and royal dwellings are roofed with plates of gold."f Marco Polo had said that this island was to be found fifteen hundred miles from Cathay. Columbus was enraptured with delight when he thought he had arrived there. The departure of the expedition was set for August of that year 1525 ; ;{: but a serious controversy between Sebastian Cabot and the merchants' company prevented it. He wanted for his lieutenant on the expedition Michael de Rufis, the others wanted him to take Martin Mendez.§ Cabot supported his selection bv the fact that Rufis had added a caravel to the expedition at his own expense, which seemed to give him a claim on the second position. But the others set up the ex- perience of Mendez, who had been commissary of subsistence servos suos viros nauticos et gnaros maris .... Qui cum venissent in Opliir sumptiim indc aurutn 420 talentonim detulerunt ad recem Salomoncm. "Keg. iii, ix, 26-28 : el ib. x. 2 . . . "Classls .... quae porlabat auvum de (Jpliir, attulit ex Ophir ligna tiiyina multa nimis et gemmas pretiosas. . . . Nont sunt allata hujuscemodi ligna Ihyina, neque visa usque in praesentem diem." * "Reges Tliarsis et insuloe munera ofiferent, reges Arabum et Saba dona adducent." Ps. Ixxi, 10. + Fernando Colombo, Historie, cap. 8— See Tarducci, Life of Columbus, i, p. 58. t "Est Cabotus Augusto mense proximi MDXXV dfscessurus," Peter Martyr d'Anghiera, 1. c. § "Los Diputados de los armidores, por diferencias que con el general avian tenido, quisieron que fuesse Martin Mendez, y no Miguel de Rufis aquien preteudia Uevar en este cargo Sebastian Gaboto." Herrera. 1. c. III.- - r DISPUTE WITH THE MERCHANTS. 155 on Maf?cllan's expedition, and was one of the honored sur- vivors that returned with tiie Victoria. This was the ap- parent cause of tlie dispute, but the real cause must be looked for in the wrath of the merchants at the new direction given to their undertaking. We liave no light by which to see in- to the proceedings ; but from the nature of the facts them- selves it seems to me possible to draw the conviction that the merchants could not have felt satisfied that the expedition should exceed the modest limits of a commercial enterprise, within which it was first conceived, and should take on the character and scope of a regular exploration and discovery. AihI F am of opinion that they found themselves bound to the government either by surprise or want of courage and strength to resist. And in truth they had looked for sure gain from the Molucca Islands, already discovered and visited; but Cabot was dragging them on anew uncertain expedition, all the more dangerous for the vastness of the field he pro- posed to cover ; they were looking for gold, Cabot for glory. In such circumstances the choice of a lieutenant became a matter of the highest importance to the mer- chants ; for, to let Cabot liave one who would be his tool, devoted to his will, was the same as surrendering themselves bound hand and foot into his power, and to let him guide and lead the expedition where and how he pleased. Cabot found it hard enough to hold his side of the ques- tion, for the fact that Mendez had already gone over the same course naturally pointed him out for the position, and the celebrity which clung to him as one of the few survivors of that famous expedition drew attention to him and made his appointment acceptable to all. But he held firm, under- standing perfectly the merchants' object, and that to take as lieutenant a creature of theirs, was like hanging a stick be- tween his legs to impede his journey. The dispute became bitter, and as neither side would yield to the other, the mer- chants, feeling that in their proposal they had the wall against their back, applied to the Emperor. They not only applied to him in order to win their cause in the question of 156 THE LIFE OP SEBASTIAN CABOT. I a lieutenant, but, as often happens in like cases of deep and lively exasperation that the eye sees every thing wrong where all was clear and fair before, the merchants loaded Cabot with so many and so serious charges that they demanded to have the command taken away from him altogether, and Captain Francis do Rojas put in his place.* The sailing of the expedition was delayed in consequence. It was a case that required a clean cut, free and resolute, without timidity or uncertainty ; the violent operation causes severe pain, but at least one of the parts gets well again. To take a middle course, and for fear of hurting one side or the other too much, try to divide the evil in halves, and by taking a little from one and a little from the other, hope to keep them united, is to lose one's labor, and end with the opposite of what was intended, for it leaves both in pain, and makes the exasperation between them more vivid and deep. Charles V unfortunately followed this course. He sum- moned the deputies of the company, and showed them what a scandal would follow the substitution of another captain in command of the expedition, and induced them to be satisfied with Mendez, their choice, being appointed as its lieutenant ; and hoped to quiet Cabot in the humiliation to which he was subjected by the enforced acceptance of Mendez, by declaring that the latter "should only meddle with things that Cabot put under his charge, and only represent him when absent or unable to act, and not interfere in any other way."f * "Los Diputfidos .... avian llevado al Rey un memorial, poniendo tantos defetos en l;i persona do Qabnto, que qiiando el armada no estuviera tan ade- lante, y tuviera tanta voluntad ques aliera con brevedad, le maudara quediir." — Herrera, 1. c. Item si saben etc. que estando proveydo el dicho Sebastian gaboto por cap- itan general dela dicba armada losarmadores y diputados della procuraron vistn la ynavilidad y poco valor de persona suya che su magestad le qelonging to the lieutenant, wns tlio same thing as to threaten him if he obeyed tlie orders of thcHii- preme cominunder ol the fleet, since it is natural that he should interfere when and where his superior conimanded ; and be- sides, the Emperor having ordered that Mendez should only meddle with such matters as the General gave him in charge, it follows n turally that the (Jeneral was free to give his com- missions to others. It is also to be observed here th.'it the wit- nesses refer to what they liad heard say by John de Junco, who was Cabot's declared enemy, f I see plainly that more than one reader will deem it super- fluous to go into all these petty details, but the dearth of documents obi ' us to make the most of every thing to get at the conditio). >i' things and minds at the time Cabot's ex- pedition was preparing. For this purpose we must even ul- lude to another serious charge in the proofs of Catharine Vas- quez, although not the slightest support was given it by any witness. She says that Catharine de Medrano, Cabot's wife, who according to the charge possessed great influence over her husband, after vainly trying to prevent Mendez's appointment, conceived a bitter hatred for him, and emi)loyed a person to assassinate him.:j; But much more serious for the fate of the expedition is what Cabot himself puts in the third interrogatory of his an- swer. He says that Mendez, Rojas, and the other principal officers of the fleet, before sailing, held a secret meeting to- * lb. vii Piegnnta. tPreguntaxxxiind following,of Sebastian Cabot's proofs in reply to the accu- sation of Vasqnez. For tbis Iiostility of .John de .Tnuco towards Cabot as also for that of Francis de Rojas previously mentioned, the reader must be satisfied to take my word, and wait for the proof in the proper place. X lb. Prtgunta v. THE OFFICERS ("ONSriKACY. 159 cethcr in Seville in St. Paul's clmreh, and thero bound them- selves by an oath to unite on every occasion against Sel)astian Cabot for the purpose of depriving him of the command of the expedition, and putting liojas in his place. * Of the witnesses called by him to sustiiin this serious charge, onu says that he had hoard this secret meeting and the oath taken by those officers spoken of in Seville even before they siiiKil, and gives th(> name of the oHicor who told him of it, liut bo was not informed of the ol)ject of the meeting or of the oiitli. f The others all unite in testifying that the ail'air was publicly talked of in the fleet, and it was said further that the oath not only contemplated the removal of Sebastian Cal)ot aiul the substitution of Captain Rojas in his place, but also his munlor.:}: It seems hard to think that any thing so serious could be be- lieved and publicly rumored without some basis of truth. It limy very likely have been exaggerated in the men's talk, and reached Cabot's ears in that shape, but there must have been something to it. If there was a nn'eting, and some compact between the officers, it surely was not in Cabot's favor : this is certain from what followed. But suppose it was a false re- port, a calumny ; its spread amongst the men of the expedi- tion was enough of itself to inoculate the whole with a poi- son fatal to all discipline and good order. *"Yten di saben questandoen In r/iMaii de sevilla martin mendez e francisco (le Rojas e otros miichos que yvaa devaxo de la capitania del dictio se- bastiiin caboto se juntaron en el monesterio de san pablo dela dicba <;-ib(lad e ay 86 conjuraron de ser en todo lo que se ofies(,iere contra el dicho Sebastian caboto e que querian alpar al dicho Francisco de Rojas, per capltan general." — Tercera pregunta. \" estando en la cibdad de sevilla antes que fiiesen a sanlucar de bar- ramedacon las dichas naos oyo dezir nl contador Valdez que se juntaron el (liobo capitan Rojas e los otros capitanes y oflciales que yviin en la dicba armada e que avian fecho un juramcnto en san pablo o en san francisc.i de eebilla pero que no le dixo para que ni para que no .... " ix testigo. t For tbesake of brevity I give only a few word.s of the tenth witness "... yendo c.^to dicho testigr n la dicba armada oyo dec ir publicamente a la gente (le la dicha armada . que avian fecho Francisco do Rojas e martin men- l" 152(1 IGl lender it abortive ? For wo must consider that if Cabot's oii- tirpriso siu'cecded, and Spain learned the advanta^'o of im)s- scssin^' the M 'luccas, Portugal could never hope to rid her- self of this dangerous neighbor in the seas of India. On tho (itlier hand, she could always hope for a good result if siio (oulcl (haw matters out to a great length, and weary Spain and tilt; Hniperor with oxj)ense and [)rocrastination. It is there- f(»ro morally certain that Portugal, unequal to open warfare, ion^hi underhand in every possible way tho expedition of Cabot, and the most obvious and natural means was to blow ou tho morclumts' anger, increase the distrust and disesteem among the otHccrs, sow in all the seeds of envy and dislike, and so secure the failure of the expedition. -■■:V CHAPTER XVI. Sailing of the expedition. At last, all difficulties vanquished, the fleet left San Lucar do Biirrameda on the 3rd of April, 152G, and put to sea.* The season, it is true, was not far enough advanced to be favorable for the voyage they were to make ; but one of tho seamen left in the Moluccas by Magellan's expedition hav- '"R by great good fortune succeeded in gaining tho shores of Europe, returned to Spain with the news of the cruelties practised by the Portuguese on the wretched survivors of that expedition and of their capture of the Trinidad. This news caused the order to sail to be given at once, in order to * "Despues de muchas diflciiltudes, partio SebasUan Gaboto a lo3 primeros ill' Aljiil, deeste afio, 1526." Herrcra, Dec. iii, lib. ix, cap. 3. The exiiut date of sailing is given In the narrative of Lewis Ramirez — "Salieiou de la bahia deSan Lucar a 3 dc Abril." See App. xxxvii. - 11 162 THE LIFE OF SEBASTIAN CABOT. carry provisions and reenforcements to those remaining on the islands.* Sebastian Cahot commanded the flagship, with Francis de Concha in charge of accounts and Fernando Caldcron as Treasurer. The Santa Maria del Espinar was coinniaiukd by Gregory Caro, who had with him Michael Baldes as clmf of accounts and John de Junco as Treasurer. Thetliirdsliip was called the Trinity, and commanded by Francis de Rqjiis with Anthony Montoya chief of accounts and Gonzalo Nunez de Balboa for Treasurer. Michael de Ruiis commanded his own caravel. Caspar de Ribas was chief constable of Iho fleet. Many noble youths and persons of qunlity took part in the expedition as volunteers. Amongst these Herrera places Michael de Rodas, wl;ose name in the course of our story will acquire a sad importance, and of whom the Spanish his- torian says that he vva;^' very experienced in matters pertain- ing to the sea, and a man of worth, and that he wont on board by the King's order but without any ofiice.f But m the suit, between Sebastian Cabot and Catharine Vasquoz lie is re})catealy mentioned, and generally as pilot of the ilafi;- shil), from which we must presume that Herrera was mistaken, or else that he assumed the duties of pilot during the voy- age. :{: In another place further on Herrera calls him a brother of Francis de Rqjas captain of the Trinidad ; and as the two surnames are always distinct and different not only in her- rera, but throughout the suit that was afterwards brought against Sebastian Cabot by the mother of Martin Mendez, we must corcludo that if they were brothers they were only soon *"y porque en esta ocasion Ucgo lui marineio, de los que avian estado en los Moluchos, y lifcrio el maltiatamicnlo que avian Uecho los Portugueses a los Castellano^, y los pocos que avian quedado, y como avian tornado la rave Trinidad, se soiicito <;ou niiis cuydiido la pa'lida de Sebastian Gaboto, porque los f uesse a scccorrer — "Herrera, I. r.. f'Fueror 'ambien en elJa nmchos bijos Da-go, y personas principales volun- turiameute . . . . y Miguel de Hodiis, que auuque niuy plati^,o a las oosas de la mar, y hombre dc valor ; no llcvava oflcio, porque yva por orden del Key ..." Herrer.i, ib. j. ' Yten si saben quel dicho Sebastian caboto enbio a migue! de Rodas piloto /)e l.i uao capitana. ..." Preyunta vi ; and tviice again in tUc vii audviii 1 GOMARA AND HERRERA. 168 the mother's side, not on the father's.* The whole number of persons was two hundred, f On sailing each commandoi- of a ship received a sealed ijfuket containing orders for succeeding to the command iif tiie fleet in case of Cabot's death. When they were to be imenod we know not, but from the nature of the orders we should sui-pose as aoon as they were at sea. Francis de Rojas was named first, then came Michael ik' Ro(uis, and Michael Mendez third,-): then followed other names. "It is difficult," Biddle justly remarks, "to imagine ;i scheme better fitted to nurse disaflection."§ Cabot's death or his retirement for whatevcv cause, fi-om command of the fleet, must ever stand as an atti ctive prospect before the fancy of ihe piivileged persons whose names were inscribed on tliat list. There were three government ships, and it is natural that incase of the death or disability of the commander of the flag- ship one of the other two captains should succeed to the cora- iiiaiul of the fleet. Indeed the secret orders assign the com- mander of the Trinidad, Francis de Rojas, to the succes- sion. But if he failed, it was not the comnumder of the Santa Maria who was to take the place ; he came eleventh on the list, afier tl:e chief constable, after all the treasurers, the chiefs of accounts of the ships, even those of his own ship, Santa Maria del Espinar, who passed over the Captain's head. Was it accident, mistake, or was it intended ? Let us liasten to say that Captain Gregory Caro put at the bottom of the list, at the tall of his own -ubalterns, steadfastly maintained his lovalty to Sebastian Cabot ; how he was treated by tiie privi- k'frotl officers who were to succeed first to his office, we shall soon see. And now before commencing the sad story of the events One witness to the vi Fregunta of tbe ProbanQa of Vasqiicy; «'nyo decir . . que ffiiiruil de Rodas piloto mayor de la diclm armada .... etc " * "Lds Jos hertr,auo8 Roxas y Martin Meudez." Heriera, Dec. 18, lib. ix, cap. 3. tThis ii\imber Is given in a letter of Dr. Affonao Simiio, the King of Port- ugal's agent in Spain. We shall give the letter in full further ou. \ Herrera, ih. § Biddle, bk. i, ch. xviil, p. 133. -.J. • - 164 THE LlFIS OF SEBASTIAN «AROT. ^ ■■(>< ill M wliioli follow, I must inform tlic reader beforehand, that weave in a most unfavorable position for uilderstandin-gand jii(ljri„jr Sebastian Cabot's conduc^t.* His friend Peter Martyr I)^ Anghiera was dead ; and the only two historians left ^vho speak of Cabot, are Gomara and llorrera. Gomara pulli'^lioii his work in 1552 at a time when as Ave shall see furlhor oii,;ill Si)ain was loading Cabot's name with reproaches and male- dictions ; and he dedicated his history to Charles V wliojust at that time was at the height of his anger at Cabot, llerreva lived later, but was still too close to that period to bo able to strip himself wholly of that animosity not altogethoj' blairuibie, wliich his compatriots had towards Cabot, and the int'oi'inatioii he furnishes us is taken in great part from the w]'itin,;,'s and memoirs of Sebastian's enemies. Add to all this that it is veiy little they tell us about him, and that little is gonorallv so vague that it is difficult to gather its precise m(?aMingan(l bearing. Take for example the way in which Herrera relates the events of the expedition from the day when it sailed from tlie shores of Spain till its arrival at the isle of Patos on the coasts of Brazil : "Std)astian Cabot was sailing to the Canaries, and the Cape Verde Islands, and then to Capo St. Au enemies for increasing the murmi.rs and hostility. He ought not to have forgotten that there was a strong party in the fleet leagued vvitb Mendez, and the mortal offense he gave hi- lieutenant would produce a counterblow in the mind of all those that sided with him. In this way the expedition, already menaced in its juncture, received a new shock .sufficient to diir- solve it altogether. Had Cabot acted otherwise, either iNIendo/ would have laid aside some of his ill-will and calmed down, which would have been a great gain for the success of tht expedition; or else he would have continued implacable in iii> hostility to his Captain, and then the latter would not havi wanted opportunities to take him at fault, and then strike hi> Brazil, Madrid, 1854, p. 486— See App. xli.— The leUer of Ramirez was'pub- lisiied by the same Varnhagen iu the Revista Trimensal, Rio Jaiieiro, 1852 T. XV. Unfortunat?ly I iiave not been able to procure this Review, and for tlie let- ter of Ramirez I liave been obliired to content myself witli a summary wliicii was courteously sent me from Spain. Lucicily the summary is tolerably full and embraces all the material part of the narrative. See App. xxxvii. The excessive lenetu of the papers in suit has rendered it impossiii.^forme to give them all in the appendix: I sliall however givo !is exact and faitlifiil a summary of them as it is possible foi' me to do. The same reason of their lenetli though in a less degrechas dissuaded me from reproducing in full tin; Interrnpa tories of Captain de Roju.s, the demand made on him by Diego Garcia.aml tlu narrative or 7Je/vv> [Itinerary^ of the same Garcia. I shall give the tntire summary of Ramirez's letter just as it was sent me from Spain. * See, App. xxxiv. CABOT S WANT OF POLICY. 367 blow, and remove him by an exercise of justice apparent to Jill. By this means tlie rigor of liis justice would have im- proved the discipline of the crew and increased their esteem. Instead of that, ho lowered liimself in the opinion ol every one, and ga.ve his enemies tlie appearance of being in the right, and by furnishing them an opportunity for spread- ing the discontent in the ships, made H easy for them to win proselytes to their side. Ho did not even gain any thing in the security of his command by displacing Men received from the Moluccas. In fact, Peter Martyr tells us that the sailing of the expedition was fixed for August 1525, precisely for the purpose oftakinj,' advantage of the favorahle sea.son for that voj'age,f and after the sailing had to be suspended for that year on account of the disagreement with the merchants, there is no doubt but what the following year also they would have waited for the same season, for without Diego Garcia's teaching, it was well known in Spain what was the proper season for sailing to the southern parts of the New World. :j: Soon after this the presumptuous Garcia turns again to bite Cabot, but the meaning of that bite is an insoluble enigma. Speaking of the crossing from the Cape Verde Islands to Cape St. Augustine, he notes the difficulty of sailing in the currents that flow from the Gulf of Guinea, and adds : " Sebastian Cabot did not know how to take these currents, for he was not a sailor, and did not know how to navigate. "§ Having said this, without adding any motive or reason in support of his charge, he resumes the thread of his narrative and goes on to describe his voyage. » '« por qua] qtiier navesante e piloto que ha de navegar en nquelliis partes a de conoscer de navegar en el tiempo que el sol haga veiano en aquella parte . . . . y esia navegacion non supo tomar sebaslian gaboto con toda su astrolugia. ..." ib. [Verano, summer in modern Spanish ; but spring. in old Spanish. Translator.] t "Eat Cabotus Augusto mense proximi anni MDXXV discessurus." Dec, vii, cap. 6. X Peter Martyr after saying that Sebastian Cabot was to sail in the month of August, thus continres : "nee citius qiiidem, quia nee prius queuut ad rem tantam necessaria parari, neeper celorum eursus debet prius illud iter inchoan ; oportet quippe tunc versus equinoctium vela dirigere, quando sol ostatem nobis et dierum Inngitndinem ablaturus, ad antictones penetraye incipml. .... Quo tempore brevissimi sunt apud populos arctoas dies, longissimos Ca- botus assequetur." App. xxxiii. § " . . . este camino se ha de navegar con grande resguardo y saber de niar- ineria porque ay grandes corrientes que salen delos rrios de guinea que abattn los navios .... estas corrientes no supo tomar Sebastian Gaboto porque no era marinero ny sabia navegar." THE STAY AT PERNAMBTTCO. 171 I have calready said in another place, but it seems well to reiwat it here, that I stop to gather all such trifling details, because in the scarcity of more serious documents I think it necessary to treasure up every thing that shows the circum- stances Cabot was in, and how he was surrounded by enmity and aversion. Thoy reached Pcrnambuco in the month of June, and stayed there tor fresh supplies.* Thence the ships resumed their voya^'e, but contrary winds drove them back to the harbor, and for three or four times that they renewed the attempt, they were compelled to yield every time to the fury of the sea and seek shelter from the land.f This forced stay lasted more than diree months. :j: At Pernambuco there was a Portuguese factory, and Rojas under the VII and VIII heads of his Interrogatories makes this further accusation against Cabot, that these Portuguese, to divert the Spanish expedition from saiMng to the Moluccas, got around him telling him marvels about the riches of La Plata, and that he hankering after that gold suddenly resolved to give up the voyage to the Moluccas and stop on that river ; and for this purpose he began to scheme with some persons in the expedition in order to draw them into his plan. He goes on to say that he opposed the change with all his might, in order to keep his oath, and because he saw the aim of the Portuguese, and on this account Cabot, not being able to over- come his opposition, had him arrested. § Rojas was blinded by his hate for Cabot (the motives and * Lewis Ramirez, App. xxxvii. t Proofs of Sebastiun Cabot, Interioffatory xiii. The witnesses are unanimous in confiimiDg this. I cite as samples a few words of the first witness and of the eighth. The first says : "Sabe qiies verdad lo contenido en la dicba pregunta e losabeporque vio ha^er a la vela tres o qnatro vezes a la dicba armada para llevar el dicho viaje de tarsys e ofir e poique vio ansymismo quel tiempo les hera contrario e que por esto surgio en la costa del brasyl en bernanbuco" . . . and the eighth . . . . " cl dicho capitan caboto mando que las naos fuesen au viaje. . . . e fue for^ado .... suigir en la dicba costa adonde esto- vieion con viento contrario tie mesns y medio poco mns o menos." tlb. Interrogatory xiv. The ten witnesses called all UDanimously confirm the Interrogatory in their deposition. S See App. XXXV. :i 4- 11 172 THE LIFE OP REHAS'SIAN CAHOT. proofs of wliicli wo shall soon sco), and in the blindness of this hato, ho did not see that ho was asserting some- thing wholly incredihlo. For who could ])oliove that u iniin who from tlio lovo of discovery, postponing all thought of gain, would have had the nature and aim of the exp(!(liti()ii changed, and from commercial which it wan, had altered its puri)OHe and ol)joct to exploration and discovery, and Iherehy drawn on him-olfthe unrelenting war of those who tilted the expedition out : — who could believe that such a man, not at the first sight of gold but at the mere promise of it, would suffer himself to be suddenly dazzled, and resolve at once to change the nature of the expedition, and to the brilliant con- tests in the unknown waters of tlie Ocean should prefer the inglorious lal)or of groping about in new lands of savages in search and gathering of gold ? And would not the suspicion that the Portuguese were talking for the purpose of hinderiiiif the passage of the Spanish expedition to the Moluccas, which Rojas says presented itself to his mind, not present itself spon- taneously not only to Cabot's, but to every one's else ? But why should Rojas have so impudently distorted the truth ? Because a charge of insubordination and treaehciy hung over his head, and it was too much for his advantage to appear to his judges as a victim of his zeal for the honor of Spain and his loyalty to the Emperor's orders. Nor was he a man to hesitate at a lie to gain his end. — Of this too we shall have the clearest evidence further on. — Moreover his remark is not only contradicted by the intrinsic arguments of the deed itself, it is openly belied by the authority of Ra- mirez an eye witness and impartial relator of that voyage.* And Rojas himself shows that it is false and calumnious, for, as happens when passion rules the mind, wishing to give proof of what he asserted, he was not aware that the reasons he presented bore the visible imprint of falsehood. He con- cludes his accusation by saying that Cabot decided on the change "more from want of courage than desire of wealth." f Sebastian Cabot afraid of the sea I The man who first *SeeApp. xxxvii. t"Mas per falta deanimo que por Riqueza."No. 7, R0JA8 8 CHAUQEH AGAINHT CABOT. 1-73 touched tho frozen shares of (Jrccnland, first poiU'tr{tte(l into Hu Icon's Bay, w hose courage uiid hardilKHMl terriliod even his own mariners ! But Rdjiisdoes not stop licre. In tho fury of his attack ho attempts a more grave and torri hie charge, saying that Cal)ot even tried to luive him put to death. Hin words are : "A few (Itiys after tliat, the said Sehastian Cahot continuing in hit; hiite and deadly enmity against the said Francis do Kcijas, and .seeing tiiat he more tlian any one else asked and advised that they should follow the voyage which was ordered hy His Maj- esty, to carry out his evil intention more freely he resolved to iiave the said Captain Francis de Rojas treacherously mur- dered, and to put it in execution he had two armed men at cectaiii times in his room to .stab him, and as he could not put it into effect, God not permitting such great wrong and treason, in order that per fas or per nefas his damnahk) intention might have effect, he issued process against him, without hearing him or giving him a copy of it, suborning witnesses to depose falsely against the said Captain.* Rojas has charged Cabot v ' th so many accusations evident ly false and calumnious, tliat without fear of otlending truth we might set this accusation also down amongst the calum- nies without further inquiry. But us tho slightest app(\u-- ances suddenly assume the substance of great realities to minds over-excited by passion, I am willing to admit that either de- ceived by the creations of his own fancy, or seduced by tho false suggestions of some evil spirit (for a brood of such always },nitliers around a mind agitated by violent passion), — 1 am willing to admit that he really believed in the truth of *". . .(lesdes a poco dias continnando d diclio pcl)!t=tiiin trabnto en el odin y cn- emistad capital que contra el dicho francisco de RnjMs tenia y visto como cl mas que todos le reqiieria e aconsejaba que siguiese el viaje que por su niajies- tud le hera mahdado para maa libremente cuniplir su mala voluntad arm do de liacer matar a traycion al dicho capitan francisco de Uojas-y para ponci lo en efecto tuvo dos personas armadas ciertas vcces en su camara para quo le raatnsen a puguladas e como tio pudo efectuar no permiliendo Dins tan irrand niidiiad y traycion porque por fas o por nnfas su dagnada voluntad aviese cfecio liizo proceso contra el sin le oyr ni dar trasludo 3f)bornando tesligos para que depusiesen falsamente contra el dicho Capitan. ..." No. ix. ■^'iu "^.^^ 4W K ^^^ 'V^ "^ IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-S) ^.^ %.^ 7i // 1.0 I.I 1.25 j« U l!< I i.4 ill 2.0 1.8 1.6 ^.. /2 ^ v: 'c>l ^ .5>^ /^ Sciences Corporadon 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.V. 14580 (716) 872-4503 lV V ^^ O ;\ '^..t^ "^ • V. 4rs .S^^w'; 174 THE LIFE OF SEBASTIAN CABOT. an intended assassination. For Cabot's complete acf|iiittal it suffices for the present to say that the only witness called by Rojas in support of the fact, could give the judges no other proof than this, that a certain person had told him that he with another had been employed by Cabot to kill Rojas. And this witness who so deposes, very rarely departs a hair's breadth from Rojas's accusation, but re})eats it often entirely in the same words, even in the case of tliose ac- cusations which other proofs and testimony show clearly to be false and calumnious.* However, the course of the nar- rative will furnish direct proof that Rojas was lyinji; iniim dently when he accused Cabot of having at Peri^iainbuco yielded to the wheedling of the Portuguese, and consequontlv his vaunted opposition to the alteration of the scope of tho ex- pedition falls to the ground. The real truth is that the fac- tion hostile to Cabot had derived great advantage from the long stay at Pernambuco in ease and idleness. The possibil- ity of gathering together from the different ships gave oppor- tunity and incentive for communicating their ideas, favoring one another's proposals, gaining new partisans, and maturing plans. Mendez and Rojas were the recognized leaders in this movement of insubordination and mutiny, and it maybe that becoming bold from the number and zeal of tlieir follow- ers, they did not go so cautiously to work as the dangorous- ness of the affair required. Hence Cabot, who always kept his eye on them, when he deemed he had a sufficient hold on them, came down on them unexpectedly, seized their papers, and imprisoned them both.f It is not possible for us at this * " Oyo decir a AloDso bueno. . . . q\iel dicho Sebastian Qavoto lo tubo ael e a fraDcisco casar ala puerta di su camara aparcebidos para dar de puguludos a Francisco Rojas. "— See App. xxxv. t Yten sy saben q\iel dicho Sebastian Caboto estando surto en pernambuco sobrc la dicha costa del brasyl mando prender a losdichos F'-ancisco de Kojns e a Mactin meudez per los juramentos e motines que avia hecbo e de cudadiii hazia contra el dicho Sebastian caboto. — Probanda de Sebastian Caboto, xv Pregunta. For Rojas, see also his ix, x, and xi Interrogatories; for Mendez, the x Interrog- atory of the Proofs presented by his mother Catiiarine Vusquez against Cabot. Rojas speaks of tiiis new seizure of liis letters at Pernambuco in his vi luter- rogatory when charging that previous seizure at Palma Island. KOJAS AND MENDEZ AHUESTED. 175 distance of time, and without the necessary documents, to de- cide wli(}ther in this arrest Cabot acted with all the prudence required in so important a matter ; but we can safely declare tliat he was incredibly imprudent and unwary in his conduct after the arrest. He immediately began inquiries on all sides for proofs of their guilt and the treachery : then, after keeping tliem for some days conHned on board the Santa Maria com- manded by Caro, whether because the results of the inquests did not show sufficient grounds for continuing this severity towards taem or because he hoped by a proof of kindness to bring them to better sentiments, ho sent to release Rojas, and bring him to his ship, where he rebuked him in a friendly way for his conduct, and made him see the danger he brought upon himself personally and on the whole expedition, and ex- pressing confidence that in the future he would give no cause for suspicion or complaint, sent him to his own ship and re- stored him to duty. In this release there is no mention made of Mendez, but no doubt he was included, as we find him likewise at liberty in the sequel.* It was a grave error to proceed to the arrest of Mendez and Rojas unless he was almcst certain to show clearly their guilti- ness ; to set them free after being arrested, and what is more, to restore Rojas to his former raiik and command, was an error so grave that it is a wonder that a man like Cabot should make it. To believe that a resolute, energetic, proud man, as everything indicates that Rojas was, should let himself be affected, if guilty, hy a proof of kindness, was on the part of Cabot unparalleled ingenuousness. For men like that to feel under obligations to an enemy is not a motive for friendship and concord, it is a prick to move fierce hate : the duty of gratitude is a burden which weighs intolerably on their heart and they can feel no peace till they rid themselves of it, and the • * Yten si saben que antes que el dicho sebastiiin cnboto se partlese de pernam- • buco que es en la dicha costa del brasyl embio al dicho fraiicisco de Rojas a la naotrenidad y lo torno en su ofl^'io de cnpitan como de antes lo hera e le a- monosto de parte de su magesta que fuese leal e que serviese bien e lealmene a su magestad. XVI Pregunta delaProbiin(;ade Seb. Cnbnto, App. xxxvi See also Nos. X and XI of the Interrogatory of FranccBco de Itojas, App. xxxv. -<:^ 17G THE LIFE OF SEBASTIAN CABOT. only way they can do that is by exterminating the ciieinv who in addition to all the rest, humiliates them with the bur- den of gratitude. But it could not have been out of tenderness of heart that Cabot released Rojas : it was more likely for want of sure ovi- dence of his guilt to enable him to strike with every appear- ance of justice. This was a much more serious matter ; for some natures are so weak that they count themselves lucky if they can get clear of an accusation in which they are more or less truly entangled, and cautiously preserve a prudent silence for fenr of worse ; but high-spirited natures like Rojas the more they feel implicated in an accusation from wliicli they escape by the height of good fortune make all the more noise, complain of surprise and injustice, protest their inno- cence before God and men, and call themselves victims of the abuse of power. In the XI interrogatory of his charge, he calls witnesses to declare whether it was said on the ships that Cabot "kept hiui imprisoned on account of false reports made about him, and as it was just that if he was guilty he should not be let go without receiving the chastisement he deserved, he demanded that if he had in any wise offended against tlie service of His Majesty and the good order of the said llcotlie should be punished for it without mercy, and if not, in the name of God and His Majesty he demanded the chastisement of those detractors who had deposed falsely against him as they were the persons who had sown tares of discord in the said, fleet.* In this manner the enmity of the opposite party washlown into a flame, and in the opinion of men in good faith tlie good name of Cabot was injured and the authority of that of llojas increased. *" Yten si . . . . yo dire publicamente .... come el dichn Sebastian gaboto me iiviii tenido preso por fulsa ndiicion que de mi le avian hecho y que piies liera tan jiisto que si yn tulnera culpa no mo soltaia sin dar el castigo que portlla nieiecia que le llequeiia que si el avlese ecedido en alguna cosa contra "il servicio dc su magcstad y buen nviamento de la dicba armada le captigase syn penio- narle cosa alguna y donde no quede parte de Uiosy de su magestad le Heqnerift castigase a las personas y detratores que contra el falsamente avian dtpuesto Dues beran cabsa de meter discordia e zizafla en la dlcha armada . . . . " LOSS Oh- THE KLAG-SHIP. 177 CHAPTER XVII. Continnatiun oj the Voyage. TiiiOY loft Peruambuco on the 29th of September.* When they reached the latitude of Cape Faro they were struck by a \i(!leiit storm in which the li .,g -.lip lost her small-boat. Arriving at a place that promised shelter for the ships with a mountain near by with plenty of timber for building, they -tn[)ped there for the purpose of replacing the lost boat.f Tlio place is the same that was afterwards called the Bay of Saint Catharine, in 27"^ 35' S. L., the name then given to it by Sebastian Cabot. + But where they expected to repair a great loss, they encountered another still greater and irrepar- able. At the entrance of the bay rise three small islands, and tlie ships made for tiie channel which runs close to the largest of tlioni, called St. Catharine, by the same name as the bay. Cabot, apprehensive on account of their ignorance of the place, and the lightness of the wind, had ordered them to stop ; but Michael Rodas and Anthonv de Grajeda, one the pilot, the other master of the flag-ship, sisted that it was possible to go ahead ; Rodas even pledged iiis own head and his com- [uinion's if the ship was lost.§ But Cabot's fears were not over- come by their assertion, and he ordered soundings to bo taken * "Al poco tiempo de haber siilido dc esic piierto (39 dc Sulicmbie) sufrcroa ttc' Riuiiirez. See App. xxxvii. t lb anii tlie vi Interrogatory wliich will be given in full very soon in a note. All llie witnesses testify unanimously in confirmiUion of wbnJ it contains. {"Sulieron deste puerto que lliimaron St. Catalina." Ramirez, 1. c. S 'oyo decir este testigo al dicho capitan Sebastian oaboto que le dixo que si..>,'ie.«en porque hera el vionto escaso e quellos dixeron que los dexase ai dar W se si purdiese la nao que le.s cortnse la cabe^a e questo dezia el diclio mig\ el tie Rodas." X witness to the viii luierrogatory. 178 THE LIFE OF SEBASTIAN CABOT. m jiii 1^: i It I' : m first, and charged Rodas himself and Grajeda to take them* Tiioy reported that it was perfectly safe to procccd.f On their word the ship was advancing quietly when a sudden shock told them they had struck on a bank.;}: Michael de Rodas tore his beard in despair, and wept, and cried, "Hani; me, Captain, " — but the ship was lost for ever.g Captain Francis de Rojas in his interrogatories accuses Cabot of es- caping from his ship as soon as it ran on the bank, which dis- heartened the others, so that each one thought only of suvin^' himself ; which, he says, was the cause of the loss of tlio ship, for if it had been attended to at once it could easily have been got afloat. II The charge is a serious one, and if true would be a foul brand on Cabot's forehead. But can it be accepted and believed with no other evidence than the word of Rojas, who not once only, but repeatedly proves himself most clearly a liar and slanderer ? Besides, where he declares that hut for him and his energy, zeal, and courage the whole or most of * VI pregunta. — "Yten si saben quel dlcho Sebastian caboto enbio amiguel de Rodas piloto de la nao capitana e anton de grajeda maestro de la dicha nao capitaim asondur entre laysla de santa cataliuay la tierra flrine para que miraseu si avia lugar para llevar laa naos en buen piierto porque estavan surtas entre tres yslas peqiiegas que estavan junto a la dlcha ysla de santa cataliua purqiic avia de huzcr un batel para la nao capitana porque perdio el que tenia a cabo frio con una gran tormenta." jf VII pregunta. "Yten si saben quel dicho miguel de Rodas piloto e anton de grajeda maestre fueron a sondar entre la dicha yslade santa cutalina yla tierra lirme e se bolvieron al diclio capitan Sebastian caboto e le dixcrlou que avian sondado e que avla lugar para carracas."— Probangade Sebastian Caboto, i " Yten sy saben que la dicba nao capitana que se perdio en la ysla de santa cataliua fue por culpa del dicho miguel de Rodas piloto de la dicha nao e dean- ton de grajeda maestre de la dicba nao porque no sondaron como eldicbose- bastiano caboto les mandc."— VIII Pregunta de la Probanda de Sebastian Ca- b(jto. All the nine witnesses confirm tiie guilt of Rodas and Grajeda. § ". . . estando ansi perdida estava el dicho miguel de Rodas mesandose liis bar .'as e llorando e diziendo ahorqueme el capitan. . . ." The witnesflesto theviii Interrogatory. I "toco la nao capitana sur i banco loqual visto por el dicho Sebastian gabolo con falta de animo la desampard luego y se fue huyendo a tierra e visto lageote de !a dicha nao quel capitan della huga y los dejaba desamparados perdieron el animo de rremediar la dicha nao y cada uno procuraba ccmo mejor podia de salvar su persona e que a cabsa delo qual perdio la dicba nao lo que nolii- ziera sy el ciiohu sf bptiap gaboto no huyera y la desamparara. . ." No. 15. LOSS OF TillE FLAa-fSHIP. 179 tlio cargo of the ship would have been lost ; * a witness who belonged to the crew of that ship and was present at the niis- fortuno and the lauding of the person? and things, says the merit of saving the n;iost of the cargo was wholly due to the orders and activity of Cabot, f In their distress for the loss of the flag-ship they all fclt a happy sense of relief on learning from some Indians in canoes that there were Christians,i.e. Europeans, in the neighborhood. hiJeed, one of them presented himself the next day and said there were tifteen of them, all belonging to Loaysa's fleet, left there in consequence of a great storm which the fleet suiiered from in that sea. The rest too, as was natural, ran to see and welcome them as soon as they know of their arrival. ;{: After the accident to the flng-sliip, instead of building ;i small-boat, they had to think of constructing a galiot to carry as much of the cargo as they were able to save from tlie wrcck.§ But the portion saved was less tlian tluit which they were forced to see perish, and the loss of tlie ship wtirf a IjIow which the ex{)edition never got over. The witnesses called in the suit between Cabot and Vasquez say unanimously that in the flag-ship the expedition lost heavily in provisions and ammunition; and one testifies that in * "si por el dicho capitan francisco de Rojus que nomo buen' servidor de su magestad arri«sgo su persona no fueru se perdierau lus dichas cohus u la mayor parte dellas . . . ." No. 16 of bis interrogatories t "sabe e vio ansimismo que todo lo que se pudo salvar d'j la diclia nao se sacoe se puso mucba deligencia en ello porque ansi lo maudkva e' "oho capi- tuQ Sebastian caboto e se bazia asy e lo vio asy este testigo porqucs? :i en Li di- cha nao capitan a al tieiupo que se pcrdio." X witness to ix Int. A Cabot's proofs. t Ramirez, App. xxxvii. Tbese men belonged to the crew of tbeS. Gabriel, one of the seven ships of Loaysa, which was commanded by Don Rodrigo de Acunlia. Terribly beaten about by a violent storm for many days, he had the good fortuue of finding refuge in this bay. But a great part of Lis men, worn out by the sufferings endured, dreading those which still awaited them,ou laud- ing here, refused to continue on tho voyage, and as he insisted ou their return- ing to their duty he was so far from moving them that it was all he could do to escape from them with his life. Only a few of those who remained on shore were alive; the nr^ost of them were drowned by the capsizing of a boat they w«re in. See Navftrrete, v, Doc. No. xv, p. 313, &8. ill Kamirez 1. c. —Cabot in the xvii Question of his proofs. m" ^^■i •ii;-'" nv' 180 THE tIFE OF SEBASTIAN CABOT. 4,. liis opinirtn they lost no loss than lialf of thoir stores of food Ik- sides slirouds, sails, anchors, and all sorts of marine slomstliat were stowed there for the fleet's use ; and that this sliip alom vas more valuable than all the others toj^other.* 'J'o tliislos.; wli.'ch was incalculably great in the case of an expedition coj,. tempjatiiiga long voyage, must be added another still <;i(iitii, tbat all oi- nearly all the expedition foil sick, and fortlicino^t part, to fall sick and to die were the same thing. On tlii.snll agree ; Uamirez in his narrative, Cabot's accusers, nnd ('iilmt himself f The voyage from Pcrnambuco to St. Catliiuineliad been most l;djorioiis, and as many of the expedition were not seamen, but persons engaged in trade,who followed Cabot for the account of the Merchants' Company with a viowto the gains hoped for from the Moluccas and the fancied lands df Oplnr and Tarshish, these unaccustomed to long and laldi- ions navigation, all reached St. Catharine already broken with labor and sufFering To restore them they needed a liealtliy climate, good and wholesome food, and instead of these tlioy found the direct opposites : the climate especially, with its in- tense ho«it, its moistrre, and the exhalations fi'oni the hw grounds and rank vegetation, proved fatal to them. They caught a violent fever against which there was no defense ; they were taken down with the disease and never got up again. Many of the sailors even, yielded to the malignant sicknes.s. And the very few who came out clear from that pestilence might count it a miracle. The greater part of the men were sick, say some of the witnesses ; all or nearly all were so, say the others.^ * "paresce aeste dicho testigo que la dicha naocapltana hera los dos parUs de dicha armada. .. .porque en la diclia nao yvan mucUos aparejos para l;i diclia armada de xarcias y rescatcs y ancoras y velas e otras muclias costis y inucho maptenimiento e que cree esto testigo que aviamas mantenimieiitoenlfi diclia iiao capitana que no en todas las otrasnaos e que lo cree por que al tiempo que se perdio la dicha nao vio lo que avia en ella. ..." x testigo a, la xii Pre- guiitu. See also ix Preguata. t See Kojas, laterrogatory xvii,— Cabot, Pregunta x of his proofs.— llvmirez, App. xxi'^ii. X Pregunta x de la Prolmn^a de Sebastian Cabota I. Ttsdgo en fa ysla de Santa Catalina adolesprs mucba gente todo de lo que yva en la dicba armada e se murieroa alii muchos dellos de calenturas que Ifis dio e de la tierra que los provQ. t , , REPORTS OF WEALTH ON LA PLATA. 1$1 And better than by the witnesses' words we are told so hy the state of the fleet, when it again sets sail to continue tiie voy- age. Besides the fifteen Spaniards of Loaysa's fleet there wore at that bay two others who had belonged to that of John Dia35 y their lul- viueiiiKl iii)i)r()V)il decided to keep t\w fleet at flie IMatii. Only hvo olHccrs were uj^iiinst it, or if we take only disinter- (.sted witnesses, a single one, Rojas. Wo have already seen how ho boiirtted of having opposed ihc chango of the voyage lit Peinninbuco ; but that, except in his boast, thoro is no hint from any quarter that any thing of the sort wasthought of at PiTiianibuco, that all the circumstances contradict ii. iuiproval of all the oHit'crs. "From there," the witness says, "they sailed for tho River de Solis, nnd it seemed to the witness that it was with the agreement of the said officers, because tho witness saw no attempt of the said oflicers to prevent it, except that ho heard say that tho said Captain Rojas urged that tlioy should not go to tho River do Solis, but con- liiiuo their voyage."* What motive had Rojas in this opposi- tion? It can be inferred witli certainty, by setting it all down to his enmity towards Cabot. He opposed the change because Cabot proposed it : in the desperate circumstances in which the fleet was, ho would have supported it, if Cabot had que perdida !a dicha nao capitana no pudo cl dicho Sebastian cabolo seguir su viiije porque la dicha nao capitana litra la rnitad de la armada e tambicn poique toda lagente enfermo luugo con el ayre dc la tieriaqnc los provo. -xii I'rcguntade la Probanda de Seb. Caboto. The witnepses confirm this, especially the X, who stops to tell the onor- mnu3 loss of provisions on the flag-ship, shrouds, snils, anchors, every sort of sliip tackle. The X repeats and confirms the same thing with new testimony to tlie xix Intfirrogatory. *" de alii se partieron para el Rio de solis, e le pares^e a este testigo que seria con accuerdo de losdiclios oflgiales por queste testigo no les vio hazer (ieligenpia ningiina a los dichos ofi^iales para que no fuesen salvo que oyo de- cir quel dicho capltan Rojas le avia requerido que no fuese al Rio de soils sync que seguiese BU viaje . . , ." ♦ ■ Ap i' I "I, : 186 THE LIFE OF SEBASTIAN CABOT, shut liis ears to the splendid promises of the River rle Roljci, The other opponent of the change was Mendez, if ^e credit the XX interrogatory of the accusition Avhicli nis mother Catharine Vasquez brought against Sebastian Cabot. But no witness answered this interrogatory, and nowhere else is there any mention of his opposition. The witnospos also declare in many places that Cabot always acted in matters of importance by the advice of the officers. Most of all tlicn he would have asked their advice and conformed to it in tlii'; the mor": important matter of all, one that altered substan- tially tlin nature and scope of the expedition.* They sailed from the Bay of St. Catharine February 15, 1527, and if, notwithstanding the great number sick and the many deadjthey were able to complete the construction of the galiot in a relatively short time, it was due to the assistance of tlie na- tive? influenc id by the pressure and zeal of Henry Montcs who had acquirea great authority over them.f The state of the expedition, in consequence of the loss of the flag-ship and the number sick or dead, was most desperate, but it would be childish to suppose that in the general distress there was any taming, or even temporary cessation, of personal enmity. Human minds brutalized by passion are not so noble. But rather, when misfortune gives a good chance to vent their rage, with fierce eagerness they seize on that, and the grief and complanit become weapons to strike with and to kill. What we are going to relate shows that this must have been true in the case of this expedition. Here is the fact as Cabot briefly tells it in the twenty-third point of ''»is defense . "Let the witn'^sses tell v^'hether they know that Cabot being with his fleet at the island Ox'St. Cath- arine found sufficient information that the said Francis ue Rojas, Martin Mendez, and Michael de Rodas had stimnl the whole fleet to mutiny agairist him, and he, having tlie said information and issuing process against them, although they *"Dixoque...tceived by the Indians who gave him a great quantity of victuals with which he supplied the ships, al- though he repaid them ill, for he took four sons of the princi- pal men. He passed on till he entered the river which they called then De Solis, and is now La Plata, leaving on an un- inhabited island the General's Lieutenant, Martin Mendez, Captain Francis de Rojas, and Michael de Rodas ; because he not only had ill-will towards them, but they had freely found fault with his government ; and in fact he did not go to the Spice Islands, because he had not provisions, and the men would not follow him as they feared to be badly man- aged in the Strait (of Magellan)."! Let us put aside the capture of the four young Indians, which we will examine hereafter, and first look into the rest. Herrera gives as the cause of the provisions run- ning short that they had been improperly issued. But * See ch. xvi. t " llego a la isla de Patos, con mucha hambre. T fue bien recebldode los Jndios, que le dieron mucha victiialla, con que abastecid los navios, iiuaqtie se lo pago mal porque tomo quatro hijos de los hombres mas principales. Passo adelante, hasta entrar en el rio, que entonce8 llamavan de Solis, y aora de la Plata, dexando en una isla despoblada al Tcniente de General, Martin Mendez, al Capitan Fninciaco de Rojas, y a Mipuel de Riidas. porque demas que lea tenia mala voluntad, con libertad repreliendinn sn to- vierno : y en efeto no passd a la E&peceria ; porque ni Ucva vituall'i, ni lagente le quiso seguir temiendo de eer ma^ governada en el estreclio." — Herrera, in, lib. X, cap. i. HEURERA S UNFAIRNESS. 195 were they not unexpectedly blockaded by the fury of the sea at I'crnambuco for three months ? Herrera siiys not • a word about that. And the four months or thereabouts that they were detained at the Bay of St. Catharine by sickness and the necessity of providing themselves with a galiot ? Of this Herrera says nothing. Thus the period of seven months and over must have made some decrease in their stock of provisions ! And the loss of the flag- siiip? Herrera continues dumb ; for him the shortness of food was owing to improper issue ; where, then, when, how tliey were improperly issued he does U'^'t say, and has not a word more on the matter. Let us come to the second point. "He passed on, leaving on an uninhabited island Mendez, Rojas,aud Rodas, because ho not only had ill-will towards them but they had freely found fault with his government." Here falsehood is accompanied with the purest hypocrisy. First, the historian says the inhal)itants of Patos supplied Cabot with food, so that he was able to re-victual the ships ; consequently tiie island was inhabited, and with good people. Then he says Cabot loft the three officers on an uninhabited island. But if they were left at Patos, how can he say it was uninhabited ? One would think the historian saw the contradiction and to hide it, after mentioning Patos, instead of saying " hero ho left iho three officers," he uses the general term, island, with the indefinite article so that the reader is naturally led to suppose that it was some other place, and cannot but condemn Cabot's cruelty, and pity the three unfortunates. But the hardest part is the conclusion of the account, from whicli I suspect that Herrera had no knowledge of the suit afterwards brought against Cabot, and that his account is not to be attributed to bad faith, but to the falsehood of the docu- ments he had ai hand. In that suit Catharine Vasquez, motlier of Mendez, in her XX interrogatory, and Rojas in his VII, VIII, IX, and XII interrogatories accuse Cabot of wanting to give up the voyage to the Moluccas for the Plata m spite of the remonstrance of his Lieutenant Mendez and of Captain de Rojas, Rojas, in his 9th and 10th points accuses m y if w III ;. |i| T 11, ■\.. 196 THE LIFE OF SEKASTIAN CAlJO'l. (Ja])()t of having first tried to Imvo liim killed and lluii nr- rested liiiii because ho opposed his wish to stop the exptdition at the Plata; and again, in the 13th and llth, uccuhch liim of refusing, in consequence of his unfortunate wish to .stop at the Plata, to go as Rojas wanted to go to the aid of Loaywi's ships, which according to some, were lost in the Strait of iMh. geiliin ; and C!atharino Vasquez for her son Moiulcz in her XXIV and XXV interroi^aiories, and Rojas in his XXV,(:iill on Cabot to answer for the damages they suffered by liisiuit continuing the voyage to the Moluccas. And here Herrcni, after all these documents, after the public trial concerning,' tlicm, comes forward to say that Cabot did not proceed to tlie Molm- cas because his men would not follow him, and they wiuihl iidt follow him because they feared he was not able to manji^'utlic fleet in the strait ! When they left the Bay of St. Catharine they were still noiirlv all sick, * but it seemed prudent to escape as soon as iiiigiilln' from a climate which had been so severe on their bodies weak- ened by fatigue and want of food. A change of air was judged to be the best means of restoring their strengtii. But on putting to sea so few were found fit for any work, and even these so weak, that they were hardly able to manage the vesseis.f m ^I ■' i '1 '1 CHAPTER XVIII. Exploration of (lie River La Plata. Arkiving at the mouth of the Plata, before proceeding fur- ther, we must remind the reader how far the knowledge of the region Cabot stopped to explore, had then extended. The first expedition which the Spaniards sent to the soutli- ■ * "Yten si saben que qiimido Re enbaico In diclm geiite, que casi todii ellnes tiiva doliente . . . ." Int. xx of Cabot's proofs. Tlie wiluesses depose u-iani- mously in accordance with the Interrogatory. + ".... no podian los marineros niarcnr las naos a causa deyr Ian dolicjtesy flacos."ix witness to the same Interrogatory. THE PLATA DISCOVRUED BV HOLia. 107 orn sons of America, in search of a passage to tlio oaRtcTU (oiintrioH of Asia, was in IHOS, and wiis led hy John Dia/, do Soils Hiul Vincent Yanes I'inzon, tho hittor a former captain ofono of Christopher Cohinihus'H ships on tho «liscovory of tho Now World. They wont as far as the 4()th (Us^roc of .Sctutii liiitltudo, hut did not discover tho great estuary into wliich tlie Klvor La Plata empties. Seven years later, in 1515, Diaz dc* Siills returned alone to tho same region, and to make sure of his soiircii he hegan to hug the coast from Cape St. Augustine^ ill nriizil, and went on step hy stop taking note of every hay and liarhor that ho came to. In this examination he discov- ered the great river which was afterwards named liio de la Pliitii. Its numerous sand hanks and rocks prevented him from venturing in with his vessels, hut he thought the dis- covery too important to leave altogether unexplored : and so tiiklnj; liislong-hoat he hegan to ascend along the west hank, ilo had not proceeded far hefore ho saw groups of Indians on .shore. Not heingahle to hold any communication with them in words, a mute conversation was begun between the two sides hy si^ns. 'ind Solis thought the Indians invited him to land ; iuul as he saw them lay on the ground near their feet some- thing they held in their hands, he concluded they meant to say that they not only invited him to land, but offered him every thing they had. Trusting his interpretations of those deceitful signs, he ventured on shore, and not to excite sus- picion, wishing, it is said, to capture some of tho natives to take to Spain as specimens, he landed poorly armed and with few men. This first act of imprudence was followed by a greater, when seeing the savages slowly retreating among the tall trees of a neighboring forest, he followed them almost alone. He had hardly entered the woods when a shower of arrows was shot from concealed enemies, and before ho had time to lay his hand on his arms, he and all with him fell dead. Then the hidden savages burst forth, leaping and yell- ing with delight, fell upon them and stripped them, and then dragging their bodies to a great fire outside of the woods, roasted them at it, and in sight of the others who, beside themselves with grief and fear, witnessed from the boat. ■r 1 m^m !■:■ 198 THE LIKE OP SRHASTIAN CAKOT. "•;'i 1.' 1/ ■■'if; tlio horrid scene, they devoured them with noisy plonsiiro When Uie horril)le story was told on the shijJH, there wns ,1 discussion what should be done, and it was decided to roturii to Spain.* Cabot on entering this estuary stopped at a sinall is] and called S. Lazaro, and remained there for a inoiitli to give his men time to recover somewhat from their loss of strciigth. In the meanwhile they were sockiiif,' tor information about the place, and they hailed with joy the oight of a Spaniard, one Francis del Puerto, who Imd taken part in Solis's expedition, and remaining tluiro ns a slave after the sad end of the leader, had lived tlirongli humiliations and sufferings beyond description. lie not only confirmed the tale of the j^^reat wealth of that re- gion, but even pointed out the way to roach it. Encournffcd by his words, they took him to the ships ns guide on their voyage, and on May 6, 1527, they left S. Lazaro to go up the river.f But they went away sick at heart on account of those they left dead at S. Lazaro. The voy- age from the Bay of St. Catharine to this island was only a few days, X but the labor of that short navigation was enough to cause the relapse of the convalescents, some of * " Lo mataron, i comieron con todos los Espafioles que saco, 1 nun quetim ron el hatel. Los otros que de los navios mlraban alparon anclas i vetas, sin osar tomar vcnganpa de la muerte de su Capitan." Gomara, cap. Ixxxix. Ilerrerii, Dec. ii, lib. i, cap. vii. Pictro Martire d'Anghiera, Dec. iii, cap. x. t " Stfiahi Ifi mngnitudo del rio y cuenta los muchos trabaios que pasaiwi hasta llei,'!*!- li tin pueito que llamaron de S. Lnzaro, donde se detubieron un mo para iiiformnrse de la tierra. Un tal Francisco del Puerto, caiitivo desdi In derrota de Soils, les enter6 de la mucha riqueza del pais y del camino que di ben seguir para dar con la referida sierra. Con esto el Capitnn dctermino salir de alii el 6 de Mayo." Prom the narrative of Ramirez, App. xxxvii. " . . . . e se fneron el Rio arriba por la gran notipia que tenia un ombre quo halliiron en el dicho Rio de Solis que dezia que aviapor el Rio arriba gruni fama que avia mucho oro y plata." Answer to the xx Int. of Cabot's proofs. t "Salieron deste puertoque llamaron St. Catalina el 15 de Pebrero de IK. lleirando despues de seis dias a St. Maria punta a la desembocadura del Rio part : the most of tliem, from sickness or loss of strength, were unnhle to stand another voyage, and had to bo left on tho island for fiirtluu* caro and rest ; for which reason they gave the island now used as an infirmary, tho name of tho well-known saint in tho Gospel. But oven those who went, between the sick- ness and famine they had gone through, were so sickly and weak that on sailing they had not enough strength to hoist two anchors out of the water, with their stocks entiuigled in the aquatic plants of tho river.:}: ('iibot's course up tho Plata is all involved in obscurity, and tho few intimations the authors here and there give us of his voyage do not always servo to direct our steps, but some- times by their mutual contradictions, rather increase our enbarrassment. I will try my best to advance on their (lark and dangerous road ; and if at times the reader shall not lind me exactly collecting these intimations and putting them together in the order he would like, I beg him beforehand to mitigate the rigor of his judgment by the tliought of the difficulty tho matter presents. Horrora says nothing of the island of S. Lazaro, and from the mouth of the Plata transports us directly to the isl- and of San Gabriel, thirty miles further up. Here Cabot left the ships and began the ascent of the river in long-boats.§ The information received from the Indians showed the Para- * "despnes yendo por la mar, algunos delloa que yvan enfermos murieron." X Witness to the x Int. of Cabot's proofs. t" 8e murieron en el dicho Rio muchos e que se fueron a una ysla que se dize 8an lazaro e que alii estovieron ciertos dlas e que ansymismo se uiurio alii muclia gente." Answera to xx Int. of Cabot's proofc Three other witnesses repeat the same thing. t " Yten si saben que pnr falta de gente que corao dicho estava doliente sedexaron dos anclas y dos cubos de la nao santa maiia del espinar por los escobenes en el dicho Rio de Soils porqiie la gente estava muy doliente y no tenian fuerpa para travajar ni sacar las dichas anclas." xx Int. of Cabot's proofs. All the witnesses answer in the afiSrmative. § "Metiose en el Rio de la Plata, 8ubi6 descubriendo por el, y a poco maa de treynta leguas di6 en unaisla que llam6 San Gabriel." Herrcra, Dec. iii, lib. ix,cap.8. r a •■If :.\ . ■ ,' .'i ,1 ; . Kij 200 THE LIFE OP SEBASTIA: I CABOT. guay as the shortest course to the gold mountains.^ He con- tinued therefore the ascent towards the Paraguay, and not nuirc than seven leagues beyond San Gabriel he found on his ii(rlii an affluent with good depth of water at its mouth. H>' nii. proached it with the design of stopping there, but tbc natives aware of his intention, quickly gathered in a great nuiltitiuli' and prepared to oppose him. The small number of the Span- iards and their extreme weakness would have mado tluni avoid the labor and danger of an encounter. But Calxit quickly perceived that prudence at this moment would iiavc been taken for fear; they would have been too elated, and their savage minds have acquired too much confidence fornow attacks ; and a sudden check on tneir first attempt would luive produced a very bad effect oa the Si)aniards already dislieart- ened and weakened by so many causes. He therefore ordered an immediate onset.f The brave savages fought valiantly, but their valor had to yield to the skill and \veaj)ons of the Spaniards. One particular related by the historian Gomara shows the fierce mirth of the savages. In the battle they had killed two Spaniards, and might have carried them ofl" to eat them as they were accustomed to do with their enemies ; bat they would not, saying scornfully that these were soldiers, and they had learned from Solis and his companions, what kindoi" meat they made.j After driving back the Indians ihey se- cured the place with a small fort to which they gave the name of San Salvador. § The vicissitudes of the voyage from the island of S. Lazaro * "Oy CDini) si'siin inforimicion de los mistnos iiidios el camiiio mas l)rive pari ir a la sierra era entrar por el Paraguay." llamiriz, App. xxxvii. f "The natives had collected and made a very f()rmi(lal)le show of resistance, hut Cahot witlioiit respect of peril, thought best to expugne it hy one meiiiu's or Mtiier, wherein his boldness tooke good effect as oftentymes climiiicetli it) li.eataffayres." Eden, fol. 316. t"En el puerto de S, Salvador .... le mataron los Indios dos Espauolcsi no Ids (juisieron comer diciendo que eran soldados que ir los haviaii pniliado en Soils i sus compafieros," Gomara, cap. Ixxxix. ^"Surgio alii, ycon los bvteles siele leguas mas arriba descuhrio nnrio.qne lluno San S;dvalor, muy hondalile, y seguro puerto pan las naos, ii;i7iii iii niisma costa did IJrasil, adonile nu-tio su armada .... Levanto una fortiileM , . ." Uerrera, Dec. iii, il>. is, cap 3. , HE ASCENDS LA PLATA. 201 to this place r.re not known, but they could not have been few, nor slight. Ramirez mentions them in a few, but si'nnficant words : " Both they and tlie others underwent ercat trouble and hunger." The others, to whom he refers, are the sick left at S. Lazaro. As soon as Cabot had got his little fort of San Salvador ready, he sent the galiot to S. Lazaro to fetch the sick, who leaving the island on Au- gust 25, 1527, reached the fort of San Salvador on the 2Stli. * Hero they all rem.r^'ned together till the end of the year to regain their health and strength. But for many their rest came too late, and the fort of San Salvador was also alliicled with nniny deaths. Cabot, in his defense, mentions that he was obliged to remain on the Parana more than lialf-a-yoar to give the sick and convalescents time to re- cover, but does not say where or when this was.f From the indications furnished by Ramirez there can be no doubt it wiis at tliis time at Fort San Salvador. Hither were trans- ported the sick and convalescent from S. Lazaro ; and tiie state of those who came with the ships is shown hy their abandoning two anchors at that island from in- ability to weigh them. This was the time when the general condition of the men made it necessary to take a rest. It al- so agrees with the calculation of time. Wo have seen that the galiot sent to S. Lazaro to fetch the sick made the passage from that island to San Salvador in three days. Cabot must have taken a little longer, for the galiot went over an explored and safe course, whereas he was making the voyage for the first lime, and therefore had to move with caution, and slowly, on an unknown way. But, as the passage was short, the dillerence cannot have been great. Consequently, as he left S. Lazaro on tiie Gth of May, we oannot be far out in thinking he * ' Unns y otrospadecen miichos trabajos y hamhrcs, liasta que cl general maiido la galeota para cnnducir la gente y azicn.lade S. Lazaro, de donde siilitToii i4 25 de Agnsto para llecar el 28 al ntievo sitio desde el general iiabia iieclio aslento y una fortaleza para la defensa." Rnmirez., App. xxxvii. * " 1( ten si saben qiiesUxva la diclia gente doliente en cl Rio de Parana, HiiR eiitra en el diclio Rio de solis mas de medio afio convaleciendo de la tliilencia que avian tenido en queen ests comcdio murieroa muchos dellos," Jxii Int. of Cabot's proofs. 202 THE LIFE OF SEBASTIAN CABOT. i'vTV,' reached San Salvador in the second half of May. Then as the first stop recorded after San Salvador is New-Year'. nilfis yiuiios que yvan con ellns en >in vercantin que lieran natnrales (ie a qiiclla ticrra que Ics dixo que l<>s llevaria presto en tVrra donde hallasen de co- mireytian de villa fiiente le dixo a cste testicc... e queste testigo entonces lo liixoa nil capellan de la diclia armada que hera sii compaftero para que ledi- wscal diclio capitan ceneral.e quel dicli" capitaii general le llamo e se ynformo ffeste (liclio teBtigo de In que sabia e queste testicc le dixo lo que sabia e que •lespciuirio al dicbe francisco de h']V' v a otros muchos e hizo su ynformacion yaliorco al dicho francisco de lepe," VI wi m.ss to the xxvi Interrogatory. 14 * 51 . %• :ii frnr : ' ? 210 THE LIFE OF SEBASTIAN CABOT. ''"■.I .^^ ago."* This promptness and severity in puni.siiinjr ^^j j^ terrifying ett'ect on all and none durst try it again. lUit strong as Cabot's delerniination was to continue this course in the hope of soon finding some spot to leliovt their hunger, he was forced to admit that it was no Ion. gor i)ossible to trust to the uncertainty of hope witliout pluf. ing himself and all the rest in great risk of dying of luuifrd' He therefore stopped the galiot, and sent back the l)riyr) este diclio lesligo ilecir id dlcho francisco de lepe qnando lo llevavnii aliorcar que pues el avia sido culpado y pagava por todos que dios dicsu biipii viajo " Deposition of the viii witiit'ss. t " Para remediar taii nrgeute neccsidad mancla el capitan mi vergantiii I'ltodn reino en.busoa (le bastiincutos a uiios (laserios bastante distaiites, volvieiido nl poco tienipo l)ien provistos." Ramirez I.e. X "Con esto piidi niataron los cristianoa cpio wan en viTirantin."— I witness to the xxvi Inter muatory of Calxn'a proofs. t "El desgraciado csifo do csta espedicioii y el salior qiic andnba nun nrniini!! portunucsa en el rio Solis fucnm motivos para que el general detcrmiuase vnl verse rio ahajo hasia el Pnnimi." Ramirez, App. xxxvii. " Alii penso en dar la bueltJt." Herrert, Dec. iii, lib. ix, cap. 3. carcia's expedition. 215 him, were greedily pii'ked uji l)y Cabot's enemies and became Moody weapons against him, Ibis bas given a certain impor- tance to his voyage, and wherever Cabot's work on the Plata is spoken of there is always mention of this other explorer and ottlu'ir meeting. Who he was, bow, and for what purpose he u,i;j sailing, was told and jirinted as long ago as ]()01 by Iler- reni. Hi;^ name was Diego Ciarcia, and he is the same person iiitiitioned in our XVI chapter as a braggart and coxcomb. lie was born at Moguer, a little Spanish city on the Tinto a short distance from Palos, whence Christopher Columbus fiiilod on his tirst discovery, and he was sailing for the account ot'a modest Spanish company.- lUit in spite of this o})cn and decided declaration, Charlevoix lias built a story all i:ivention from the bottom up. He has made of Diego (iarcia a Portu- <,'ueso general, and says he was in Brazil, a possession of the crown of Portugal ; that as soon as lie knew of Sebastian Ca- hot's voyage up the Plata, apprehensive for the neighboring possessions of his country, lie hurried across the provinces of Brazil to cut ofl' his road. But Cabot, learning of his ad- vance, quickly got bis men together and descended the river in all lias.e, to ])ut hims.'lf in safety. And all tills he embellishes with a svrics of bold deeds and adventures as strange and surprising as in a regular sensa- tional lomance.f It is incomjn'elunsible how Charlevoix, pretending to write history, could believe or invent such tales when he had his way clearly marked out in Ilerrera. His error was the cause, I believe, of even the way Biddle made a false step or two; for he likewise makes Carcia a Portu- Kuene, in spite of Herrera's distinct assertion. But if he errs in this, in all else he adheres to the Spanish historian's account. Hut acute as lie was in dissecting every fpicstion that undertook to treat of Cabot, having no aid from any documents that fould throw any light on the obscurity of this exploration, as he saw the figure of Diego Carcia, appearing like a vision now and then ; ho fixed his ga/.e on that and thouglit of it till ♦This will be reported to bcticr ndviu)tiv.;c t\ little in it something mysterious. And with this notion, starting from the point that he was a Portuguese, liu whets his ingenuity by accumulating argument upon argu- ment to convince the reader tliat Diego Garcia was an agent of Portugal sent to follow Cabot, to watch his course, to aid tlie rebels in the expedition in their work, if necessary, and il'oc- casion offered, even take the command of it in order to divert it from the Moluccas and keep it on the American coast.* And his reasoning is so close and strong as easily to convince the reader who has no other source of inforniatiou. Instead of stopping to refute Biddle's reasoning, since new ar- guments have stripped the figure of Garcia of its mysterious appearance, and reduced it to its very poor proportions, we shall only remark that Diego Garcia sailed from Spain more than five months after Cabot, and at such an interval betw"';i. them he surely could not have been sent to help the r-^'j' We are able to complete the imperfect information given by Herrera with Garcia's own narrative, an authenticated coj)}' of which we have before our eyes. Although defective in many places, in the part which we are concerned with it is almost entire, and enables us to follow with security the course of his navigation. Some Spanish gentlemen, with Don Ferdinand do Andrada at their head, formed an association for the exploration of the river discovered by John Diaz de Solis, and api)lied to the government for the necessary approval. This was given, with an obligation annexed that the expedition should also go in search of John Cartagena and the French priest whom Fer- dinand Magellan had deposed and abandoned at the strait which afterwards took his name.f Diego Garcia was placed at the head of this expedition. * " This expt'(lition, under the command of the Porlugnese, was hastily got up to watcii Ilia movements, and prnhahly to act in concert with the disnf fecled, with an understanding hs to certain points of rendezvous in casu tlie mutineers should train the nifisterv . . . ."—Lib. i, onp. xvii, p. 128. t "El conde D. Hernando de Andnida y otros se ofrecieron de liaccr mia armada, y emhiarla a la parte del Mar Oceano Meridional. ... en la parte que dezian el Rio d de Finisterre.' Macion de Diego Oarcia. "Partio Diego Garcia .... a qnime de agoitto de este aflo (1526) del Cabo de Finisterre y. . . .salio de las Canarias a primero de Betiembre." Herrera, I'ir. iii, lib. x, cap. i. t" . . . nos partimos en primero d<' setiembre del dicbo ailo porque entonces psta el sol en calma a treze de setiembre porque va a liacer verano en la parte que niia y vamos a desoubrir . . . y estiv naveuacion no supo tomar Sebastian ga- bot' eon toda su astrulucia tomo lacontraria conio ombre que no. . . . nada." -From the Narrative of Diego Garcia— App. No. xxxviii. RRP^"^ ^TT '■■; t; ■■■■ : B ■ • i ■'? ■ ' i : - i Hi ■il il. i. t i H 1, , Bi l' H H "■';tW 218 THE LlFE OF SEHASTIAX CAHOT. and false was riarcia's boast of liis wisdom; and it is not necessary to add any tliin;jj hero.* From tlie Canaries lie passed over to the Capo ^"er(lc Isl- ands, Avhere he took on more provisions;t and from there lie sailed towards Cape St. Augustine.;}: Here he boasts a^rain of his ability in overcoming the currents which are met in that cross- ing, and derides the ignorance of Cabot who did not kmiw enough to do the .same.§ But, as wo remarked in anotlier place, he does not tell us how or in what Cabot was at fault; he derides and passes on.|| From Cape 8t. Augustine Iw sailed to Cape Frio, thence to the Bay of St. Vincent, and theiice to the Plata.^[ On arriving at the Plata, ho stopped his sbipsatits mouth, anc -nUj'ng together the brigantine which he took aloiiif in piece!-. Segan with that to go up the river, and so came to the harUL, of San Salvador wliore Sebastian Cabot's shijis were. Anthony Grajeda, who was guarding them, at the sight of the brigantine, thought it was Rojas and Rodas and Martin Meii- doz who were coming with sinister intentions, and with some canoes and an armed boat advanced boldly against him ; and they were on the p'^'int of battle when Garcia recogm' zing Gra- jeda, was aware that they were Sel)astian Cabot's men, and, making himself known in turn, animosity and fear ceased on either side.** * Sec ell. xvi. t ". . . . tomamos la dcrrota delas ishis (ie cabo vcrde . . . y alii tomamos niiiclio llufresco . . . dc t'idas las cosas que uvlmos menpster ... — " Ihidem. X "Dcsta ysla de buena vista hfrimos vela eu la bueltay demandadelcaliode sail a.^ostin."— II). S ". . .e.stecaminose liaiian-ivegar con prande resguardoy saber de marinciiu puniue ay grandes conientes que suleii delos rrios dc guiticu que almten los navios iila vaiida del uiiruester que van coirientes ii las yndiasde castillaeslas (!on ientes nn supn tomar Sebastian caboto porque no era marinero iiy siiliii iiavcgar." — lb. II See cb. xvi. * " ~~ ^ J!j **"I']n las islasde las Picdras sur!xi(!ron y rtrmaron el bergantin que ilev.ivnn en pi('f;us,con el qiial ftieron el v\n anilia ... y ... vieron dos nai)S de Hclmstian Gaboto, cujo Teniente era Anton de Grajeda, que salio con ciertas canons, y iin batel armados, pcnsaiido quecian los dos bermanos Rojasy Martin Mi'ndw que ivan contra el liasta que Anton de Grajeda fne conocido dc Dim Garcia, yvan tomando las armaspara llegar a las manos ; y al cabo conocicroii, que era el armada de Sebastian Gaboto . . ." — Herrera, ilddem. GATlCiA JOINS r.llA.IEDA, 210 Grajeda gave Garcia a tbstivo reception and told him tlie good news ho had just received of a great victory gained hy Cahot over tlio Indians with the death of more than four hundred of the latter.* After this Diego (xareia returned to his ships, and exchanged his largest ship for the hrigantinc of a Port- iijjuose. I must pause here to discuss the hargain at some length. To the reader it may ai)pear altogether useless and perhaps a ,stuml)ling-stone in tlie narrative ; hut it is not so : I rather ask the reader to give it his attention, for further on we shall have occasion to recall it, and it will aid us if we have the fact well present. Diego Garcia's narrative from his sailing out of Corunna harbor to his arrival at the Day of St. Vincent, except the two places whore he lays hold of Cahot, contains merely the distances of the course sailed over, and the geographical posi- tion of the diH'erent places, with special mention of those where he renewed his supplies, and such as it is so far, it will continue to the end. Only at the Bay of St. Vincent he stops to tell something else. On this hay, which is in the 13th degree of South Latitude, had lived for thirty years a Port- iii,mese bachelor and he hatl his son-in-law with )iiin. Their occupation was hunting Indians and sending them to Europe to be sold for slaves. Diego Garcia landed on this bay to get fresh provisions for his ships, and remained here till the 15th of January of the following j'ear, 1527. f As was natural, Ilerrera almost always speuk- of Dii'L'o Giniia's voj-ngi' in Ilio very words of ilie hitter's iiarnitive ; and tli(?refori? instead of qiiotinff directly from tlie nnrriitivc, I quote from Ilerrera, becuiise in the narnitive as it lias readied lis thi'io lire many gaps. "... nos hizo mnclia onrra dio nos rmevii do m capitan goncral e como aqueldia avia visto una carta Ruva en la qti;il le avisaba oonio avia mnerto niiis do quatrociento Yndios e que ihn con uvan victoria per el Rio nrrilm liiicif'ndo giierra a los yndios."— Diejo Oircin's narrntive. t "• . . . de nqni fnemos ndcbmle e nllcijamos al calio de snnt' Asrnstin e t"me my navegncion la buelt'i del cnbo frio. . . .e de nqiii fiiemos a tomar "efresco en snn Vicente que esta en xiii ltkIos .... " • . . . alii estiiviinos linsta qninze de enero del afSo sycniente de xxvJi e aqui tomamos rmiclio refresco de came e pescado delaa vituallas de la '^ j. :■ .-I 1 ii ;•-« 220 THE LIB'E OF SEBASTIAN CABOT. n, while here he saw and became acquainted with the Portuguese bachelor and his son-in-law, and had many opportunitiis of talking with them. In these conversations they came to a profitable agreement. The Portuguese had on hand a fine supply of 800 slaves, but the harvest was useless to hini for want of the means of sending them to market to Eurojjc. The big ship of 100 tons which carried Diego Garcia suited his purpose and he offered to buy it. Diego accepted the offer and the bargain was made. In place of the ship he sold Garcia bought a brigantine from the son-in-law of tlie Port- uguese. To Diego himself the contract must have seemed atrocious, for he takes over a page and a half of folio to discuss it and argue that he had not done wrong. His reasoning is, that the ship on account of her size was wholly unsuited for the exploration he was to make of a river, and that he had pre- viously told Don Ferdinand de Andrada and his partners so in Spain, and that they only intended to have her laden with slaves; and he did so because they violated His Majesty's orders concerning the conditions his fleet was to have, and did not keep the agreements made and signed with him; and that he had the consent and approval of all his officers for tlie ex- change of liis largest ship for the brigantine.* But, either there was not this approval, or if there was, the enormity of the act seemed to him and his accomplices to render it necessary to find some pretext to color the wicked bargain in the eyes of their men. For it was determined that Garcia should sail on the large ship as far as the mouth of the Plata, and the brigan- tine should join him there and make the exchange. Why tierra pani provision de nuestra nave e acqua e lefia e todo lo que nvimos meiiester." lb. * " este bachiller con sus yernos hizieron con migo una cnrtii (If flete ....para que la triiycBe en esptina con la nao grande oclocienins escliivnse yo la hize con acuerdo de todos niya oflciales. . .que allegiuido en el Hin man- daremns la nao, porque la. . . .no podia entrar en el rrio poiqtie niuehas vecies le dijo al contador Don Fernando e &los factores que aqiielln nao no ps alii uii frreiioiio euro e If riHUnriiiins que se fiiese de ;iiiiiiilM pouquistii porquc uo htru suja, eel uos Respouilio may biuu, dijo que toiiolu GARCIA AT HAN EHI'IHITU. 223 friendly relations, Caro told Garcia there was a rumor aiiioug the Indians that Cahot, who was a good way up the river, liiid met with a severe defeat by the Indians, with the loss of many of his men, and tlierefore if Garcia continued on u}) the river he begged him to ransom the Spaniards he should lind captured by the natives, and he would repay the price of tiieir ransom ; and, if he found that Sebastian Cabot was dead, not to abandon him in that place.* Now see the boast Garcia durst make of his navigation from Fort San Espiritu to Port St. Ann ! We are in that long tnict of the river in which is the island of New- Year's, where Ciibot was obliged to stop, to fall upon the Indians, who were either muttering rebellion or had already revolted, in his rear. Cabot would naturally ascend the river step by step, be- cause the road was altogether new, and it was therefore neces- sary to examine every spot, treat with the Indians, quiet their suspicion, gain their aifection, awe them or fight them, as the ca.se nuglit require ; all this must needs consume much time. Garcia, on the contrary, had the way already o[)ened, the river safe, because already examined by Cabot's ships, no danger from the inhabitants, becauxe they were held in awe by Cabot's forts and the memory of his weapons ; so that (Jarcia could move with safety and at his ease. With all this dillerence in circumstances Diego Garcia has the boldness to brag that he travelled in only 27 days over what took Cabot five months.f nk'decia e que siuviin en nqiicllu casi por mi ii.ML'cstail c pnr stfbaslian gavoto e que fstiva a mi servicio." Dic-o Garcia's iiarrMtive. ♦"udiD nos nuevas di; sii cnpituii que k- liahiaM dklio los yndios como el capitaii sebaslian iravoto heia aniba dcsl)arafad() e miicrto miicha trent((y que merini;avaquesial!,'uuoliall:iso por ariuella parte donde yva dc'scul.rioiido que 1" U. scatasu qu.; el nie pa-aria d Resirate e que se eiiconiciidaba nd nierrcd qufsy fiiese su capital! muertnque no lo dejaw en <•! Rio quo lo sacase"— H). Iltirera liy nn oversiL'lit lins cIi!iML"'d Sebastiati Cabot's rmii into a victory : - q'lu' SI sui)ie.sse pore! rio, procums-ie do resratail'>* Cut 11 inos que liall>i.s'riiggart like Diego Garcia ; what surprisos us is that a grave historian like Ilerrera should pick upcvtn this stone to throw at C'abot. * A hundred leagues beyond the fort of San Espintii, Djr.ro Garcia joined Sebastian Cabot at the port of St. Ann, wliich, as set down by Garcia himself, is in 28° South L;ititu(lc.+ Besides the testimony we have seen from Ramirez, Diego flm- cia's own narrative, although very worn in this pbiee, shows that Cabot's defeat occurred higher up. :{: We must then sup- pose that Cabot retreated to St. Ann after his loss, to recnpemtc under the friendsbip of the good Prince Yiiguaron. Of his meeting with Sebastian Cabot, Garcia does not pivi' one word, but Ramirez has something on the subject. Tlic Portuguese fleet which was rumored among the Indigenes to be coming up the River de Solis, the report of which had boon one of the causes of Cabot's retiring, turned out to bo only Diego Garcia's brigantine. The doubt and alarm were qniekly turned to joy when they saw their brethren, and it was at once proposed that they should unite, and with abundant supplies ascend the river : but for whatever reason, the good intention was not carried out; and the two captains, separating, followed each his own course on returnin.g.g ' Cabot, on arriving at Port San Salvador, put a caravel ini- der sail, and with her sent two of his officers, Ferdinand Ciil- deron and George Barloque, to the Emperor. It seems that in his con.st.'"' loss of men, and the condition of his expedi- * Doc. iii, lib. x, pap. i. f'Llpcramn den U'cnas mas arrihadola rasafiierte al puerlode Siintiina.qne asl 'l.iino Sebastian Galjoto, udondc le mataron hasta veynticinco honiljies. " Ilerrera , ib. "y pste rin psta en xxviii grados y esta de Santa Afia que hHSta aqiii des- cubrimos." Dicsio Gnreia's narrative. !"(! descubrio Sebastian L'abotoeliasta nueve leguas por el pnra.L'uay aniliae de aqiii dos liisrores le mataron la primeni gente .... que Imya . . . ." The text is very worn liere. t; " hiista al Parnna, donde encontinron dtra armnda del eniper.i(l(ir, nijo capitan Diego Garcia de Mugiier, trato de uiiir.'ie a nuestra armnda piira vulver, bieii pel trecliados a la diclia ."ierri ; p'T al tin no linbo cnnvenioentre ales gen- erales, siguicndo cada ciial rumbo distinto."— Ramirez, 1. c. 1Nl»^- GAUCIA MEKTS CABOT. 225 lion growing divily more (Icsponito, Ik; had sustained liim- H'lfwitli tiio hot)o of reaching the treasures of La IMata, and thus act'ompanying the news of his stopping on that river with the dii/zhng announeemcnt of those riches. The Span- ish people and government, in that case, would have ovor- looketl the failure of his expedition, and even hlcssed his decis- ion to cut it in halves. And he, far from sinking in public es- ttciii, would have gain^vl an ;iioi'e.i,-o oi. respect and authority. lint his defeat had rendered it absolutely impossible,and the re- fiisiii of Diego Garcia took from him liis only means of suc- n'oding ; and he then decided to send to Spain to recort to ihcjjoYcrnment the state of affairs, and to ask for aid. lie gave the two offieer.s a letter for the Emperor, in which he explained the sad events of the voyage, and the .iiiises which had made him cut it short. He spoke of his determination to ex})lore tho river discovered by Solis, of tho different provinces he had already been through, and of the different races of people dwelling in tliem, and how giciit wealth could be got from them ; and asked for men and means for colonizing the territory. In support of his account and of his demands, he caused some Indians and various specimens of the products of the land to be taken on board, with samples of silver, a little gold, and other metals.* *"yuviL'iidi)seti)p;iil()o<)n <•! (Ga-cia con Caii'.t >), se hohi r.ii juntos adoiide tstiivii Giei,'()ii<) Caio : y de alii Scl)aHtian Gabf)tf> esciivio ul Hoy, dandole (ni'iitii lie sii viiiire : y lii causa porqiie no avia coiitiniiafio la iMvejracidii a la Esneckria : y de Ins miiclias pinvidcias (jne avia descul)iert<» en iujuel rio de la Plula, y diversas 1,'eaeniciones de Yiidios que avia en aquella tieria, del qiiiil se podiii espcriii- dt; suciir muy irrandes riqiiezas : y con csta lelacion tniiiio al contador Hernando Calderon, y a Jorire Barlnqne. TraxtTon en uno ii'siis iiiivins al,i,nino8 Yndios y innesr.ras de lo que avia en la tierra, y plata, y alinii (iro, y otriKs niuUdes, piuiciido irente, y licencia para poblar." Ilerrcni, Dec. iv, lib. i, cap. i. - " niiuidan u Espana a Ncrsi Calderon y llosel Barco con una rarahtla y aL'iino^i pnscntes de oro y plata, paia quo exponsraiio a S. M. las necesidadeg liHii arniaiia y inandcn proveer lo neocsario." — Ilamir-z, App. xxxvii. ThiMlilTcrerice in the two oflicers' names is noi so likely owing ti« a^uiisiako in copying as it is to the difficulty in making out the original letter of feniirez. 226 THE LIFE OF SEBASTIAN CABOT. * , CHAPTER XX. Cabot's Return to Spain. At the end of October in that year (1528) the two officers appeared in Toledo, and made known their mission to the Em- peror.* The idea of colonization was very well received, and the Merchants' Company of Seville was invited to share in the expense that would be incurred. But both then and aftir- wards, in spite of all solicitation, the merchants refused all fur- ther contnbutions. The failure of their project of trade with the Moluccas, made them hostile to any proposal with wliich Sebastian Cabot was connected.! Then the Emperoi-, wlioso hopes had been raised by the report of the officer 'uid tiie sight of the objects which they brought as sampk unud the entire cost himself, and gave strict orders thu. . , noiild be provided at once, it being too important to secure iinnie- diate possession of lands already of vast extent,with the prom- ise of still more if the possession of the first was securod.i But * rii-rreia, Dec. iv, lilt, i, cup. i. The edition consulted !)}■ me cives tlie yt';ir ns 1527 ; biu lliis is an evident error, whetlier au oversight of IIeriera's(irn inistiike in printing. t "y porqiie los armudores avian gastado su parte en aquella arniadii ((jiie no nvia ydo a la Especeriu, que era el fin con que lo avian hecho) y frajiisli que no perdii-s-en el iraslo, les mimdio einbiar la copiadequuntoSebiistiaiiGii- lioio escrivia, para que si quisiesseu embiiirel socorro que pedia plalicasstn so- bre ello, para puriicipar del proveclio, dimde no, le avisassen porque su Majes tnd estava determinado de manciar lisizer el gasto para este socorro por cntir i, quaiido los armadort-s no lo qui-iessen por cu rata. . .Los armadores de Seviliii en todo esto niio so resolvicron en no bazer lo que el Rey pedia, porque avian giustado nias de diez mil diioados y no esneravnn liien del proveciio quo ofrecia Sebastian Gahoto." Ilerreni, Dec. iv, lil). i, cjip. i. t"En Sevilla se Iiazia por orden del Ri-y i-ran diligencia para que los nrmi dores de los navios que llevo Sebiisiimi Gabotoconlrilniyessen en el gasto del Bocorro, que se avia determiaado que 8e le embiasse al rio de la Plata: y porque THE HKVILLK COMPANY UEFU8KS AID. 227 the iinpcrinl will cncounti'rod an ()l),stiiclo stronger thun all lijs power, .lust ut this timo his liimnciiil distress wus extreme. U war with tlio I'ope, with Fnmee, and with Venice, ho hud ■iriiiios ovory where ; tind in face of the enormous expense of arininjj and maintaining such hosts, his ordinary revenues \vcrc exhiiustod, and the courts of Castile firmly refust^d to I'laiit him extraordinary suhsidies.* Meanwhile the armies wro mutinous and threatening, l)ecauso their pay was in ar- rears : and the only expedient to quiet them was to delivT the property and persons of the wretched populations to their fury and greed. Let it suftico to recall the soldiery of the Con- stable de Bourbon and the pillage of Rome. It was precisely at this time of extreme pressure that Charles V made tlie sale (if the Moluccas to Portugal, as related above, notwithstanding the cries of wrath and sorrow raised throughout Spain. f hi this state of affairs, instead of providing for further expenses, it was much to carry on the most urgent public Mvice of permanent necessity. So days wont by, and weeks, and months, and nothing was put aside for the cost of the La Plata colonization. Hero would be a fit place to stop awhile to consider Cabot's opcriitions on the Plata, and his letter to the Emperor would bo our best guide. But unfortunately this is either lost al- ti)i,'cther or lies hid among the archives of Spain. The chart wliich ho made of that country, and which would at least have furnished great aid in tracing his route and the extent of his exploration, is also lost. Hence we are confined to SI' ri'solvieron du no gastar miis en aquella empresa, el Rey matulo que se iiiziesseii las provisioncs a costa de la Ileal liaziciula ; y por mucho que se en- teiiili:! que coiivenia cmbiar a quel sf)Ct. of CLarlea V. Book v. Feb. 11, 1527. t "El Key de Portugal . . . bolvio allevar el negocio jt'ir otro camino aprove- chaniios'; de la necessidad en que vio clie estava el Emperador de diueros . . . fii Zara!;o(;a a veynte y dos de Abril deste anno (l.'jaQ) los mesmoa Commis- ariiis cdebraron carta de venta . . . con pacto de retrovendendo perpetuo por precio de Irezientos y cinciieuta mil D uad'H."— Herrera, Dec. iv, lib. v, cap. w^ 228 THE LIFE OK SEBASTIAN CABOT. the few notices gathered here and there in the Spanish Jij^. torians as our only guides in following hi.s labors aiKl enterprise. This chart, according to the testimony of Edi n showed that "From the mouth of the river, Cabot savldl up the same into the lands for tho space of three liuiulml, and tiftie leagues as he writeth in his own Carde."* Ranmsi,- is, therefore, mistaken in saying GOO.f Herrera gives a lon.r list of the populations discovered by Cabot, and ends liv saying that he omits the names of 27 others, diircriiii,' in name, language, and customs, for fear of being tedious.;}; Ili says nothing in particular of any of them, except the (ii.u- ranis, who were the principal race of Indians in those regions; so that we are unable to form even an approximate idea of their importance : but, even supposing that many of tlu-c j)(){)ulations were small in number and occupied no great ix- tent of territory, still taken all together, with their ditlerait customs and language, they must iiave extended over a vn-t region, and the work of ex})]oration among them perfoniidi by Sebastian (Jabot must have been immense. W)ieii,a fiu years later, a dispute arose between Spain and Portuf];a! fur the possession ofsomeof the regions of tiie La Plata, Spain brought forward a long enumeration of tnbes, its ri;^dits over which it defended on the ground that Sebastian Calmt liad built forts on their lands, oxen-ised there civil ami criminal judicature, and brought those populations ..iider tlio authority of the S})anish sovereigns.v:^ Tlis eilorts to ascertain, as far as possible, the condition of tlie tribes and lands farther in t!ie interior, are attested by the information be gives on tlie invasion of the Guaranis in Peru, and that whioh he obtained from them regarding that rich country. | ♦Eden Deo. fol. 316. + " lo volsi navigaie (La Plata), et andai all' insil per quello piil di scicentu leglie." App. xix. •j: " Passadns estos ay vcynle y siete nacioncs d nOnrcs, y ieiiguas, \ cm diferenlesritos, qiiepor nodar molestia se dexaii di- nombrar." HeneM, 1. 1' fcj " Que Selmsliiiii Gaholo avia cdifirado eii aqiiellas ti<'rras foriiik'ZiiS( is ercltado iiisiicia civil y criminal, y traido a la obedicncia Ri'al todis li'> aobredichas generaciones." Herrera. Dec. iv, lib. viii, cap. ii. I " Y aviendo heclio Sebastian Gahoto la paz con esta generacion — EXTENT OF CABOT' S EXPLORATION. 229 lo pi& di scicent" Of the experimenlj made in cultivating the soil, we need 110 testimony to assure us, considering that Cal)ot had entered that river on account of his want of provisions, and therefore was under absolute necessity of obtaining from the soil the means not otherwise procurable. But we have express record of it in Gomara and Eden.* Ilerrera speaks of it, re- lafiiitf tlie marvellous productiveness of ^ionie animals bruu'dit there from Europe.f Sebastian Cabot himself refers to it in the legend or inscription which he affixed to those places in his chart of 1544. We have already mentioned this, when speaking of the great distress to which his men had been reduced ; but, as it is short, it will be well to giv(! the nscriptioii here in full. "The people," he says, "on reacliing his land, wanted to know if it was fertile, and fitted for the cultivation of grain, and in the month of September, they sowed 52 grains of corn, which was all they could find in the vessels, and in the month of December, they gathered from itheiu two thousand and fifty grains ; and the same fertility was found with all other seeds." ^ Of his method of acting towards the Indians, we can only glean a hint here and there in the Process. To the I charge of wilfully remaining in La Plata, he opposes j teiMvitnesses who testify that he never. undertook any thing I of importance without first consulting his officers. One of the witnesses, whose charge it had been to call the officers to thjse consultations, firmly asserts that this was done both at [sea and during their residence on shore.§ The 28th interrog- i con el amislad desto8 supo imiclios socretos de la tierra, y huvo de ellos joMyplatii de lu que trayaii del Peru." Herrera, 11). i'.). *G(imara, cap. Ixxxix.— Eden, fol. 255-317. t Htrrera, ib. ih. :". , .la iieiite en llejfado nq 11a terra qiiiso connoscer si era fertil, y aparejada j parii lalirar y llevar pan y senbraron en el mesde setienibre 11' yranos de tluro quo se all) mas enlas naos y cogiero lueco enel mes de deziembre cinqueiita j y (ills mill sraiios do tigro, q esta misma fertilitad se hallo en todas las otras se- lniillas."V. App. No. xxxix. S" Ytuii si saben quel dicho Sebastian caboto ... no faziacosa alguna sin [que primer) lo consullase con los capitanes e oflpiales . . ." V Pregunta de la I PfiliiiiKja de Seh. Caboto. All the witnesses answer it in the affirmative. Tlieix, I "leone referred to in the text, deposes : "todas las cosas que. . . hazia lo bazia [ con acuerdo de los oflciales . . . per queste testisjo por mandado del dicho HHPf^PiP 230 THE LIFE OF SEBASTIAN CABOT. atory speaks of his great diligence as well in the govern- ment of the expedition as in laboring to provide for all its wants. The 29th shows equal diligence and caro in relation to the Indians whom he wished every one to resiut' and treat with kindness, and the nine witnesses calk'd uiiani- mously confirm the truth of the interrogatory. And while he was solicitous for their welfare, he was equally f?ovcre if they were wanting in their duty and took advantage of the Ind- ian's simplicity and feebleness. We have seen tlio fate which Francis de Lepe met in Paraguay for atleiiiptin}^ to incite liis companions to mutiny and rebellion.* The same fate befell one Martin of Biscay, one of those left in the 15av of Saint Catharine from the ship of Don Rodrigo de Aciinn in Loaysa's expedition, and who afterwards joined Cabot'.s fleet. This Martin, accustomed to going about freely amongst the Indians of that bay, with no other restraint than his own discretion, found it hard to submit to the regular discipline of the expedition ; and when on the Parana, suffering frmn hunger, he joined a companion from his own province, and both together entering an Indian cottage, first threw down and beat the owner, then carriedolf every thing they pleased. and finally seizing a canoe and forcing two Indians to row it, they fled, and escaped by land to another tribe. Cabot, ascertaining thei r place of refuge, sent a band of his own men and of Indians together, to take him by surprise, and on capturing him, hanged him in a summary fashion. f huleed his severity went so far that we, with our customs, sliouM think it cruelty and barbarity. To clear him from such capitan y va :i llamar a Ids dichos oficiales para ello e los vio platicar sobre las cosas que haviaii de liazer ansi en It; mar como en la lierra." * See ch. xx. f" Ylen si saben quel dlcho Sebastian calioto niando justiciar a dos ombres . . . uno dellos entro en casa de uuo yiidio principal e le dio de palos e h ropa todas las vestes que tenia que eran unos lirus de paflo de lana que vieiie liela tierra dentro e una canoa e llevava dos yndii>H por fuerc;a a se yvati a unnsin- dioR que lieran nuestros enemigos ..." Pregunta xxvi de la Prolmn(;ii de 8i'l). Caboto. , ae particulars indicated are by tlievi, viii, & ix witnesses : Hievi says : "el dlchn capitan general aviaenviadoaotrosyndiosque lostraxcsen;" and tbeix "eubio a9iertos cristianoa e yudios trar ul y le (raxeroa ..." ^^■m MARTIN, THE BISCAYAN, HANGED. 231 ticar sobre las stain, we must remember what wild times those were, and in what a desperate condition he was, so ti he was forced to become unfeeling in order to make his autnority respected ;iiul feared. This Biscayan, as he was hoisted on the gallows, foil to the ground, the rope around his neck breaking ; when raised up, in the condition which may be imagined, he cried out with all his might : "Mercy ! Mercy !" Cabot sent for another rope and ordered him again to the gallows.* Another who was caught stealing public stores, and on the point of fleeing with what he had stolen, had both ears cut off, as a punish- uK'ut, and as an example to others.f The small number of men remaining, after deducting those sent to Spain with the caravel, did not allow of his extending further his explorations and discoveries ; and his whole aim now was to keep the Indians in the favorable disposition to- wards the Spaniards to which he had brought them, and to prepare for the work to be done when the expected reenforce- ments should arrive from Europe. But his best-laid plans, the good order maintained amongst the natives and the Span- iards, all the fruit of so many labors and sufferings were de- stroyed in a moment by the licentiousness of a few bad men. We saw from Ramirez that Cabot and Diego Garcia, unable to agree on ajoint course against the natives, took each his own way, that is to say, each acted with his own forc< independ- ently of the other. TheGuaranis, among wli"'>i lliey remained after the peace concluded with Cabot, endi. 'ho presence of the strangers quietly and patiently, but the >ad i ondu. t of Diego Garcia's men aroused their spirit and restored i 1 ■ ■ ir nat- ural ferocity. We are not told how nor why, but it is al lost certain that the trouble was about women, the principal cause that always brought ruin on so many enterprises of discov- ery. The offence rekindled in the Guaranis all their pride "Oyodccir quel diclio martin se avia naydo de la horca o qiiebrado la soja e que avia demandado misiiicordia e que lo mando otra vez ahorcar el dicho capitan general." vi witness. f" Yten si saben que hernando caMeron teniente del dicho sebnstfan caboto mando acntar a uno y cortallo las orejaa por ladron." PreguDta xxvii de la toa Proban9a. , mm 232 'SHE LIFE OF SEBASTIAN CABOT. 1 li 1 ' I'," r\ . *jv i h 'i ■ ■ ^ k li' and bravery, and they wanted reven|?e. As they made no distinction among the wliites, but involved Cabot's men in tlio same accusation and tlie samcbatred with Garciu's, thcv swore their extermination. Word being sent around ms to the day and hour, they assembled one morning at daylight in great numbers, and assaulted, as it would appear, at the same moment, the forts of San Espiritu and San Salvador, near which tlio ships were at anchor. They conducted the attack so secretly that the Spaniards, living in perfect tranquillity ww, entirely crushed by the furious storm that burst suddenly over them. As usual, we are wholly in the dark as to the dotuils ot' the event. We are only told that the Guaranis' fuiy eiiul)lo(l them to gain the forts and reduce them to heaps of ashes : that some of the Spaniards were left there dead, and tlie rest, finding themselves without the long-expected succor, dimin- ished in number, in strength, and in means, in the midst of a hostileand savage population, and without any hope fortlio fu- ture, decided to embark and to leave.* But even their dcpait- ure gives us a glance of a frightful accumulation of evils and of sorrow. We shall soon hear him relate that he left at the La Plata one of his ships and a part of his men, and one of the accusations against him on his return was precisely this abandoning of them. But how did it hnjipen and why ?— The charge naturally recalls the idea of blame, but nowhere in the acts of the Process, which I have, although very ]on mesmo liizieron de la poMacioii que avian hecho en el pncrtoqu • llamaii de 8. Salvador, adondu cstavan losnavios, niatando alirunos Castellano=i: los qiiales viendose sin socorn, y conociendo In fornzi(iad de los Yiidios, tiiviernn porbien desampararlatierra y bolverseaCas- lilla." Ilerrcra, Dic. iv, lib. viii, cap. 13 t"^'xo que. . . .vinieiido este testigo con una nao e cierta gente quel dicho »^««Hi ONE SHIP AND PART OP THE MEN LEFT AT SANTA MARIA. 233 acts which I have refers to other charges and not to this one. But seeing that his enemies are intent as blood-hounds in liunting every thing in his conduct, it does not seem to me that if they could hiy hohl of any thing here they vvouhl liave lost the opportunity. Hence their silence is to me a proof that whatever cause or motive forced Cabot to abandon a part of his men, in determining to do so he was in no wise wanting in his duty and fidelity as a good captain. I am therefore of the opinion that this charge preferred as one of the grounds for his arrest, was not followed up when in the course of the proc- ess the circumstances were better understood. To explain the fact of the abandonment, it occurs to me that part of the iiieri or one of the ships may have been so disabled by the sud- den attack of the Guaranis as to be unfit to undertake with llie rest the labors and fatigue of a long voyage. And as I iiiul that at the port of San Vincente these men were regis- tered as left at Cape Santa Maria, I believe that Cabot l»rought all his men down the river, out of danger from the (luaranis, and left them in safety near Cape Santa Maria. The time that would be consumed in this transportation explains the delay in Cabot's departure, which was decided on in the council of officers on the 6th of October 1529, and we shall tind Cabot on his way to Port San Vincente only on the 22nd of March, 1530, six months after the affair of the Guaranis. At the bottom of Sebastian Cabot's proofs are two memorials showing that at the port of San Salvador he took council with certain officers of his fleet as to what should be done. A break iu the text prevents our reading the whole thought of Cabot ; but from the context and what is said in the memorial following it seems clear that it speaks of a council held after the destruction of the two forts, in which it was discussed wliether lis matters were, it was advisable to adhere to their former inten- tion, or to yield to the force of events and return to Spain. This council was held October 6,' 1529 : hence there is no doubt but sebnsiian oaboto avia dexado perdida en t-l Kio al Puerto de los Patos . . . ."— vi witness to xxii lut. of the proofs of Vasquez. ppifp^plil I* f 234 THE LIFE OF SEBASTIAN CABOT. the catastroplie must have happened in the beginning of that month or late in the preceding September. Cabot presented this memorial in his defence.* The other memorial, which was con- cisely drawn up to show His Majesty how, by whose fault, and why, the fort of San Espiritu was lost, was prepared by Cabot October 12, 1520, six days after the council of officers, who fore- saw the storm that would be raised against him, and prepared for it the best he was able.f Charlevoix inserts in his History that when Cabot departed from the Plata he left there a force of 120 men under command of Nuilo de Lara ; and relates a series of strange ad- ventures growing out of a violent passion which a savage chief conceived for the wife of one of the principal offieorsrf the garrison. Where he obtained his information, he does not tell us, and if asked, could probably have only indicated his own fancy. Here as elsewhere, Charlevoix labors to produce a romance, not a history. ^ Before bringing Cabot back to Spain we must return to the three rebels we left at the Island of Patos. By means of the Portuguese on the coast of Brazil,tliey made it known in Spain that they had been abandoned, and how much ^hey had suf- fered, and asked to be allowed to appear before ti^e supreme council of the Indies to defend themselves and show that they had been unjustly dealt with. On this petition Charles V or- dered Sebastian Cabot to take up these men, and either cora- * " Ay oiertos pare9eres que sebastiiin caboto tomo en el puerto lie San Siilvaiioi' de algunos ofigiales del armada sobre lo que avion dehazer syguiemio el viaje .... presentola Sebastian caboto para su disculpa porque todos con- cliiyen que no se deve hazer tomose a seys dias de octubre de mill e quinienlos y veyule y nueve afios." [Note the words in the Spanish : todos eoncluyen que no se debe hazer, "they were all of opinion that it should not be done :" i. e. continue the voyage. Tr.] ■)• " Ay otra ynformacion que liizo Sebastian caboto sumariainente panique constase a su magestnd como y a cuya culpa y porque causa se perdio la forta- lezadesantispiritus (I think something is wanting here ; or else we should read: 'and the one he bad made at the port of San Salvador ') que tenia htclia en el puerto de San Salvador presentola Sebastian caboto tomose la dicha ynforma- cion a doze del mes de otubre de mill e quinientoa y veynte y nueve afios. " X Charlevoix, Ilistoiredu Paraguay, lib, 1, p. 29. ■■■I MENDEZ AND RODAS DROWNED. 235 iiig himself, or sending a vessel, have them hrouglit to Spain that tliey might be heard.* The delay in sending out succor, prevented Cabot from re- ceiving tlie Emperor's orders, so that it was of lus own accord tliat, passing by the Isle of Patos on his return, he stopped to pick up the tln-ee unfortunate men. But great changes had oc- curred among them in the meantime. We are in the usual fliirkiiess as to the course c^ the events, and only know their re- sult, but this is enougli for our purpo.se. Bitter hatred had grown up between the Captain, Francis de Rojas, on one side, and Martin Mendez and Michael de Rodas on the other ; and \v vayays a casa de ironzaln da cosU portugues y notiflqtieys un mandamientn de parte del senor sebastian gavoto capllan general por ou magestad al capitan francisco de Rojas en su persona fecho en el puerto de san vinceiitr martes veynte y dos dias del ines de margo de mill e quinientos e trentu anos , . ." ^-. ,-v ■ _. „,. ^•.,,' s';''""" . ! wm ROJAS REFUSES TO GO BACK WITH CABOT. order that Rojas should not refuse to go with him, uudor the pretext that he could not trust hiai, Cabot pledgeil his word and faith that he would present hiui unharmed before His Majesty and the Council of the Indies, and ottered to I'ive him any safe-conduct he wanted for security.* But ilojas refused to recognize any authority of Cabot over him after deposing and abandoning him on an i«l;ind, said that Cabot only wanted to lay hands on him to vent his spite upon him for not having died as it was expected ho would, and protested that he was ready to appear belore his Majesty with any one else who was not under Cabot's power. >So far tJie conduct of Rojas can be understood and explained by the natural course of passion, but hearken to the rest of his an- swer. ' He said he was informed that they had left at Cape Santa Maria 70 or 80 Christians, and among them a captain and other officers ; therefore in the name of His Majesty's service he demanded that C'al)ot should give him two carpenters, one calker, five or six sailors, his chief pilot, and tools, iron, powder, and whatever else was required to fit out a ship, which he said he with one Gonzalez, a Portuguese, had huilt, and which Gonzalez allowed him to use in any way and for any purpose he pleased ; and he would proceed with it to Cape Santa Maria to take up those that were left there. But as the ship was not yet decked or calked, he needed what he asked for.f " lo Sebastian gnvnio t'lipitan gtinial de estii luirriiada poi su mairestiui que al presente tsta siirtii eii eslf pmrio de sim vicente niaiido a vos francisco de Rojas capitan que fuystes en cstii arniiula de la nao U'iiiidad de paite de su nmgestiid que veugays aqui dentro desta nao sauta luaria de lespjnar que ;i- Koia es capitaua en esta armada para que yo os Dieiie eii espi.na para pre- seutaros ante de su magestad e de su niuy alto eoneejo delas yndius para quo (leys quenta y Razon de ciertas cabsas q".e contra vos fueron puestas . . ." — v. App. xl. * " e porque no dudeissen la diclia vuestra venida yo ospronicto y doy mi fee y pidubra de parte de su magestad de darns (juahjuien setruro que vos qui- jeidcs pedir y demandar para la sejrurittid de vueatra persona liasta pre- sentamsante de su magestad 6 desu Real CoiiS' J > d 1 is Yndins." II). f "lie sydo ynformado como quedaron en <1 calx) de santa maria liasta setenta oclienta cristianos entre los quales ay capitan y oflciales de su magestad .... pido y Requiero. . . .para aver de Redemir a quusta gente doscarpinteros y un .•t H j WM\"' .,-,.d. mmm II I'! SI ' * m I -? ;" que tenira por bien de me llevnr los iliclios dos esclavos los qunles tengo aqiii aparejjidos <■ que lus den e entreirnen nmis herederos o a quien en mi poder obiese, donde n > que protesto delos co- brar de vuestra persona y bienes do quier que sc i)udieseii aver." mmmir 240 THE LIFE OF HEUASTIAN CABOT. \n ' h < sell and his men for their voyuj^e, and when lie wanted toK,, where ho was goin^, he took four sotis of the principal ihi- sons there and carried thoni to Spain, and three of them he Jim. at Seville, which injured that port which was thelur^re.st iin,, the hest people there were in those parts, because ho took th; sons of the i)rincipal persons of the island."* How is CJarcia's story to l)e understood ? that Cabot com niitt(Hl this crime ingoingor returning from his expedition ',' i think there can be no doubt, and all will say it was in goiu};. li, fact Garcia speaks of his arrival at the Isle of Patos in ijoim; adding that Cabot arrived at the island vhilut he wnn ihcf,. wbieh must logically and naturally mean that was on his \v;i\ out. Add that Clarcia in his narrative speaks of his voya};( to the furthest point ho reached, and Ima itot a aiiiglc ivord on what he did after his arrival there or on his return, Hi- story must thon l)oyond all question refer to the time wlicn he was sailing on the way to the Plata ; and so it is understood also by Ilerrera, who makes it the l>asis of a charge against Cabot,f .so also Biddlo who with all the .sharpness of his genius labors to show the moral impossibility of Cabot's coninutting this infamy on his way to the Moluccas. ;}: Ikit Garcia, putting this event at the time of his going oin, lies impudently. I pass over the arguments of itsimpioha- bility l)rought by Biddle, for his lying can be more easily mid effectually proved by the documents, or rather from Garciu's own story. He says that ho left the IJay of San Vinceuto .laii- *"u nndandoeii el camino ulk'siimnis a iiii tiiMiiicsi; lliiniu el Rio ili'liisi)a'ii>. q\w ay iinii buenii ireneracion que hact! muy huciiii olira & los cristianos. .e ;illi iins (liiTon iniu'lia vltiuillii .... poiqiio liciiui biienos yndios e aqiii llcjio sc- liasliaii (;al)oti) miiiMto di; liainhre en este iicinpo que yo I'stalm alii i; lusyinliot le (IJL'ion ia armadn pnituguesa en el rio Soils fiieio n)"ii;"> para que el general (le(eriniDn3e volverse rio abajo hasta elParaua." Uaniinz, App. xxxvii. SEIZURE OF THE FOUR INDIANS. 243 composed of fine, weak threads. Garcia changed the time \fhen the act was done, hecauso if it was on his return, it bore no weight against Cabot, but if on the outward voyage, it luiirht furnish a weapon against him, and it was most useful to Uiircia to seize and use it. It is necessary for the reader to remember the base bargain which Garcia had made at the port of Saint Vincent with the Portuguese bachelor, selling him his largest ship, and all his wishes to give it a color of necessity, but without success, as is told by Herrera, who calls Garcia's reasons mere pretexts, al- though he was niost favorable to him and inclined to sustain liiia. When Garcia made that sale he had hopes for the future uiid did not doubt that he would be able to pass it off a? a good bargain. But when Cabot returned from his ex- peilition weary and discouraged, with his wings chpped, Gar- cia could be in no bettor condition, for his expedition also ]\ad. entirely failed of its pui-pose. This is convincingly proved by Ms silence in his narrative, notvvithstanding the loquacity of bis vain-glorious tongue. The abandoning of the Plata was wholly the fault of his men, and every one knows that the fault of an army falls entirely on the Captain in coiuinand. Garcia therefore had cause for alarm on his return I to Spain. What was he to do to turn attention from him- 1 self upon another ? Tliat which too often occurs in daily life, I the man with the least scruple to put his hands on another's i property is the first to cry, Stop thief, and the strictest pro- fessor of morals is often the one who most needs to practise them. Garcia, in his intercourse with Cabot's men, saw what w:'.3 fermenting, he foresaw, as was easy to do, what a burst of iuiger, recrimination, iuid revenge his arrival would pro- 'liii'o in Spain, and to divert the eyes of others from himself he joined the choir of accusers. The fact of the four slaves, however insignificant of itself, acquired a certnin weight in |face of the laws of Spain, and Calwt's office of chief-pilot, h«t is to say, the highest authority in the marine of all ppaui. The council of the Indies had given positive orders to all sailing for the Indies to u.se no viol(>nee towards the natives; and Stephen Gomez, who disregarded these orders 244 THE LIFE OF SEBASTIAN CADOT. and came back with a cargo of Indian slaves, found the whole nation excited to indignation against him.* These orders wore given to Cabot in particular, as they were to all others.f NOiv what judgment ought to be passed on Cabot, if he, who held the highest grade in the Spanish Marine, had shanichsvlv trampled on the orders of the government which, tiiouo-h i^. sued to all Spaniards in general, yet had special reference to men of the sea ? And if such contempt would have niadi a bad impression in any case, what must it do when he returned defeated in his undertaking, and the nol)]o hand of young men who had followed him with trust in his pronii*iN were nearly all left dead in a distant land ? What must have been the impression on seeing him return to Spain, imt with the promised treasures of Tarshish and Ophir, but with four boys torn from their mothers' arms, children of a people friendly to Spain, cordial, hospitable, and that liad lieeii of service to the Spanish ships ? The weapon seized hy Garcia might, then, wound, and that seriously ; and he feel secure in his blow, for once the fact was true, no one wlm heard of it would care whether it happened earlier nr later. Whereas, if the fact happened later, Cab(>t was frw from all blame. Of this there can bo no doubt. Captain Rojiis brought against Cabot a serious charge, collecting evcrv detail that could injure him, but boldly distorts the facts. It it had been true that in so seriously ofiending tliose isl- anders, Cabot had injured and endangered the Spanish vr- sels, why did Rojas, who in the suit against Cabot, hrouj,dit forward the minutest spots in the expedition, —why diil he not take up the complaints of the Indians and make tlitui known to all Spain ; especially as he had offered to return the four youths to their homes, and thus restore tho peace and se- curity of the island ? The reason is plain. At Saint Vincent it sufficed that the fact was at bottom true, to cast It in Cabot s * Peter Martyr d' Anghiera, Dec. viii, cup. Ut. t" Diosc a Gaboto la instiucion come la del Coineiulaiinr Loav?a. Herrera, Dec. iii, lib. ix, cap. 3.— anl Lnaysa's iustnictions were : " qi"' !" curassen dc aver lentriiHS (ie lodaa 1,hs tierras que desoubriessen, y la.s tiatassen bien." —Id., Dec. iii, lib. vii, cap. 6. wn CABOT^S ANXIETY ON HlS RETURN. 245 face: but for the trial it was necessary to show that it was wrong, and as he could not do this, he went no fur- ther. In truth, why should Cabot have so grievously injured those poor islanders ? Not for the purj)ose of exhibiting some of them as specimens in Europe : for Fatos was only a step from tlic coast of Brazil, Avhero the Portuguese were continually .'iiing and coming with tlieir ships, and the poor inhabitants (if that island could present no novelty to interest Europeans. Xot witii a view to gain, for that were ridiculous to suppose ; still less from mere caprice or evil disposition. If, then, it was not from interest or malice, there must be some other way to exphiin it, and one which entirely exonerates Cabot. We may cmly divine wliat it was from the letter, which we shall soon nonnl, of a Portuguese who was equally removed from partial- ity for Cabot and Cnircia. From liim we shall learn that Cabot ivturned to Spain with only twenty men, of all that had «;iilcd witii him. With tJie service so reduced it is easy to un- (ler.'^tiuKl tliat the return voyage was difficult and dangerous. Tiikiiig tliisinto consideration, and also the fact that after his rutuni to Hpain no one from any quarter brouglit up the chiir^'o that he liad taken those four young men at Patos, I hold tliiit ho took them under constraint of the need of hands for the wants of the ship, choosing them, not as Garcia caliiinniously pretends, from the sons of the principal persons oil the island, but from the strongest and most tit for the work required. (CHAPTER XXI, Arrival in Spain. In the thick darkness which obscures every tiling, there is no (liinger of running into romance in supposing that Cabot on his ivtiirn to Spain was anxious ns to the reception he should meet. F,,r all that he felt liimself free from fault,. the fact remained that he was a general returning from battle.defeated, 'mmp 246 THE LIFE Oi^ SEBASTIAN CABOT. and his army annihilated. He could not but know the deep hate for him brooded over by some of his officers wlio had been accomplices of the three rebels, and who were afterwards kept under obedience only by fear. They were Spaniards, Ik- a foreigner ; they would have with them the whole clioir of their relatives and friends to howl and bustle, disguisini; and falsifying things, inventing charges and caluiniiios : lu; had only the truth for his justification in showing the misfort- unes that had pursued him. His fancy must have droaded above all the company of merchants, whose anger lie had al- ready aroused, and whose vengeance would now be hitterly excited. Still ignorant of the reception given to the two of- ficers he had sent to Spain, he must have worried greatly over that long silence of twenty-two months, concerning the dis- position of the Emperor and the government in his regard.* These doubts and anxieties are not founded on any docu- ment which records them, but on human nature, and conse- quently are true. Neither Herrera nor the other historiaas have a word on Cabot's arrival in Spain; the only document whif^h mentions it is a letter from Dr. Afibnso Simao to the King of Portugal. This is dated August 2, 1530, and was writ- ten the same week that Cabot arrived from La Plata. His return was consequently in the latter part of July 1 530, and as hisde- parture was in the beginning of April, 1526, we know that the expedition lasted four years and four months. The portion i of Si mao's letter referring to Cabot is as follows:! "This week there arrived here a pilot and captain who. was sent to discover land. His name is Gaboto, he is the chief pilot of these Kingdoms, and is the same person that sent the ship which touched at Lisbon two years ago, and brought news of land discovered on the River Pereuai which they said abounded in gold and silver. I find him very wretched and poor, for they say he brought no g(jld or silver, nor any thing of profit to those that fitted out the vessels, and of 200 men that *The two officers proscntud themselves to t!ie Emperor at Tolerlo at the end (if October 1528, nnd Cabot returned to Spain in the latter part of July 153(1 f Tlie Appendix gives the letter in full. See App. xli. ""■mi COMPLAINTS AGAINST CABOT. 247 lie took with him he brings back less than 20 ; for they say- all the rest were left there dead, some from fatigue and hun- rrcr, others killed in war; for they say the arrow-wounds killed many of them, and the wooden fort they built was destroyed ; «otluittliey are very ill-satisfied and the pilot is a prisoner; and they say they will send to court to see what they order done with him. What I could learn and what is said here iiublicly, though in a low voice, is that in the land they say they discovered they left no guard but their dead and de- serters. But notwithstanding this, these men tell mo they saw that the land possessed much silver and gold, and the reason why tliey brought none is, as they say, because the captain would not allow them to bargain for it, and also be- cause tlio Moors deceived them and rebelled against them. Yuur Highness will believe wliat you think best of this, but it is certain that the land is abandoned. The river, they say, is very long and deep, and very wide at its mouth. If Your llij^huess sliall find it for your interest to send there now, you could do so, for these people fly from a place where they see no money." To add comments on this letter would only lessen the fteling of deep sadnes^^iS it produces in the mind of the reader. But to understand how it was possible for the voyage to be made with the number of men so greatly reduced, it must be remembered that Cabot had left part of his men at Cape Santa Maria on the Plata, and naturally left one ship with them, Indeed, in the Proofs of Catharine Vasquez, to the 22nd interrogatory one of the witnesses says expressly that he came back from La Plata on one of the ships left there by Cabot.* Another ship was sent to Spain with the twoofiicers ; the tlag-ship was sunk in the Bay of Saint Catharine : so that of the four ships with which he set out only one remained for Cabot on his return. This explains the possibilily of do- ing with so small a number of men. But to these should bo ♦" Dixo que .... veniemio este testigo con una nao e gierta gente quel (iicho Sebastian caboto avla dexado per.tida en el rio de snlia la dicha nao »pi)rl6 al Puerto de Ids patos quea 9erca della dicha jsla de santa catalina." vi witness. 248 THE LIFi5 01? SEfcASTiAJJ CAftOt. in -^ '■ *i ; i'!' added the four young men taken at the Isle of Patos : in re- gard to wliom. as the evidence now shows, the reader nmv confirm his consciousness, or rather certainty, tliat tlicv were taken hy Cabot and put aboard his ship, not for miiii nor from malice, but from the absolute need he had of Jielp. ing the few hands he had left. As soon as he arrived in Spain, his enemies fell upon him with the fury and unanimity of a lot of city dogs on a Icim country dog trembling with fear and hunger. So great was the burst of accusations and rumors that the Coviiuil ot'llio In- dies decided to have him arrested at once. In tho furv of this attack, this snapping and biting, some of his own officci-s were preeminent for their hatred and rage ; so much so, tlmt one witness testifies that it was said and believed ainontf the members of the expedition that it was they who bad causoii liis arrest.* A regular trial was opened at his chai-go on the accusations preferred against him. Of this trial I have been nbl(! to obtain, as I have said else- where, the complaint presented l)y Catliarine Vas(iuez,motlier of Martin Mende/ ; that of Francis de Rojas, and the answer or defence made by Cabot. Rojas presented his comjdaint No- vember 2 of that same year, only three months after Cat lot's re- turn ; so that he must have followed him closely to the kSiJanisli coast. These documents are too scanty to reconstruct the pin- *"0yo decir este testigo en sevilhi a muclias personas y niariiuTos dc Li (licha armada quel dicho alonso bueno e santa ciuz e gasmirL'Z c jiiiin iW jiinco avian heclio prender al diclio capitan sebasfuin caboto per I'licmistivi fjue con el teniau." — I witness to tbe xxxi Interrogatory of Sebastian Cabot's proofs. Thp XXX Interrocatory of Cabnt'R proofs mentions Juan de Jiinco, treasurer of the ship Santa Maria, whose hatred, according tf) the 10th witness, was principally due to Cabot's just severiiy in restraining liis tyranny over liii subalterns ; the XXXI sliows Alonzo Bueno, by the testimony of all tlw; wit- nesses, often reproved l)y Cabot, even pul)licly, as a blaspiiemer, and fnr keep ing in his quarters a gaming-table, and for selling articles to the sailors fur more tlian they were worth ; the XXXII names Alonzo de Santa Cniz, Init the witnesses only know that be liad the name of lieinsr <>ne of tlie conspinU'R against Cabot, and liad said every thing i)ad of him since their return; llie XXXIII gives the name of Gasmircz Coremberg, a German, whom Cabot iiinl reprimanded and punished with great severity for public slander of tbe Emperor. ■•>*♦• tOMPT-AiVTS AOAINST CABOT. 240 ccoilings in their entirety, but tliey arcsullicient to show wilh what fury every kind of aecusntioii was liuntod out and piled 111) against Cabot. In tlie course of this narrative we have had repeated occasion to take up some of them : hut to wliat has al- ready been said, it will be useful to add a few things, not so much for the purpose of exposing the hale of his accusers and \\wir activity in hunting up charges, as to show that they did not scruple to cast in his face the most inconsistent and bare- faced calumnies. We have seen that Michael Rodas and Martin Mendez were lost on the passage from the Isle of Patos to the mainland while fleeing from the dagger of Captain de Rojas ; yet Men- (lez's mother claims that Cabot was guilty of his death, because it' ho had not phiced her son on that island, he would have hiul no need to flee from Rojas, and so would not have per- ished.* At the Bay of Saint Catharine, among many others that died, there was also a brother of Lieutenant Martin Men- dez, named Michael. His mother claims that Cabot was truiltv of his death also, saving that her son died of a broken lioart because his brother was deposed and abandoned. + The witnesses produced by Vasquez her.self in support of her charge, agree in testifying that he was taken sick and died of tliesame disease as many others. Only one testifies that he had hoard it said that his death was caused by his brother's misfort- une.:}: It is worthy of remark also, that this witness always con- firms the accusation in almost the very words of the interrog- atory, as though repeating a lesson. Take as a sample the X in- terrogatory, where it is asked if Cabot arredcd Martin Mendez tmihoiUjnd cause. All the witnesses depose affirmatively as to the arrest, but answer that they did not know whether the cause was just or not; those who want to be favorable to Vasquez say they have not seen or heard Martin Mendez do or say any *.\xii iDteirogatory. t XXX luterrogatory. t " ciiyo malo y murio de la dicha dulcncia pero que si oayo ninlo de pensa- miento de la priaioa de su lieiinaui. luarlin mendez o no que este tesligo no lo siibe mas de lo aver oydo decir por muy ^ierto a la mas dc la dicba armada per cosa cierta." I wituess. M ■iw I W' '\ ■« 250 THE LIFE OP SEBASTIAN CAUO'i. lii:!' ♦ 1 thing which in their opinion deserved arrest.* But this witness that I speak of affirms frankly that he saw that he was arrcj^tid u'ithout just cause. On the otiier hand, the witnesses produced by Cabot for the defence, not only affirm unanimously tliat Michael Mendez was taken with the same malady ns all tho others, that he was ill many days, and that Cabot treated him with every care during his illness, and one witness had visited him frequently by Cabot's orders : but they also add that he died before his brother was arrested and deposed.^ Elsewhere the same Vasquez (and she, poor soul, is to be pitied for having in the agony of her mother's grief taken up every story that was told her), in the XXXI and XXXII interrogatory ac- cuses Cabot of having tried to poison her son Ferdinand. ;{: No *III — "Sabe quel dicho Sebastian caboto mando plunder.... peio qiiela causa por que lo mando prender no lo sabe" =VIII— "Dixo que oio que ."acaron. . . al diclio martin mendez. . , .e que lo demas no lo sabe."=X — " Dixo que . , . vio conio al dicho martin mendez lo traxeron. . .que no sabe la causa por que." — And tlie others : VI — "Vio como el dicl)o sebaslian caboto mando sacar . . . al dicho martin mendez e . . . . e que d'esfa pi ision e mal tratamien^o .... no vio hiizer iil diclio martin mendez cosa en desservicio de su magestad donde lo meresriese." =VII — "Vio como el dicho Sebastian Caboto mando sacar. . .al dicho mariiii mendez e ... no vio ni oyo quel dicho martin mendez . . . oviese fecho cosa que nodeviese por donde deviese estar preso." The first witness, on the otlier hand, says boldly : — " Vio quesm causa justa que tuviese el diclio Sebastian caboto mando pren- der y lener preso al dicho niarlin mendez." \ — " Sabe quel dicho hernan mendez estovo muchos dias doliente y enfermo come estovieron otros muchos lie la dicha armada.... e que vio este testigo quel dicho capitan caboto trataba nuiy bien al (iicho hernan mendez, e que sabee vio r-^\\v\ dicho hernan mendez murio de la enferniedadque tenia porqucstovo rnucho tienipo enfermo en la cama y cste testigo lo vio en la cama maloy levio enterrar."=Tlie iii witness to the first of the annexed InterMgatorics. Tiie other six witnesses repeat and confirm the same thing. The vi acids — "murio de la dicha enfermedail como miirieriiii otros e murio antes quel martin men- dez su hermano quedase alii desterrado, e questo que lo sabe porque fu asy pu- blico entro todos los de la dicha armada:" — and the ix— " queste testigo por mandado del dicho capitan caboto vesito mucbas vezes al dicho hernan men- dez—." J"Yten si saben vieron etcetera questando enfermo e mal dispnesto el diclio beman mendez el dicho Sebastian caboto mando y hizo que en una purga que se le dava para su salud se le ecliasen otras cosas muy dafiosas pestilen- ciales de cuja causa el dicho hernan mendez murio y espiro luego como se le dio la dicha purga y en acabandola de tomar se puso en todo su cuerpu de co- AUREST OF CABOT. 251 witness answers this intorrn^jitory. Nor does any witness an- swer tlie XXV, in wliich \'asquez says that "when Cal)()t was leturning to Spain he was asked hy many to toueli at the Isl- Miid of Saint Catharine to take up the three deposed ofheers, ,111(1 that he refused saying he heHeved they were dead or cjiten by IncHans : from whieh," ot)serves Vasquez, " it must 1,1- presumed that he left them for the purpose of kilHng them, mill that they miglitiho there."* This infumous accusation, if not answered by any witnesses on the trial, is answered in Cabot's defence in history by Diego Garcia's calumny when lie charges him with taking from Patos four young Indians when he passed there on his outward voyage (and we have seen full evidence that the fact occurred on his return); and by the notice given to Captain de Rojas at the harbor of Saint Vincent to come on board of his ship under promise of being presented safe and sound before the Emperor and the Council of the Indies. There is another circumstance that ought to be mentioned as a signiticant mark of the surroundings in which the charges against Sebastian Cabot were developed. Captain de Rojas, in liis interrogatories, hardly mentions the grounds on which he was going to explain his charges, before he puts this first question to his witnesses : " Do they know that he is an hi- dalgo's son of known worth, and Sebastian Cabot a foreigner and nobody knows who he is. " f lor muy negra y tal que notoriamente paresgia que le avian echado en la (iiclia purga cosaspara que miiriese." — " Ay ninguii tet-tigo que sepaesta Pregunta." — Preguntaxxxi. Precunta xxxii is all spoilt, but its sense comes out clearly :"...saben vicron etcetera e dello lia ... pul)li('a vuz, e fama entrc ...ute de la diclia sirmadaque pnr ... e ynduatriay consejio del .... stiaii cahoto se dio la diciia pur . . .o lier- iiHiiii mendez e se ecba . . . 11a e rexalgar e otras cosas que luego cansaron sii miieita etc." — To tiiisalso tiiere is no witness. * " Yien si sabeii etcetera que al tiempo que agora bolviael diclio Sebastian caboto Ids que veuiau en el armada le requirieron que tocasen en la didia vsla (iesanta catalina y el dicbo seliastian caboto nolo quiso liazer diziendo que ya creya que beran muertos o comidos de yndios pur donde es de cree» quelos dexo alii con proposito de los malar e para que se niuriesen." f " Yten si saben .... quel dicbo capitan Francisco de K(>j:is es bijo dalgo de valor conocido y el diclio sabastiaa gaboto es eirangero y no se sabe quiea es "II Int.— App. XXXV. . "'J ■ e. 252 THE MFK OP SEBASTIAN CABOt. W '^' Wo who know how thinj^s wont on that unfortunate expn- (lition, ovon when hiyin^ sojno of tho hhinie on Culiot, now on boholdin^ him rctnrn so torn and crushod, arc more ilum evor inc'UniMl tosynipathi/o witli Inni. Buttho Spaniards knew Httlo or nothiiif^ of what lnito lii/i) en esta causa." " esta bion sarada en lo sustaiK;ial=nay una rcbrica." And at Uie end of Cabot's :—"De mas de la provani;a hecha en plenario jiiv/io por Sebastian caboto e por el fl.^cal e por catalina vasquez, ay una jnformneion quo se hizo ante los oti(;iales de la ( a.'^a de la contrutac'ion de sivillaesta tomada syn parte en juyzio . . . rio piesuiitole catalina vastpiez fiu; ri(;cUi(la y hecha en dos dias del mes de Agosto de mill e quiniontos y treinta atios " "Av olra ynformacion hecha do offl(;io por los oflgiales de la casa de la con- iratacion de Sevilia para saber que se hizo en el viaje de la diclia armada He." "Ay otra yuformaQion sumaiia hecha s''^ parte a pedimiento de Sebastian calioto ante la justicia liordinaria de li dad de sevilia sobre lo liecho y acliac(,'ido en el viaje de tarsis eicetc ■ hizo (d iii<'he Sebastian caboto lomosc asyele dias del mes de iV.'nsio dn . il c (piinientis y treynla aflos." ^ Tliis is mentioned in a report of llie Council of the Indies to the Emperor Charles V. dated May 16, 1531. 254 THE LIFE OF 8EBAHTIAN CABOT. 1, r following year, the Council of tho Indies sentenrod lij,,, to two years' exile at Oriin for excesses coniiniltcd in the course of iii^ voyage.* liut as wo have a letter of liis from Seville dated Juno 25, 1533, by which it appears tluit lie was in full freedom, wo must conclude that the sentence was reviewed, or tho Emperor must have intervened to slioiteu the punishniient. This letter of Cabot's is directed to .Inun de Samano the Emperor's secretary. Leaving for anotluu' iilaco what can bo better said elsewhere, we shall only say of it hero what concerns the present period. Severe fainiiy nfliictions were added to tliose of the expedition and prosecution. Writ- ing to Samano, Cabot excuses himself for delay in disciiiU';,'in<,' a certain commission from Samano, on account of the dcuth of his daughter, and his wife's illness, and begs him to w rite to the Council of the Indies urging tho payment of a third part of his salary in advance, .so that he may discharge the debts which detain him at Seville.f This is the last mention that can be found of any child (if Cabot's ; and from his manner of expressing himself, it would seem that he was speaking of an only daughter. There can be no doubt but tiiat the poor girl and her mother were vic- tims of the suffering cau.sed by his afflictions. The mother was taken ill, tho daughter, more tender and affectionate, sealed with her life tho share she took in her father's s()rr()\v.s. Nor could his own strong fibre resist all these blows ; hut he also fell sick. :{: ■ :1 The notice referred to in the Memorial which tlie CDuncil of the Indies sent to the Emperor Charlis V. iiniier date of May 16, 1531. "Matida V. M. que le hiigiimos sahur la cabsa de la prision de Sebastian Caboto. El fue preso y duda la corte por carcel con Jiamas." — Navarrele, Colecc. T. v., p. 383. * Navarrete, BibUoteca Maritima. T. ii, p. 699. I take this citation from Harrisse, not having been able to get Navarreie's text. f'SeBor snplico a viiestra merced me aga merced deescrivira estos Sefiores oflciales de la casa de contratacion que me socorran con «n tercio (1(! my salario adelantado para que me pueda desempechar de aqui . . . . " See App. xlii. X " Snplico a vuestra merced me perdone por no averla acabado mas presto yten verdad sino fui la por la muerte de mi hija y por la dolencia de my muger y mya dias ha que vuestra merced la hizera recebido . ..." lb. CABOT'a WIFE. 255 atiou from A break in the first sentence of the letter sliows tlie woi^litof grief under which his heart was groaning. It runs thu9:"()n the feust of the glorious St. J(»l)n I received a letter from the Ade- laiittulo of the Canaries, fron- which it seems to me lh;it he still has a desire to undertake an expedition to the Punmn River," at this name he adds, "wJiich coat mc no dear."* Hut if the evils he endured were irreparahle, it must still have heen a great comfort to him to see the government and private individuals turning to him again, after making him undergo such great humi'.'ation, recognizing the superiority of his gcmius and knowledge over those of all others. For that Adelantado ai)])lit'd to him for advice concerning his intended expedition, and Sa- mano liad made a request of him for a map; and Cabot answers him that he has finished it already and has two more prepared, one for the Emperor and the other for the members of the Council of the Indies, f Before proceeding further, justice requires us to pause here to take our last farew dl of Catharine Medrano, Sebastian Cabot's brave wife. V/hoshe was, o>' what nation or country, and when married to Cabot, is all alike unknown. Rut her name and surname indicate a Spaniard, at least by descent. The first time her name appears is in a document of the date of October 25, 1525, by which Cabot obtained that a life annu- ity of 25,000 maravedis payable to him should be tran.sferred to her for her life, in case of his death daring the expeditiou he was then preparing. ;}: It appears again indirectly in the suit brought against her husband, and this brief appearance shows ■ "rt'ct'bl una carta d- davia tiene gana de tomar la emprtsa dil rio dc parauu que taiito nic questa. " lb. f" Serior la carta que vucstra inerced mc en vio a mandar quo yriesc ya lu tengo acabaiiii con otias tlos que tengo feclio para su magestad " t Cedula de Toledo 25 oclohrc 1535, Porquanto C-'altnto iia rtiiunciado en Catalina Meilrano su nuiirer los 25,000 de 811 ayuda de rosta, suplicando que como el los teiua por su vida, los iroce ella piir la suya delta : " por que si dios fuese servido que el niuriese en cl viaje e aimaiia qiieacora liace por nuestro mandato i en nuestro servieio al desenltri- Diiento de las islas de Tarsis e Ofir e al Catayo oriental, tenga su nuiger eso para manlenerse."Asi se niamla. M. S. di Mufios : Itidiaa, 1524-1535-1526-77— Est. 23 gr. fol. 165. 256 THE LIFE OF SEBASTIAN CABOT. her to have been a woman most attached to the glory and in- terest of licr hasband, an active, resolute, and powerful assist- ant in his work, a feared and fearful enemy to his enemies. It is they that drag her name into public now and then, and cer- taiu'y }iot for eulogistic purposes. But under the exaggerutiuu of passion and enmity there is clearly defined a strong woman's chanictor, worthy of the man to whom she was united. W'c have seen tliat Vafl(|aez ii^ the fifth interrogatory of lur proofs not only accuses Medrano equally with her husband uf enmity against her (Vasque//s)son, but charges Catharine with em})loying persors to kill him, and ends by accusing Cahut of being ruled l)y liis wife's opinion and only doing as slie wishes.* Altliough none of the witnesses confirms the (•hart,'c of tlie attempted murder, as to her busying herself with lur husband's aliairs, and his acquiescence in her counsel and pro- posals, all but one, who says he knows notliing about it, agree in testifying alfirmatively, according to their judgment of what they had often seen at his house.f As the passion and bitter enmity that had been aroused against Cal>ot becime calmed, reason gradually resumed her rights and public opinM).i rendered a juster judgment on the oad result of his expedition. A proof of it is that Gomnra, whol'ke all the other Hpanisli lijstorians makes room in iiis narrative for the charges against him witliout a word in his defence or justification, when speaking of the unfortunate termination of the expedition expresses liimself in these words : " Not .so n)U(d!, as some say, through his fault as the fault of the men he Iiad with him.";}: These words, in thoir * "Yteri jisaben que . . . .<'! nicli.isohaatiiin civhoto y la diclmrntalinailrnv- ilraiKi su iiiumT le tomurun unuKt odio y fiicmistaii !il (iiciui inarliii ""-'"•'■^^ •-' ii"" 'ii •liolia <-iitivlii:a (in mednvno niandava que h inaiasni e aiisi lo ilixo c rogo a v'i'i-nw persi>r)as e si sih.'n (jucl diciio schasiiaii caii'it > .se Tint' y govicriia \v.r ,\ |)arus9i)r du la diclia oatuliiia de 'nedrano y ii.i iuiM mas d»3 1<) qiu'lLi qiiitiv," + For Hk; salic of hrcvify I oitc nnly tlie words of tl-.c ,astian cabot > tndo lo qin; (imria I! p"r bicn tenia sin que! »li the success or fail- I me of every thing condemns the deliberations of prudence or [applauds the audacity of presumption ; can history declare Si'bastian Cabot free from all blame in the pit he fell into and ruined his undertaking ? In the absence of sufficient data on ffjiich to base a decision, an unconditioned answer is not pos- jsibie. But from what we know it would not be a rash judg- ment to incline to the negative. His position was certainly a fearful one in face of the rebellion of his own otliduu's, l)ut the very fact that he was able to inflict on them a most severe I chastisement without any one rising in their defence, shows us liiat Ids authority was still feared and respected, notwithstand- ing thri great disorder among the ships. The revolt of the crews on those early expeditions, whether from fear or any I other cause, was often repeated ; and it is no little glory for heir leaders to have held tliem to the bit and compelled tiieiii, though restive, to submit to the fresli labors and dan- i gtrs of the voyage. Who does not remember the revolt on the ships against Christopher Columbus ? But he suppressed it, ; and a few days after his men would have rid themselves of him t)y murder, they were kneeling about him begging his piu-don, and applauding his firmness and genius. Did not Magellan's men also rebel against him? And it was a very different revolt frmn that against Cabot. He was not like Cabot on a way I already tried, but on one entirely new ; the cold was intense, the scarcity of food fearful, the sea constantly in storm, the sail- 17 ! 258 THE LIFE OF SEBASTIAN CABOT. ors wan with fright, and the captains not less than their men. But he was deaf to their entreaties, their remonstrances, and their threats ; when he perceived that they were about to pro- ceed to open violence, he fell like lightnijig on the chiefs and hy the severit}' of the example maintained his authority, and ho won. Not by this do I mean to approve, still less to ap- plaud, the extreme measures he had recourse to ; I only mark the comparison. The firmness which Cabot showed sui),^e- quently on the voyage after he had deposed Rojas ami Uk. other two, he should have execised from the first moment that the officers manifested an inclination to disr(\i;iir(l liis authority. It was a great mistake to put aside Martin Mcn- dez and give his own enemies occasion for their accusations ; a most serious mistake mortally to offend a proud and arro- gant nature like Rojas, and then set him at liberty. The hm of the flag-ship was not his fault, and it was this loss that de- cided the failure of the expedition If Cabot's authority liad been resolute and firm throughout the voyage, it is not at all likely that Rodas would have guarantied with his head the safety of the path to him unknown. Though fever destroyed his men in the Bay of Saint Catharine, and left plentiful seed for more deaths, do we hazard anj"^ thing in su]-»posing tliat the bad humor creeping through the fleet made them |:rolong un- necessarily their stay in that place to complete the work, tlius leaving a greater chance for sickness ? On the other hand, he seems to me great in all his conduct after he had decided at the Bay of Saint Catherine to remain on the Plata and devote all his energy to the exploration of that river. The strugf^li he had to endure was such as to overcome and crush a less firm and resolute mind ; and his energy which death could not subdue with the fear of all perishing together, nor desper- ate hunger in unknown and deserted places, nor the loss of all hope of aid or succor, this energy is truly admirable and deserves to he counted among the most splendid instances of indomitable constancy. But although Cabot was a real hero after the battle had begun, ho does not seem to me to show equal prudence and energy in leading and governing his forces prior to the battle. KIO DE LA PLATA NOT NAMED BY CABOT. 259 But in judging without having full knowledge of the case, 1 run a risk of offending no less against Sebastian Cabot "s memory than against history. It is best then to resume the rourse of our narration. But before w4iolIy leaving the Plata, it is our duly to ili'fciid ('ubot against another accusation weighing on his Itad. By many writers it is said and believed that the liver, first called from the name of its discoverer the River of Sulis, * received its new name of Rio de la Plata, wliich meaus River of Silver, from Cabot, that he was deceived by 8 portocuespi Hainan dt- la plata e no^intros de Jui.n dc Soils que en el avia mucba plati. etc." —No. 7.— See App. xxxv. CABOT IN THE SEin'IC'E OF EDV'ARD VI. 261 great collection of navigations and voyages. In the discourse held with Anonymous, Cabot mentioned various othor voyages which lie said he h!(,d made since bis 3'eturn from La Plata, but what they were and in wliat direction we are com- pletely ignorant.* Nuno De Guzmati doubtless alluded to one of these voyages when he informed Charles V tliat a fleet commanded by Sebastian Cabot had pasned the coast of Astatlan ; but uncertainty as to the date of his letter leaves it impossible to fix ihe time of this navigation. f The date af- fixed to his Planisphere of 1544 tells us that he was in Seville that year.| The following year, 1545, we find him employed together with Pedro Mexio, Alfonso Chaves, and Diego (Gu- tierrez to examine Pedro de Medina's Arte dd Navigar.% This is the last date known of his residence in Spain. CHAPTER XXII. Return to England. In 1548 we find Sebastian Cabot recently returned to Eng- land. Nothing is told us of the reason of this new change, but we can infer it with certainty from what happened after- wards. The circumstances of his life and of the times had withdrawn and for many years withheld him fron^ his natural field of study and action ; but although wholly occupied with matters concerning southern seas and lands, he had nev(;r wholly diverted his thoughts from tlu; fogs and frosts of the north, wdiere his mind was first opened to the enthusiasm of discovery, and his heart had first palpitated with the deliglits and sorrows that accompany it. In Spain he felt he was reajt- * " Feci pni mnlte altre navigation! le qiiali prctermetto ..." — App. xiv t "Colpccion de Documentos de Indies, t. xiii— (). 40w— " V. Ilarrisst-, Jean tt .''elmstien Gabot, p. 125. t " Sebastian Cahoto canitan v pil ito tviavor ot mad ansvvore, as Shelley rcportethe, that if the Kind's Ili^hnes or wo did command him so to do, then hi' knew weli nou^he what had to do. Hut it semets that the Ainbiissiidor tooke liis answoro of Cabot to sound as though Ciibol iiad answi'rcd, that boin^ (;omanded by the J\ing'a Hi}j;lnR's or us, that then he wolde be contented to go to the Emperor, wherein we rekon the said Ambassador to bo (loceivod, so that he was fullie determined not to there at all." Till) Letter is to be found among the Ilarley MSS. * Tliat there was an agrecMnent with Cabot how ho should act, so as to succeed in their plan without giving the Emperor an\ ;;rounds for a justifiable complaint against England, is evi- dent from the concluding words of the ministers to the J'^ng- lisii representative, where they confidently give the true mean- ing to the ambiguous words of Cabot, "then he knew well enough what he had to do. " But this did not cause Spain togiVc up all thought of getting him back, anri'we find the Em- peror on September 9, 1553, making another al tempt, writing for the purpose to Mary Tudor, who had suc( fcded her brother Edward on the throne of England. But the tone of this letter is quite difFerent from that of the one of November 25, 1540. This time the emperor does not insi.st as master, but asks the Queen of England as a favor to give Sebastian Cabot, formerly Pilot of the Spanish realms, now removed to and residing in England with the consent and approval of the King of Spain, permission to come to him as he has need to communicate with him concerning some matters affecting the safety of the navigation of the Spanish realms, f The previous letter of 1549 shows whether the Emperor spoke truthfully or not, when he asserted that Cabot had removed to England with the consent and approval of the King of Spain; but by this euphemism (he Emperor defended his self-lovo which had been hurt by Cabot's flight and his refusal to return. ;}: But this attempt if. '•1"i:;'' *No. 523, .iT-f, 3.— Biddle, p. 175. f A.pp. xlviii. J Harrisse, p. 863, n. IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) A #. ^^ .5 jW , ^ t^i 'tis i.O I.I 1.25 1^ yo Hi 20 1.8 i& I A III 1.6 '»' <^ ^1 //, m Photograpiiic Sciences Corporation ^ ^^^ k ^^ fv rv> 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 ''l. .^ iit €s^ £?. ^ * r^s »> 2G8 THE LIFE OP SEBASTIAN CABOT. was no more successful than the other, and Cabot did not stir from England. An invincible rancor against him was felt in Spain, and from the point of view of patriotic sentiment, tlim wore not to blame. The Spanish historians arc a cloiir and constant evidence of this ill-feeling, for about this time and u little later, they speak of him and of the share ho had in the voyages and discoveries of Spain, in terms through which tran- spires, as we have elsewhere observed, that animosity wliiili usually hides or veils the undeniable merit of our enemies, while on the contrary exaggerating their defects, throwing into 1 shadow the attenuating circumstance? and justifications. In the record of privy expenses of King Edward there are I found entered under the year 1550, two hundred pounds ster- ling in favor of Sebastian Cabot.* We know not why or for what purpose this amount was paid I him; perhaps it was with a general view to binding him more | firmly to the interests of England. The next year, 1551, we find Cabot treating with Venice! for his services. Why was this ? As the documents wo possess do not inform us, we can only look to the general circura- stances of the time for some answer to this question. First, let I us see how matters were proceeding, and then try to obtain the | answer desired from the general circumstances of those times. James Soranzo, Venetian ambassador to England, under] date of August 17, 1551, communicated to that Republic cer- tain proposals made to him by Sebastian Cabot for raakingj an expedition in the name and under the flag of Si. Mark, Soranzo's dispatch cannot be found, but we have the reply] made by the Ten, dated the J 2th of the following September,! and with the aid of this we may be able to restore the coursej of things with tolerable correctness. Cabot, then, made known I to Soranzo "his plan of navigation" and "gave him detailed! *"An acquittiiuacc to tlie Treasurer uad Barous of Thexcheker for tliel payment of diverse somes of monie by the counsailes warrant as followetb, troml the feast of Easter an" 4 Ed. VI. untill michalmas following f". CO, etc ToSe-\ bastian Cnbote'xc'xW byway of the K. M. rewarde. — "M. S. Reg. 18 0. XXIV- cited by J. G. Nichols, Literary Remains of King Edward VI. T. I, UXXXIX] London, 1857. NEGOTIATIONS WITH VEXICE. 269 ,bot did not i«tir hi in was felt in sentiment, tli('\ arc a clear and this time and ;i •e ho had in the lUgb which trau- miniosity wliidi of our enemies, ts, throwing into j stifications. Cdward there are 1 [red pounds ster- amount was paid inding him more ing with Venice' Linen ts wo possess ! general circura- lestion. First, let! try to obtain the I es of those times, nghmd, under] hat Republic cer- labot for making I lag of or. Mark, have the reply] wing September, estore the com'sel len, made known! ive him detailed! Tliexdieker for the! mtasfolloweth.froinj -ingf. 6G,etn. r"'^-| , Reg. 18 0. XXIV, VI T. I. UXXXIX information concerning himself and his circumstances." The irst difficulty to get over was to find a way for Cabot to go to Venice and explain his views in person, without exciting the suspicion of England. The moans devised v/as this. Cabot waste say that he had some old debts due to him at Venice, imd certain property which he wislied to recover : but as the iiti'air would be very difficult to transact at such great distance, lie should request the English government to interpose its good offices with the Republic of Venice to give him s[)ecial aid to expedite the affair. It was so done. The English government, in compliance with his request, wrote to its am- liiissador at Venice, who was asked to appear before the Council of Ten and make the recommendation. One of the secretaries of the council was John Baptist Ramusio, the fa- mous compiler of Voyages and Navigations, a personal friend, through epistolary correspondence, of Sebastian Cabot. The recommendation was put in his hands, he being designated, it would seem, by Cabot himself, as one in whom he had full confidence, and who would take an interest in the matter. * Cabot certainly designated the good Ramusio because he knew how zealous ho was for all that concerned discovery, and lie could safely count on his support. Tlio Council of Ten, warned by Soranzo, answered the English ambassador that I they were very glad to learn in what esteem and confidence a subject of the Republic was held in England, and that they would li eager to satisfy the wishes of Cabot and the English ministers. But at the same time they began to hold up their hands, observing that the question of these credits and prop- erty ran back more than half a century ; that all who could have told any thing about thom were dead, and no written rec- ord of them remained. At any rate, they would at once order Rarausio to commence the necessary searches with all dili- gence.! '"Delivered to one of their secretiiries Baptista Ramusio, whom Cabot put, lia trust, such evidences as came to liis haiuls." App. 1. 1 t'They have comma. ided Ramusio to eansuarclj witli diligence any and all lEimwledgu possible llial inuy stand to the said Sebastian's protit and oblaic- jiogut right." From the English Ambassador's dispalcii communicating to his jtoTemment the answer he liad received from the council of Ten. lb. I .,f .:.l,:\ r .1 mg^""^! " .1" "ttmrn m' II 270 THE LIFE OF SEBASTIAN CABOT. The eagerness with which the Council of Ten conducted the affai?* proves their desire of bringing it to an end. Tlio same day that the English ambassador presented the recoiumcuda- tion for Cabot they replied to the ambassador Soranzo. Thoy first praised him for his diligence, and charged him to toll Cabot tiiat " his offer was most welcome. " Then referring to the excuse devised for bringing Cabot to Venice, they wrote ; " And as to the question asked of you by their Lordships, about the credits he pretends and the recovery of jjiopcrty, you will tell them that we wish to do all we can to j^ratifv liis Majesty and their Lordships, but Cabot not being known to anyone here, it will be necessary for him to come himself to prove his identity and his reasons, the matters of wliicli he speaks being very old, and we have given the same answer to His Excellency, the ambassador of his Majesty." And after urg- ing the ambassador to exert himself to have the permission given to Cabot to proceed to Venice as soon as possible, thoy conclude by sajang "you will continue in the meantime to endeavor to learn from him in more detail the plan of that navigation, giving particular information of the whole to the chiefs of the Council of Ten." * On the same day, Sopteml)or 12, the English ambassador likewise wrote to his government, informing it of the recommendation made, and the answer received, f These two letters contain all the information we have in the matter. Why did it fall through ? and by whose fault ? We are entirely in the dark, but, if I am not mistaken, it is easy to see through this darkness, and discover what hap- pened. Sebastian Cabot's return to England had been settled and agreed on, as we saw, as early as the Autumn of L547, and we find him in the following year in the service of England. That he went thither with a plan fully prepared and agreed on for what he was expected to do, is a thing too evident to need proof. The correspondence with Venice was not till 1551, and then he had been three years in England. During App. xlix. t App. 1. NEGOTIATIONS WITH VENICE. 271 that time, what steps had been taken to put his plan in ex- ecution ? None whatever. He was just where he had bec!i on his return to England. Why wu.-i this ? It was owing to the sad circumstances in which England was thon placed. Did the future show on the' horizon any way to greater hope ? The tutr.re was darker than the present : and if the present offered nothing, less still was to be expected from the future. King Edward was a minor, and among the persons who stood nearest to him and governed in his name, there was licrce and unrelenting rivalry for power. On March 20, 1549, Thomas Seymour, the King's ancle and grand admiral of England, was dragged to the scaffold and beheaded ; and it nshis brother, the J i'- of Somerset, the head of the Regency with the title of Prottotor, who sent him to execution out of fear of his ambition. Three years later, January 22, 1552, the Duke Protector himself mounted the scaffold tlu'ough the etforts and craft of the Earl of Warwick, who coveted his position as the first in the Kingdom after the King. In the midst of this strife of fraud and blood, what progress could bo made in the peaceful mission for which Sebastian Cabot had been invited ? Sebastian's proposals to Venice were made just at the time that the Duke of Somerset fell from his greatness and met his end at the hands of the executioner. At that time, [believe, Cabot, hopeless of .his future in England, turned to Venice to see if in that quarter, however distant from the field of his operations, a way could be found to carry out tlie great designs he^v • revolving in his mind. But when he perceived that Somerset's fall did not destroy the confidence they had in him, and that his plan might still hope for a suc- cessful execution in England ; then, I think, he let the mat- ter drop at Venice, and pressed it no further ; just as he had j acted in Spain, where we saw him insist for a moment on liis offer to Venice, and then cease to prosecute it. We are therefore forced to suppose that he only recurred to \ enice when in the necessity of his circumstances no other course jeemed open. Looking at the matter in this aspect (which 1 hold to be un- doubtedly thtt true one), all the invective and accusation of ..J.■^ l»pi»Fi ;.t. ■'I \^ ■ 272 THK LIFE OF SEBASTIAN CABOT. treachery which Harrisse lieaps on him, as though ho wanted to sell underhand to Venice the secrets ho had learned in Vaw. land, falls to the ground. No: Cabot was not a fickle man clianj;- ing his opinions from day to day, still less greedy of guin and wealth, ready to sell himself for the best offer ; but on tlio con- trary, a man of genius, his whole mind enamored of u lofty ideal which he sought to actualize, and not having the means himself to carry it out, he chooses what seems to him the host way to gain his end and when he finds this way clo.sed or blocked, he rushes to some other road that offers to reach the goal he is striving for. CHAPTER XXIII. Project of Navigation to the North-East. Cabot was now nearly an octogenarian, but his bodily fihre was unusually robust and his mind as strong and clear as in liis prime. And surely the stout old man must have felt himself restored to youth when he found himself again free and un- trammelled in the field of his greatest glory, and could open his mind without reserve to the bold enthusiams of his earlier days. But returning to the glorious fields of his former vic- tories to fight more battles there, the plan of warfare which he brought with him was quite different from that on which he had performed his first campaign. The cause of this change must be sought for in the more extended and certain knowledge on the conformation and size of our globe that had since been acquired. When the two Cabots in 1497, in search of a way of communication with Asia, sailed to the north-west, they believed that in this direction there was nothing interposed between Europe and Asia except a few islands, and that the two continents faced one another. But now the discoveries of Balboa, Pizarro, Cortez, Cartier, and the voyage of Magellan had shown that there was a great con- tinent instead, and beyond that continent an immense ex- IGNORANCE OF NORTHiJRN GEOGRAPHY. 273 panse of ocean before reaching the land of spices. The goal of their navigation was become too distant, and the great dis- tance rendered vain the results hoped for from putting Eng- land in direct communication with the eastern countries of Asia by way of the northern seas of the west. This consideration turned his thoughts to ascertaining if it was not possible to open that way of communication by the east, sailing along the northern lands of Europe and ,Vsia. To appreciate the value of the question which Sebastian I'abot proposed to his learning and skill, we must remember the state of Geography in those days in all that related to the northern portion of Europe. In this we are wonderfully as- sisted by the chart which Cabot himself composed in 1544, I'ud which as the latest in date comprises the studies of all the others ^vhich preceded it, and presents the most complete picture of geographical knowledge at the time of which our narrative is now treating. "If we compare," says a learned writer, "the Map of the World of Martin Behaim and the Planisphere of Sebastian Cabot, we shall see at a glance what wonderful progress geographical science had made in the short space of time that separates 1492 from 1544. The jicneral outline of the two great continents no longer provokes a smile. Africa and India, Cathay, Japan, America as far as Magellan's Strait, are known : but as soon as we cast our eyes on the northern part of our heiuisphere, as soon as we waiit to go in that direction beyond ro 53rd degree of lat- itude, we stop in astonishment. How e. , lain that the cosmog- raphy of the sixteenth century could collect such exact no- tions of the portions of the globe most recently discovered, while still reduced to tracing the shores of the Baltic, the coasts of Norway, on the faith of Ptolemy's eight books and twenty-six tables? Because beyond the 53rd degree the domain «t the Hanseatic League commences. The port of Sluys on the coast of Flanders, that of Antwerp at the mouth of the Scheldt,marked throughout the middle ages the extreme limit which the merchant squadron of Venice bound themselves never to cross. Other nations at times ventured to infringe on IS II ppi|W*9^ 274 THE LIFE OF SEBASTIAN CABOT. the zone which the Hanse towns had reserved for themselves ; they never entered it without a combat, and it was in vain that the Dutch in the yearl437 hoisted a broom at their mast-heads to show the world that they came to sweep tyrants Iroin the sea »* The mention here made of the Hanseatic League may not be sufficiently clear to all readers, and as it must conic di- rectly into our narrative further on, it is best to tell lioii; biietly what it was and what it aimed at. About 1241, the cities of Lubeck, Bremen, and Hamburg were led by their comniunity of interests to form a league together to exclude and keep a- way from their sphere of commercial action all those, par- ticularly Danes and Norwegians, who wanted to thrust tiieia- selves into it and divide with them the profits. Many others afterwards joined these three cities, so that the lea},nie ac- quired such strength that the most powerful n.-^aarehs were obliged to come to terms with them. This is the league j that was called Hanseatic from the German term, JuniHc, As- sociation. All the territory that emptied into the Baltic was j subj^ cted to the commercial power of this league : and so, not only from Germany, but from the most inland and distant re- j gions of Russia, all the wares and the products of either agricuh- ure or manufacture that wanted to come into commerce liad to apply to the league. Throe great fiictories, liesidesj many smaller, at Novgorod, Bergen, and London, (,'ollected for it from the most distant places and transported from one] point to another its merchandize and exchanges, and in tl way it had spread over all the northern regions like a netinio j which it attracted or forced every thing that could be raadej an article of commerce. Whoever wanted to sell had to ap- ply to it, and whoever would buy, purchase from it. Witlij this close net in the northern parts was connected the Vene-[ tian net for other parts : and the place of connection was firstj Bruges and afterwards Antwerp. The caravan of ships and! merchants which sailed from Venice in the beginning ofj * Bevue des Deux Mondes, 15 Juia 1876, Les Marina au xvi SUcle, par M. lej Vice-Amiral E. Juriea de La Gravi^re, p.767. THE HANSEATIC LEAGUE. 275 act -St^c^, par ^' 'M Spring, and extended to all tlie lands and harbors of the Mediterranean, the Black Sea, the Red Sea, and the shores of the Atlantic, went to deposit in one or the other of these cities the merchandise and exch.an^es which the rest of the world ^^tiit to the regions of the north, and found there, ready to ship, the merchandise and exchanges which the regions ot the north sent to their brother peoples. But as the Hanseatic League took care not to infringe on the seas and lands reserved for Venice, Venice with equal delicacy and scruple avoided even entering within the domain of the league. This agree- ment was so well observed on both sides that there never was any cause of discord or complaint between them. In this way all means of acquiring geographical knowledge of the seas, which the jealousy of the Han.seatic League reserved for itself exclusively, was cut off ; and it would tell nothing, be- cause it was its interest to keep all those places in obscurity and mystery. It is therefore no wonder that in the middle ofthe sixteenth century, when for more than fifty years the out- line of Afrioa had been known, the southern part of Asia visited, nearly all the boundaries of the New Continent ex- filored, and for many years the whole globe had been gone a- rnund ; it was not yet known whether Europe was bounded at j the north by sea, or its northern lands continuing to extend be- ynnd the Pole, went on to join the northern lands of America. We have already seen that just in the middle of that century, I in 1550, Ramusio printed these words: "Why cannot the princes , . cause. . . . discovery towards the north where the land of I Labrcidor is, and see whether it joins Norway or there is sea be- tfteen ?"* It was then a real problem which Cabot proposed to study and solve. We know not when he first turned his mind to it, but it was cer+ainly in the early part of his residence I in Spain, and probably immediately after America was Irecognized as a continent and that beyond it was an im- Iniense ocean before reaching Asia. It is certain that on jhis return to England he was strong for giving the Eng- Ifeh navigations the new direction. f •Ramusio, Delle Namgationi et Viaggi, vol. i, p. 115. t " Si aveva mesao in fantasia Seba-^tia lo Caboto .. e molti anni col 119^ iii;:': I ' 1 '■! 276 THE LIFE OF SEBASTIAN CABOT. In the sec6nd volume of Ramusio, ediiion of 1606 h^ Giunti at Venice, on page 211, there is a description of a voyage in this new direction under the title, "naviguzionc di Sebastian© Cabcte." It is evidently not Ramusio's work, be- cause wanting in his first edition, and in some portieularsat variance with the ideas put forth by him in other places.* It is an addition inserted in the second edition of his great collection, when he had been sleeping for some time in his peaceful grave. This account is a mere log-book of the vessel as it proceeded on its course. The voyage of which it speaks is there said to have taken place in 1556, and this date is of itself enough to exclude all possibility of its having be- longed to Sebastian Cabot, for he was then close on to 85 years of age, and a man of that age, however robust, caiuiot set out on a long, new voyage, full of unknown difficulties and dangers, like that in search of a passage through tlie frozen seas of the extreme north. It is easy to recognize that this account refers to one of the many attempts which the English made in those days to find a passage by the north- east. The collector himself says as much in his preface to the account : *'0f the many navigations since that our men have made in Moscovy, only this one is described here."f Inquiring to which of those voyages the description might relate, it is found to correspond beyond doubt to the voj'age made to those seas by Stephen Burrough, who was one of the most expert seamen that England could boast of in those days, and who held the position of Grand Pilot in that country. But the mistake of the anonymous collector tends all the more to the glory of Sebastian Cabot, and has for us the value pensiero discorso haveva, poter essere che qualche passo fosse nel mare setten trionale, per il quale o di verso levaute o di verso ponente cod breve navi gatione e facile lia queste nostre parti nel grande Oceano Indlco passare si j potcsse ..." Ramusio, Ediz. 1606, vol. ii, p. 813. V. App. li. — also Eden | " who (Sebastian Caboto) long before had this secret in is minde. Decad. fol, 256. * Ramusio always calls Sebastian Cabot a Venetian. This other anonymous j writer begins his narrative thus : " Sebastian Cabot, an Englishman." t ' 'Be moltp navigazioni poi che i nostri hvomini hanno in Moscotia fait(, quc<*ta sola in questo luogo si descrive. " ENGLISH VOYAGES TO THE NORTH-EAST. 277 of an historical document, for in this error ho is, as it wore, tho irho of tho general opinion then entertained in relation tu these new voyages which the English were making to the north-east ; namely, that they were ail the fruit of Sebastian Cabot's studies and activity ; and the intrepid navigators who advanced amid the terrors of those new lands, were only carrying out the work conceived and calculated by him. In- Jecd, Burrough was pilot on the first voyage which Sebastian Cabot promoted to those parts, and rising afterwards to tlie honor of commanding an expedition himself, he merely continued, like all the rest, the work commenced by Cabot. Besides this, the description of this voyage enters directly, as a document, into the story of Sebastian Cabot by the preface which the anonymous collector prefixes to it, in which he hints at some of the arguments on which Cabot based the possibility of that passage. It is true hd unites the under- takings of father and son in a single one, the old voyages by the west and the new by the east ; but as those arguments have little or nothing to do with the western voyages, and the anonymous collector himself draws the conclusions from them only in regard to the eastern voyages, we must presume that they are intended to refer to the latter oiily, and that it was from want of order and precision that John Cabot and the western voyages were also related. * But unfort- unately the mention is so miserably brief that it haidly amounts to any thing, whereas both the man who imagined the possibility of that passage and studied it out, and the greatness of the deed in relation to those times make us sup- pose a long and varied study before its possibility was firmly rooted in Cabot's mind. The anon3'mous collector himself hints at this long labor, when he tells us that Sebastian Cabot had discussed that subject with his thoughts for many fars. But then, when he comes to specify that long dis- cussion that Sebastian Cabot had made, he says in general * " These are the principal arguments, trusting in which, Sebastian Cabot persuaded the men of tiiese countriss that they could pass by the northern sea >>7 the side of the east."— See App. li. P : ■ -1. '* • ■ ^ r» 278 THK LIFE OP 8EBAHTIAN CABOT. ft - t- terms " lie was induced to ima;i;itic tliis tliincj partly by the tostimoKy of soiuo anciont authors, and piu-tlv by the oxporioiico of numy moderns," and Ihen for the testi- mony of the ancients ho mentions two facts, one in the duys of the Romans and the other in the middle ages : and tor tlio exp(U'ience of the moderns ho merely gives a brief liiiu as to what was hnown, or supposed to bo known, of the coni'ormation of the lands and seas of the extreme east. The ancient fact is taken from Pliny's Natural History where it is related on the authority of Cornelius Nopos. Hero are Pliny's words : "The same Nepos, coucerniiijr a northern circuit, relates that Q, Metellus Celer, colleague of L. Afrauius in the consulship, but at this time proconsul of Gaul, received as a present from the King of the Suevi some Ind- ians who, while sailing from India for purposes of commerce, had been driven o!i the German coast."* Pomponius Mela likewise refers the same story to Cornelius Nepos : "For some time it was doubtful what was beyond the Caspian Gulf: whether it was an ocean or a land intolerable from cold and endlessly extended. But besides the authority of physicists and of Homer who said that the whole earth was surrounded by water, we have Cornelius Nepos of higher autliority because more recent, who gives Metellus Color as a proof of the fact," and then gives the same account as Pliuy.f To understand how the Romans could so easily credit the story of this shipwreck, we should bear in mind that for them the Caspian Sea was only a gulf of the Northern Ocean, of which the Baltic was likewise a part, so that from the Cirabric Chersonese ( modern Jutland ) it was, according to them, di- rectly navigable to the northern mouth of the Caspian. :{: That * "Idem Nepos de septentrionali circuitu tradit Q. Metello Celeri, L. Afranii in consulatu coUegae, sed turn Galliae proconsuli, Indosarese Suevorumdono dates, qui ex India commercii causa uavigantes tempestatibus cssentiaGer- maniam abrepti."— Plin. Hist. Nat. lib. ii, cap. 67. ■f " Ultra Ciispium sinum quiduam esset, ambiguiim "liqiiandiu fuit; idemne j Oceanus an Tellus infesta frigoribus, sii)e ajibitu ac isiue fine projecta. Sed ; praeter pliysicos Homerumque, qui uuiversum orbem 'nari circiimfubiim esse dixerunt, Cornelius Nepos, ut recentior, ita auctoritate certior ; testem autem j rei Metellun. Celerem . . . . " Pompon. Mela, De Situ Orbis, iii, 5, 8. t See the geographical charts according to the system of Eratosthenes, Hip- INDIANS WRECKED ON THE GERMAN COAST. 279 from the Caspian it was possible to sail uninterruptedly to the Indies, was regarded as certain on Strabo's authority. "The inoutli of the Caspian or Hircanian sea is mucb farther north: itisiibout six thousand stadia distant from the middle of the Caspian and from the Armenian and Median mountains, and seems to he the most northern point of the whole coast and pos- sible to sail around as far as India, as Patrocles, the governor „f these places, says." * And in another place lie says : "They do not admit that it is possible that some sailed around from India to tlie Hyrcanian, but Patrocles found it so. f Aa to Cornelius Nepos's account, there being no reason for (k'liying the sliip wreck of strangers on the German coast, it lias been asked what people these supposed Indians belonged to. Some have thought they were Esquinuiux from labra- dor or Greenland, driven on our shores by north-west gales. ":j: During the middle ages geography made no progress in the knowledge of these regions. And as the Arab writers of the tenth century had told of a ship sailing from Siraph harbor in the Persian Gulf, carried by the force of tiie currents into the Caspian Sea, whence passing through a channel it reached parchus, and Strabo, annexed to the Fiencb translation of Strabo, Paris, Ira- prim(;riu Imporiale, 1805. * ". . . ?E6Tai de. . . .rd tov dTo/naroi riji Kadniai OaXdddrji Eire 'TpK- avlai ndixitoXv rt dpHTiKdorepa ' onep rov uvxiv rrji Kadniai xai toot 'AptuviaHwv xai MrjStKdSy dpwv diixst nepi i^aKidxi^iovi draS/r^i, KciiSoKsl T^i dvrifi itapaXiai i^ixp^ r^S 'IvStx^i dpKTiHu)Tepov tivai (tiutlov, xal nepinXovv k'xety 'and rvi 'IvSiXTji dvraTov, oT 5 q)7]div 6 t65v ^omv7iy7/adj:isvoi tovtojv narpoxXTfiP StTab. Geogr. lib. ii, p. 74, sub finem. \'Ovx unoXoyovdi 8h on rcepiiitXevdav rtvsi'anC' r?"? 'IvStHv? iiti Ttjv Tpmviav, on Se Svvazov, IlarpoKX^i Eiprfxe—W ib. lib. xi, p. 518, sub &Dem. {"Siyano fuesea de Tierra del Labrador, y los I viesen por ludianos, enpiiados en el color."— Qomara, Historia delas Indias.fol. 7. — And Corne- lius Wytfliet, in his additions to Ptolemy's Geography published in 1597 : — " Indos quondam tempestatibus in Suevorum et Germaiiiss litora eiectos et L. Metello Celeri dono datos, non ex ultimts Orieutis el Occidcntis partibua, uli quibuEciam visum est, sed ex hac Laboratoris et Estotilandiae aut vicinis ter- ns veuisse constanter teneo, mecumque sentiet quicumque climatis rationem e:penderit." Others instead have lield that they were merely Wends, a Slav- onian people dwelling on the southern shores of the Baltic— See Vivien de St, Martin, Histoire de la Oeographie, p. 176. IF. '". 'l!IK,Wll|lj-ipir'"|l« 280 THE LIFE OF SEBASTIAN CABOT. the C3ast of Syria ; * so amongst our own writers iEneas Syl- vius Piccoloraiiii, in the same century in which America was discovered, and the most southerly point of A fViCa was passed, relates from Otto- of Freisingen that, "an Indian ship witii Indian merchants was taken on the coast of Germany wlmli evidently had been driven there from the east ; which could not possibly have happened if, as many suppose, the north- ern sea was frozen and unnavigable. f The fact reported by Piccolomini is the second given by the aiionymous Collector, and almost literal! v translated. After 'all this, it cannot be wondered at that Sebastian Cabot, who had sailed over and visited so many seas and lands, should also accept these stories of vessels from the east- ern seas of Asia driven by storms into our northern seas. But to these arguments deduced from the testimony of writers, he added others drawn from his own profound knowl- edge of every science that has any affinity to the nautical. Here one should be glad to icnow the basis of his study and reasoning : but our desires are even less gratified than in the historical arguments. For in the latter, treating of a matter of fact, a mere allusion is sufficient to direct us in imagining very nearly the process that Sebastian Cabot*s mind must hav'3 gone through in its work ; but in the reasoning based on his extensive and profound learning in nautical, geogra})]rii.ai, and cosmographical studies, we are forced to stop at the simple mention of it made by Ramusio's new anonymous. Tlio reasoning reported is entirely based on error, but the ])lam(M)f that belongs to the age, not the man. Here is the little tliat the anonymous writer chives us : -'The other argument was that beyond the Indian Sea, the G ilf of the Gauges, the Golden Chersonese or Malacca, and the Proviiice of Sina, ;{; and * Humboldt, Recherches Critiques i, p. 480. t"Nos apiid Othonero legimus sub Iniperatoribtis Theutonicis Indicam navira et negociatores Indices in gertiiiiuiro litore fiiisse deprefafinsos, qiios veiitisa gitatos ingratie ab oiientali plaga venisse constabat ; quod accidcre minimc potuisset, si, ut plerisque visum est, septentrionale pelagus innn vicatiik- cm creturaque esset."— .4sj(B Europmque Deacriptio. De Mundo in universo, cap. ii. X Soutbern China, mentioned by Ptolemy under the name of Sinne. cabot's knowledge of the north. 281 beyond the navigation of moderns,* he knew for certain that this Indian Seo was situated in length (longitude) nearly in 180° t and in breadth (latitude) in the 25th degree, a little beyond the meridian of Tartary, and the extensive empire of Cathay (that wirch is sought after by navigators ab the end and reward of their labors) ; and considering how ar.d how much this great sea of the Indies was constantly expanding under that meridian and bending northwards, not lightly or without reason .... he judged it likely that if our northern sea extended on the cast or west towards the south ... it would not be a long navigation from 70°,or 60° latitude to 30° in which the^ place Cathay, an incredible distance from Moscovy. . . .Trust- ing in which arguments, he persuaded the men of these coun- tries that they could pass by the northern sea by the side of the East .... easily and in a certain time to East India, or at least reach the Kingdom of Cathay.":|: Vice-admiral Jurien de la Graviere in the article mentioned further back has made an observation which should be here copied, for it may throw not a little light on our present subject. Xot a mere man of the sea, he was one of the most learned of this century in geographical science, and therefore his words should have great weight. Speaking of the navigation of the North and Baltic seas in the time of Sebastian Cabot, he wrUes : "The Germans, Danes, Flemings, the fishermen from the north of Scotland, are the only sailors who have yet visited those shores. Sebastian Cabot would have gained little by consulting them. These people have not ceused to deserve the comtemptuous remark of Prince Henry : ' they know nothing of the use of marine charts or the compass.' One bright point, however, never ceased to shine through the thickness of the ancient darkness. Where you would go to-day to look for Hammer- fest, Cape North, Varangcr Fiord, you will see marked on the planisphere of 1544 at the bottom of a large gulf the Danish *The Spanish and Portuguese, wbo in the first half of the XVI Century vis- ited the great archinelago of the East Indies, t Prom the meridian of Ferro. . ; , tSeeApp. 1. /.',■■:',.■."';:■.■" ' •. • 282 THE LIFE OP SEBASTIAN CABOT. l-.il-Xr' ',.■•.'' fortress of Varduus. * Neither Martin Behaim, extending his savage Laponia to the North Pole, nor John de la Cosa, nor the unknown cosraographer of Henry II, mentioned this extreme station, f Sebastian Cabot points it out to the navigator as the bourn to double iii order to enter the Sea of Tartary, and wonderful to say, wants very little of putting it in its right place "X The northern ?oast of Finmark which extends a great distance on the same parallel, has really the right to occupy the 70th degree of latitude as Sebastian Cabot un- derstands. It is there that Europe ends, and for a serious cosraographer it is there also that the world should terminate^ This almost exactness on a point so distant that it is only found on Sebastian Cabot's chart, attests, in my opinion, the patient investigation he kept making, so far as possible with the uncertain information current among northern mariners, on the condition and situation of places in those distant re- gions. These long and patient investigations are in perfect keeping with the study he was for years maturing on the pos- sibility of navigating and crossing those seas. * Vardoehmis, on the lulaud of VardoB, in the Diocese of Tromsoe.a city of 200 inhabitants, situated in 70" 83' N. L. and 28° 47' E. Longitude. f The famous chart known under the name of Henry II, and which \7oiild seem to have been composed between August 1541 and Juuc 1544, and conse- quently the last in the series r-rior to the pLtnisphere composed by Sebastian Cabot —See Harrisse, Jean et S'hastien Cabot, p. 210 and s. X "70° 38' N. L. instead of 70° 22.' —40° of longitude east from the meridian of Paris instead of 28° 47'." S"Les Allemands, les Danois, les Flamaads,le8 pficheurs du Nord de I'Ecosse, sont les seuls marins qui aient encore frequents ces parages. S6bastien Cabot gagnerait peu & les consulter. Ces gens-lft n'ont pas cesse de m§riler la dedaig- neuse exclamation du prince Henri, 'ils n'enlendentricn ai'emploides cartes marines et de laboussole.' Un point lumineux ne laisse pascependaDtdcbriller d, travers I'epaisseur des antiques ten^bres. \A oil vous iriez aujourd' bin cher- cher Hammerfest, le cap Nord, le fiord de Varanger, vous verrez iodiquee suv le planisphere de 1544, au fond d' uu large golfe, la forteresse danoise de 'Var- duus!' Ni Martin Behaim ^tenuant jusq'au pdle sa Laponie sauvage, ni Juan de la Cosa, ni le cosmographe inconnu d'Henri II, n'ont fait mention de cette Etation extr6me. Sebastien Cubot la montre au navigateur conime la borne d, doubler pour entrer dans la mer de Tartaric, et, chose merveilleuse, il s'en f aut de bien peu qu'il ne I'ait mise a sa place. " THE HANSEATIC LEAGUE IN ENGLAND. 283 CHAPTER XXIV. )in the meridian ' Expedition to the North-East. In the preceding chapter we had to stop to speak of the Hanseatic League, on account of the obstacle it was to the ex- tension of geographical knowledge of the northern portion of our hemisphere ; now we return to it to tell its relations with England, for it is from that country that the work for- warded by Sebastian Cabot sets out. The Hanseatic League established itself in London in the year 1256, and the com- pany which was formed there of German merchants took the uame of Steelyard. Its coming seemed at first a blessing to the commerce of England, which was languishing in the most squalid misery, and to encourage those merchants in their action Government was never tired of conferring privileges on their association. The activity and energy of the merchants answered these hopes only too well. For, aided by the many privileges they had acquired, and many more which they were able to appropriate to themselves by custom and the acquies- cence of the government and people, supported by their im- mense wealth, their connections, the warehouses which they had opened in the most populous centres of England, and by their correspondence with the most commercial marts of Eu- rope ; they had reached such point that they not only drew to llieniselves the entire commerce of England, but they per- mitted no exports or imports through any other hands than their own, defrauding individuals and the government to an enormous extent, for they fixed the bulletin of prices of every thing bought by the English, and compelled all foreign goods coming into England and which should have paid a good toll to the government, to pass under their flag, which either exempted them from ail customs or reduced the duties to ,iH m 284 THE LIFE OP SEBASTIAN CABOT. i ;;i ..:;,. :.n ■ an insignificant rate, * As a proof of the enormous prepon- derance acquired by the German company in English com- merce, I will only give this, that in the year 1551, it of itself alone exported from England 44,000 pieces of cloth, and all the English merchants together only sent fit l,100.f Seeing the great injury it did the country in every respect, Edward III and Richard II made great efforts to stimulate their subjects to navigation. But all their efforts were idle The Steelyard Company by craft or arrogance, as suited the case, gained the favor of Henry VI and imposed its will on Edward IV. Henry VII was often compelled to oppose it, and he notified the Diet at Antwerp in 1491, through his rep- resentatives that thenceforth the German merchants would be treated in England on the same footing as the English merchants in the Hanseatic cities. But this amounted to noth- ing, for English manufactures and commerce were in no posi- tion to do without the Hanse towns. And so England con- tinued for sixty years longer to bear the yoke jjiposed on her by foreign commerce. The credit of breaking that yoke and placing England on the road that brought her to the rank of the richest nation in the world and the Queen of the Seas, belongs to Sebastian Cabot. On his return to England he made himself the centre of the national merchants, restored their drooping courage, and raised their hopes of the future. His reputation and authority gave special force to his words, so that, clinging close to him, and guided b}' his suggestions and advice, the English merchants presented to the Privy Coun- cil of King Edward an appeal against the intolerable abuses and frauds of the Steelyard Company. This company at once appreciated the danger that threatened them, and with alarm and energy equal to the danger, they rose to oppose it. They * Hakluyt, vol. i, p. 144 and s. —Anderson's History of Commerce, vol. ii, p. 90. — Mc Pherson's Annals of Commerce, vol, ii, p. 109.— "There u a law of this reign," says Hurne (12 Henry VII ),"containing a preamble by which it appears that the company of merchant adventurers in London, had, by their own authority, debarred all the other merchants of the Kingdom, from tradio? to the great Marts in the Low countries, unless each trader previously paid them the sum of near seventy pounds." History of England, ch. xxvi. t Jurien de la Qravi6re in the Reme dea Deux Mondea, 15 Juin, 1876, p. 764, THE HANSEATIC LEAGUE IN ENGLAND. 285 not only put in motion all the influence rx their money, their connections, and adherents, but caused the cities of Hamburg and Lubeck to interfere officially. But the government sustained the protest of the merchants of the nation, and restrained the Steelyard within the privi- leges it had actually obtained.* This was a deadly blow to the company ; for a company of national merchants was at once formed around Cabot, and guided by his good sense, and incited by his energy, was the origin and beginning of that marvellous activity and diligence in commerce and navigation which the English have since displayed through- out the world. Strype records a present of £200 to Sebastian Cabot from King Edward in the month of March of this year.f Biddle, reasoning from the circumstances of the time, concluded that this present was in token of the royal satisfaction at the part he had taken in organizing the company of national merchants. But as the book of that King's privy expenses mentions another present, also cf £200, the year before, which we related further back, a doubt remains that Strype may have mistaken the year of the present. As soon as the company was formed, Cabot and the mer- chants began holding many and frequent meetings to con- sult on their action ; X ^^^ ^^^^n it was that he disclosed the secret which according to the anonymous of Ramusio's second edition, he had jealously guarded even when he was in Spain, and which Eden affirms he had long thought and studied over. § This was, as we have already said, the proj- * The reply to the Steelyard was dated March 25, 1551. In the diary of theyoung King Edward published by Burnet in his History of the Reformation, vol, ii, the progress of tho dispute with the Steelyard is found registered from day to day. " 35 March, 1551. The Answer for the Ambassador of the Stiliard was committed to the Lord Chancellor, &c." t ' To Sebastian Caboto, the great seaman, 200 poimts, by way of the King's majesty's reward, dated in March, 1551."— Strype's Historical Memorials, vol. ii, p, 495. t ". , . . they (the merchants) began first of all to deal and consult diligently with him (Caboto)." , Hakluyt, 1. p. 270. Voyage of Richani Chancellor. .,,r>> - ■ :■- S"and whereas I have before made mention ho we Moscovie was In our time ffppp«p" ti 'J 286 THE LIFE OF SEBASTIAN CABOT. •J! ect of opening a passage to Asia by the north-east of Europe. But this secret must be understood of the i)roject of that navigation as studied out and calculated with all the aid that study and science can give to a man of genius an;l experience like Cabot ; for as to the simple idea of the possibility of sailing to the north-east to reach Asia, we have seen that in the days of the Romans and the Greeks, and in those very years when Cabot was studying tliTs proh- lem scientificeilly, others in various places were turning their iiiind to it by way of induction, foretelling that some one would attempt that passage. One of these was Raniusio's Anonymous who had the long conversation with Sebastian Cabot in Spain, to which our story has had li-equent oc- casion to refer. In the same discourse at Fracastoro's \[\h, where he relates this conversation, he gives anotlier in which the thought of this navigation is clearly hinted at, * And further on, referring to some plans that had ])een laid for attracting the trade of Cathay to Russia, but wliich had fallen through, he goes on to say : " that if it had been proposed to sail from the shores of this our northern sea right along the coast to Cathay the plan might easily have been carried out. And .... that as to the said seas, it cannot be doubted that they are navigable for six mouths of the year, the days being very long and warm, owin^ to the continual reverberation of the solar rays." And nuich more directly, in fact absolutely proposing it, Robert Thorne speaks of it in a letter which he wrote in 1527 to Henry VIII discovered by Riclioid Chanceler in Ills voyage toward Cathay, by tlic di- rection and infornmiion of M. Sebastian Cabota, who long before had this secret inhisminde." — Eden's Decad. fol. 256.— And tbe second Anonim ous of P.a- inusio: — "Sebastiano Cabota il quale. . . .(come esso dir soleva) sin quando in Spagna habitava haveva nella mente tenuto per marinari questo secrete oc- culto . . . ."— Riimusio, II. Ediz. Venezia, 1606, vol. ii, p. 212. * Here are his words : "In my young days finding myself in Germany in the City of Augsburg, there came there an ambassador from the Duke of Moscovy ....speaking with Lim one day of these Indianscast by fortune on the shores of Germany, and of tlie voyage that might be made to discover by the nortiicru seas the lands of Spices, I observed that lie was mucli .surprised at first as at some- thing wliich he never could have dreamt of, but after reflecting, it fell into his fancy and greatly pleased him." Ramusio, vol. i, p. 412. CABOT PROPOSES THE NORTH-EAST PASSAGE. 287 of England, to urge the searching for a northern passage to the east of Asia, for which undertaking he proposed, as we have seen, one of these three ways : by the north-west, or directly across the pole, or by the north-east. Of the last he wrote : "If they will go toward the Orient, they shall enjoy the regions of all the Tartarians, that extend toward the mid- day, and from thence they may go and proceed to the land of the Chinas, and from thence to the land of Cathaio Orientall, which is of all the maine land most oriental that can be reck- oned from our habitation. And if from thence they doe con- tinue their navigation, following the coasts that returne tow- ard the Occident, they shall fall in with Malaca, and so with all the Indies which we call Orientall, and following the way, may returne hither by the Cape of Buona Speranza, and thus they shall compasse the whole worlde."* But their suppositions and proposals were built in the air, whereas the project of Sebastian Cabot was accompanied by all the necessary demonstrations to show that it could be carried out ; and herein we must believe consisted tlie secret he had nursed as far back as when he was in Spain. The English merchants were exceedingly pleased with Cabot's plan, both because it greatly shortened the voyage to the treasures of the extreme east, from the very long distances sailed by the Spaniards and Portuguese, and because the position of the new way secured almost the entire benefit to England. Approving, therefore, his studies and calculations, they agreed to send to sea three ships to carry out his plan, f A public subscription was opened, and although the shares were only put at twenty-five pounds sterling, the necessary amount was subscribed for in a very short time.;}: Every •Hakluyti, p.837. t " after much speech and conference together, it was at last con- eluded that three shippes should bee prepared and furnished out, for the search iDd discoverie of the Northern part of the world to open a way and passage to our men for travaiie to new and unknown kiogdomes." Hakluyt. i, 270. Narrative of Richard Chancellor. t "by this nompanie it was thought expedient, that a certaine summe of moDey should publiquely bee collected to serve for the furnishing of so many sbippes. And lest any private man should bee «oo much oppressed and |!l |l J^iP pflM . I VI , 11.1 -1 > 288 THE LIFE OF SEBASTIAN CABOT. ; » shareholder was a member of the new company, wliich took the name of Merchant Adventurers of England tor the Dis. covory of Regions, Domin.'ons, Islands, and places unknown but it was commonly known by the shorter form of Flic Com. pany of Merchants of Cathay and Russia.* Wo havo already said that Russia in those days had little more rolutioiis with the rest of Europe than with far-away Cathay, suid tlio little she sent us of her products, or received of ours, was wholly in the gripe of the Hanseatic League. The sliaro- iioiders elected for directors of the company a board conipo.sid of "grave and prudent pcrsuns, " and this board appointed Sebastian Cabot governor of the company. + In fitting out tliis expedition the precaution was taken for the first time in England to cover the ships' bottoms with a thin leaf of lead, to protect them from the worms whicliot'ttn bored through the hardest oak.+ It \vus a precaution the Span- iards had used for sometime, and Biddlo, observing tliattlioy first put it in practice in 1514, two years after Sebastian Cabot v/ent over to King Ferdinand's service, and considering liis rapid progress in his career, is inclined to believe it was tirsf proposed by him.§ But Cabot was not exempt from annoyance and opi)osition even among the English. It would indeed have been strange if ignorance and malice could see a new fact of great import- ance in preparation and keep silent and not attempt in some way to attack and bite it. Cabot himself, in §32 of liis in- structions for this voyage, which we shall see further on, iilludes to the difficulties he encountered from "suspicion in some heads that this voyage could not succede for the extreinitie of the North pole, lacke of passage, and such like, which have cbargevl, a course was taken, that every man willing to be of the societic, should disburse the purtion of twentie and five pounds apiece ; so that in a short tinne by this meanes the summe of sixe thousand pounds beinsj gathered, the three shippes were bouirht," Hulduyt, ib. ib. *"Chiamasi la lor compagnia la conipagnia dei Mercanti del Catliais, over della Russia." Ramuslo, Preface already cited. ■ v f'Sebastian Cabot .... governor of the Marcantes of Cathay " . . . . Eden, fol. 249. % Hakluyt i, 270. § Memoir i, p. 188. VARIATION OP THE MAGNETIC NEEDLE. 289 caused wavering minds, and doubtful heads, not only to with- draw themselves from the adventure of this voyage, but also (lisswadcd others from the same. . . ."* It is probably at the time when he was getting this expedition ready that the con- versation occurred in which Sebastian Cabot explained to King Edward the declination of the magnetic needle; from which ho was given the glory of being the first to observe that strange phenomenon. The matter is related byLivy Sanudo,in the First Book of his Geography, published in 1588, in these words: "I had been for many years a friend of a genHeman named Guide Gianneti di Fano, a :nan orthy of esteem and n flec- tion for his erudition and virtuous habits, and from him I tirst heard with wonder tiiat tho needle of the compass for navigation rubbed with a loadstone does not always indicate the meridian of the observer, but a place some degrees dis- tant from that meridian ; wliicli place however distant is still shown by the needle, now at that meridian, and now a little, I and again a good deal away from it : and that Sebastian Cabot, a Venetian, a most excellent Pilot taught by experience and by the observations which he had made when sailing to the Indies, was the discoverer of this secret : which he afterwards I disclosed to the (jsoui serene King of England, with whom Gi- anneti ( as I have heard from others ), was present and greatly honored : and he showed at the same time what this distance was, and that it did not appear the same at every place." f But the fact is, that before Cabot, Christopher Co- lumbus had observed this phenomenon, on the 13th of Sep- tember 1492, as he wrote in his journal of his first voyage of discovery: :j: and again he speaks of it in the narrative of his [third voyage as a phenomenon observed on his previous voy- [ages. Consequently there can be no question as to the pri- jority of his observation, and they are in error who gave the [credit to Sebastian Cabot. But though he observed the phe- ' V. App. Iviii. t Qeogmfla di M. Llvio Saaudo, ia Vinegia, appresso Damiano Zenaro. IIDLXXXVIII, p. 2. t See also, Fernando' Colombo, cap. xit— Ixiii.— Herrera, Dec. i, lib. i, cap. [lO-Tarducci, Life of Columbus, i, p. 131. 19 II., J ^JJULppup ,ipi ^mm Ui , 290 THE LIFE OF SEBASTIAN CABOT. nomenon subsequently to Christopher Columbus, ho had a much larger field for observation and study, especially as ho could behold it in the two opposite climes of the nortli aiid tin' south. Whatever explanation of it Cabot gave to King Kd- ward, for Gianneti, who had never heard of the phonmiKium, it was a groat wonder, and as he was ignorant of tho |)i(.. vious observation by Christopher Columbus, ho looked on it as sometning altogether new. Did Cabot know the fact about Christopher Ccdunilnis? It seems very hard to believe he was unaware of it, considwinj; that Columbus was not the only one to remark that new and strange phenomenon, but his companions saw it likewise and were extremely terrified at it ; which occasioned his wonderful promptness in finding a consistent theory to exploin it and calm their minds.* If the fact was remembered in the Spanish marine, no one would be more likely to know it than Cal)nt, as Pilot-Major, and also as Instructor of cosmography in tlio Casa de Contratacion at Seville. How could Cabot repn^sent himself as the first observer of this phenomenon, I say not, to j Edward VI King of England far from the place and time of] its discovery, but to the Venetian ambassador Contarini, with ! whom he was making an agreement to sail for the account of Venice ?f Contarini not only resided in Spain, and therefore in a position to know of Christopher Columbus's discovery, and consequently to contradict Cabot on the spot in his pretentious boast ; but he was a man to take more interest than any one j else in such phenomenon, if the istorian Peter Martyr D' Anghiera applied to him for advice and explanation in thej diflficulties he met with in cosmography. :j: And yet the mat- ♦Journal of C. Columbus, Sept. 17, 1492.— Fernando Colombo, Ilistorit,\ cap. xix.— Taiducci, Life of Columbus, j, 131—132. t See ch. xiii. X A Spanish ship arriving at one of the Moluccas found that it was Tliiirs- j day whereas the Spaniard's calculation showed that it ought to be Wednesday;! and they were all sure tliat there was no error in their calculation.— From thisj they came to suspect that llie course of time fr^m our shores to those regi»ns| must have caused the difference. Peter Martyr, having to relate this matter in j his Decades, did not know what to think ibout it, and to put himself atl ease be bad recourse to the great learning of Coatariai : " Quando ad Gorj WTLLOTTonnv's expedition. 291 Colombo, BistorM ter was altogether new to Contariiii, as appears from his letter to the Council of Ten, of December 31, 1532, in which ho says: "Piscoursing with me on many questions of geography, iinioiigHt other things he told me that he had observed by means of the compass how to know the distance between two places from the east to the west, which was very beautiful and wrcr he/ore observed fry othci'H, as your serenity may asccrtiiiii fiDin liim when ho arrives."* Nor could Peter Martyr D' Aii<,'liicra have known of it, as ho does not mention it in his Dt'nulos on matters of the Ocean. Hence we are driven to the conclusion that the memory ofthe discovery made by Colum- bus was entirely lost in the outcries of joy on his first return,an(l tlio complaints and calamities which came after : and it only iviiiainod recorded in his Journal, from which it was only luouglit out to the knovvledga of the public after Sebastian Cabot's death. (Jabot prepared an explanationof this phenomenon to send with two charts to the Emperor and the Council of the Indies. He promised himself a great deal from his work, as he clearly gives us to understand in his letter to John do Samano. Here are his words : " I intended to bring it [the chart which Sa- mano had asked for] myself with two others I have made for his Majesty. I believe His Majesty and the gentlemer. of the council will be satisfied with it, for they will see how one can sail in a circuit by means of its courses, as is done by a card, and the reason why the needle northeasts and northwests (varies to the east or west) and why it was to do it, and must nortlieast or northwest so many points before it comes to point to the north, and in what meridian, and with this His Majesty will have a sure rule for taking the longitude, "f But Unnes navia hsee regressa fiiit, diem fiiisse Mercurii arbitiabantur, Jovis esse repererunt— Unde diem unum in eo discursu aiunt sibi ablatum, ea tritim annorum intercapedine. . . . Agitatus ea ciira conveni Gasparem Contarinum, joratDrem apud caesaiem pro sua iUuatri Repnblica Veneta, omni liUeranim Ipenere non mediocriter enidltiim." Dec. v, cap. 7. — It is needless to say I tliat I relate tbis anecdote merely as a proof of Contarini's learning and of the |estimation in which be was held on questions of cosmography. * See App. xxvi. t "pense de llevarla yo mismo con ntras dos que tengo fecho para su ma* 292 THE LIFE OF SEBASTIAN CABOT. only enough of this writing of his is left to make us hono that the rest may some time bo brought to Ught. Rioliaid Kdon relates that Sebastian Cabot on his death-bed, claimed topo.v seas by divine revelation a new and infallible way of doter- mining longitude, but which he could disclose to no luortiil.* Tiiis now and infallible method was that of finding the Ion- gitudo by means of the arc of variation made by the niiiffiu'tic needle, which was supposed to bo parallel to the meiidiun. + Wo know not when Cabot first made use of this method ; still he was certainly anticipated by Columbus, who deterniinodii.s- tronomically a line without declination, on September 13, 1 192 : :{: and on his second voyage in 1496, uncertain of his position, he ascertained it by observations of the deeliniitioiis, § In the beginning of May, 1553, the ships were ready to sail. Sir Hugh Willoughby was appointed to the command .of the expedition, and had with him as chief pilot Richard Cluui- cellor, and as masters William Geflferson, Stephen Burrcuf,di, and Cornelius Durfoorth.| Each of the three ships took along for its service a boat and a small-boat. The flag-siiip was named Bona Sporanzu, of I'iO tons; the Edward Bonaventure was of 160, and the Bona gestad creo que au magestad y los sefiores del CoDsejo quedaraa sntisfechos ilella porque veran come se puede navegar por redondo por sus derotascome se ace por una carta y la causa porque oordestear y noruestea la guya y como es foryoso que lo baga y que tantas quartas a de nordestear y noruestcur antes que torna a bolverse acia el norte yten que meridiano y con esto terra su ma- gestad la regla cierta para tomar la longltud." V. App. xlil. * In the letter of dedication of bis translation of John Taisnerus's work, already cited. t A. Humboldt, Cosmos, iv, 50. % See his JourDal. § Fernanda Colombo, cap. 63.— Humboldt, lb. |Tbe following note will show the meaning of the term master:— "Dans ccs sortes de campagnes, il faut bien distinguer le commandement niilitairc du commandement maritime. L' offlcier que le souverain a pourvu d'une commis sion est 'le capitaine '; celui que la compagnie iavestit du soin de preparercl de manoeuvrer le navire s'apelle 'le master' ou 'le maitre' Le maitrc et le pilote out pen de chose tl faire quaud I'escadre a pour chef un \ Christophe Colomb ou un Magellan. Leur tdche garde plus d'imporlancc sice chef s'appelle sir Thomas Pert, Cortfo, Albuquerque ou Vasco de Gama" - j Vice-Amiral Jurien de la Qravi^re id the Reme dea De" »; V.>n/f/?«, 15 Juin 1876, p. 772. ii- cabot'h inhtkuctionh. 203 Confidontia, of 00. Even tlm ship's imnios show {\w slroiij; (DiilidDiico all luul in tho succh'sh ol'tho eiitcrpriso. 'V\\v lirst (iirrieda crowof4G nion, thosocoiidof 4cS, and tho third of2M Tlio flii^'-ship was coiniuandud hy Sir Un^h Willou^^hhy in person, with William Gollerson for Master; Jvidiiird ('hanc(dlor tomniiindod tho second with Stepluiii Hurrou^h as nuistcr. The Good Contidonco had Cornelius Durfoorth hoth as coni- iiiandcr and master.* As (Jhristopher Columbus had doni^ on his first voyage, Wil- loiighby took letters from Kin^ Edward Vl for the Kin^s or iVinoes ho should moot on his way, written in Latin, (Jroek, mid many other languages, and dated tho 14th of Fidn-uary of tho year of tho creation of the world 5515. Although tho cxpodition was commanded by a General, its purpose was purely and simply mercantile, and Edward's letter to the Princes and chiefs of places and tribes that should bo met with on the way to Cathay, only contemplated entering into treaties of amity with those peoples for tho interest and profit of both parties.! Sebastian Cabot delivered to Willoughby Ills instructions for the voyage, consisting of thirty-three par- agraphs, which form a document of value not only on account of his great sense and experience, but also of his goodness of heart. He resembles a father about to start his young son on his first journey in the world, with no experience of men or affairs : he would seem to want to point out each step of the way, advise and warn him of every thing, and never tiro of repeating his counsels and admonitions. They are dated on the eve of sailing, May 0, 1553.+ Their excessive length makes it impossible to give them in full ; whoever desires to know thein will find them in the Appendix. But special mention must be made of the minute and wise rules concerning tho internal discipline of the ships, the relations of the sailors to each other, of inferiors to the commander, and his to them. The poor old man in writing these admonitions may perhaps have felt the wound, which never had healed, of wiiat ho had to suffer in his expedition to the Moluccas, open afresh. •Hakln^^.ch. i, p.238. t^d.eft. p. X See App. Ivl. 1 i ^B !■'. -• ''% a ; " ,..Mf w'pwp^ K*^-*-^ 294 THE LIFL OF SEBASTIAN CABOT. The orders he gave on the observations to Ls set down as soon as they discover new lands, in the judgment of Vice- Ad- miral Jurien de la Graviere, give a new direction which has always since been followed by maritime expeditious. Before that time, with boldness of resolution, and unconqucrod free- dom, advancing in face of the perils of the unknown, tliey were under the doxninion of fancy, which with the attraction of poetical imagery clothed and embellished the contests and fears of the cruel work of those heroes: henceforth it is the cal- culating coldness of the mathematician which watches, ob- serves, notes, connects together facts and accidents, exuniines and compares them ; and from the past with imperturb- able calm draws a rule and guide for the future. In tliis way the "log-book'' was first instituted on this memorable occa- sion.* "§ 7. Item, that the marchants," say the Instructions, "and other skilful persons in writing, shal daily write, descriho, and put in memorie the navigation of every day and night, with the points, and observations of the lands, tides, elements, altitude of the sunne, course of the moon and starres, and tlic same so noted by the order of the Master and pilot of every ship to be put in writing, the captaine generall assembling the masters together once every weeke (if wiude and weather shal serve) to conferre all the observations and notes of the said ships, to the intent it may appeare wherein the notes do agree, and wherein they dissent, and upon go ^ debatcment, deliberation and conclusion determined, to put the same into a common leger, to remain of record for the company; the like order to be kept in proportioning of the Cardes, Astrolabes, and other instruments prepared for the voyage, at the charge of the companie." "§ 27. Item the names of the people of every island, are to be taken in v/xiting, with the commodities and incomraodi- ties of the same, their natures, qualities and dispositions, the site of the same, and what things they are most desirous of. * ' Ainsi fiitinstitufi pour la premiere fois, dans cette occasion memorable, to Jouroal de Botd." Reaue des Deux Mondes, I. c. p. 774. SAILING OF WILLOUGHBY. 295 casion mSmorable, anu what commodities they wil most willingly depart with, and what mettals they have in hils, mountaines, streamos, or rivers, in or under the earth." The conduct he points out to be observed towards the new peoples they went on discovering shows the long study he •nusjt have iTiade on his voyages, of the character of tjie pop- ulations when first beholding our men with their ships and ar- mour. "For as much," he says § 23, "as our people, and sliippes "^ y appear unto them strange and wonderous, and theirs also to ours : it is to be considered, how they may be used, learning much of their natures and dispositions, by some one such person, as you may first either allure, or take to be brought aboord your ships, and there to learn as you may, without violence or force, and no woman to be tempted, or intreated to incontinencie, or dishonestie." " § 26. Item every nation and region to be considered advisedly, and not to provoke them by any disdaine, laughing, contempt, or such like, but to use them with prudent circumspection, with al gentlenes and curtesie, and not to tary long in one place, untill you shall have at- tained the most worthy place yi may be found, in such so't, as you may returne * t victuals sufficient prosperously. " Some may perhaps regard as superfluous the care and directions he gives for keeping alive in seamen the. sentiment of religion, and the practice of those exercises which grow out of it and by reciprocal action maintain and strengthen it. But I am of a different opinion, and Ido not appeal in support of my opinion to the different way of feeling and thinking in the XVI century in contrast with the unbelief or indifference of the XIX century. No, I believe that at all times and in every place what- ever may be the authority, it ought to desire and take pains to keep alive this flame in the heart of the people ; for when it is living and rightly directed, it is the soundest and safest guide in all cases and in all the circumstances of human life. Cabot, then, devoted h*3 attention likewise to this and reminded his mariners to act "for duetie and conscience sake towards God, under whose mercifuU hand navigants above all ■;■(: 296 THE LIFE OP SEBASTIAN CABOT. :i;t1 ^i^ A' ;M> ljii|||iBH|i 'i • ™ Vi- " H H ■i I ] ilBi , ■ 1 nlf ■'.;" H ■l piv 1 m^ i*---"- - 1 other, creatures naturally bee most nigh and vicine ;" * then In his Instructions he prescribes, § 12 : "that no blasphcmin^r of God, or detestable swearing be used in any ship, nor communication ofribaldrie, filthy tales, Ox- ungodly talke lobe su Tred in the company of any ship, neither dicing, card- ing, tabling, nor other divelish games to be frequented, whereby ensueth not onely povertie to the players, but also strife, wariance, brawling, fighting, and oftentimes murther to the utter destruction of the parties and provokinjf of God's most iust wrath, and sworde of vengeance. These and all such like pestilences, and occasions of vices, and sinnesto bee eschewed, and the offenders once monishcd, and not reforming, to bee punished at the discretion of the captaine and master, as appertaineth. "§ 13. Item, that morning and evening prayer with other common services appointed by the King's Majestic, and lawes of this Realme to be read and saide in every ship daily by the minister in the Admirall, and the marchant or some other per- son learned in other ships, and the Bible or paraphrases to bo read devoutly and Christianly to God's honour, and for his grace to be obtained and had by humble and heartie praier of the Navigants accordingly. " On the 20th of May, 1553, the squadron of the expedition at ebb of the tide set sail from Ratcliffe, and slowly moved down the river, partly towed by the two boats which each shij) took with her on the voyage, f The court was then at Green- wich, hardly a mile from Deptford where the vessels stopped to wait and take advantage of the ebb-tide the next moi'ninp;4 As soon as the squadron was spied from Greenwich, the King's Privy Council, which was in session, adjourned and the whole court was in motion ; not only the windows were filled with courtiers. Knights, and Ladies, but the walks of the towers likewise, whilst the more youthful raced to the *S33. t Ratcliffe is a place on the left bank of the Thames about two miles and a half above Greenwich. t Deptford is on the right bank of the Thames a mile and a half below Hat- cliffe. willoughby's fate. 297 river bank to give a nearer salute to the brothers who were leaving on the great voyage. As to the common people, they all left their houses ; no one not absolutely prevented would miss the spectacle and the salute. On the other hand, as soon as the ships were in view of the Royal R,esidence, the seamen all dressed for parade were in a twinkling on the deck or climbing the masts, and while from one side the artillery was discharged, mariners and merchants with all their might gave a last salute to their King and country ; from the banks of the river and the balconies and towers of the Royal Palace there was a continual burst of hurrahs and clapping of hands in encouragement and fervent auguries of good fortune on their voyage.* Alas ! a sad note disturbs the harmony of so many voices, and augurs ill for the fate awaiting the expedition. Edward VI, at whose name the ships made every hill and plain echo their shouts, was not with the rejoicing people ; he lay in his room, slowly wasting away, and died soon after. Fortunate m dying in his bed, comforted by the last words of his friends and relatives, whilst the most of those who saluted him soon followed him into the dominions of Death by the most cruel and fearful end imaginable, f It is outside of our plan to follow the course of the expedi- tion, but, as the work of Sebastian Cabot, it would leave a void in our narrative if we omitted it altogether. We accord- ingly give a few brief notices or rather mere mention of its course and end. The fleet on June 28 lost sight of England and entered the 'ividc sea driven on its northerly course by a fair wind ; but then the wind changed, and changed again, and continued to vary for many days, rendering the voyage very fatiguing by * Hakluyt, vol. l,p. 272.— Prom Ricliard Chancellor's narrative. t Chancellor's narrative drawn up in Latin by Clement Adams, who had it from Chancellor's own mouth, puts the departure from Ratcliffe on May 20, whereas Willoughby's journal says it was the lOih of the mouth. But the variance is merely apparent, they both give substantially the same day, for Willoughby follows the old Calendar approved in 825 by the Nicene Council; Clement Adams regulates the date according to the Caleudar as reformed un- der Pope Gregory XIII. - J, ...j^:Mi.i; H-\t t • . l^W r r- : I !: -t '^ i :>il /■ , ^- :.jv.;:»'Or'a-;-'-v' 298 THE LIFE OF SEBASTIAN CABOT. reason of the continual changes of the ships which became necessary in consequence. July 14 they discovered land to the east. The place showed some thirty huts, but not a liv- ing soul; perhaps the inhabitants had fled in fright on behold- ing the ships. Continuing on, they discovered a number of small islands, and on the 27th, they stopped at one of them and remained three days there, but they were unable to learn how far they were from the mainland. They were now at 68° of latitude. Departing on the 20th, they took to coasting along these islands till August 2, when they reached the shore lo ascertain what place they had come to : they were now at 70°. A boat put out from the shore at sight of them and came to the ships, from which they learned that the place was a small island named Seynam, poor, with no other products than a Ut- tle dried fish and fish-oil. As they wanted to reach Finmark * they asked for a pilot to guide thera thither. They were told they could have one, but must wait for him till the next day. Then, being assured that the island had a good harbor, they started to enter it. But both sides of the entrance were very high, and the vessels had hardly reached the opening when so violent a wind suddenly sprang up that, to avoid be- ing dashed on the rocks, they had to go about quickly and take to the open sea. But the wind was so fierce that to make their condition less desperate they had to take in all sails and trust their fortune to the control of the waves. The follow- ing night the fury of the wind increased, accompanied with so dense a fog that the ships lost all sight of each other. At midnight the Bona Speranza lost her boat, a serious loss in the sort of navigation she had to make. Daylight dispelled the fog, and when the ships looked for one another in the morn- ing, the Bona Speranza and Confidentia were found safe, but the Edward Bonaventure had disappeared. This separation occurred in the neighborhood of Cape North. The voyage after this was one continual struggle against storms : the ships were driven furiously to one side or the * Finmark, i. e. Marsbea or Borders of the Finns, the most northerly prov- iDce of Norway : its most northern point is Cape North. NEW EXPEDITIONS. 299 other, often obliged to go over the same course a second time, in constant fear for the present and dread of the future. What became of the Bona Spernaza is not known ; all trace of her was lost. The Confidentia was able to gain a harbor on the 18th of September, and as the season was growing severer, and snows and frosts heralded the ap- proach of Winter's horrors, they determined to stay there and wait for the favorable season. They sent out bands of ex- plorers in every direction to ascertain whether the land was in- habited, but after much wandering around and penetrating as far as four days' journey into the interior, they all returned say- ing they had not been successful. There in that harbor in the Spring of the following year tliey were all found dead. We know not what they suffered, and perhaps our imagination is impotent to conceive of all the horrors they endured. The details of their course were found recorded in the Journal of the voyage written in his own band by Sir Hugh Willoughby. It begins in this way : "The voyage intended for the discoverie of Catay, and divers other regions, dominions. Islands, and places un- knowen, set forth by the right worshipful master Sebastian Cabota "* The Journal ends with the 18th of September, the day when they took refuge in the harbor ; but it is likely that the greater part of them were still alive in the following Jan- uary, for under date of that month was found the Will of Gabriel Willoughby, a relative of Sir Hugh, and subscribed by Sir Hugh himself.f Why did Sir Hugh write nothing more in his Journal after the 18th of September ? We are unable to answer. All we can conjecture with tolerable safety is that they all perished from cold : this was inferred from the appearance of their bodies. •■ ' " This was the first notable step in the long journey that was to be made before the undertaking set on foot by the genius of Sebastian Cabot in 1553 was brought to a close in 1879, after *Hakluyt,i, p. 258. t Hakluyt, i, 260 & s. I. < ■ 1 t 1 . t- ^^H|| :.l iHpiK' mHmi -: '.' S naiiii, 1 ■1 .M PmHI '' ' m ... . IM . ......J^ii^ .Ji , I, lll«f 300 THE LIFE OF SEBASTIAN CABOT. ■•f f h , ^ i ! •' I IfM fSTT'TV- 32G years of attempts and enormous labors ; before a slii p leav- ing our shores triumphed over the dangers and terrors of the V frozen seas and succeeded in reaching the seas of China.* King Edward expired a few days after Sir Hugh suiled.f He was succeeded on the throne by his sister Mary, daughter of Henry VIII and Katharine of Aragon. In the second year of Mary's reign, 1555, Richard Chancellor, commander of the Edward Bona venture, returned. After several days of vain attempts to join his companions, he decided on continuing the voyage alone, undaunted by the excessive misfortunes en- dured; and so was the first European to reach Archangel in the White Sea.ij: Leaving his ship there, he went by land to Moscow to have an interview with the Tsar of Moscovy or Rus- sia, and open direct relations of commerce between those coun- tries and England, — a journey of fearful length considering the times, the country, and the people through wh;ch Chancellor had to pass. After an absence of two years, the intrepid ex- plorer returned, and his arrival with favorable letters from Ivan Basilivich, Emperor of all theRussias, excited indescrib- able rejoicing not less in the commercial body than at court.; Then was comprehended the great advantages England might gain through the company of merchant adventurers for her trade with Russia and China; and to assure and strengthen the company's continuance and activity,the gove rnment by charter of February 6, 1555, granted it the right of a corporation. The Act of Incorporation, recognizing that it was wholly the re- sult of Sebastian Cabot's zeal and ability, not only confirmed his appointment by the company as governor, but conferred on him that office for life.|| The merchants on their part * The expedition of the Vega, a Scottish ship, directed by Nordenskloeld. file died July 6, 1553. X [Of course, the author means the first European to ireach there by way o( the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans.— Translator.] g Hakluyt, i, p. 270 and s. { " And In consideration that one Sebastian Cabota hath been the cliiefest setter forth of this journey or voyage, therefore we malice, ordeine and consti tute him, the said Sebastian, to be the first and present Governourof the same | fellowship and communaltle by these presents, to have and enjoy the st office of Oovernour to bim the aaid Sebastiaa Oabota, cluriog bis naturall life, Cabot's pension renewed. 301 lost no time in fitting out another fleet of three ships, and sup- plying them with every thing useful, sent them on their voy- age in the following May.* The pension granted Gabot by King Edward was renewed November 27 of this year, f Why this renewal, if that pension was, as we said, for life ? Biddle, observing that in the order of renewal there was no mention made of the time that had elapsed since Edward's death, suspects that the pension had been withdrawn.;}: If that was the case, and I believe it was, it was doubtless owing to the rejoicing excited by Chancellor's return that the government felt forced to renew this pension for the services of the aged Cabot. Chancellor, soon after his return, sailed ngain for Archangel bearing the reply of the English Monarch to the letter of the Russian Emperor. The next year, 155G, Stephen Burrough, master of Sir Hugh Willoughby's yessel on the late voyage, sailed with a small vessel to make further explorations of the passage sought for by the north-east seas. § He left a narrative of his voyage, and at its commencement there is a passage concerning Sebastian Cabot which shows with what loving anxiety and joyful ardor the venerable old man followed the first steps of the undertaking he had thought out and set on its way. Burrough 's vessel was at Gravesend, and it was now the 27th of April, the eve of sailing. But it is best to give the account in his own words : "The 27 April being Munday, the right worshipful Sebastian Cabota came aboord our Pinnesse at Gravesende, accompanied with divers Gentlemen and Gentlewomen, who after that they had viewed our Pinnesse, and tasted of such cheere as we could make them aboord, they went on shore, giving without amoviag or dismissing from the same roome." Haltluyt i, p. 299. V. App. Ivii. * John Miciiiel, Veaetian ambassador in England, mentions it in two dis- patches. May 31 and November 4, 1555 (Files of Dispatches marked "Inchll terra," iu the State Records at Venice). Rawdon Biowu published an English transbition of them in his Calendar, vul. vi, part i, pp. 76 and 338 ; and Luigi Pa- M the original Italian ia his worii "I Niivigatori al Polo Artico." t Rymer, Fojdera, vol. xv^ p. 427. Sec App. Iviii. t Biddle, Memoir, bk. i, ch. xxzv, p. 217. g Hakluyt, i, 306. ..3 302 THE LIFE OF SEBASTIAN CABOT. .V- i?.fS to our mariners right liberal rewards ; and the good oldo Gentleman Master Cabota gave to the poore most lilxrall alraes, wishing them to pray for the good fortune, and prosperous suecesse of the serchtkrist our Pinnessc. And then at thes signe of the Christopher, hee and his friends banketted, and made me and them that were in the com- pany great cheere ; and for very joy that he had to see the towardness of our intended discovery, he intered in- to tlie dance himselfe, amongst the rest of the youn^ and lusty company ; which being ended, hee and his friend departed most gently, commending us to the Governance of Almighty God."* Cabot was now near his 84th year. But the sight of the ship awoke in him all the spirits and enthusiasm of his youth. and in the midst of the bold young men who were marcliing to the longed-for battles of the winds and storms, he felt himself young again, and joined them in the dance to celebrate the opening of the new Campaign. ; CHAPTER XXV. Sebastian Cabot's Death. After the sailing of Stephen Burrough, it again grows dark around Cabot, and we approach the conclusion of his life with the painful conviction of finding there ingr.atitude. Biddle thought the cause of this ingratitude should bo looked for in the religious change which took place in Enj^Kind when Queen Mary ascended the throne, and in the antipathy which she, a fervent Catholic, must feel towards those who had enjoyed the protection of her schismatical fatl-or and Protestant brother. But when ('abot came back to I' i ,'- land, the separation from the Catholic Church was com- plete ; — neither before nor after had he ever taken any part * Hakluyt, vol. i, p. 306. PHILIP Il'a ILL-WILL. 303 in religious or political questions ; his activity was exercised in a technical field where Catholics and non-Catholics took an equal interest, and the advancement of the English marine was a glory to tempt equally any king, and promised equal aid and benefit .to his power. On the contrary, the following considerations seem to me most just. Every new authority that obtains the govern- ment by a party contrary to that of the antecedent authority, is naturally inclined to pursue a course different from that of its predecessor, and to seek, from the necessity of its own pres- ervation, support and alliances among the opponents of the fallen authority. Thus in our present case we see that the Steelyard which had received so powerful a blow from the late government, succeeds under Mary's government in loosen- ing to some extent the close network of restrictions in which Cabot's circumspection had caused it to be enclosed. It would be childish to ask whether they hated Cabot heartily, and whether the small portion of life and freedom they had re- gained would be employed in revenging themselves on him. But there is also another fact to Cabot's damage, and a most serious one too. Queen Mary in 1554 gave her hand to Philip of Spain, son of Charles V. True, Philip's power in no wise extended to the government of England, but he could not fail to exercise a certain influence at court and on the Queen. The year before Charles V had again requested Cabot's return.* Is it likely that Philip had forgotten his desertion of Spain and his constant refusal to go back ? And not having forgotten, that he passed it over entirely as though it had not occurred ? It seems hard to believe ; but granting that his generosity went so far, the powerful always have about them some who want to interpret their desires with an excess of zeal : and the secret and avowed agents of Spain in England would be too great an exception to the rule if, knowing the King's feelings in regard to Cabot, they had not yielded to the temptation of interpreting and anticipating his wishes. The splendor which shone around Cabot's head on Rich- »ii-l ! ,1 See his letter to Queen Mary of September 9, 1568. App. zlviii. f- ■^^;3 304 THE LIFE OF SEBASTIAN CABOT. ard Chancellor's return dispelled the thick mist his ononiiog hud raised around him, and the government luul first lo recognize his merits by appointing him governor for life of the company of national merchants, and then to ri(i);rni;,(. his claims by confirming the pension assigned lum l)y King Edward. But the interval between the dates of the two ordinances, from February 16 to November 27, 1555, shows it the government was ready to recognize his merits it was not go willing to acknowledge his claims. And I think it would not be hazarding a rash judgment to think that this second ordinance cost Cabot and his friends many stops and much labor. But his enemies had too much the advantage of liim at his advanced age : and when the enthusiasm excited in his favor by Chancellor's return had been suifcred !(• die out, they returned to the attack, and found means of striking him a sure blow. All had been got from him tliiit could bo ; nothing now remained but to wait the results of the new enterprise he had promoted. And for this his work was entirely useless. Other hands, other forces were niM-cs- sary to push it forward. The worn-out tool is flung aside ; it is too rarely the case that the memory of service rend- ered causes it to be preserved as a glorious reminder of what it had been ; still more rarely where govornnionts are concerned. It requires strong friendships, long rooted, and Cabot had always wanted the time to cultivate such : it needs the testimony of services rendered, speaking out and present in the benefits derived from them ; and for Cabot this testimony could only speak in the future. Moreover I cannot regard it as a mere coincidence that Philip arrived in London May 20, 1557, and one week later. on the 27th, Cabot resigned his pension.* We are not told why, but may guess the reason from the new ordinance signed two days after his resignation. That pension was not only of use to him, but it was likewise an honor as a glorious testimony to his merit It would be absurd to suppose that * Rymer, vol. xv, p. 466.— Sec App. lix. DIVISION OF CABOT's PENSION. 305 he renounced it freely of his own accord. If he was not ab- solutely forced to give it up, it is fair to imagine such and sogrcut pressure to induce him to do so that the poor old man was powerless to resist. The new ordinance of May 29, renews in Cabot's favor the same assignment, but ho shared with William Worthington.* Probably Worthington was given him as an assistant in tho discharge of the duties en- trusted to him, which would be perfectly proper and natural at his very advanced age. But in dealing with a man like i'abot, to withdraw for this assistance a part of his pension is something more than shameful thrift in a government, not to meution that after the pension had been assigned to him for life, to cut it in halves was pure robbery. At this point Biddle remarks that Hakluyt in his first work published in 1582, after citing the patent granted by Henry VII and the testimony of Ramusio, mentions Cabot's cliarts and discourses drawn or written in his own hand, and says they were then in William Worthington's possession.! Tiie ingenious American connects this remark with the fact that Worthington was assigned as assistant to Cabot, and given half of his pension; and noting how greatly it was for Spain's interest to lay hands on these charts, and that after this mention by Hakluyt, both charts and manuscripts were lost to sight ; raises the suspicion that Worthington repaid King Philip's bounty by lending himself to the base game of causing the charts to disappear. :j: And in another place coming back to the same suspicion, he says : "The facts dis- closed may, perhaps, assist to account for the disappearance. It is obvious that such documents would be secured, at any price, by the Spanish Court, at the period of Hakluyt's publication, when English enterprise was scattering dismay amongst tho * "Eidem Sebastiano et dilecto servient! "Wlllielmo Worthington. "—Ibidem. t The whole passage will be given when we come to treat of Cabot's churls. I \"lt may be sufficient here to say of William Worthington, that he is joined with Sebastian Cabot In the pension eiven by Philip and Mary on the 29th I May, 1557. The probable fate of the Maps and Discourses will be considered I on reaching the painful part of Cabot's personal history which belongs to this lissnciation." Biddk', lib. i, cap. 4, p. 41. 20 306 THE LIKE OK HEBA8T1AN CABOT. ♦ • * f > ■ f 'm VK iH'^f — Mi Spaiiisli possessions in America. The work of TTnkluyt (sixl you* before the Armada) sliowed wliero tliey were to he loiind. The (l(*|)ositary of them was the very man who Imd hccu tlio object of Philip's bounty during liis brief inlhicncc in Knjr. hind. Were they not bought up ? There can be now only a| conjecture on the subject, yet it scorns to gather strengili tliu more it is rofiected on."* « ' ' ' It cannot be denied that Biddle's inductive reasonin^f Imsj a certain force ; but I could not bo induced by a mcic iiKhn- tion to throw the blame of such infamous action on oiu- wIid) held most honorable offices in his own country. It mjiy wtll be that Cabot's charts were taken to Spain, for Spain lnul aii interest in their possession ; but there were a thousand wins in wliich a crafty policy could get hold of them withoutj Worthington personally lending himself to the sluumtiil measure. And here, since tho course of our narraiivo has brought \is| where we must speak again of Cabot's charts, it will not !m out of place to sum up such information as has reiiclu'd uJ concerning them, the more so as one of tho many mistakos iiJ relation to Cabot is that he left no account of his voyages. +1 Of his charts, besides the copy still preserved in tho National Library at Paris, there are records of a copy which Natlianj Kocliaf saw at Oxford in 1566 ; that engraved by Clonuiitj Adams and seen by Hakluyt in the Royal Palace at Wcst-T minster ; X another which Orteliu-i had before him when liej composed his Atlas ; § one owned by the Earl of Bedford umlj mentioned by Willes ; || the one on which, according to EdoiiJ Cabot had made a design of his exploration of the Plata ;^| * 'iiddle, cap. xxxv, p. 231. t "Great surprise," says Biddle, "hns been expressed that, Cabot shnul-j liave left no account of hh voyaires. and this circumstance has ever been urire.j against him as a matter of reproach." \¥ewwi> i. ch. iv. and he cites \hJ words of Hugh Murray in his Historical Account of North America,vo\.\, p. 66. " Sebastian with all his knowlcdL'e and in the course of a lone life, neve* committed to writing any narrative of the voyage to North America " X See ch. HI. § See ch. xii. ( Ibidem. . % " From the mouth of the river Cabot sailed up the same into the lande foj (A mot's CHAKTH. 307 has brought ml ts, it will not !w| has rcachi'd \wl [any mistukcs iiil ■ his voyagi's. +[ ill th(' Natioiuilj which Niilliaul ed by Clomeutj Palace at \Vo?t' e him when liej of Hedford and! ording to EdeiiJ of the Plata " that, Cabot shnull has ever been ureel . nnd he cites \m Ameriea.vc^l ?■ '*'| ,f a lonff life, nevc^ America." I Ibidem. ne Into the landefol and three which Cabot hiinscdf montionsin his letter to John ,lt. Sfimana, secretary to Charles V* Finally, there is ont! «iiicli Livy Sanudo had under his eyes, *' a chart for sailing, " hi' says, " carefully made by hand, and every point described |iy('al»ot himself. "f These charts, us wo have seen, were also historical proofs of Cabot's voyages, owing to the descriptive !((;,. lids they bore concerning his discoveries and voyag(^s. lliiving si)oken of them already as occasion required in the iiiiinsc of our narrative, further explanations are vumecessary hire. Nor is it my design to nuike a special inquiry concern- iiijj the merit the chaVt of Cabot wliich is still lett us, may hiivc in Carti)grai»liy. Any one desiring this nuiy consult with pnitit the special works which treat of Cartography in the .W Century.:}: Tlu! last traces of charts drawn by ( 'abot's hand disappeared StpttMuber 20, 1575. On that day, John Bai)tist Gesio di- rected a memorial to the King of Spain, Philip 11, to recover nil ancient colored chart on parchment, made by Sebastian rahiit, which he said was the property of the state, but being found airiong the books of John do (^vando, deceased, torm- dy President of the Council of the Indies, was now put up •or sale at auction with Ovando's other books.J^ But of all the rich works which 1 believe were due to I his celebrated ability in cartography || there remains I llw space of three htindreth and flftie leagues, as be wrytetli in bis own Carde." YAcn, Vemdes, fol. 316. *Set! A pp. xlii. t Oeoijiaphia distlncta in xii libri, Vene/ia, 1588. p. 2. t Fliirrisse discusses it at crcnt length in the work we have so often cited. U'tii et Sfibttstien Oahot, p. iril. D'Avezac n\m treats it at some lengtli in lliu Un/e Cntiqve d'Uistoireet de Litterature. Premier Semestre, 1870, p. 208 and Sfl]. 5ITarrisse, p. 151.— "Tnvolopn sn nnder liastn sumuerteel visitiidor y presi- Identedi;! conse.iode InfUtis Juan d.- Ovando. Asi consta por memorial (lelcos- mfcrafo ,Tnan Bantista Gesio nl Rhv f»(-lia de Madrid y 20 de Setiembre du liio, rn donde dice, que en la idnioneda de log libros de Ovanilo estaba un mapaantigno de pergainino iluminado hecho nor Sebastian Gaboto, y pide se Ifcobre, porqiie le aseirnran pertenecc a S. M." (BiMlotcea del EHCoHnt). M. jTnienesde la Espada, Relaciones geogrdphieas de Indias, Madrid, 1881, p. xxx, I lota. I dcosi valente et pratico dell- cose pcrtineati alia navigatlone et alia i4' ; 4 •f y . .^^;^. ■^08 THE LIFE OF SEBASTIAN CABOT. to US only the copy preserved in the National Library at Paris, This is a large, colored map of the world, projected on a single elhpse 1.48 in width and 1.11 in height.* It was found in Germany and bought for the National Library in Paris in 1844. It bears no date nor place of printing, but a Spanish j inscription says it was extended in 1544 by Sebastian Cabot, Captain and Pilot-Major of Charles V.f That besides the traces and notes of his voyages leftonhisj charts, he had also written a descriptive account of themj we have certain knowledge from these words of Hakluyt's "This much concerning Sebastian Cabot's disco veric may suf-l fice for a present taste, but shortly God willing, sliall out in print All his own mappcs and Discourses drawiic and ^crttUnl by himselfe, which are in the custodie of the worshipful Mas-j ter William Worthington, one of her Majesty's Pensioners,] who (bicause so worthie monuments should not be buried iuj perpetual oblivion) is very willing to suffer them to be over-| scene and publisched in as good order as may be to the encour-i agement and benefite of our countrymen. "| After the halving of his pension, we lose sight entirely! of Sebastian Cabot, except a slight glance at him on liis death-j bed, assisted in his last moments ])y the true and kind Richarfi Eden. In the letter of dedication which Eden prefixed tol his translation of a book by John Taisnerus,§ ho relates} CdsiiiDgraiia, ch' in Spagna al presente non vfi un suo pari. . . .il qna)e sapevaj far carte marine di sua maao et inteadeva 1' arte del navigare piCi ci' alcua| altro." Hamusio, vol. vli, p. 414. —".... Sebastlin Caboto .... era gran Cosmografo . . . ." Herrora, Dec. iii, lib. x, cap. i. * [About 4 ft. 10 in. by 3 ft. 8 in.— Tr.] t " Sebastian Caboto capitan y piloto mayor de la Sacra Ccsarea Catnlica MajestaddellmperiulorDon Carlos qiiinto deste nombrey Rey Niicstro Sciior,| hizo esta flguia exteiisa en piano, anno del nascimiento de Nueslro Salvadoij Jesu Christo de MDXLIIIIanno?." t Hakluyt, in the Dedication to Sir Philip Sydney of bis work. First etiilionJ 1593. i- J J 1 S The title of the book is :— " A very necessarie and profitatjle bool^ concerning Navigation compiled in Latin by Joannes Taisnerus, etc. Trans- jMted into English by HicbardEden. Imprinted at Loudon by Richard Jugge." CABOT S DISPOSITION. 309 work. First edilionJ that Cabot on his death-bed "with a thin voice spoke of ;i divine revelation made to him of a new and infalUble method of finding longitude, but he could not disclose it to any mortal." It is plain that Cabot's mind was wander- ing • but the direction it took in his delirium, proves that his thoughts were constantly and intently searching to solve a problem which even to-day vexes the mind of scientists. As to the idea itself which his mind cherished in his dream, we have mentioned it in its place further buck in this present Idiiiptor. ' . Sebastian Cabot, so far as we can judge from the portrait which is left of him, must have been tall, majestic, lean, with [ strongly -marked features, and animated ?xpression. The ricli dress in which Cabot is painted and the great chain around his neck and hanging down to his breast, are probably the emblems of his office as Governor of the Company ofMer- 1 chant Adventurers. The Portrait was thought to be Holbein'*, t this opinion has since been controverted. I know not, I and it is not of any great interest for my work, which of the t«o sides is more likely right. In Purchas's time it was kept [in the King's Privy Gallery at Whitehall, but afterwards passed into private hands, perhaps at the time of the scatter- ing of objects of art in the royal palaces which took place [after the death of Charles I.* About the commencement of this century it came into the possession of the Harford Family of Bristol, from whom it was purchased in 1842 liy Richard Biddle, author of the Memoirs of Sebastian Cabot, who hung it in his house at Pittsburgh, Pa., where he [resided, and where it was destroyed by a fire in 1845.f Oi ..he disposition and habits of Sebastian Cabot we can col- lect no reminiscences, nor any specir.l fact : but Ranmsio's [Anonymous relates with expansive praise his courtesy in receiving him, and answering his questions and comply- ing with his wishes ::}: and his modesty and fai'-ness are hliown in the enthusiastic words in which, so famous by his •-Purcha3, iv, p. 1813.— Biddle. Memoir etc. p. 323. \li' A.vezixc, Rsvue Critique, p. 208, t See App. xiz. If)'*';! 310 THE LIIE OF SEBASTIAN CABOT. own navigations and discoveries, he speaks of Christophor Co- lumbus, and acknowledges that he obtained from him the tii>i spark which kindled his ardor for discovery.* Rut our best proof of what he was, not only of his great prudence of mind, but also of his goodness of heart, is in the instructidiis given to Sir Hugh Willoughby ; of which it is needless for us to speak further after what we have not long since said of them. That he was a profoundly religious man is jirovcd not only by the minute instructions he gives Willouj^hliv that the men of his expedition should be regular and punctual in fulfilling their duties towards God, luit evdi more by the delirium of his last illness, when he recognized as a divine revelation his discovery of the declination of the magnetic needle. The mind at that time freed from all motive of policy or convenience, left wholly to itself, uncon- scious of its thoughts, invariably goes over and repeats apin the thought which during life it had oft r f lained with a firm conviction. We know nothing of when or where he died, nor even the spot where he was buried. England, wholly occuj)ied in coursing the seas over which he had directed her, had no time to remember or mark the sepulchre of the man to whoso powerful initiative she owes the wealth and power which have placed her among the foremost nations of the world. What is still worse, her historical literature, so rich in quantity and quality, has not a book in which his life and work are inves- tigated and studied profoundly and at as great length as possible, although her writers have at times proc^'.iined bis greatness and protested the gratitude due to him ' iii'' English nation. He was but a few years dead whe^. hi celebrating the navigations of Sir Humphrey Gilbert to l. '■' - America, sang of that region : " Haric t.it»i janidudum priini invenere Brilanni Turn cum nmgnanimiis nostra in reginne Cahotuft Proximus a magno ostendil sua vela Coliimbo."f * Ibidem. t Stephen Parmenius, called Bndaens, from the city of Buda ' i Hungary, where he was horn.— Hakluyt, iii, 176. Gilbert to i. Buda • > Hungary, England's neglect of cabot. 311 In the first half of the last century Campbell wrote : — "If this worthy man had performed nothing more, his name ouglit surely to have been transmitted to future times with lionour, since it clearly appears, that Newfoundland* had been ;i source of riches and naval power to this nation, from the time it was discovered, as well as the first of our planta- tions ; so that with strict justice, it may be said of Sebastian Cubot, that he was the Author of our Maritime Slrevr/th and opened the way to those improvements which have rendered us so great, so eminent, so flmirishing a people "\ And Barrow wrote in the beginning of the present century : " aSV- \mtUm Cabot .... By his knowledge and experience, his zeal and penetration, he not only was the means of extending the Foreign Commerce of England, but of keeping alive that spirit of enterprise, which even in his life-time, was crowned with success, and which ultimately led to the most happy re- sults for the nation." | After these declarations repeated in sense, if not in words, by oil the English writers who have had occasion to mention liim, it must seem almost incredible that so wealthy a nation never thought of setting up a memorial which would serve to commemorate, not the name of Cabot, for that needs it not, but her own recognition of, and gratitude for, his work. " He, " says Biddle, " gave a Continent to England : yet no one can point to the few feet of earth she has allowed liiin in return. " § •Newfoundland, i, e, the whole of the new land discovered by the English in the northern part of America. — See cli. iv. \John Campbell's Lives of the Admirals, art. Sebustian Cabot. I John Barrow's Chronological History of Voyages into the Arctic Begiom, Lon- don, 1818. § Memoir, p. 228. APPENDIX. Different ways in which the name Caboto is found m'itten. I believe it would be hard to find another surname so al' tered and distorted in writing as that of Cabot. I give a sample here to satisfy the reader's curiosity. A. Gaboto — " Diose a Gaboto titulo de Capitan General." Ilerrera, Dec. iv, lib. viii, cap. 12. B. Gavoto — " Notifiqueys un mandamiento da parte de seilor Sebastian Gavoto." Diego Garcia, in his order to Cap- tain Francis de Rojas. C. Cabota — "Si ave\a messo in fantasia Sebastiano Cabota . . . poter essere che qualche passo fosse nel mar settentrio- nale." In the Raccolta of G. B. Ramusio, 2nd Ed. 1866. vol. ii, p 212. D. Oabot — "Sebastien Cabot nomma pour commander. . . . I dans le fort du S. Esprit Nuno de Lara," Charlevoix, Hid. I (In Paraguay, liv. i. E. Gabot — "II assembla quatre mille hommes dans ! un marais, qui etait fort pres de la Tour de Gabot. Id. 16. P. Gabato — "This yeare one Sebastian Gabato .... caused Itlio King to man ... a shippe." Robert Fabian according [toStow's reading. 1631. p. 480. G. Cabotto — "Di Giovanni e Sebastiano Cabotto." This is [the title of a chapter in Placido Zurla's work Sui Viaggiatori Wencziani. ,r 314 APPENDIX NO. 1. fifi ''it* "^ - J r\ I H. Gavotta — "Henry VII .... extended his protection to the Venetian John Gavotta or Cabot." Dr. ]!jardner's Cab- inet Cyclopaedia, vol. ii, p. 136. I. Kahot — "John Cabot or Gabot or Kabol; would be at- tended . . ." M. Clifton in a note cited by Biddle. Memoir, p. 84. K. Shahot — "Mr. Feekham had wan-ant for 100 L. for the transporting of one Shabot a Pilot of Hispairi," extract from the minutes of the Privy Council of Edward VI, King of Eng- land. ■ ' ' L. Bahate — "Elle (New France) fut ddcouverte premiere- ment par Sebastien Babate Anglois." A. Thevet, Singula- ritoz do la France Antarctique. Paris, 1558, fo. 148. M. Cahotte — **The twentieth of May, by the encouragement of one Sebastian Cabotte three great ships ...were sette forthe." Stow, Chronidea, London, 1580, p. 1057. N. Gaboto, "The great . . . encourager of which voiagc was Sebastian Caboto," Holinshed, Tlie Chronicle ofEnglande, Smf- lande and Irelande, 1557. ii. p. 714. O. Cabote — "desirerions communiquer aucunes affaires. . , . avec le Capitaine Cabote" . . . Letter of Charles V to Man- Tudor, Queen of England. Foreign Calendars, 1553 — 58, i. p. 10. P. Gabote — "One Sebastian Gabote generall p[ilot] of the em- perours Indias is presently in England." Dispatch of the Eng- lish Ministers, 25 Nov. 1549 ( Colton M. Galba, B. xii. fo. 124). Q. O7fto«— "paide . . . in . . . recompense of . . . labour con- ductying of Sebastian Cabott. 43 L. 4 S." Note of expenses reported in 1. S. Brewer's Calendar Domestic and Foreign, iv, part i, p. 154. Sebastian Cabot in his letter to John of Samano secretary to Charles V, signs himself Caboto with one t : this is tiic form most frequently met with in the letters that passed be- tween the Council of Ten and their ambassadors in Spain and England in reference to the same Sebastian ; and it is ahnost the only one found in the acts of the suit prosecuted against him in Spain. I have therefore preferred it, and the more so APPENDIX NO. 3. 315 because the other, Cabotto with double t, is easily explained as 11 slip of the tongue or pen [The usual English form Cabot is substituted for t'lo author's Caboto in this translation — Tr.]. II. Privilegium CiviKtatis de intus et extra per Jiabitationem Annontm XVy Aluisii Fontana, olim de pergamo. Nicolaus Tronus Dux Venetiarum etc. Universis et sin- {juli.s tani aniicis quam fidelibus, et tam praesentibus quani futuris, presens privilegium inspecturis, salutem et sincere (lilectionis affectum. Notum vobis fieri volumus per praesentem paginam, quod cum inter cetera, que in mente nostra revolviinus, altenda- mus precipue nostrorum subditorum et fidelium devotorum tractare propensius comoda et utilia salubritcr procurare. Cum hoc excellentie nostre decus aspiciat et fidelium dcvotio iitilius pertractata in nostrae fidelitatis et devotionis constan- tia ferventius solidetur, Duximus volentes beneficia recom- pensare pro mentis statuendum. Quod quicumque annis XV vel inde supra Venetiis con- tinue habitasset, factiones et onera nostri dominii ipso tempore subeundo a modo civis et venetus noster esset : et citadinatu3 Venetiarum privilegio et alijs beneficiis, libertatibus et im- munitatibus, quibus alii Veneti et cives nostri utuntur et }:;iuident, perpetuo et ubilibet congaudetur. Unde cum provi- (lus vir, Aluisius Fontana, olim de Pergamo, nunc habitator Venetiarum in contrata Sancti luliani, sicut legitimis et iiianifestis probationibus per provisores nostri Comunis dili- jjenter examinatis, nobis innotuit annis XV Venetiis contin- luuu habitationem habuerit, erga nos et ducatum nostrum, fideliter et laudabiliter sub devotionis integritate se gerens ; et; subiens continue factiones et onera nostri dominii, digna remuneratione prosequentes, eundem ipsum Aluisium Fon- tana consiliorum et ordinaraentorum nostrorum, necessaria ■ i ■'i 1 I 316 APPENDIX NO. 2. h t ' !i''I l!i '.U il te ' .^. solemnitate scrvata, in venetum et civem nostrum de intus ct extra, recepimus atque recipimas, et venetum et civem nos- trum, de intus et extra, fecimus et facimus, et pro Veneto ot cive nostro in Venetiis et extra, habere et tractare, ac luihcri volumus, et ubique tractari. Ita quod singulis libertatibus, boneficiis et iramunitatibus, quibus alii veneti et cives nostri de intus et extra utuntur et gaudent, idem Aluisius in Venetiis ct extra, libere gaudeat de cetero et utatur. Intolli- gendo, quod per mare, et in fontico theotonicorum, seu cum theotonicij, mercari ; seu mercari facere non possit nisi de tanto quanto fecerit imprestita nostro dominio in anno. In cujus rei fidem et evidentiam pleniorem, presens privilegiuni fieri jussimus et bulla nostra plumbea pendente muniri. Datum in nostro ducali Palatio, Anno Domini incariia- tionis millesimo quadringentesimo septuagesimo sccundo, mensis Augusti die undccimo indictione Quinta. Simile privilegiuni factum fuit provido viro lohanni lacobi qui fuit de pensauro nunc habitatori Venetiarum, tem- pore serenissi mi principis domini Nicolai Marcelli Incliti ducis Venetiarum etc. sub bulla plumbea MCCCCLXXIII mensis Octubris die XXIII Indictione VII. Simile privilegiuni factum fuit provido viro Martino Figini qui fuit de Mediolano habitatori Venetiarum tempore sereiiis- simi Principis domini Nicolai Marcello MCCCCLXXIII die quarto lulii Indictione VII. Similo privilegium factum fuit provido viro Autonio Guli- elmi Calderaio de Columbia qui fuit de Balabio districtus Mediolani habitatori Venetiarum tempore serenissimi Prin- cipis domini Petri Mocenigo sub bulla plumbea MCCCCLXXV mensis mail die quiiito Indictione Octava. Simile privilegium factum fuit provido viro loanni Bartho- lomci de Brixia habitatori Venetiarum tempore serenissimi Principis Domini Nicolai MarcelloMCCCCLXXIIII die XVII Mail Indictione VII. Simile privilegium factum fuit probo et prudenti viro loanni Pietro de Turco qui fuit de Navaria habitatori Vene- tiarum tempore serenissimi Principis Domini loannis Mo- cenigo die XXII '^^ Augusti 1480. APPENniX NO. 3 317 Simile privilcgium factum fuit Bartholomeo Antonii Casarolo die XVIII Augusti 1481. Simile privilcgium factum fuit Bernardo Bartholomei de I'crgamo die 28 Septcmbris 1484. Simile privilcgium factum fuit Zacharie de panti de lodi die ■2S Septcmbris 1484. Simile privilcgium factum fuitBenedicto Lancelloti fontana (lie 28 Septcmbris 1484. Simile privilcgium factum fuit loanni Sebastiano et Stefano fnitribus die 28 Septcmbris 1484. Simile privilcgium factum fuit Raphaeli quondam Antoni do ardiconi))us die 12 fobruari 1484. Simile privilcgium factum fuit M. Stefano Nicolai Aurifici bulla aurea die 20 fcbruarii 1484. Simile privilcgium factum fuit loanni Caboto sub duce suprascripto 1470.* Simile privilcgium factum fuit Dominico loanni de la Cisio sub die XVIII januari 1498. Simile privilegium factum fuit lacobo Deblandratis sub die XXVII julii 1500. Simile privilegium factum fuit lo : lacobo grimasco papi- cnsi die 17 Augusti 1501. State Archives, Venezia, Libro Privilegi, t. ii, p. 53. •[Observing that some of these records nre not iu their chront ogical order, I wrote the Author to ascertain if there was not some mistake. Signor Tar- (iucci wrote to the superintendent of the Frari Archives at Venice, 8ig. F. Stc- fani, requesting him to compare the copy with tlie original. He received tlie following reply, dated January 26, 1893. "The chronological confusion is precisely, as you have remarked, due to the bail practice, if we choose lo call it so, of the clerks of the ducal chancery, of leaving blank spaces for registrations which afterwards were not entered, per- haps from oversight, and which they subsequently made use of to insert much later acts. " Such chronological confusion is also found in other registers of our arch- ives, but it does not detract from the authenticity of the acts therein inserted. "F. Stefan!." ■""I^-^!' ,' Translator.] ii ''^kml ' lii H jJiB U'^t ". -jl I lH: 1 PKWt^' ■U HI '* ;■:■ r'.'tlftiJi ; , ■ r' ■' \ ' i ''ttlliJ 318 APPENDIX NO. 5^. III. Inscription on Sebastian Cabot's Planisphere (1544) on the first discovery in 1494. jr 1.. I 5,t H'J , ! , ; i h I liTTij' i * ■i * 1. AccouDiNG to tho copy preserved in the Nutional Li- brary at Paris. A. Spanish. — N. 8. Esa tierra fuo descubierta por loan Cii- boto Voiieciano, y Sebastian C'aboto hu bijo, anno del luisci- nHentodenuestroSalvadorJe.su II Cln-istode M. CCCC. XCIIII, a veintey quatro do lunio, por la niannana, ala qual pusicion nobro prima tierra vista, y a una isla ^rade (|uc| esta par de la dha tierra,* le pusieron nonibre sant loan, ])()r aver sido descubierta el ndsnio dia la ji^ente della andan vestidos depieles de aniiuales, usan en sus ^uerras aroo^;, y flcchas, lancas, y dardos, y unas porras do })al(), y liondas. Es tierra muy storil, ay tn ella niucbos orsos phuicos, y ciervos jnuy grades conio cavallos y otras niuehas ani- iuales y senieiantemente ay pcscado intinito, sollos, salmocs, leni^uados, niuy grandes do vara enlargo y otros inuchas diversidades de poscados, y la mayor multitud deilos scdi/.cii baecalaos, y asi mismo ay enla dba tierra Ilalcones jnictos cuomo euervos Acjuillas, Ferdices, Pardillas, y otras nuichas aves de diversas maneras.|| U. Latin. — Terrain banc oli in nobis clausam, aperuit loan- nes ('abotus Venetus, necno Sebastianus Cabotus eius tiiiiis anno ah orbe redem — .]| pto 141)4 die vero 24 Julij (sic), bora r> sul) dilueulo, qua terra prima visam appellarunt, et Insula (luandi magna ei opposita, Insula divi lo | anni.: nominarunt,([uippo quae solemni die festo divi loannis apirla Mt. liuius terrae iucoluo pellibus auiuiulium mduuutur, urcu * He seems to mean that the island was found on a line parallel to the main land : the Latin translation says, instead, that it was opposite. But the pdsi- tion of the island on the map agrees better with the original Spanisli expres- sion. A»'1'KNDIX NO & 319 'Jutioiuil Li- in bcllo, sa ="|| gittis, hastis spiculis clavis lignois, ot fundis utuntur, sterilis incultaq tellus fuit, loonibus, ursisalbis, proco- risciue cervis, piscibus inriume — ris lupis scilicet, salinoiiibus, et ingentibus soleis, uuius ulnao longituJine, alfisquo divor.sis piscium generibus abundat, horum autoin maxima copia || est, (luosvulgus Bacallios appellat, ad haec insunt accipitros nigii sorvorum similes, aquilae, perdicesque fusco colore aliaeque di- versae volucres. The Latin version given by Chytreus is identical with that of the copy at Paris, except that the latter has Julii by mis- take, where Chytreus has correctly Junii. ' II. According to the transcription of Ilakluyt from the copy in the King's privy Gallery at Westminster, cut by Clement Adams. Anno Domini 1494 (so in the first edition ; tiie others have 1497) Joannes Cabotus Venetus, et illius tilius cam ter- riini fecorunt perviam, quam nullus prius adiro ausus fuerit, ilii! 24 Junii, circiter horam quintam bene mane. Hanc autem appellavit Terrani primum visam, credo quod ox inari in earn partem primum oculos injecerat. Nainque ex adverso sita est insula, cam appellavit insulam Divi Joannis, hac opinor ratione, quod aperta fuit eo die qui est sacer Divo Joanni Baptistae : * Cuius incolac pellesani- nialium exuviasque ferarum pro indumentis habent, eas([ue tauti faciunt, quanti nos vestes pretiosissi mas. Cum helium gerunt, utuntur arcu, sagittis, hastis, spiculis, clavis ligneis et fuudis. Tellus sterilis est, nequo ullos fructus affert, ex quo tit, ut ursis albo colore, et cervis inusitatae apud nos magnitudinis referta sit ; piscibus abundat iisque sane magnis, quales sum lupi marini et quos salmones vulgus appellat ; soleae autem reperiuntur tam longae ut ulnae mensuram excedaut. Impri- mis antem magna est copia eorum piscium quos vulgari ser- monovocant Bacallaos. Gignunturin ea insula acc-ii)iires ita nigri, ut corvorum similitudinem mirum in nioduiu expri- inant, perdices antem et acjuilae sunt nigri coloris. Ilak- luyt, vol. iii, p. 27. „_^. .-^- . * For what follows see what was said 1u chapter iv, p. 50. M 1(1- 320 AiM'HNDIX NO. 5. < (•• IV. Petition of John Cabot to Henry VII King of England for privilem of Navigation for himnelf and his three sons. PiiMic Hcrord Office ( London ), Chancery Bill signed, suh anno 11 Ilonr. VII. No. 51. Memorandum quod quinto die Marcii anno regni rcfri.s Ilcnric'i Soi)timi undocimo ista billa deliberatn full do- mino Cancollario Anglioapud Westmonastcriumexequonda. To tlie Kyng our sovereigne lord. IMcsase it your highness of your mosto noble and hahoiind- ant grace to graunt unto John Cabotto citizen of Vcnos, Lewes, Sebastyan and Hancto his sonnoys your gracious lettrcs palcMites under your grcte scale in due forme to be mado according to the tenour hereafter cnsuyng. And they sludl during their lyvos pray to God for tiie prosperous continu- ance of your moste noble and royal ^ astato long to cnduer. Rex omnibus ad quos Ac. salute otum sit ct manifcstum (fee. as in the following. V. Letters Patent of King Henry VII to John Cabot and his three sons granting the privilege prayed for, March 5, 149G. ( Public Record Office, London. French. Roll, sub anno llnio Henr. VII. membran. 23. ) Ilenricus dei gratia rex Ang- lic et Francie et dominus Hibernie omnibus ad quos presontes litero nostre pervenerint, salutem. ■ Notum sit et manifestum quod dedimus et concessimus, ac per presontes damns et concedimus pro nobis et heredihus nostris dilectis nobis lohanni Caboto civi Veneciarura, ac Lo- dovico, Sebastiano et Santio filiis dicti lohannis, et eoruin ac .\rPK\PTX NO. s. 321 Ifiijuslibet eorulu herodibus et deputatis plenara ac liberam iiuctori tutom, falcultatom ot potestatom navigandi ad oinnes piirtos, rogionos et sinus maris oriontalis, occidcntalis et sep- I lomtrioualis, sub banuoris, voxiliis et insigniis nostris, cum ,|iiiii(|ae navibus sivo navigiis cujuscumque portiturae et |(|militatis existant, et cum tot et tautis nautis et boiniuibus (|Uot et quantos in dictis navibus secum ducere voluerint. .sideri possint, subjugare, oc- ciipare et possidere valeant, tamquam vassalli nostri et jgiibornatores, locatenentes et deputati eorundem, domi- Inium, titulum et jurisdictionem eorundem villarum, cas- troruin, oppidorum, insularum ac tcrre firme sic in- ventorum, nobis acquirendo. Ita tamen ut ex omnibus fruc- Itibus, proficuis, emolumentis, commodis, lucris et obventio- liiibus, ex hujusmodi navigatione provenientibus, prefatus iJoiinnos et filii, ac heredes, et eorum deputati teneantur let slut obligati nobis, pro omni viagio suo, totiens quo- jtieiis ad portum nostrum BristoUie applicuerint, ad quern jomninoapplicare teneantur et sint astricti, deductis omnibus Isuinptibus et impensis necessariis per eosdem factis, quintara Jpiiitein capitalis lucri facti, sive in mercibus, sive in pecuniis jpersolvere. Dantes nos et concedentes eisdem suisque beredibus et de- Iputatis, ut ab omni solutione custumarum omnium ot singu- Boiiuu bonorum ac mercium quas secum reportarint ab illis Bocis sic noviter inventis, liberi sint et immunes. Et insuper 21 ^'1? .' i ( ' ■'■''Sf 322 APPENDIX NO. 6. I* I dedimus et concessimus eisdem ac suis heredibus et doputatis, quod terre omnes firme, insule, ville, oppida, castra, et| loca qusecumque a se inventa, quotquot ab eis inveniri conj tigerit, non possint abaliis quibusvis nostris subditis frequeu-j tari sen visitari absque licentia predictorum loannis et ejus tiliorum, suorumque deputatorum, sub pena amissioiiisj tarn navium quam bonorum ominum quorumeumque adj ea loca sic inventa navigare presumentium. Volentes et strictissime mandantes omnibus et siiifjiilisi nostris subditis, tam in terra quam in mare constitutisJ ut prefato loanni et eius filiis ac deputatis, bonam asl sistentiam faciant, et tam in armandis navibus sou niivil giis, quam in provisione com meatus et victualium pro! sua pecunia eraendorum, atque aliarum rerum sibi providen- darura, pro dicta navigatione sumenda suos omnes faj vores et auxilia impartiant. In cuius rei testimonium has lit-J teras nostras fieri ^ecimus patentes : teste me ipso apudj westiuonasterium <(uinto die Murtii, &c. VI. The following despatch is in reply to one from Dr. Pueblaj to their Catholic Highnesses. Puebla's dispatch cannot found, but its contents are clearly shown by what is sai(| by the Spanish sovereigns in their reply. Copia de parrafro de ruinuta de carta de los Reyes catolim « Doctor Puchlafecha en Tortosa d 28 de imarzo de 1496. Public Records of Simancas. Capitulaciones con Inglatemj Legajo ( a mass of loose papers ) 2°, f °, 16. Quanto a lo que desis que alia es yda uno como colon pa poner al Rey de ynglaterra en otro negociocorao eldelasyii dias syn perjuysio de espafia ni de portogal sy asy le aciulej APPENDIX NO. 7. 323 el como a nosotros lo de las yndias bien librado estara creheraos que esto sera echadiso del Re}' de francia por poner en esto la Key de ynglaterra para le apartar de otros negocios, mirad que procureis que en esto ny en Ic seinejante no Resciba engafio el Rcy de ynglaterra que por quantas partes pudieren traba- jaraii los franceses de gelo hazer, y estas cosas semejantes son I t(«:is niuy yn yiertas y tales que para agora no conviene en ten- der en ellas y tan bien mirad que aquellas .. * no se puede en- teiuler en esto syn perjuisio nuestro o del Rey de portogal, Hiirrisse, in communicating to Desimonithis dispatcb,which I with the exception of one sentence, was unpublished, adds : •Je n' ai plus la premiere phrase : J'ai refit voire lettre dii 21 \himer" Desimoni, Inlorno a Giovanni Caboto, Genova, 1881. ■■iM % ^ Ls con Inglaterra VII. lExb-adfrom an anonymous chronicle, part of Robert Cotton's collec- tion in the British Museum, on the voyage of John Cabot in 1497. In anno 13 Henr. V[T. This yere the Kyng at the besy request and supplication of a Straunger venisian, wich by a X'ueart made hym self expert in knowying of the world caused llie Kyng to manne a ship w^ vytaill and other necessair- Islor toseche an iland wheryn the said Straunger surmysed be grete commodities : w' wliich ship by the Kynges trace so Rygged went 3 or 4 moo owte of Bristowe, the said Itraungcr beyng Conditor of the saido Flete, wheryn diuers prchauntes as well of London as Bristow aventured goodes |ik1 sleight merchaundises, which dei.arted from the West uiitrey in the begynnyng of Somer, but to this present bieth came nevir Knowlego of their exployt. I (Ms. Cott. Vitellius, A. xiv. f. 173, British Museum. M. d' Avezac fills this spncp with the word partes. '1 U ' I 324 APPENDIX NO. 9. W VIII. Extract from the Chronicle attributed to Robert Fabynn ao^ cording to Richard Hakluyt's reading. A note of Sebastian's Gabotes voyages of DiscoverieJ taken out of an old chronicle, written by Robert Fabyanl some time Alderman of London, which is in the custodJ of John Stowe, citizen, a diligent searcher and preserver o| antiquities. This yere the King (by meanes of a Venetian, wind] made himselfe very expert and cunning Knowledge of the circuit of the worlde, and ilands of the same as by a carde, and otliej la ihe 18 yere of King Heurie the Vn, 1498. demonstrations reasonable hee shewed) caused to man and victuall a shippe at Bristow to search for an ilande, which lieJ saide hee Knewe wel was riche, and replenished with rielij commodities. Which ship thus manned and victualled a| the Kinges cost, divers marchants of London ventured in liej small stockes, being in her,as chiefc Patrone, the said Venetiai^ And in the company of the said shippe sayled also out Bristowe, three or foure small ships, fraught '.vitlj sleight and grosse merchandizes as course clot!) Caps, laces, points and other trifles, and so departed froij Bristowe in the beginning of May : of wlioi^ in this Maior's time returned no tidings. Bristow. William Purclias Maior of London (E'iakluyt, Divers voyages toncliing the disconrie of AmericA London, 1582, in 4*".) _.i33 „ -; IX. TTie same extract according to John Stowe's reading. In anno 14 Henr. VIL* This yeare one Sebastian Gabati a genoas sonne borne in Bristow professing himselfe * The number 14 is an error ; it should l)e 13, as Hakluyt puts it, tij fijso AnoDjsrmouslD the Cottoni^D collection. APPENDIX NO. 10. 325 [be experte in knowledge of the circuit of the worlde and llliindes of the same, as by his Oharts and other reason- able (lenionstrations lie shewed, caused the King to man and I victual a shippe at Bristow to search for an Ilande wiche he Knewe to be replenished with rich commodities : in the Isliip diverse merchauntes of London adventured smal stockes, liiiiil in the company of this shippe, sayled also out of Bristow I !iiec or foure smal shippes fraught with slight and grosse luiucs as course cloth, Caps, Laces, points and such other. (Annals or a great Chronicle of England begun by I. Stow, icontinued by Edm. Howes, London, 1G3L p. 480.) Stow follows this extract with this other taken from Sir Hum- Iplirey Gilbert's Discourse For a new Passage to Cataia. Sir Humphrey Gilbert Knight in his booke intituled a dis- Icoverie for a new passage to Cataia writeth thus, Sebastian jGiibato, by hys personal experience and travaile hath set forth land discribed this passage in his Charles, whiche are yet to be Iseenc in y*^ queenes Maiestes privie Gallerie, at White Hall, [who was sent to make this discoverie by King Henrie the sev- jeutli, and entered the same fret, affirming y' he sayled very far jffestward vvyth a quarter of the North on the Northside of Term pe Labrador, the eleventh of June, until he came to the sep- putrional latitude of 07 i degrees, and finding tho seas stil Jopen, sayd, y*he might and would l»ave gone to Cataia if the Inimitie of the Maister and Marin liad not bene. X. Hakliiyt puts it. »i| ^di ads from accounts of the privy purse of Henry VII (from the M S. of the British Museum, Additional 7099, printed in the Excerpta Historica, or Illustrations of English History, pul ' lished by S. Bentley, London, 1831. ) -Fol. 41 (anno) 12 Henrie VII, 1497. [August 10. To hym that founde the new Isle, L. 10." (p. 113.) -Fol. 45, 12 Hen. VII, 1498. ■| 1.1] j.iiiiiiiwiiipiip fi -^ i'. 326 APPENDIX NO. 11. "March 22. To Lanslot Thirkillof London upon a Prestfor his shipp going towards the new Ilande, L. 20." — "Item delivered to Launcelot Thirkill going towards the new He in Prest, L. 20." "April 1st. Item to Thomas Bradley and Launcelot Tliir- kill going to the new Isle, L. 30." —"To John Carter going to the newe He in reward, 40 s " (pp. 116, 117.) • • , fi ♦ ' XI. Copia de uno capitolo scrive in una Idera Sier Lorenzo Pasqualigo i di Sier Filippo, di Londra adi 23 agosto, a Sier Alvise e Fiwicesn \ Pasqualigo suo fradeli Veniexia, ricevuta adi 23. Setembrio 1497. "L'e venuto sto nostro Venetian o clie ando con uno iiavilio j de Bristo a trovar ixole nove, e dice haver trovato li^^e 7( lontam de qui Teraferma, ze el paexe del gram cam, e die I andato per la costa lige 300, e che desmontato e non a visto j persona alguna, ma a portato qui al re certi lazi ch'era tos per prender salvadexine, e uno ago da far rede e a trovato j certi albori tagiati, si che per questo iudicha die ze persone, Vene in mare per dubito,* et e stato mexi tri sul viazo e questo ] e certo, e al tornar aldreto a visto do ixole ma non ha voliito desender per non perder tempo che la vituaria li niuiicava. Sto re ne habuto grande piacer e dise che le aque e stanclie o non hano corso come qui. El re li ha promesso a tern j)o novo j navil X e arraati come lui vor^ ed ali dato tutti i prosouiori da trad i tori in fuora che vadano con lui come lui a richiestol e ali dato danari fazi bona ziera fino a quel tempo e con so moier venitiana e con so fioli a Bristo. El qual se ('liiamaj Zuam Talbot, f e chiamasi el gran armirante e vienli fatoj • It seems that he means to say : "in the belief that the country was inbaN j itcd he returned to his ship per dubito, i. e, doubting of his reception bytliej natives." t "I have no doubt I'at we should read Cabot, the more so as this ramej is altered to Oabot in ae later pages of the text of Sanudo. This is furtlierl Launcelot Thir- n reward, 40 s." APPENDIX NO. 12. B27 granrle honor e va vestido deseda e sti Inglexi li vano driedo a mo pazi e pur ne volese tanti quanti navrebbe con lui e etiiiin molti de nostri furfanti. Sto inventor de queste cose a iiiipiaiitato suli terreni a trovato una gran + con una bandiera de Ingeltera e una de san Marcho per essere lui Veuetiano, si che el nostro confalone se stese molto in qu^ . " (Marin Sanudo. Diarii, vol. i, p. 806. Venezia, 1879.). ■:•:'! ■ ■.■i..;.|.jiaj XII. Extract from a letter of Raimondo da Soncino, Ambassador of the Duke of Milan to the Court of Henry VII. {Archivii Sforza Milano.) Rawdon Brown published it in English in his Calendar &c., vol. iii, p 260, n. 750. The original in the State archives of Milan cannot be found : H. Harrisse has published the text as in the original, as it appears from the copy which Rawdon Brown got from the Public Record Office. It runs thus : Londra, 24 Agosto, 1497. — Item la Magesta de Re sono mesi passate havia mandato uno Veneciano el qual e molto bono marinare e a bona scientia de trovare insule nove, e ritornato a salvamento et a ritrovato due insule nove gran- dissime et fructiffere et etiam trovato le septe citade lontane da r insula de Ingilterra lege 400 per lo camino de ponente : la Maesta de Re questo primo bono tempo gli vole man- dare XV in XX navili. H. Harrisse, Jean et Sebastien Cabot, p. 323. [ justified by note 74 on page 217 of vol. i of Rawdon Brown's work. On the Life and worka of Maria Sanudo." L. Pasini, INavigaton al Polo Artico, p.lOg (■ ' If -•'Saij I'J' ' 'I" " 'W^ ■mm 1 328 APPENDIX NO. 13. Mm" xiii. . Second Letter of Raimondo da Soncino (Archivio di Stato in Milano, Potenze Estere, Inghilterra, 1497, dicembre). 18 J )eccmbre 1497. — Illustrissimo et excellentissimo Signor mio. Forsi che tra tante occupatione V. Ex. non li savh mo- lesto intendere come questa Maest^ ha guadagnato una jiarto do Asia senza colpo de spada. In questo regno e uno popo- lare Venctiano chiamato messer Zoanne Caboto de gontile ingenio, peritissimo della navigatione, el qual visto olio li Serenissimi R« prima del Portugallo poi de iSpagna hanno oc- cupato isole incognite, delibera fare uno simile acquisto per dicta Maest^. Ed impetrato privilegj regij, che lutile doininio de quanto el trovasse fosse suo, purche lo diretto se reserva alia Corona, cum uno piccolo naviglio e XVII I persone se pose ala fortuna, et partitosi da Bristo porto occidentale de quostn regno et passato Ibernia piu occidentale, e poi alzatosi verso el septentrione, comencio ad na^igare ale parte orientale. lassandosi (fra qualche giorni) la tramontana ad mano drita, et havendo assai errato, inline capitoe in terra ferma, dove posto la bandera regia, et tolto la possessione per questa Alteza, et preso certi segnali, se ne ritornato. Al ditto messer Zoanne, come alienigena et povero non saria creduto, se li com- pagni chi sono quasi tutti inglesi et da IBristo non testiticas- sero cio che lui dice esser vero. Esso messer Zoanne ha la(le.s- criptione del mondo in una carta, et anche in una Sj)licra solida che lui ha fatto, et demonstra dove 6 capitate, et an- dando verso el levante ha passato assai el paese del Tanais. Et dicono che lae terra optima et temperata, et estimanno quevi nasca el })rasilio et le sete, et affermanno che quelle mare e coperto de pessi li quali so prendenno non solo cum la rete, nia cum le ciste, essendoli alligato uno saxo ad cio che la cista se impozi in lagua, et questo io I'ho oldito narrare al dicto mes- ser loanne. Et ditti Inglesi suoi compagni dicono che portaranno tanti APPENDIX NO. 18. 329 10 di Stato in dicembro). tissimo Signer ion li sarii mo- nato una parte ao e uno popo- »oto de gentile il visto ohe li agna hanno oc- le acquisto per 3 lutile doniinio •etto so rcserva ; persone se pose nitale de quosto li alzatosi vcm parte orieutale, ad mano drita. ■va ferma, dove lone per questa Al ditto messer ■eduto, se li com- ,o non testitioas- ioanne ha la des- in una sjdiera capitato, ot au- ledelTanais. Kt Istim anno quo vi quelle mare c cum la reto,ma to che la cista se tvre al dicto nies- )ortaranno tanli pcssi che qucsto regno no havera piu bisogno de Islanda, del quale paese viene una grandissima mercantia de pessi che si chiamano stockfisse. Ma messer Zoanne ha posto 1' animo ad magior cosa perche pensa, da cuelloloco occupato andarsene seinpre a Riva Riva piu verso 3I Levante, tanto chel sia al op- posito de una Isola da lui chiamata Cipango, posta in ia rc- gione equinoctiale, dove crede che nascono tutte le .speciario del mundo et anche le gioie, et dice che altre volte csso e stato alia Meccha, dove per caravane de luntani paesi sono por- tate le speciarie, et domandati qnelli che le portanno, dove nascono ditte speciarie, respondenno che non sanno, ma che vonghono cum questa mercantia da luntani paesi ad casa sua altre caravane, le quale ancora dicono che ad loro sono por- tatc da altre remote regioni. Et fa (^uorfto argumento die so li orientali afterraanno ali meridional! che queste cose vengho- no lontano da loro, et cosi da mano in mano, presupposta la rotundity della terra, e necessario che li ultimi le tolliano al septentrione verso 1' occidente. Et dicello per raodo che non me constando piu como costa, ancora io lo credo. Et choe uiaggior cosa questa maest^ che e savia et non prodiga, an- cora lei li presta qualche fede, perche da poi chel e tomato, li d^ assai bona provisione come esso messer Zoanne me dice. Eta tempo novo se dice che la MaestA prefata armara alcuni naviglij, et ultra li dar^tutti li malfattori et anderano in quello paese ad fare una colonia, mediante la quale sperano de fare in Londres magior fondaco do speciarie che sia in A- lexandria, et li principali dell' impresa sono de Bristo, grandi marinari li quali bora che sanno dove andare, dicono che la non e navigatione de piu che XV giorni, ne hanno mai for- tuna come abandonano Ibernia. Ho ancora parlato cum uno Borgognone compagno di mess. Zoanne chi afferma tutto et vole tornarci perche lo armirante (che gia messer Zoanne cosi se intitula) li ha donato una Isola ; et ne ha donato una al- tra ad un suo barbiere da castione genovese, et intrambi se re- putanno conti, ne monsignor L' Armirante se estima manco de principe. Credo ancora andarano cum questo passaggio alcun poveri frati Italiani H quali tutti hanno promissiono de Vescovati. Et per essere io fatto amico de Larmirante, ■i. !, ■ ■ t ■ m 1 .■1 1 .^. ! • 1 4'; ' • 330 APPENDIX NO. 14. quando voleaei andarvi, haverei uno Archivescovato, ma ho pensato chel sia piu secura cosa li beneficij quali V. Ex. mo ha reservati, et per^o supplico che quando vacassero in niia absentia la me faccia dare la possessione, ordenando fra questo megio dove bisogna, che non me siano tolti da altri, li quiili per essere present! possono essere piii diligeuti di me, el quale sono redutto in questo paese ad mangiare ogni pasto de x o xii vivande, et stare tre hore ad tavola per volta ogni gionio due volte per amore de' Vostra Excellentia. A la quale hu- mihuente me recomando. Londonie, xviii Decern. 1497. Excellentie Vestre, Humillimus Servus, Raimundus. XIV. Second Letter Patent of the King of England to John Cabot ( 1498, 3 February ). ( Public Record office, Chancery, signed Bill, sub anno 13 Henr. VII. no. 6 ). Memorandum quod tertio die februarii anno regni regis Henrici Septimi XIII ista Billa deliberata fuit domino Can- cellario Anglie apud Westraonasterium exequenda. To the Kynge. Please it your Highnesse, of your moste noble and abund- ant grace to graunte to John Kabotto, Veneciane your gracious lettres patentes in due forme to be made accordyng to the tenor hereafter ensuyng, and hy shall continually praye to God for the preservation of your moste noble and royale Estate longe to endure. H. R. ( Henricus Rex. ). To all men to whom theis Presentis Shall come send Greting Knowe ye that we of our Grace especiall, and for dy vers causis us movyng, We have geven and graunten and by theis Presentis geve and graunte to our w 11 beloved John Kabotto, APPENDIX NO. 15. 331 John Cabot ill, sub anno Vcnician, sufficiente auctorite and power, that he, by hymhis I)ei)utie or Deputies sufficient, may take at his pleasure V^I Knglisshe shippes in any Forte or Fortes or other place within this our Realine of England or obcinsaunce to that, and if the said shippes be of the bourdeyn of CC. ton- nes or under, with their a})pareil requisite and necessarie for the safe conduct of the said shippes, and theym con- vey and Icdo to the Lande and lies of late founde by the seid John in oure name and by oure coumandemente, payng for theym and every of theym as and if wo should in or for our oweu cause paye and noon otherwise. And that the seid John by hym his Deputie or Deputies sufficiente maye take and receyve into the seid shippes and every of theym all suche maisters, maryners, pages, and our subjects, as of theyr owen free wille woU goo and passe with hym in the same shippes to the seid Lande or lies withoute any impedymente lett or perturbance of any of our officeis or ministress or subjectes whatsoevir they be by theym to the seid subjectes or any of theym passing with the seid John in the seid shippes to the seid Lande or lies to be doon or sutler to be doon or attempted. Yeving in commaundement to all and every our officers ministres and subjectes seyng or heryng theis our lettres patents, with- oute anye ferther commaundement by us to theym or any of theym to be geven, to perfourme and socour the seid John, his Deputie and all our seid subjectes to passynge with him according to the tenor of theis our lettres patentis. Any Statute, acta or ordenaunce to the contrarye made or to be made in any wise notwithstanding. 'Xi I XV. Letter of Dr. Puebla to the Catholic Kings, Ferdinand and Isa- bella (1498 ). " El Rey de Inglaterra embia cinco naos armadas con o- tro genoves como colono a buscar la Isla de Brasil y las vicin- ■ P^Sj ip i:: ..■..It ■ -^ i. ■ -} '11 1} ■1 II m I* t ! ; ! 332 APPENDIX NO 10, idades,* fueron proveydos por un aflo. Dicen que seran venidos para al el Septiembre. Vista la derrota que llcviui alio que lo que buscan es lo que Vuestras Altezas poseen. El rey itiohafablado alcunas veccs subrello espera haver muy grun in- tcrosse. Oreo que no hay de aqui alia CCCC Icguas." Extracted from Bcrgenroth's charts preserved in the Pul)lic Record Office at London, on the copy which lie drew from the original in the archives of Simancas. It is undated but from its contents must have little preceded the following letter from Ayala. »« » KVfS I ■ h . ■ (, XVI. Letter of Prothonotary Pedro de Ayala to the Catholic Kings (25 July, 1498 ). " Bien creo, vuestras altezas an oido, corao el Rey de Ing- laterra ha fecho armada para descubrir ciertas islas y tierra tirme que le han certificado hallaron ciertos que de Bristol armaron ano passado para lo mismo. Yo he visto la carta que ha fecho el inventador que es otro genoves como Colon que ha estado en Sevilla y en Lisbona procurando haver quien le ayudasse a esta invencion. Los de Bristol, ha siete ano que cada ano an armado dos, tres, cuatro caravelas para ir a buscar la isla de Brasil y las siete ciudades con la fantasia deste Ginoves. El Rey deterraino de enbiar porque el ano passado le truxo certenidad que havian hallado tierra. Del armada que hizo que fueron cinco naos fueron avitallados por un ano. Ha venido nueva la una en que iva un otro Fai { sic pro Fray ?) Bull aporto en Irlanda con gran tormento rotto el navio. "El ginoves tiro su camino. Yo, vista la derrota que llevan y la cantidad del camino hallo que es lo que han hallado o buscan lo que Vuestras Altezas poseen, porque es al cabo * Desimoni suspects that vicinit/aau in the original should be septe citades, Jntorno a Qiovanni Caboto, Pref, p. 15. 1 am of his opinion. APPENDIX NO. 17. ;i:i;j e septe citadcs, (|ue tt Vuestras Altezas capo por la convencion con Portugal. Sperase seran venidos para el seticmbre. Hago lo sa- ber a Vuestras Altezas. El Rey do Ynglaterra me ha fablado algunas vezes sobro ello. Spero aver muy gran intcresse* Creo no ay quatro cientos leguas. Yo lo dixe, creya eran las halladas por Vuestras Altezas, y aun le dia la mia razon nolo querria. Porque creo V. A. ya tendran aviso do todo lo y asy- mismo al carta o mapa mundi que este ha fccho, yo no la enbio agora, que aqui la ay, y a mi ver bien falsa por dar a entender, no son de las islas dichas." (Simancas, Estado. Tradado con Inglaterra. Legaio 2.) XVII. Accounts of Payments to Sebastian Cabot in Spain. A. En 6 Marzo 514 : se dan a Sebast. Cabot 50 ducados en cuenta del salario que se le ha de dar, con que fuese a la corte a consultar con S. A. las cosas del viaje que ha de llevar a descubrir 18750. B Cedula del 26 Marzo 1514. Supone recibido Capitan pa- ra las cosas de mar a Sebast. Caboto Ingles con 50,000 i se manda que por quanto estav a aderezando cosa de su casa i hacienda para venirze, le paguen enteramente el salario desde que fue recibido hasta que vino i se presento. * It is thus in the document according to the copy wliich Bergenroth (Calendars, vol, i, p. 176—177. n. 210 ) obtained from the Simancas records, uud the words would mean "I hope for a very great profit," but no sense can be made of that. Reumont ( Archivio Storico Italiano, t. VI, Anno 1880, p. 416), to make sense, joined this sentence with the preceding, and explained it thus : "I write these details, the king having often spoken tome of tliem, believing that your Highnesses would feel great interest in them." But the only change needed is to put Uie third person spera for the first spero. In the text of my narrative I have proved that Ayalu's letter traced after Puebla's, and the latter has "espera haver muy gran interesse;" that is, the King of England has several times spoken to me about it and "he hopes to derive great profit from it." '(■ ■1 '] ' 1 t i i : ii f 3 334 Al'l'KNDIX NO. 18. I'll • • C. En 7 April se le libraron 18,0374 mrs a complimiento do 70,(i37! (1(! eiKiuitrtciondo Cupitnii dcH A. desdo 20 Octulno 512 Imsta lin de April 514, n razoii do 5(),()()() por iino. Kn LoiidrcH Imviu recibido do I). Luis Carros Embajador 4l,2'){). En 11 may so lo libro un tercio adohintado do su salario por estar ^astado do uu venida do LondroH, i haver enbiado a U-.wv 8U niugor, (Mss. of Mufloz, fol, 515).) 1515 D En 30 Agosto a Hob. Caboto (^apitan do mar 40,2()7 i inr.s; por Codula Roal para quo so lo pagase el salario do 0. niosos i 20 dias quo so lo dojaron do pagar el afio que fue recibido a dicho officio con salario de 50,000, Ademas sin i desto aflo : l(),()nO. E. N()in])ranso osto aflo Pilotos de S. A con suoldo Soils mayor — Sob. Cabot — Andres de S Martin — Juan Vespuche — luan Serrano — Andres Garcia de Nifio — Francisco Colo — Francisco de Torres — Vasco Gallego (MunozMS.) 1519 Pilotos do Roi. Mayo 6. F. — A Andres de San Martin, Francisco do Soto, luan Ser- rano, a cada 10,000 por ol i do sus salaries — a Sebastian Gabot, Capitan o Piloto mayor, 25,000 por i de su salario. — A Andres Nino, Vasco Gallego, luan Rodriguez do Mafra, Estevan Gomez, luan Vespuche, Francisco de Torres, Pilotos de S. A. los J de sus salaries. [Cuonta de Dr. Sanclio de Matrenzo, Tesorcro de la Casa de Sevilla, 515—19. Munoz M.S.] XVIII. Narrntive of Peter Mart }ir of Anr/Iiiern, of Sehaatinn Cabot's voyages to the North. Scrutatus est eas glaciales oras Sebastianus quidam Ca- botus genere Venetus, sed a parontibus in Britanniam in- sulam tendentibus (uti moris est Venetorum, qui commercii APPENDIX NO. Ifi. 335 inn Cabot's oiiusa torrarum omnium sunt, hospitos) trnnsportntus pono infans. Duo is sibi navigia propria pocuniu in liritniiniti ipsa instruxit, et primo tendons cum hoininibus terccntum tul septentrionem, donee etium Julio nionso vastus rcpcrcrit jfjaciales molos pelago natantes, et lucom fere porpetuain, tcllure tamen libera gelu liqucfaeto. (^uaro coactus fuit, lit ait. vela vertere et oceidentom sequi : totenditquo tameu ad meridiem, littoro seso incurvante, et Ilenailei fret us liititudinia fere gradus aequarit : ad occidcntenupu! profoctus tantum est, ut Cubam insulain a leva longitudiiie gnuluum pone parem habuerit. Is ea littora percurrens, quae Butal- laos appellavit, eosdem se reperisse aquaruin, sod lones, (lolapsus ad occidentem, ait, quas Castollani, ineridionules suas regiones adnavigantes, inveniuiit J3acalla()S (!abottus ipse terras illas appellavit eo quod ineoruin pelago tantam repererit magnorum quorumdam piscium, tiniios aomulantium ; sic vocatorum ab indigenis, multitudincm, nt etiam illi navigia interdum retardarent. Earum regionuin homines pellibus tantum coopertos reperiebat, rationis liaud- (liiuquam exspertes. Ursorum inesse rcgionibus co[)iain ingentem refert, qui et ipsi piscibus voscantur. Inter donsa iiamque piscium illorum agmina sese immergunt ursi, et singulos singuli complexes, unguibusque inter squamas iin- inissis in terram raptant et comedunt. Propterea mininie noxios hominibus ursos esse ait. Oricalcum in plorisquo locis so vidisse apud incolas pracdicat. Familiarem babeo domi (!abotura ipsum et contubernalem interdum. Vocatus nam- <[ue ex Britannia a rege nostro Catholico post Henrici niajoiis Ikitanniae regis mortem, concurialis noster est : expectaique in dies ut navigia sibi parentur, quibus arcanum boc naturae latens iam tandem detegatur.* Martio mcnsc anni futuri MDXVI puto ad explorandum discessurum. Quae succcdent tua Sanctitasf per me intelliget modo vivere detur. Ex Cas- *ArcaDum hoc naturae latens.ihat is, the strong current of the waters "f the sta towards the west, as the writer cli'arlv expressed it just lM!ft)rc. and not the passage to the north-west, as Tiral)oschi understamis it. — Pliicido Ziirla, Di Marco Polo, cap. ii, p. 180. t Tua Sanctitas, that is, the supreme Pontiff of Rome, to whom Peter l^Iiirtyr dedicated his Decades. 1- i.' , )l J>""'»"I'P Nvf 1 J * f ;« 336 APPENDIX NO. 19. tollanis non desunt qui Cabotum primum fuisse Baccalorut)\ repertorem negant, tantumque ad Occidentem tetendis,se ininirae assentiuntur. Petri Marty ris ab Angleria, De Refms Occanids et Orhe mm. Dec. iii, lib. vi. For the first three decades I have before mo the edition of Giovanni Bebelio, Basel, 1533. — For tiie remainder, the edition of Paris, 1587. ffi,'" ' ''* S" ^ 1 1^*"'! ' i* t- i !•-■ J • •■itil k I \ { XIX. Narrative of the anonymous author in Ramusio. Mi par convenevole di non lassare per modo alcuno, clic io non racconti un grade, et amrairabile ragionamento, clie io udi quest] mesi passati insieme colJ' excellente Arcliitetto M. Micliele da S. Michele, nell' anieno et dilcttevole kiogo dcH' eccellente Messer Hicronimo Fracastoro detto Caphi, posto nel Veronese Tl qual ragionamento non mi basta raniiiio di poter scrivero cosi particolarmentc com' io udi, pcrchc vi Sana di bisogno altro ingegno, et altva memoria clie non e la mia, pur mi sforzero sommrriamonte, et come per capi di recitar quel che mi potro ricordnic^. In (|uesto]uogodi Caphi adunque essendo ■ iati a visitur detto eccellente messer Hicronimo, Io trovammo accompagnato con un geiitil' huomo, grandissimo philosopho et mathematico, che allhora gli mostrava uno instrumento fatto sopra un moto de cioli, trovato di nuovo, il nome del quale per suoi rispetti non si dice, et avendo tra loro disputato lungamente sopra questo stesso nuovo moto, per ricrearsi alquato I'animo fecero portare una balla grande molto particolare di tutto il mondo, sopni la quale questo gentil' huomo comincio a parlare dicendo. . . . Non sapete a questo proposito d' findare a trovar 1' Indio pel vento di maestro, quel che fece gi^ un vostro cittadino Vonetiano, ch' e cosi valente et practico delle cose portinonti alia navigazione et alia cosmographia, ch'in Spagna al i)io- sen te non v' e un suo pari, et la sua virtu 1' ha fatto preporrc HM APPENDIX NO. 19. 337 atutti li pilotti che navigano alle Indie occidentali, che senza sua licentia non possono far quell' essercitio, et per questo lo cliiainano Pilotto maggiore, et rispondendo noi. che non lo Hiipevanio, eontinuo, dicendo, che ritrovandosi gi^ alcuni aniii iicUa citU di Si villa, et desiderando di saper qlle navigationi (le Castigliani, gli fu detto, che v' era un gra valent' liuonio Venetiano che havea '1 carico di quelle, nominato '1 Signor Sebastiano Caboto, il qual sapeva far carte marine di sua mano, et intendeva 1' arte del navigare piu ch' alcun altro. Su- hito volsi essere col detto, et lo trovai una gentilissima persona et cortese, chi mi fece gran carezze, et niostrommi molte cose, et fra 1' altre un Mapamondo grande colle navigationi parti- cohiri si di Portoghesi, come di Castigliani, et mi disse che sen- dosi partito suo padre da Venetia gia molti anni, et andatoa stare i Inghilterra a far mercantie lo menu seco nella citta di Londra, ch' egli era assai giovane, non gi^ per'; che non avesso in)})urato et lettere d' humanit^l et la sphera. Mori il padre in quel tempo che venne nova che '1 signor Don Christoforo Co- lombo Genovese havea scoperta la costa dell' Jndio, o se no parlava grandemente per tutta la corte del Re Henrico VII, che allhoraregnava, dicendosi che era stata cosa piuttosto di- vina che humana 1' haver trovata quella via mai piu saputa d' andare in Oriente, dove nascono le Spetie. Per il die mi nacque un desidario grande, anzi un ardor nel core di voler fare anchora io qualche cosa segnalata, et sapendo per ra- gion della sphera, che s' io navigassi per via del vento di maes- tro, haverei ininor cammino a trovar 1' Indie, subito feci in- tendere questo mio pensiero alia Macst^ del Re, il quale fu molto contento, et mi armd due caravelle di tutto cio che era di bisogno, etfu del 149G* jl principio della State, et comin- ciai a navigare verso maestro, pensando di non trovar terra se non quella dov' e il Cataio, et di la poi voltare verso le In- die ; raa in capo di alquanti giorni la discopersi die correva verso tramontana, che mi fu d' infinito dispiacere, e pur an- *Tlie first edition of 1550, also at Venice, by the heirs of Lucantonio Giunti, 'mi Hrm6 due carovelle di tutto cift chp em dj bjsopno, et fu, salw il 92 tero, del 1496." p, 402 I m |„::'.; : te:'';.''l '■ V !■.. : i \ \ i f ; i \ ■ ■'} - ! ■ ■ »• (, . ^j ^ 1 : yrP7F~'";^'^5iy^^ •^^^^'■•'•*y"ff^r 338 APPENDIX NO. ^^- f. dando dietro la costa per vedere se io poteva trovare qualche golfo che voltasse, non vi fu mai ordine, che andato sino a j2;radi cinquantasei sotto il nostro polo, vedendo che quivi la costa voltava verso levante, disperato di trovarlo, me ne toniai a dietro a ricoiioscere ancora la detta costa dalla parte verso 1' equinoziale sempre con intenzione di trovar passaggio alle Indie, e venni sino a quella che chiamano al presente la Flo- rida, et mancandomi gi^ la vettovaglia, presi partito di ritor- narmene in Inghilterra, dove giunto trovai grandissimi tu- multi di popoli sollevati et della guerra in Scotia : ne piii era in consideratione alcuna il navigare in queste parti, peril che me ne venni in Spagna al Re Catholico, et alia Regina Isabella, i quali avendo inteso cio che io aveva fatto, mi raccolsero, et mi diedero buona provisione, facendomi navigar dietro la costa del Brasil, pei volerla scoprire, sopra la qual trovato un gros- sissimo et larghissimo fiume, detto al presente della Plata, Io volsi navigare, et andai all' insu per quello piu di secento lejijlie trovandolo sempre bellissimo et habitato da infiniti popoli, die per raaraviglia correvano a vedermi, et in quello sboccavano tanti fiumi che non si potria credere. Feci poi molte altre navi- gationi, le quali preterm et to, et trovandomi alia fine vecchio volsi ripo.sare essendosi allevati tanti pratichi, et valenti ina- rinari giovani, etliora me ne sto con questo carico che vol sa- pete, godendo il frutto delle mie fatiche. Questo e quanto io intesi dal signor Sebastianc Caboto. Ramusio, Belle Navi- gazioni et Viaggi, Pri mo Volume, Ediz. seconda. Giunti, 1554. p. 414—415. XX. Ti-ansfer of Sebastian Cabot's pension in favor of his wife. Cedula de Toledo 25 Octobre. Por quanto Caboto ha renunciado en Catalina Medrano su muger los 25,000 de su ayuda de costa, suplicando que como el los tenia por su vida, los goce ella por la suya della : por que si Dio,« fnese servido quel muriese en el viaje e armada que APPENDIX NO. 21. 330 agora hace por nuestro mandado i en nuestro servicio al descubrimiento de las islas do Tarsise Ofire al Catayo Orien- tal, tenga su muger eso para mantenerse. Asi se manda. {Munoz MS ; Irdias, 1524—1526, 77. Est. 23, gr. fol. 165). mmmmmm XXI. Extract from the history of Francisco Lopez de Gomara on Sebastian Cabot's Voyage to the North- West. (lui en mas noticia traxo desta tierra fue Sebastian Gaboto Veiieciano. El qual iiriiio dos navios en tnglaterra do tratava desde pequeno, a costa dtl Rey Enrique Septimo, que (lesseava contratar en la especiera como hazia el rey de Portugal. Otros diseii que a su costa, y que prometio al rey Enrique de ir por el norte al Catayo y traer (Ic alia especias en nienos tienipo que Portugueses por el ,sur. Yva tanibien por saber que tierra eran las Indias pa- ra poblar. Llevo trecientos honibres y camino la buolta do Islandia sobre cabo del Labrador, basta se poner en oinquenta y oclio grades. Aunque ol dize mucho mas oon- tando como avia por el mes de julin tanto frio y peda^os do yelo que no oso passar mas adelante, y que los dias eran graudissimos y quasi sit nocbe y las noches muy claras. Es ciei'te que .i, sesenta grados son los dias de diez y ocbo horns. I)iei\do put Gabota la frialdad y eslraneza de la tierra, dio la huelta ha/ i ponieute y rehaziendose en los Baccalaos cor- rio la costa L statreynta y ochos grados y tornose de alii a Ingiaterra. Historia General de las Indias, ^'aragoja. 1552. Part I, cap. De los Bacallaos. tn wt — 340 APPENDIX NO, 23. . XXII. Extract /torn the Treatise oj Antonio Galvdo on the same Voyagr, No anno de 1496 acliandosc hum Venezeano por nomo Sebastiano Gaboto cm Inglaterra, et ouvindo nova do tain novo descubrimento como este era: et vendo em huma poma como estas jlhas acima ditas estano quasi cm bum parallclo et altura et muyto mais pcrto de sua terra buma a outra que de Portugal nem Castella, o amostron a el Rey doni Annricpie o scptimo de que elle fieou tam satisfeito que mandou logo armar dous navios, partio na primavera com trezentos coin- pan hciros, fez seucaminJio a Loeste a vista do terra, et quar- enta et cinco graos d'altura da parte donorte, forano por elk ate sesscnta onde os diara sam de dezoyto boras, et as noytcs niuy claras et sercnas. Avia aqui muytti frialdade et illias do neve (jue nao achavam grandcs regelos, do que tambcin sc arreceavain. E como daqui por dianta tornasse a costa ao levante, fizeramose na outra volta ao longo descobrindo toda a baya, rio, cnseada, p'ra ver se passava da outra banda, et fori;m assi diminuindo n' altura ate trinta et oyto graos, doiule se tornaram a Inglaterra. Outros querem dized que cbegassea ponta da Florida que esta em vinte cinco graos. Tratado que compos o nohre e notavel capitano Antonio Gahno Lisboa, Joham de Barriera, 1563. V^ , AS XXIIL Extract from Sir Humphrei/ Gilbert's Discourse. Fortbermore, Sebastian (!abota by bis personallexperi<>ncc and travell, liath set foorth, and described this passage in his Charts whiche are yet to be scene, in the Quccnes Maiesties privio Gallorie, at Wbiteall, who was sent to niako this discoverie by King Henrie the seaventh, and entered tliy ^mmmmm AI'l'KNDIX NO. 24. 341 ie yoijar/f. por noinc a de tain ima pom a aralleln ot ra que de .nnrif|ue o idou !()>;() jntos com- a, et quar- por ella ate oytcs nuiy j ilhas do tambcm sc a costa ao rindo toda I l)auda, et 'aos, donde clicgassea 'do Gali'fio i same fret : affirming, that lie sailed very far westward, with a cjaai'ter of the North, on the north side of Terra de Labrador the eleventh of lune, until he came to the septentrional lati- tude of 67 J degrees and finding the seas still open, said, that he might, and would have gone to Cataia, if the mutinie of the Maister and Mariners had not ben. (yl discourse of a Discovcrie for a new Passage to Cataia, Lon- don, 1576, in-4, sign. Diii). XXIV. Extract from the Works of Andre Thevet. Depuis un Venitien entreprint ce voiage sur 1' authorite d' Henry septiesme de ce nom Roy d' Angleterre, lequel passa iusque a soixante sept degres. From the gran Insulaire et Pilotage d' Andre Thevct Angoa- moisin Cosmographe dii Roy., ms. in the National Library at Paris, French portion. N. 15. 452, t. I, f. 143. Elle fut decouverte primierement par Sebastian Babate (sic) Auglois lequel persuada au Roy d'Angleterre Henry sep- tiesme qu'il iroit aisement par la au pais de Catay vers le Nort et par ce raoyen trouveroit espiceries et autres choses aussi bien que le Roy de Portugal aux Indes, joint qu'il se pi'oposoit aller au Peru et Amerique pour peuplor le pais de nouveaus habitanset dresser la une Nouvelle Angleterre,ce que n' executa ; vray est qu'il mist bien trois cens hommes en iwvv. du coste d'Irlondo au Nort ou le froid fisi mouiir pH'Kt|Uo toute sa compagnie encore que ee fust au moys de Juillet. ])ei)uis Jaques Quartier [ainsi que lay mesrae m'a recite] fist deux fois le voyage en ce pays la, e'est h savoir I'an mil cinq cens trente quatre et mil cinq cens trente cinq. Singidaritcz de la France Antarctique. Paris, 1558, in-4, cap. LXxiv, f. 148. i--' .:<■ 't! 342 APPENDIX NO. 25. 'It<^ M ■•i-t f I ;: ] XXV. Lette7' of the Council of Ten to Gmpar Coniarini, Vemetian Amhan- sador to Spain, 27 September, 1522. Oratori nostra apud Caesaream et Cattolicam Maiestaiem. Zonze I'altro giorno de qui uno Don hierolamo di Mniii. de Bucigiiolo Rhaguseo, quale venuto alia presentia d Hi Capi delConsiglionostro di Died Disse esser sta mandate pir uno Sebastian Cabotto, che dice esser di questa cittA nostra, et al presente habita in Sybilia, dove par habbi provvision da quella Cesarea et Cattolica Maest^ per suo pedota mnjor in le navigation del discoprir terre nove. Et per nome di quello referi quanto per la inserta deposition sua vedc- rete, dalla quale ancorche ne appari non poter prestare molta fede, pure per esser de la importantia le non havremmo dovuto refiutare la oblation ne fa epso Sebastian de poter venir de qui alia presentia nostra, per dichiarirne quanto li va per mente in la materia propostane. Unde siamo sta contenti cIh; el ditto Hierolamo li reserivi nel modo che per le sucincluso vederete ; volemo adunque et noi detti capi del Consiglio iios- tro dei Dieci ne commettemo, che cun ogni diligcnte ma cauta forma, provriasi di intender se il predetto Sabastiaii fusse in quella corte aut per venirli de breve, nel qual caso faciano venirlo ad voi, et consignarli dette lettere a !ui dirrective, le quali per ogni bon rispecto haveriamo fatto allegar ad altre indriciate al fidelissimo servitor vostro, che pur staranno in le presenti. Ne in lui diraonstrarete sajjcr alcuna cosa di tal materia, nisi in caso che el se scoprisse cun voi, nel qual, siamo ben contenti li dichiariate el tuto, cun veder de sottrazer quel piu potersi del sentimento suo, et quando vedesse el si movesse cun bon fondamento, et seiipi- bile, lo conforterete ad venir di qui, perche non solum siamo volenti ch' el venga sicuramente, ma lo vederemo molto volentieri. Quando autem el non fusse di li in corte, et nunc per venirle, ma si ritrovasse in Sybilia, darete ogni opera di mandarli tutte lettere per via chesiate sicuro le gel capitino APPENDIX NO. 26. 343 in mano propria. Demostrando a quello per cui le maudaste, the vi siano sta inviate da alcun vostro particolar de qui, pt di ogni sucesso ne darete adviso ad detti Capi del Con- sij^lio nostro di Dieci. Demuiii havendo nui ricevuto nova- inciite lettere dal capitano general de 5 dell' instante di ('andia cun advisi de le cose da Rhodi, vi mandiamo juxta 11 solito li suramarij, accio li comunichiate de more a quelia Ce- sarea et Cattolica Maest^ Magnifico Gran Cancellier,Reverendo Episcopo de Valenza, et altri che vi apparerano. ( Lecta universe Collegio). luliano Gradonico C. C + Andreus Mudesco C. C. + Dominicus Capelo C. C. 4« Le ultime che habbiamo da voi sono di 14 del presente alle qual non dovretefar alcuna rispoda* (Capi del Consiglio dei X. Lettere Sottoscritte, Filza N. 5, 1522), XXVI. Letter of Gaspar Contmim, to the Senate of Venice, 31 December, 1522. {Lettere al Senato 1521-1525. It. CI. VII, Cod. MIX della Biblioteca MardoMa di Venezia. — Carte 281-283.) Serenissime Princeps et Excellentissimi Domini. La terza vigilia di natale cum la debita riverentia mia ricevi le lettere di Vostra Serenity date fino adi 27 septembrio per le quali quelia mi significa la expositione fatali da Hieronimo Ragusei per nome di Sebastian Caboto et commettemi che essendo qui a la Corte io li debba apresentar quelia lettera et facendomi lui moto alcuno, che io li debba aprir il tuto et parendo le cose proposte da lui factibile che io Io exhorti a venir a li piedi di Vostra Serenity. Hor per dar executione a * Rawdon Brown's English translation has "to which you will perhaps receive no farther reply." > ' ii"^ m < I .'li I'l i ■ ■ : • 1! ! ? ■ '5 t i:T I If f. •i fe^ TI ?' h» ; 344 APPENniX NO. 26. prefjite lettere, feci dextramente intender so costui era a la Corte et inteso chel era qui, et la stantia sua, li mandai a dir che el secretario mio li havova da dar una lettcra in- viatale da un suo amico et che volcndo el se transforissc alio allogiamonto mio. • Costui inteso questo rispose a quel servitor mio che el vo- niria et cussi la vigilia di Natale venne al hora do disnar. To ritiratomi con lui, li detti la lettera, lui la lesse et Icgicndola si mosse tutto di colore. Da poij letta, stete cussi un pochoto senza dirmi altro quasi sbigotito et dubio. Alhora io li dissi quando che el volesse risponder a dicte lettere over farinc intender qualche cosa che el volesse che io scrivesse a chi me r havea inviata che io era prompto a farli aver bon recapito. Lui assecurato alhora me disse. Io gi^ parlai a Io ambassator della Illustrissima Signoria in Ingelterra * per la aff'ectioiic che io ho a la patria cum questo terre novamente trovate do le quale io ho modo di dar gran utile a quella terra, et hora di questo mi vien scripto, come dovete sapor anchor vuj, ma vi prego quanto posso che la cosa sij secreta perche a me an- derebbe la vita. Io alhora li dissi che io sapeva il tutto molto bene et disseli come il Raguseo era stato al Tribunal do li Exellentissimi Signori Capi et che da quel Magistrato secretissimo io havea habuto adviso del tutto et che per lui mi era sta inviata quella lettera, ma perche havea meco a pranso alcuni gentilhuomini che non era coraodo che in quel hora parlassemo insieme, ma la sera al tardo ritornando piu comodamente ad longum ragionassemo insieme, et cussi partito, la sera ritorno circa ad un hora di nocte, et rechiusi soli in la mia camera me disse : Signer Ambassator per dirve il tuto io naqui a Venetia ma sum nudrito in Ingelterra et poij veni al servitio di questi Re Catholici do Hispania, et dal Re Fcrdinando fui facto Capitano cum provisione di 50 m. maravedis, poij fui facto da questo Re presente piloto major cum provisione di altri 50 m. maravedis, et per adiuto di cose mi da poij 25 m. maravedis, che sono in tutto 125 m. * Rawdon Browu remarks tliat he hiis failed to find any trace of this conversation of Sebastian Cabot with any Venetian Ambassador in England. mmm ^m AlM'KNDlX NO. 26. 345 maravedis, possono valcr circa duciiti 300. Hor ritrovandoini ja tro anni, salvo il vero, in Ingclterra, quel Revercndissimo Ciirdinal mi volea far grandi partiti clie ic navigasse cum una sua armada per discoprir paesi novi la quale era quasi in ordino, et haveano preparati per spender inessa ducati 30 m. lo li risposi che essendo al sorvitio di questa Maestfl senza sualicentianon lo potevaservire ma che havendo bona licentia (li qui io el serviria. In quelli giorni ragionando cum uno frate Stragliano Collona vencto cum il quale havea ami- citia grande, mi fu dicto dal prefacto frate : Messer Se- bastiano vui vi affaticati cussi grandemente per far beneficio a genti externe non vi aricordate dclla vostra terra, non scria possibile che etiam lei havesse qualche utility da vuj. Allhora io mi risenti tutto nel core et li risposi die penseria sopra ciu. Et cussi ritornato a lui il giorno seguente li dissi che io haveva modo di far quella Cittd, partecipe di questa navj- gatione, et dimostrarli via per la quale era per haver grande utility, come e il vero che io 1' ho ritrovata et cussi pcrche servendo el Re d' Angeltera non poteva piu beneficiar la patria mia, io scrissi alia Maest^ Cesarea che non me dcsse per niente licentia che servisse il Re de Engelterra perche 11 saria de ianno grande, iramo che subito me rivocasse, et cussi rivocato et ritornato essendo in bibilla contraxi grande amicitia cum questo Raguseo, il quale hora mi scrive, dicendomi lui che el dovea transferirse a Venetia, mi slargui cum lui et li commissi che questa cosa non la dovesse manifestare ad altri che ali Capi di X. et cussi mi juro Sacramento. Io li respusi prima laudando grandemente r afFecto suo verso la patria, ])oij li dissi cliel Raguseo era stato a li Excellentissimi Signori Capi, et che lo da quel Magistrato havea habuto lettere supra questa materia et commissione che dovese essere cum lui et intender il modo che lui se havea immaginato et significarlo a Sue Excellentissime Signorie et che poij lui potria andarli in persona. Ma rispose che lui non era per manifestar il pensier suo ad altri che a li Excellentissimi Signori Capi, et chel era per transferirse a Venetia, richiesta prima li- centia da Cesare cum questa excusatione di la ricuperatione di i -I il 1 i. ,1 346 APPENDIX NO. 26. PI B" Mi t 'f 1-1 ',i' r rf la dote (li sua madre, di la qual cosa se faria che lo opiscopo di Burgos et il magnifico Canccllier me parleriano et me iiista- riano che io scrivesse in favor suo a la ►Serenity Vostra. lo li dissi che volcndo venir lui a Venetia io laudava questo iiiodo che il mi diceva di chieder licentia etc. Quanto poij cliol nou mi volesse inanifestar il pensier suo, che io non potevu volcr pill di quel che lui volea, ma che ben mi pnreva di dirii qucste parole et cussi dissi die in ogni deliberatione bit'ognava coniii- derar due co!^(', 1' una era se quella impresa u la quale 1' homo se metteria cum utilita, poij sel era possibile, et che questa im- presa df^ la qual ragionavano io era certo che riuscendo V havea esser utile. Ma che quanto alia possibility io era molto dubbio, perche mi havea pur dilectato un pocho dogeographia, etcon- siderando il sito di Venetia, io non ritrovava via alcuna a qucsta navigatione perche el bisognava over navigar cum navilij facti a Venetia over farli far for di stretto, in altro loco ; facendoli a Venetia era necessario uscir for del stretto de Zibilterra per venire nel Oceano, al che havendo contrarij il Re di Portogn^' ot il Re di Spagna era impossibile che la cosa riuscisse. icendo li navilij for di Venetia non st; pote- vano far se non a la volta del mar oceano de mezogiorno, ne altro loco era se non il mar rosso, al chene erano infiniti con- trarij perche prima bisognava haver intelligentia cum el sig. Turcho, poij li per la penuria de li legnami era impossibile far navilij. Poij quando ben si facesseno essendo le fortezze et armate di Portogallo, non era possibile continuar quella iiuvi- gatione. Poij chi volea fabricar navili qui supra 1' oceano sep- tentrionale discorendo da la Spagna a la Datia et poij piu in la anchora, io non li vedeva modo, maxime essendo la Ger- mania a la obedientia del Imperatore. La via poij di condure merce da Venetia a quelli navilij, et da li navilij le spesie et altre cose a Venetia, io non li vedeva via alcuna, tuta volta perche essendo lui valenthuomo in questa materia, io mi riportava a lui. Me rispose vuj avete ben discorso, et in verity ne cum navilij facti a Venetia ne etiam per la via del Mar rosso io non vedo modo alcuno. Ma ce altra via non solum possibile ma facile et di far navilij et de condur merce da Venetia al porto, et dal porto a Venetia spetie, oro et altre cose p^ episcopo me iiipta- stra. lo li isto inodo j chel non tevu voler irli quosto ava f'oiisi- ile I'hoiiH) questaim- do 1' havea Ito dubbio, Ilia, etcou- I, alcuna a vigar cum altro loco ; stretto de coutrarij il bile che la on se pote- jgiorno, ne nfiniti con- cuiu el sig. 30ssibile far fortezze et uellaiiiivi- aceano sep- poij pill ill x\o la Gei di conduit' le spesic et , tuta volla teria, io mi ;orso, et in la via dtl ra via non ur merce da ?t altre cose APPENDIX NO. 27. 347 che io so perche io ho navigato tutti riuclli paesi et so bon il tu(o, imnio vi dieo cho non vulsi tor il i)artido de 11 Re de Eiigelterra per beneficiar la patria, perche se tolleva quel piiitido non restava poi via alcuna per Venetia. Io strinsi le s|)!ille et benche a nie la cosa pari impossibile, pur non volsl dissuadcrlo chel venis.se a li piedi di Vostra Celsitudine, no iinclie el suasi perche la po.ssibilit^ e molto piu ampladoquel che r homo spesse liate credo, Costui poij qui ha grando fania, et cussi alliora se parti. II giorno poij di San Zuane la sera vene a trovarni'' per farricoiizar alcuiie parole in le leteredel Raguseo, delle qual dubitava che eostoro non prendesseno 8Uspecto, et cussi da uno nostro Veronese mio intrinseco fu rescripta et riforniata la lettera. Lui ragionando cuin me de molto cose dl geographia fra le altre me disso uno modo che riiavea observato per la via del bossolo di conosser la distantia iia due loclii da levante al ponente, molto bello no mai piu ol)servato da altri, come da lui venendo Vostra Serenity potr^ intender. Poij ragionando pur cum lui circa la materia prin- cipal nostra et dextramento ripetendoli io le difficult^, me disso et io vi dico die la via et il modo e facile. Andero a Wuietia a mie spese, me udirano ne pinccndoli el modo per me excogitato, io mi ritornero pur a mie spese, et fecemi in- stantia che io tenosse la co.sa secreta. Questa e stata la execu- tioiie cho io ho facto. Vostra Serenitd la udir^, et cum la fiiipientia sua farh quel iuditio che li parerA. V^allijoleti, Die ultimo Decembris, 1522. XXVII. Another letter of Gnspar Omitarhil to the Senate of Venice, 7 March, 1523. (Carte 289 tergo. Lettere Contarini citate). Sercnissime Pripceps et ExceUentissimi Domini. Quel Sebastian Cab A quale vostre Excellentie me impose a parlarli circa le cose ^e le spiziarie et da me cussi exeguito com,, per mio di x. zener li significai, e stato piu volte da poij i I If ji Si' i 1!' i; J. 848 Al'J'ENDIX NO. !J8. ad me somprc fuccndomi iiitondor In disposition sun cssor di vcnir cxci^uir quiinlo I'lmviiu in unimo di opornr per Vostni (.'el.siuidine in tul nmttiiii do specie. Tandem liozi.venntd ikI trovurini, se hn risolto non poter per liora dimundure liccntiii duhitando elie non lo tolesseno per suspecto eho el volesso an- daro in Kn^elterra, et elie pero li era necessnrio anchor per ire mesi scorer, qual passati al tuto era per venir a li picdi di Vostra Illustrissima Signoria, pregandola cho interim lu vo^li scriver una lettera in la forma de 1' nltrali fu mandata et solicitarlo a venir de li a Venetia per expedir lo coso sue a eio monstrandola, de qui li fusse piu liberamento concesso li- eentia. Scrivo a Vostra Celsitudine quanto die lui Sebastiaiio mi ha dichiarito et ricercato, quella dispouerA quanto li pia- CGl'h. Vallijoleti Die 7 Martij 1523. m'■^ w XXVIII. Letter oj the Council of Ten to Gaspar Contarini, (Brown N. 060 Vol. Ill) 28 Aprile 1523. Set' Casparo Contareno Oratorl nostro apud Cesarenm Maiesiatem. Riceves.simo in questi giorni passati le vostre direttive a li Capi dol Consiglio no.stro dei Dieci, de ultimo Dicembre pros- simo preterito, per le quali intendessemo tutto il collo(|uio havuto cum Sebastiano Cabotto ne la materia de le specie. nel che in vero cum sum ma prudentia, et bon modo vi setc governato, et non potemo, se non grandemente commendarc il studio et diligenza vostra. Dapoi habiamo riceputo altro vostre de 7 Marzo preterito, per le qual vedemo la risolu- tione in ch'era rimasto esso Sebastiano, de non poter venir qui fino a tre mesi ; et che poi al tuto I'era per vinir, rechie- dendo chel so li faci de qui scriver una lettera in la forma APPENDIX NO. 30. 34!) (lollo prccedcnti per lecoso sue, nciocho cum quolla al tempo prodicto possi licitamentc partirsi do li. Undo per satisfaetione sua hahiiimo fatto far una altra lottera in nonio di qucllo Hieronymo do Mauio da Hha^usi, che (pii vene ad fame la relatione di tal coso ot mandovela (jui inserta nel mazzo del Circunspecto Sccretario vostro, si come fu facto dolle precc- (lenti, la (pial consi^nnreie al dito Cabotosemotis arhitris, sua- (li'udolo cho el so ne ven^i qui, si come cl vi lui promesso de far, porche sempro el saril ben veduto da noi : et cusi esegui- reto dandone adviso a li capi antedicti, et se al zonzor do (pieste il prefacto C'abotto non se retrovasse de li in Corte, nianderoteli la lottera sua dove el se ritrovera. Tutta via per mezo fido et securo si che la go cnpiti in mano ; denotandovi die il dito Ilieronimo Marino al presente non se retrova (jui in ^''enezia, ne sapemo dove el sii, ancor die le lettere de csso Ilieronimo apparino date qui in V^enezia. II che dicemo per vostra instructione. Andreas Foscarenus C. 0. Xm Jacobus Michael C. C. Xm subscrip. Andreas Fosculus C. C. Xm subscrip. Lecta Dominis Sapiontibus utriusque manus somotis ce- teris et etiam Dominis Consiliariis. Lecta Dominis Capitibus. XXIX. Feigned letter of Jerome the Raguaan to Sebastian Cabot. Litterae scriptae nomine Hieronymi di Marino Rhagusei ad Sebas- tianum Caboto in Hispaniam existentem. Spectabile Messer Sebastiano. — Za alcuni mesi zonto che io fui qui in Venetia vi scrissi quanto haveva operate per in- quirir dove si trovano de li beni vostri, nel che io hebbi bone purolle in cadauno loco, et mi fu dato bona speranza de re- cuperar la dote di vostra madre, et ameda, unde non dubito fr ^"wv.-f ■■™^^-TP'-T?v5f??^'WTPr^r 350 APPENDIX NO. 30. che si vui fosti venuto qui haveresti za conseguito quanto e il vostro desiderio ; et per tanto per lo amor vi porto, (>t per il beneficio, et utile ve sio exhortar ad non vi mancliaiii vui niedesimo, ma transferirve qui a Veuetia, dove non dxi- bito impetrarete il tutto, et non tarderete ad venir qui, perclic la ameda vostra e molto vecchia, et mancando lei, haveresti poi grandissn}a fatica a inquirir et recuperar ii vostro ; pcro ve conforto ad mettervi in camino piu presto potete. Altro non vi dice per hora a vui mi offrc per sempre. Venetiis Die 28 Aprilis 1523 Vostro hieronimo de Marino (Capi del Consiglio de' Dieci. Letterc .sottoscritte. Filza X. oij mi ha parlato dicendoclul procura cum (luesti del (jonsigho Cesareo di haver licentia ili conferirse deli, et che etiam parlino a me in commendation' su!). (^uesto e quanto bo da hn', de quanto seguird Vofstra JSercnitanc sara advisata. Vallijoleti Die 2() Julij 1523. (Carto 302, Lett. Contarini cit.) |iH APPENDIX NO. 32. 351 quanto e porto, (>t ancliai-ii non du- ll, porclit' havcrosti ro pcro Altro e MariiKi Filza X. My, 1525, comiinc riveiTii- cnitailidi- xecutionc tcruiu la onini-') cond saying he had heard that Cabot promised a trial when they came to the River De Solis. The vi confirms it fully, adding that he and other officers tried to put in a word in favor of Mendez. XVI Int. About the deposing of Mendez and Rojas at the Island of Saml Catharine, and whether the island is only peopled by Indians. Ans. The vi saw the prisoners delivered to an Indian, and knows no more. n ' ■ ■ '] lll^ 'r !ij " ' ^ i 1' • 1 ■ i: lii: Ii, il!;. iji!;Y ! i!' T^ wm 356 APPENDIX NO. 84. t , .i 11 I 14- " The ix knows by what others saii that the prisoners were recommended to an Indian. XVIII Int. Whether it is true that Mendcz, when tliev were taking him ashore, protested that Cabot deposed liiiii lor a report ho was preparing against him for the Emperor ; and whether he was deposed in order that Rifos might have the post of Lieutenant. Ans. The i confirms Rifos's appointment ; that is all he knows. The ii confirms the appointment of Rifos ; as to the rest, says he had heard that Mendez complained that Cabot had seized a letter which he wrote to the Emperor. The X confirms it. XIX Int. Whether at the Isle of Patos Mendez wrote a let- ter to the Emperor against Cabot, and it was seized. No answer. XX Int. Whether Mendez had often warned Cabot that he was not taking the course for the Moluccas, and that His Ma- jesty would take oflFence. No answer. XXI Int. Whether on their return many urged Cabot to land at Saint Catharine to take the prisoners on board, and he refused. No answer. XXII Int. Whether Mendez and Rodas died on that island in consequence of their abandonment. Ans. The i answers Yes, because they were drowned in trying to escape from the island, and they would not have tried to escape if Cabot had not left them there. The other witnesses, the vi, vii, viii, ix, x, ana xi depose to the fact of the death, but are silent on the rest. XXIII Int. On the value of the things belonging to Mar- tin Mendez which he had on board, and whether Cabot took possession of every thing. Ans. The vi, vii, viii, and x know of the things brought on board, but nothing else. The ix knows of the things brought on board, but cannot tell their value : has heard tell the third point. icrs were Al'l'ENtilX' NO. :54. 357 The X and xi saw that there were many things brouglit on board, but know no more. XXIV Int. Of Martin Mendez's emolmnents. Ans. The answer of tlie witnesses is given in general, what they have heard. XXV Int. How old Mendez was when set ashore on the island. Ans. All the witnesses answer giving their opinion from his looks. XXVI Int. Let the witnesses declare whether, if Mendez had lived and kept his office of Lieutenant, tiie expedition would have continued on its voyage, and not have lost so many men. Ans. The i, vii, and ix say yes. The vi says he cannot, because there were other officers on the expedition with as much authority, and they were unable to prevent what happened. The viii can only say they would have done much better if they had gone to the Moluccas. XXVII Int. Two sums are proposed, and the witnesses aie asked if they believe that if they had reached the Moluccas the Emperor would have gained the first and Mar- tin Mendez the second. Ans. The ii, vii, ix, x, and xi recognize that much would liave been gained, but cannot say ho w much. The vi speaks of the dangers of the navigation, that the result is in God's hands. But granted that they reached the Moluccas, the Emperor and Mendez would have gained much. XXVIII Int. As to the value of the things brought aboard belonging to Martin' 15 brother Ferdinand Mendez, and whether Cabot took possession of all. Ans. The i confirms it. The vi, vii, viii, ix and xi know that they were many, but cannot tell their value ; they know nothing of the second part. XXIX Int. Whether Catharine Vasquez is the mother of Martin Mendez. Ans. Yes. XXX Int. is spoilt. But it is understood to ask about the !llh lit: ■ W ! ,. m. k % i I 358 APPENDIX NO. 35. death of Ferdinand Mendez, Martin's brother, whether it was caused by his brother's imprisonment. Ans. The i cannot say of his own knowledge, but Ims lieard it spoken of as something certain. The ix knows of the death, but not the cause of it. XXXI Int. Whether Cabot tried to poison Ferdinand Mendez. No answer. XXXII Int. On the same subject, whether at least tlu; fleet spoke of such poisoning. No answer. XXXV. II Intenogatories presented by Francis de Rojas at Ocafla, November 2, 1530. I Int. Whether the witnesses know Captain de Rojas am] Sebastian Cabot ; and know of the expedition wliidi sailed under command of the latter towards the Moluccas. II Int. Whether they know that Rojas is of a noble family and of known worth, and Cabot is a foreigner, an un- known person, unfit for the command of a fleet, or any otlier office, etc. III Int. Whether those who fitted out the fleet discover- ing Cabot's incompetency, wanted to appoint Rojas to tlic post ofCaptainof the expedition, and that this was thecauso of Cabot's hatred of him. IV Int. Whether the main object of the expedition was to reach the Islands of Ophir and Tarshish, etc. V Int. Whether when Cabot was bound to give the course of the voyage at the Canaries according to the Emperor's or- ders, and did not give it, Rojas persistently demanded it, and Cabot refused, adding disrespectful words about the Emperor. ^'^I Int. Whether Cabot at the Island of Palma seized the let- ters of many who were writing to the Emperor against him, APPENDIX NO. 35. 359 and did the same again at Pornambuco and on the Parana, and from this conceived a bitter hatred for Rojas. VII Int. Whether in the latitude of the Capo Verde Islands lie altered his course a quarter to the north-west, which took hira to Cape Saint Augustine in the Province of Pernainbuco ; where the Portuguese, who were there, to divert him from tho voyage to the Moluccas, told him wonders about the wealth found on the Plata, trusting which tales he decided to alter the purpose of the voyage and stop at the Plata. VIII Int. Whether Rqjas opposed changing the voyage, showing that the Portuguese only wanted to keep him from going to the Moluccas. IX Int. WhetLor, in consequence of Rojas's opposition, Cabot, in order to have his hands free, tried to liave him killed, and the attempt failing, issued process against him, without giving him a hearing, suborning witnesses, .'':c. X Int. Whether on pretext of this process he kept him some days a prisoner, and for all the insistance Rojas made, never told him the reason why he was held in arrest. XI Int. Whether after keeping him for some days in arrest on board of Care's vessel, he had him taken to his own ship where Rojas heard others say he had been imprisoned on false charges, and that Cabot ought to punish him if guilty or punish the others as slanderers. XII Int. Whether in spite of the remonstrances of Rojas Cabot left Pernambuco with the intention of stopping at the Plata, and stopped at the Island of Patos to take off some Christians who were there, and get information from them concerning that river. XIII Int. Whether at the Island of Patos, some Christians from D. Rodrigo da Acunha's ship said that Loaysa's squsid- rou was lost in Magellan Strait, and Cabot showed satisfaction, boasting of the coming victory of his own expedition. XIV Int. Whether at these base words of Cabot, Rojas answered regretting them, and insisted that they should continue the voyage and relieve Loaysa. XV Int. Whether on the stranding of the flag-ship Cabot basely abandoned it at once, and after him the rest were de- % iiii if!'' ^ ill- . m \ f !!• ■(I, 11 360 APPENDIX NO. 3fi. U * moralized, and so the ship was lost when it might have been saved. XVI Int. Whether on the contrary Francis do Rojas came forward and used every means and saved the crew niid most of the stores. XVII Int. Of the zeal of Rojas iu caring for and helpin^j those that fell sick. XVIII Int. Whethor in consequence of this zeal of liojas and the affection of all towards him, Cabot through envy be- came more hostile to him. XIX Int. Whether out of this envy Cabot imprisoned him again, and would not tell him the reason, nor give him a trial, notwithstanding his demands and the constitution established by H. M. XX Int. Whether, at the time of sailing from Patos, Cabot had Rojas and Mendez abandoned on that island. XXI Int. Of the protest made by Mendez while they were abandoning him. XXII Int. Whether the inhabitants of the island where Rojas was deserted eat human flesh, and had already killed and eaten several Christians, and Cabot left him there for tliut purpose and gave him as a slave to one of the principal Indians of the island. XXIII Int. Whether Rojas underwent great suffering and peril on that island. XXIV Int. Whether by continuing the voyage the ex- pedition would have procured for the Emperor a profit of not less than two millions, even if they had only brought back a cargo of spices. XXV Int. Whether Rojas by continuing that voyage would have gained ten thousand crowns. XXVI Int. Whether all that is here asked is not the public voice and rumor. WITNESSES. The same day, November 2, 1530, that Rojas presented his Interrogatories, he also offered Anthony de Montoya a cit- AM>KNt)lX No. 36. 361 izen of Lepe, as a witness to his charges, and his deposition is annexed to the charges of the Interrogatories. But the tlinn- cellor betore signing the deposition, records that the presen- tations of other witnesses follow after, "despues siguen las presentaciones de otros testigos ;" but their names or surnames are not given. In the Proofs of both Catharine Vasquez and Sebastian Cabot, the depositions of the witnesses follow each interroga- tory. Why is it not so here ? For my part, seeing that many of the accusations of Rojas are shown by a light as bright as noon-day to be pure slanders, I suspect that the matter is not altogether clear : that is to say, that Rojas presented at once that single witness whose testimony he was sure of ; and as to the rest that he handed in a list of names, but in fact no others were called to testify. Then as to the single witness heard, the abstract of his evi- dence is quickly given by saying that he not only confirm& all the charges, but most frequently in the very words of the ac- cusation ; so that the chancellor of the court when at the be- ginning of each question he had substituted "dijo" for "Si saben," it was only iiecessary in most instances to copy the rest. XXXVI. Abstract of Sebastian Cabot's Probanda in the suit brought af/ainiit him by Catharine Vasquez. I Int. Whether the witnesses know the persons implicated in this suit. Ans. Yes. II Int. Whether they know of the expedition conducted by Sebastian Cabot. Ans. Yes. Here follow the names and surnames of the witnesses with their numbers. Afterwards the record gives only their number. III Int. Whether they know that Martin Mendez, Rojas, and other officers met at Seville, and took an oath to unite always U: ": iZ P. ■ ''!i :| - ■ ■ u i ■ 1 : ,j:'' IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 'I A C^/ L* 2^ ^^A^ II 1.0 i I.I 150 ^ III IM '■'IM M 1.8 '."• i-25 1.4 1.6 - - -;^ Extract from the Letter of Luis Ramirez. Despues de una breve introduccion en que indica c^ objcto que se propuso al escribirla, refiere como ^alieron de hi baliia do San Lucar a 3 de Abril de 1526,* Detienense en 'a isia de Palma para proveerse de agua y lefia y atraversando el ceiiador llegaron a Pernambuco por Junio del mismo afio, — AUi so dc - tubieron algun tiempo para proveerse de lo necesario e iiifor- niarse de la tierra, cuyos productos sefiala, describiendo tuin- bien las costumbres barbaras de sus habitantes. Al poco tiempo de haber salido de este puerto (29 de Setiembre) sufneron una horrorosa tormenta en que pereciO el batel de lanao capitaiia, teniendo que detenerse junto a una gran montafia donde hul)ia madera para la construccion del nuevo batel. Estando en e.sto llegaron indios en canoas, y dieronles a entender que habia por alii algunos cristianos, de los cuales en efecto llego al dia ki- guiente uno que dianoticiaal capitan general de otros varios hasta quinze que estaban alii desde la derrota sufrida por la ar- matade Loaisa, iendo a las islas de especerie, Otros dos cspa- fioles habia alii pornombre Melchor Ramirez y Enrique Mon- tes, los cuales informaron al capitan de la gran riqueza de la tierra y de como saliendo del rio de Solis y entrando por el Paraguay llegaron a dar con una sierra abundante en ore, plata y otros metallos con los que podrian llenar las naves. Pideles el general alguna muestra de aquel oro y plata, y refieren como habiendo estado cerca de la sierra algunos do * The original has 1536 whicli does not accord withi the other facts of the narrative (Note added to the abstract). mm APPENDIX NO. 37. 871 SU8 corapafleros ft ver al rev Blanco, pudieron observar lag prondas de oro quo llevaban los indios traidas de la misina sierra, y quo habiondo querido volver a aquol sitio fucroii usaltudos do los guaranis para arrebatarlcs los esclavos quo tniian cargados del metal ; y quo por esto, conio por haber iiiandado a EspaJla poco antes hasta dos arrobab de oro (quo nl liiiso pordieron) no con,sorvaban mas quounaseuentas quo Ionian reservadas par la V. do Guadalupe unico objeto do oro (juo prosentaron. A la oferta quo olios hicioron do acompan- arlo contesto el capitan que no era aquol su oaniino. Habiondo pordido la nao capitana retiranso a un monto para construir una galeota on la cual y en la provision do vivoros fueron nmy ayudados do los indios, gracias & las diligoneias do Enrique Montos quo los conocia. Rofiere on seguida algunas do las costumbres del pais con sus productos y las enfermedades quo hubioron de sufrir d esto sitio d cau.sa da .ser malsano. Sa- lieron dcste puerto quo llaniaron do Sta Catalina el 15 do Fe- broro do 1527 llegando despuos do seis dias (i Sta Maria puerto d la dosembocadura del rio de Solis(La Plata). Seflala la magnitud del rio y cuenta los muchostrabajos quo pasaron basta llegar a un puerto que llamaron de S. Lazaro donde so detubieron un mes para informarso de la tierra. — Un tal Francisco del Puerto, cautivo dosde la derrota de Solis los entera de la mucha riqueza del pais y del camino quo deban segui^' para dar con la referida sierra. Con esto el capitan de- termino salir de alii el 6 de Mayo no sin dejar alguna gento pare la guarda de la hacienda que en aquol sitio quedaba. Unos y otros padecen muchos trabajos y hambres, hasta quo el general manda la galeota para conducir la gente y hacienda do S. Lazaro, do donde salieron el 25 de Agosto para llegar el 28 al nuovo sitio donde el general habia hecho asiento y una fortaleza para la defensa. — Habla luego do las diversas tribus comarcanas, sus costumbres, productos de la tierra etc., etc. . . . y como segun informacion de los mismos indios el camino iiias breve para ir a la sierra, era entrar por el Paraguay. Continuan pues cl viaje dejando la fortaleza a cargo de Greg- orio Caro y llegan a la isla Ano nucvo este mismo dia (1528). Desde aqui mand& el cap. gen. a Miguel Rifos con 35 hoinbres ii'»'i |i-,i ilrfiSijW l:':,Jl h i!iiaiit[ii: ■ iiii' * 372 APPENDIX NO. 87. b> ■»f 1 para apacigiiar y castigar a \oi tribus que trataban do re- belarse contra olios. Consipnaso lacompleta victoria y el rico botin que adquirieron, y la rara costumbre que las indins tionon de cortarse un dcdo li la muerto do sus bijoH. — du- rante este \iaje encontraron varias tribus cuyascostunibres ye ilescriben y tampoco faltaron bambres por la escasez de vivcros. Llcgan por tin a ybocarse con el Paraguay por el cum I HO encaminan, y en el que los trabajos y el bainbro so du- plican, a cau.sa de haberseles concluido por comploto \uh vivores ; vicndose precisados a comer los animales mas inmundos y las plantas mas agrestes. Para roniediar tan urgente neccsidad manda el capitan un vergantin atodo hmho on busca de bastimontos a unos caserios bastantc distantos, volviendo al poco tiompo bien provisto. Con esto pudieron llogar a dicbo pueblo que se hallaba regido por un indjo principal llamado Jaquaron, el cual lesrecibio muy bien y los provego de abundantes viveres En este puerto c^uo recibi6 ol nombre de S. Ana estubioron algunos dias y oomo vieron (juo los indios llevaban orejeras y planchas de oro y plata, quisi- oron saber de donde lo traien asi los de este i)ueblo como los de otro inmediato a donde se mand6 a Fr. *'° del Puerto. — Este pudo averiguar que los chandules (pueblo distante 60 6 70 leguas), se lo daban en cambio de otros objetos. Determina el general continuar el viaje hasta los mismos cbandules, que segun decia se hallaban cercanos a la sierra. — Pueblos que fueron descubriendo por la ribera del rio. El cap. gen. manda un vergantin delante para que descubre la boca del rio Ne- petin que segun los indios significaba barriento por el color do sus aguas, el cual traia su origen. segun los mismos, de la referida sierra. Tratan de celebrar paces con el pueblo do los agales, y al principio son bien recibidos, pero como temiesen los indios ser castigados por las muertes que antes habian hc- cho, matan traidoramente al teniente del vergantin Miguel Rifos con algunos mas, volviendo los restantes tristes a la ga- leota, que les habia seguido desde lejos y con dificultades por las eondiciones especiales del rio. El desgraciado exito de esta espedicion y el saber que andaba una armada portuguesa en el rio iSoljs fueron motivos para que el general determinase vol- .1 v ' AlM'tCNDlX NO. 38. 373 verso rio abojo hastn ol I'tinuui dondc enoontraron otru iir- iiuida del Emporudor, cuyo capitan Dii'^^o (Jarcia do Mo^iu r trato do unirse & nuostra armada para volver bion pcrtrocha- dos A la dicliasiorra ; pcro al fin no liubo convenio t>n*roain- luw ^oneralos, siguiendo cada cual runibo di.stinto. X'iendoso indecisos niandan d Espafla it Ner.si Calderon y Koyel Harco fon una carabela y algunos prcscntes de ore y pliit.-i, piii:i <|Uo cxponganii JS. M. la.s necesidades de la arnjadu y mniido {ti'oveer lo neccsario. Desde S. Salavdor a el rio Solis a 1(* de Julio do 1528. LuiH Ramiuk/. XXXVIII. Abstract of the Narrative which Diego Garcia made of his voyage to the Plata in 1526. On the 15th of January, 1526, 1 sailed from Cape Finisterre, which lies in 43°, and from there sailed towards the Canaries, which are .... * leagues from Cape Finisterre, we passed by Madeira, which lies in 32°, 30', on the other side of which at. . . .* stands Porto Santo, and ten leagues from M .^eira tiiere is an island which is called Deserta. There we came to the Island of Palma, which lies at 29°, and at the Canaries we took on what we needed for our voyage, for we came from Corunna without supplies, and we left there the first of Septem- ber, because in the middle of Septer-^^^r the sun begins to bring the summer in the places we we. e going to, and every one sailing to those parts, ought to sail at this season — f *' and this navigation Sebastian Cabot did not know enough to make, with all his astronomy, and took the contrary like a man who . . . . " :j: and we took the direction of the Cape Verde Islands, and from the Canaries to these islands it is 250 !■; ■ * The text is illegible.' Many such breaks are found in the narrative. t Literal traoslatioD of the text. t The text ia illegible. !!•( i'i'iil 374 APPENDIX NO. 38. leagues, pt the Island of Buona Vista we took on a fresh sup- ply' of provisions. ( Here he tells the geographical position of Jie difi'er- ent islands of the Cape Verde group, and mentions the art- icles of their commerce ). From the Island of Buona Vista we made sail towards Cape St. Augustin which is 8° and a sixth beyond the equi- noctial line, and this course has to be sailed with great care and knowledge of seamanship, for there are stron*^ curronts running from the Gulf of Guinea * " and these cur- rents Sebastian Cabot did not know how to take, for he was not a seaman, and did not know navigation." From tlie Cape Verde Islands to Cape St. Augustin it is 500 leagues across. ( Here he touches on the difficulty of this crossing on account of the currents. ) T rom there we passed to Cape Frio, which is at 23 dsgrees and i on tho side of the south, where the sun makes the long- est day on the 13th of December, and from Cape St, Augustin to Cape Frio is fifty leagues, and at seventeen degrees there is a bay which is called All-Saintb', and all the coast from Cape St. Augustin to Cape Frio is inhabited by a bad race that eat human flesh and go naked, and from this bay to Cape Formoso at twenty-two degrees there are many rocks and sand-banks. We found there an island not marked on any chart, which wc reserved for recognition till our rreturn. From there we went for fresh supplies for the ships to the Bay of St. Vincent which is in thirteen degrees, where a certain bachelor and his son-in-law have been living thirty years, and we remained there .,ill the 15th of Janu- ary of the next year, 1527, and we obtained there a great sup- ply of fresh meat and fish and whatever we wanted. Fron> this bachelor's son-in-law I bought a brigantine and lie agreed to come with us as interpreter. And I bargained wilh the bachelor and his son-in-lnw to let them have my big ship to carry eight hundred slaves to Spain, and made the bargain * Literal translation of tlie text. APPENDIX NO. 88. 375 with the agreement of all my officers ; and it was agreed that we should deliver the ship at the Rio de la Plata, because she could not enter the river, and 1 had often told Don Ferdin- and's auditor that this ship could not enter the river on account of her size ; but they tried to make me load her with slaves, and I did so, because they did not carry out His Majesty's orders, that they should have given me what was agreed on in the bargains ; and they did not give me the ship at the time stipulated for, as they ought to have given me the ship in September and they did not give it to me till the middle of January. We sailed from the Bay of St. Vincent in the middle of the month of January of the said year, and reached Cape St. Mary which is in thirty-four degrees and a half ; here is the entrance to the Rio de la Plata^ and from St. Vincent to Cape St. Mary is t\\ o hundred and sixty-three leagues : * "and going on our way we came to a river which is called the Rio de Patos, which is in twenty-seven degrees and has a good population who do much good work for thf; Christians and are called Carriares, and here they gave us much food, as millet, mandioco, meal &c.,&c, for they were good Indians, and it was here that Sebastian Cabot arrived dead with hunger at the time wiiile I was there, the Indians gave liirn food and all that he and his men needed for their voyage, and when he wanted to go where he was going he took fcur sons of the prin- cipal persons there, and carried them to Spain, and has three of them at Seville, which did harm to that harbor which was the best and the people the best in those parts because he had taken the sons of the principal men of the island." Continuing our voyage we came to Cape St. Mary which is as we have said at thirty -four degrees and a half and out- side of the cape there is an island called de los Pargos, and here we remained eight days waiting for our brigantine which came behind. And further on the river terms an island which is called La Palma, which gives good shelter for a few ships ; and on all the coast around not an Indian was seen, but fur- * Literal translation of tht^ lext. liii" m nil : 376 APPENDIX NO. 88. ther on there is a popultition called Charruaes who eat humaii flesh and live by hunting and fishing. Here came our btigan- tine and we went to the Island of Las Pietras seventy leagues further on. Here we remained to put together the brigantino which we were carrying in separate pieces, and after she was equipped I began to ascend the river with her and after sail- ing twenty-five leagues we came to a place where there were two of Sebastian Cabot's ships, and Anthony de Grajeda was there as a guard.* "He came against us with some Indian canoes and an armed boat believing we were Rojas and Michael Rodas and Martin Mendez coming to attack him, for he had left them on an island abandoned among Indians, and wi thought we should have to fight supposing that he came to hurt us. But I recognized him as Anthony de Grajeda, and we knew at once that it was Sebastian Cabot's fleet, and we went with him to hi.s ships and he showed lis great honor, and gave us news of his Captain-general, and how he had received a letter that day in which he informed him 1 ow he had killed more than four hundred Indians, and was going with great victory further up the river making war on the Indians. We went back to our ships and with the approval of all my officers it was immedi- ately agreed to send the ship out of the river because she was in great danger from the strong winds blowing at that season in the river, and let her go to take in the cargo of slaves of the said bachelor who had charterd her for Spain, and would carry the news how Sebastian Caboto was doing on the river " And the (big) ship went to St. Vincent, and the others joined Sebas- tian Cabot's ships,and fifteen days after,I left there on my brig- antine with sixty men and we arrived eighty leagues further up at a place where Sebastian Cabot had for a fort a house all made of straw and he called it the Fort of San Espiritu, and Gregoiy Caro was there on guard. So far we saw no Indians, and ill this place and around it there were Indians called Guar- anis.* " We urged Gregory Care to abandon this conquest because it did not concern him, and he answered us very well, and said that they were in that house for His Majesty and Se- * Literal translation of the text APPENDIX NO. 36. 377 '''4 bastian Cabot, and for the rest, he was at my command ( res- pondio rauy bien, dijo que todo lo obederia, e (juestavan en aquella casa por su mayestad e por Sebastian gavoto e que es- tava a mi servicio), and gave us news of his captain, that the Indians had told him that Sebastian Cabot had been defeated further up, and many men killed,and begged me if I found any of them in the places w'here I was going to make dis- coveries, that I would ransom them and he would pay mo back the price, and commended himself to my mercy, that if his captain was dead I would not leave him on the River, btt take him with me and I should be doing a service to God and Your Majesty." I sailed from there on Good Friday and in twenty-seven days I discovered as much as Sebastian Cabot in five months and we navigated the river as far as St. Ann in Paraguay. From the harbor of San Espiritu to this place is one hundred leagues and :t is in the 28th degree.* "And it was up to this place of St. Ann that we discovered and Se- bastian Cabot discovered, and above here. . . .f le igues they killed his first men he had with him, and they killed through his fault twenty and ( or ? ) thirty men, and this was . . . .f We went to them, and did not see them nor find them, and this is the truth that we came as far as this, he and we." Here he gives the names of some of the people he met, Guaranis, laanaes, etc. ; of their customs he only says what they eat, "comen carne, comen pescado e cane," etc., and asserts that these populations "dan nuevas deste paraguay que en el ay mucho oro e plata e grandes riquezas e piedras pre- ciojas." And with the record of these riches his narrative ends: "y esto es lo que sabemos deste descubrimiento." I iifei i!r, * Literal translation of the text. f I'ezt illegible. I 378 APPENDIX NO. W.. •,:.vV \ ■■Vf:-: . :.;•■.;- XXXIX. ^^'^ •■: ,,.}:.:,;,,.;■ Imcripiion on the chart of Sebastian Cabot of 15i4, f^ative to his exploration of la Plata. . * Llaman los Indies a este gran Rio el Ryo hurnai, en Ca- stellan el Rio de la Plata toma este nombre del Rio hurnai el qua! es un Rio muy caudaloso que entra en el gran Rio de Pa- rana descubriolo loan Diaz de Solis piloto mayor de los catho- licos reyos de gloriosa memoria y descubrio hasta una isla que el dicho loan Diaz puso nombre la isla de Martin Garcia, por- que en ella entierro un marinero, que se decia Martin Garcia, la qual dicha isla esta obra treynta leguas arriba de la boca deste Rio y coste le bien caro lo dicho descubrimiento, por- que los Indios de la dha tierra lo mataron, y lo coraieron, y despues passados muchos Annos lo bolvio ahallar Sebasti m Caboto Capitan y Piloto mayor de S. c. c. ra. del Imperador don Carlos quinto deste nombre, y Rey nuestro Sennor, el qual yva por Capitan general de una armada que su majestad mando hazer para el descubrimiento de Tarsis, y Catayo Ori- ental, el qua dho capitan Sebastia Caboto vino a este Rio por caso fortuito, porque la nao capitana en que yva sele perdio, y visto que no podia seguir el dho su viaie, accordo de descu- brir con lagente que lluava el dicho Rio, vista la gradissima relacion, que los Indios de la tierra le dieron de la gradissima riqueza de oro, y plata, que enla dha tierra avia, y no sin gra- dissiiao trabaio y hambre, y peligrcs asi de su persona como de los que conel y van, y procuro el dho capitan de hazer cerca del dicho rio algunas poblationes de la gente que llevo de es- pana, Este Rio es mt yor que nynguno de quatos aca se conoscon tiene de encno enia entrada, que entra enla mar, veinte y cinco leguas, en ancho la causa de ser tan grade y poderoso, es que entran enel otros muchos rios grades y caudalos Es rio do infinitissimo pescado, y el meior que ay enel mundo,le gente en llegado aquella terra quiso connoscer si era fertil, y apareiada para labrar y llevar pan y senbraron en el mes de setiembre m APPENDIX NO. 40. 379 LII granos de tigro que no se hallo ma? enlas naos y cogieron luego enel mes de deziembre cinqueta, y do mill granos de ti- gro, que esp misma fertilitad se hallo entodas las otras seraillas. Losq en aquella tierra biven dizen que no lexos de ay en la tierra a dentro que ay unas grades sierras de donde sacan infin- itissimo oro, y que mas adelante enlas mismassierras, sacan in- finita plata. Ay en esta tierra unas aveius grandes como asnos comunes, de iigura de camel bos, salvo que tienen lalana tan fina como seda, y otras muy diversas animales. Lagcnte de la dha tierra es muy discrete entre si, porque los quo biven enlas aldas de las sierras son blancos con.o nos otros, y los que estan hazia la Ribera del Rio, son mornos. Algunos deDos dizen que enlas dhas sierras ay hombres que tienen el Rostro como de perro y otros de la rodilla abaxo como de Abestruz y que es- tos son grandes trabaiadores, y que cogen mucho mays de que hazen pan y vino del, otras muchas cosas dizen de aque^a tierra que no se pone aquy por no ser prolixas. ;i!t XL. Abstract of the summona made by Diego Garcia on Captain Francis .; de Rojas, in the name of Sebastian Cabot. It commences with Diego Garcia's order to the notary of his squadron to proceed to deliver to Captain Francis de Rojas in person an order of Sebastian Cabot. The document is dated at the Port of St. Vincent, Tuesday, March 22, 1530. Next follows Sebastian Cabot's order. It commands Cap- tain Rojas to come on board of the Santa Maria del Espinar, now the flag-ship, "to be taken to Spain and delivered to His Majesty, and to the council of tbo Indies, to account for and answer certain accusations that have been made against you, for acts against His Majesty's service and mine." He was to present himself within six days, under penalty of life and the loss of all his property; and, if not obeying, he was to be 380 APPENDIX Ko. 40. held thenceforth as condemned, and his property confiscated for the Chambers and Treasury of His Majesty. In order thai he should not fear to present himself, he gave him his failli and word on behalf of the King to grant him any safe con- duct he wanted for bis personal security, until delivered to His Majesty or to the royal council of the Indies. This order bears the same date as the preceding Then comes the declaration of Diego Garcia's notary, which avers that he presented to Captain Francis de Rojas the above order on Tuesday, March 24, 1530, at the house of Gonzalo da Costa, a Portuguese. Rojas answered that he would reply within the time allowed by law ; the names of four witnesses present at the service of the order, come after. Next follows the reply of Rojas. It begins by declaring that he does not recognize Cabot's authority over him, since he had long ago removed him from his power and juris- diction, abandoning him in a land of Infidels who eat human flesh, and left him the slave of an Indian, where he had suffered much and undergone great peril. Now recalling that Cabot had been the cause of it all, he saw plainly that, as before, so now also he wanted to cause his death, and therefore tried to bring him by fraud into his power in order to dispose of him at his pleasure. But he would not second his intentions. He wos ready to proceed to give an accoun', of his conduct to His Majesty, but with some one not under Cabot's orders, and as he truly desired to serve His Majesty, and has learned that Cabot left seventy to eighty men at Cape St. Mary, he offers to go there and take them off as he has a ship built in partnership M'ith Gonzalo da Costa. But as this ship is not yet equipped he demands of Cabot all the men and supplies needed for fitting it out. On returning he and they will place themselves under his command. And since he has been told that at the Isle of Patos he seized four Indians by whose capture the whole land is turned upside down, he offers to take those young men back to their island. Rojas then reports that the emperor had authorized all the Captains and officers of Cabot's fleet to carry off two slaves apiece. And as he has his two, he demands that Cabot take ^ APPENDIX NO. 41, 381 them on bis ship and carry them and deliver them to his relatives in Spain. The reply of Rojas is dated Saturday, March 26 ; and the Monday following, the 28th, the notary Alonzo Gomez Varela of Diego Garcia's squadron, carried the reply to Cabot. Cabot required it to be written in legal form for presentation to His Majesty and the Council of the Indies. XLI. Historia geral do Brazil . . . por un socio do Instituto historico do Brazil, natural de iSorocaba.{F. Ad de Varnhagen.) — Ma- drid, 1854. Tomo primeiro. (Bibl. Nact. LII-3) p. 439. Carta de Simdo Affonso — de Sevilla. SP'* en estou vesta cidade de sevilha esperado reguado de Vosa Alteza pa daqui hir a corte do emporador pedir execucao cotra joao frz. de crasto e sens bens se V. A. asi onner per sou servi90 por que aqui ja esta determinado q. se nao ha de fazer sera o d. ° conselho vir per especial madado as justigasdesta ci- dade que a facao segundo tenho escrito a V. A. e per nao ver mandado de V. A. nao sao ja partydo por que sua justi9a se perde e esto se dilatar niadeino V. il. o que for seu serviso porquenao esperooutra cousa. esta somana chegou aqui hum piloto e capitao que era hydo a descobrir terra o qual se chama gabote piloto mor destes reinos e he ho que madon o navio que veo ter a lixboa agora ha dous anos que trazia nova de huma tera descuberta polo rio Perenai qui deziao ser de muito ouro e prota, elle veo muy desbaratado e pobre por q. dize que nao tras ouro nem prata nem cousa algua de pro- veito aos armadores e deduzentoshomems que leuon nao tras vyte que todos los outras dyzen que la ficao mortos hums de trabalho e fame outros de guera q. cos mouros tiverao por q. as frechadas dize q. matarao muitos deles e Ihe desfizerao hua fortaleza de madeyra que la tinhao feyta, de maniera que i" 1 i 11 Pli I ij 1 1 1 , I \s 382 APPEXDIX NO. 42. elles vein mal contentes e o piloto estd presso e dizen que queren madar d corte ver o q. madao q. se dele fa9a, o q. disto pudc saber e se aqui pobrica aynder que muy paso ho que na tenu que deziao ser descuberto nao deixao nenhum reguado saluo a gente inorta e o gasto perdido.dizen com tudo estes homes quo vierao que a terra he de muita prata e ouro e a cauza perq. nao trazen nada he segundo dizen per que o capitao os nflo quis de- ixar tractare tanbytu perque os niouros os enganarao e se al- evanartarao contreles disto podera V. A. creer o que Ihe parecer, da terra ficar deserta nao tenha duvida orio dizen que he muy grande e alto e muito largo, na entrada. se V. A. onner por sou seruivo madar la agora o podera fazer, porq. esta gente apartase muito donde nao ve dr. " , e se acerqua disto poder ao diate saber mais particularidades escreuerei a V. A., noso sflr a vida e real estado d3 V. A. conserve e acrecente per muitos anos, de sevilhaha ij dagosto de 1530 — Simao, doctor. XLII. 1533. Letter of Sebastian Cabot to H. M's Secretary Juan de Samano. (Seville, 24 of June). E,i>" Al muy magnifico senor el seHor Juan de Samano secre- tario de su magestad misefior en madrid. muy magnifico Senor== oy dia del bien aventurado san Juan recebi una carta del adelantado de canaria por la qual me parece que todavia tieno gimo de toiuar la eni)resa del rio de parana que tan caro me questa un criadc del dicho adelantado ine dio la carta y mo diyo que va alia y lleva carta del dicho adelantado para los senores del consejo sobra la dicha enpresa plega dies nuestro senor de encaminarlc todc como su santa fe catolica sea au- mentada y el ynperadoi nuestro seilor servido. Sefior la carta que vuestra rnerced me envio a mandar que yriese ya la Al'PfiNDIX NO. W, 383 tengo acabada y dada al contador dela casa dcla contratacion para que la envie la vuestra merced Suplico a vuestra merced mo perdone por no averla acabado mas presto y en verdad sino fuera por la muerto de my hija y por la dolencia de my muger y mya dias ha que vuestra merced la huvyera reeel)id() bien pense de llevarla yo mismo (con otras dos que tengo fecho para su magestad) creo que su magestad y los seiiores del Consejo quedaran satisfechos della porque veran como se pu- ede navegar por redondo por sus derotas como se ace por una carta y la causa porque nordestea y noruestea la guja y como es for90so que lo "laga que tantas quartas a de nord- estePT y noruestear antes que torna abolverce azia el norte y en que meridiano y con esto terra su magestad la regla cierta para tomar la longitud. Senor suplico a vuestra merced me aga merced de escrivir & estos Seiiores officiales dela casa dela contratacion que mo socorran con un tercio de my salario adelantado para que me pueda desmpechar de a qui e yr alia a besar las manos tie vuestra merced y a ablar con los sefiores del Consejo y llevarle un criado mas que quedo enla carta del brasil el qual vino con los portogueses que de alia vinieron para de relacion de todo lo que alia an fecho los Portugueses y esto suplico a vuestra merced allende de otra muchas mercedes que de vuestra mer- ced tengo recebidas, nuestro senor guarde la magnifica per- sona de vuestra merced y estado acreciente como por vuestra merced es deseado y vuestro servidore desean y a ray Sefiora dona Juana boso la mano de Sevilla oy dia del bien aventu- rado San Juan del 1533 afios besa la mano de vuestra merced su muy cierto servidor=Sebastian Caboto=hay una firma." Es copia conformfc con el original de su referencia esistente en este Archive Grat de India, end. Ectante 143 — CajonS — Legajo 11. Sevilla de lunio de 1891. El Archivero-Gefe C-lziLO Simener-Hace. 4 if •:m M ■I : tuiii 3b4 APPENDIX NO, 48. XLIII. Extract from the Letter of Robert Thome to the King of England, Henry VIll, in 1527, inviting him to open a way into the northern seas in order to put himself in communication mth the eastern lands of Cathay. Yet these dangers or darkness hath not letted the Span- iards and Portuguese and others, to discover many unknown rcahns to their great peril. Which considered (and that your ( Traces subjects may have the same light) it will seem your Graces subjects to be without activity or courage, in leaving to do this glorious and noble enterprise. For they being past this little way which they named so dangerous, (which may be two or three leagues before they come to the Pole, and as much more after they pass the Pole) it is clear, that from thenceforth the seas are as temperate as in these parts, and that then it may be at the will and pleasure of the mariners, to choose whether they will sail by the coasts, that be cold, temperate or not. For they being past the Pole, it is plain they may decline to what part ihoy list. If theis will go toward the Orient, they shall enjoy the re- gions of all the Tartarians that extends toward the midday, and from thence they may go and proc d to the land of the Chinese, and from thence to the land of Cathaio Oriental, which is of all the mainland, most Oriental that can be reckoned from our habitation. And if, from thence, they do continue their navigation, following the coasts that return toward the Occi- dent, they shall fall in with Malaca, and so with all the In- dies, which we call Oriental, and following the way, may re- turn hither by the Cape of Buona Speranza ; and thus they shall compass the whole world. And if they will take their course after they be past the Pole, toward 'he Occident, they shall go in the backside of the Newfoundland, and which of late was discovered by your Grace's servants. And so continu- APPENDIX* NO. 43. 885 ing their voyage, they may return through the strait of Ma- gellan to this country, and so they compass also the world by that way ; and if they go this third way, and after they he past the Pole, go right toward the Polo antarctic, and then de- cline towards the lands and island situated between the Trop- ics, and under the Equinoctial, without doubt they shall find there the richest lands and islands of the World of Gold, precious stones, balnies, spices, and other things that we here esteem most which come out of strange countries, and may return the same way. By this it appeareth, your Grace hath not only a great ad- vantage of the riches, but also your subjects shall not travel halfo of the way that others do, which go round about as aforesaid. , t To which places there is left one way to discover, which is into the North ; for that of the four parts of the world, it scem- eth three parts are discovered by other princes. For out of Spaine they have discovered all the Indies and seas Occiden- tal and out of Portugal all the Indies and seas Oriental : so that by this part of the Orient and Occident, they have com- passed the world. For the one of them departing toward the Orient, and the other toward the Occident, met again in the course or way of the midst of the day, and so then was discov- ered a great part of the same seas and coasts by the Spaniards. So that now rest to be discovered the said North parts, the which it seemeth to me, is only your charge and duty. Be- cause the situation of this your realm ys thereunto nearest and aptest of all others ; and also for that you have already taken it in hand. And in mine opinion it will not seem well to leave so great and profitable an enterprise, seeing it may so easily and with so little cost, labor, and danger, be followed and ob- tained, though heretofore your Grace hath made thereof a proofe, and found not the commodity thereby as you trusted, at this time it shall be no impediment. .,,,,,,, etc. Hakluyt, vol. i, p, 213. 26 ¥ m 11 1 .■ i .;; I. !w./i 386 APPENDIX NO. 41 XLIV. Extract from, the Leti'v of Robert Thome to D. Ley, Ambassador of Henry VIII in Spain, in regard to the neic lands discovered in tin- West Indies. y For out of Spaine they have discovered all the Indies and jeas Occidental, and out of Portugule all the Ind- ies and seas Oriental .... so that nowe rest to bee discov- ered the said North partes, the which it seemeth to moo is onely your charge and dutie. Because the situation of tliis your Realme is thereunto neerest and aptest of all other : and also for that you have alreadie taken it in hande, and in mine opinion, it will not seeme well to leave so great and profitable an enterprise Though, heretofore, your Grace hath made thereof a proofs, and found not the coiu- moditie thereby as you trusted, at this time it shall beo no impediment. Fore there may bee nowe provided remedies .... and lettes remooved that then were cause your Grace's desire tooke no full effect, which is, the courses to be chaunged, and followe the aforesaid new courses. And nowe to declare some thing it yS very cleero and certaine that the seas that commonly men say that w itli- out great danger, difhcultie, and perill, yea, rather, it is im- possible to passe, those same seas bee navigable, and vathoul any such daunger but that shippes may passe For they {your Grace's Siibiects), being past this little wjiy which they named so dangerous, which may bee ii or iii leagues before they come to y« Pole, and as much more after they passe the Pole, it is cleere that from thence foorth tlio seas and Landes are as temperat as in these partes, and tliat then it may be at the will and pleasure of the mariners to choose whither they will saile .... For they being past the Pole, it is plaine they maye decline to what parte they list. It tfiey will goe towarde the Orient they shall inioy the regions of all the Tartarians from thence to the land of AI'PENDIX NO. 45. 387 y" Chinas ... of Oathaio oriental Andif thoy will take thoir course aftf^r they be past the polo towarde the Occident, thoy shall goo in the backe side of the new found lande, which of late was discovered by your Grace's subioctes, untill thoy come to the backside and South seas of the Indies occidcai- tall. And so continuing thoir viago, they may returne thorowe the Straite of Magallanos to this countrey .... and if thoy goe this thirde way, and after they bee past the pole, goe right towarde the pole Antartike, and then decline toward the lands and Hands situated botweene the Tropikes and un- der the Equinoctial.. ..and may returne the same way."* Hak- luyt, I. 243. XLV. Pension given by Edward VI to Sebastian Cahot Edwardus sextus Dei gratia Anglijc, Francia), et Hibernifc rex omnibus Christi fidelibus ad quos praesentes hae litorae nostrae porvenerint, salutem. Sciatis quod nosiuconsideratione boni et acceptabilis servitij, nobis per dilectum servientem nostrum Sebastianum Cabotam impeusi atque impendendi, de gratia nostra spaciali, ac ex corta scieutia, et mero motu nostro, nee non de advisamento, et consensu praeclarissimi avunculi nostri Edwardi Ducis Somerseti personae nostrae Guberna- toris, ac Regnorum, dominiorum subditorumque nostroruin protectoris, et caeterorum consiliariorum nostrorum, dedimus et concessimus, ac per praesentes damus et concedimus ei(!om Sebastiano Cabotae, quandam annuitatem sive annalom reditum eidem Sebastiano Cabotae, durante vita sua naturali, de thesauro nostro ad receptum scacarij nostri Westmonasterij per manus thesaurariorum et Camerariorum nostrorum, ibidem pro tempore existentium, ad festa annuntiationis be- aiae Mariae Virginis, nativitatis sancti Joannis Baptistae, T'l;,' * Robert Thorne supposed, liko many others, that the polar seas were as easily uavigable as our own. 388 ATPENl IX NO. 46. sancti MichaeJia Archangeli, et Natalis Domini per aequales portiones solvendiun. Et ulterius de uberiori gratia nostra, ac de advisamento, et consensu praedictis damns, et per praesen- tea coneedimus praefato Sebastiano Cabotae, tot et tarta.* Den- ariorum summas,adquotet quantas dicta anniiitassive aiinalis reditus centum sexaginta sex librarum, tresdecim solidorum, et quatuor denariorum, a festo sancti Michaelis Archangeli ultimo praeterito hue usque se extendit, etattingit, habendus et recipiendas praefato Sebrstiano Cabotae et assignatis suis dc thesauro nostro praedicto per manus praedictorum Thesaura- riorum, et Camerariorum nostrorum de dono nostro absque computo, seu aliquo alio nobis, haeredibus, vel successor] bus nostris proinde reddendo, solvendo, vel faciendo : eo quod expressa mentio, etc. In cuius rei testimonium etc. Teste Rege, apud Westraonasterium 6 die Januarij, anno 2. Regis Edwardi sexti." Hakluyt, III, 31. Ed. 1600. Dispaichea of the English Avibassadors on the request for Se- bastian Cabot's return to Spain. 25 Nov. 1549. And farther where as one Sebastian Gaboto general p[ilot] of the emperours Indias is presently in England forasmuch as he cannot stand the King your Mr. in any greate [stead] seing he hath smale practise in these sees and is a v [eric] necessary man for the emperour whose servaunt he is [and] hath a pcncion of hym his ma"*' desyreth sume ordre[to] be taken for his sendir g over in suche sorte as his [ma'''^] Ani- bassadour shall at better length declare unto the king your Mr'** counsell. [Cotton M. Galba B. XII, fo. 124. Despatch from sir Thop Cheyne and sir Phil. Hoby, English ambassadors to Charles Vt to the Privy Council. Brussels, 25 no v. 1549]. HllS III!'! AtPENPIX NO. 47 380 lequak's ostra, ac praesoii- ta,5 Den- i annalis lidorum, changeli labendus is suis (Ic hesaura- D absque jssori l)us eo quod '.. Teste 2. Regis t for /Se- rai p[ilot] 3rasmuch te [stead] I V [erie] is [and] re[to] bo ^UB-j Am- cing your I sir Thos o Charles XLVII. Reply of the English Ministers to the request to send back Cabot. And as for Sebastian Cabot ansvvere was first made to tho said Arab.""' that he was not deteined heere by us, but that he of himself refused to go either into Spayne or to tne enip"'', and that he being of that mind and the kinges subiecte, no reason nor equitie vvolde that lie sliulde be forced or com- pelled to go against his will. Upon the w*''' aunswere, the said Am'^"'^ said that if this were Cabottes aunswere then he required that the said Cabot in the presence of some one whom we could appointe might spek with the said Amb^°' and declare unto him this to be his mind and aunswere wher- unto we condescended, and at the last, sent the said Cabot w* Richard Shelley to thembassador. Who as the said Shelley hathe made report to us, affirmed to the said Amb**"' that he was not minded to go neither into Spayne nor to ftiemp *"■ Nevertheles having knowlege, of certain thinges verie necessarie for the Emp°™ kiiowlege, he was well conten- ted for the good well he here tnemp"'' to write his mind unto him, or declare the same here to enie such as shulde be ap- pointed to heare him. Wherunto the said amb^'^'' asked the said Cabot, in case the kinges ma"« or we shuld command him to go to themp"' whether then he wold not do it ? Wher- unto Cabot made aunswere as Shelley reportethe that if the kinges highnes or we did command him so to do, then he knew wel moughe what he had to do. But it semeth that the amb-Jo' tooke this autibwere of Cabot to sound as though Cabot had aunswered, that being commanded by the Kinges highnes«or us that then he wolde be contented to go to the emp*"^ wherin we reken tho said Am V^"^ to be deceived, forthat the said Cabot had divers times before declared unto us twat he was fullie (? 3termined not to go hens at all. Grenewich, 21 april 1550. The counsail to sir Ph. H. [British Museum, Harleyan Mss. 523 f. q.] Mill • 390 APPENDIX MO. 49/ Letter of Charles V to Mary Tudor for Sebastian dbot^a return. Tres haulte tres excellente et tres puissaute princesse nostre tres chiere et tres amee bonne seur et cousine. Pour ce que de- sirerions communiquer aucuns affaires concernans la sheurete de la navigation de noz Royaulmes et pays avee le capitaine cabote cidevant pilote de noz Royaulmes de Spaignes, et le quel de nostre gre et consentement sest puis ancune annees passe en AngleteiTe nous vous requerons bien afFectueuse- mente, donner conge audit cabote et luy permecter venir de- vers nous, pour avec lui communiquer sur ce que dessus. Et vous ferez en ce tres agreable plesir selon qu'avons en cbargo a nos ambassadeurs devers vous le vous declarer plus particu- lierement. Atanl tres haulte tres excellente et tres puissaute princesse nre. chiere et tres amee bonne seur et cousine nous prions le createur vous avoir en sa tres saincte et digne garde. A Mons en Haynnau le IX " de septembre 1553. vre bon frere et cousin Charles Baue A tres haulte tres excellente et tres puissaute princesse nre. tres chiere et tres amee bonne seur et cousine la Royne dan- gleterre. M. W. B. TurnbuU, Foreign Calendars, 1553-58, t. i, No. 31, p. 10. • ■ ;^ \ xLix. : r:-../r^.:.:>.'7^y.'l... Dispatch of the Council of Ten to James Soranzo, Vendian And)as- sador to England, as tc tlie manner of sending Sebastian Cabot to Venice, 12 September 1551. Per le lettere vostre de' 17 del mese passato indriciate alii Capi del Consiglio nostro di Dieci, havemo inteso quello cho vi e occorso di avvisarne in materia del fedelissirao nostro Seba- APPENDIX NO. 50. 391 "1 stiano Gaboto, il che mi e stato niolto grato, et vi laudamo della diligentia che avete usato in darne particolar infor- matione delle qualitd. et conditioni soe : in risposta delle quali vi dicemo che li dobbiate far intendere che questa sua offerta ue e stata gratissima, usandole quelle bone parole che vi pare- rano per la prudentia vostra ; et quanto alia richiesta che vi e stata fata da quel signori circa li crediti che pretende et ricuperatione de beni, li risponderete che noi desiderarao in tutto quello che potemo far cosa grata a aquella Maest^, ed a loro Signorie, ma che noii essendo il detto Caboto co- nosciuto da alcuno de qui, saria neccessario che esso medesimo venisse per giustificare la sua persona et le ragion sue, essendo quelle cose di che si parla molto vecchie, e questo istesso havemo risposto al Magnifico Ambasciator di quella Maest^, il quale di cio ne ha fatto inatantia in conformity, delle lettere vostre, pero anchora ed esso Gaboto farete intender il tutto. Con questa occasione possa dimandare et ottenere la licentia di venire, la quale vederete, che il procuri di avere, trasferen- dopi di qui quanto piu presto potrA, ne restarete pero in questo mezo di sforzarvi di intendere da lui piu avanti quel maggior particolari che potrete dir, e il disegno suo di questa naviga- tione, dando del tutto particolare notitia alii capi + 25—2—0 \ [Archivio di Stato, Venezia, Consiglio dei Dieci, Parti Se- crete, Filza N. 8, 1551-54]. Dispatch of Peter Vannea^ Ambassador of England to Venice, on the recommendations in favor of Sebastian Cabot. ' To the Council .... Touching Sebastian Cabot's matter, concerning which the Venetian Ambassador has also written, he has recom- manded the same to the Seigniory, and in their presence deli- vered to one of their secretaries Baptista Ramusio, whom 392 At>PENDtX UO. 61. cabot put in trust, such evidences as came to his ands. The Seigniory were well pleased that one of their subjects by serv- ice and virtue should deserve the Councils good will and fa- vour ; and although this matter is about 50 yars old, and by the death of men, decaying of houses and perishing of writings, as well as his own absence it were hard to come to any as- sured knowledge thereof, they have commanded Ramusio to eansearch with diligence any way and knowledge possible that may stand to the said Sebastian's profit and obtaining of right. M. W."* B. Turnbull, [ Foreign Calendar, dra, 1861, p. 171, N. 444]. . ■-^ LI. -': •.,:-..., ■ - Extract from the Narrative of Ramusio^ s second Anonymous on the Voyages to the North- East seas. Si aveva raesso in fantasia Sebastiano Cabota inglese, nato di padre venetiano, instrutto prima da Giovanni Caboto suo padre, e molti anni col pensier discorso haveva, poter essere die qualche passo fosse nel mar settentrionale, per il quale o di verso Levante o di verso Ponente con breve navigatione e facile da queste nostre parti nel grande Oceano Indico passarc si potesse, purche dall'oppositione di qualche terra incognita osso passo impedito non fosse, persuaso ad immaginarsi questa cosa cosi dal testimonio d' alcuni author! antiqui, come dall'- esperienza de' molti moderni. Gli argomenti die movevano et il padre et il figliuolo a credere, che questo esser potesse, erano che Plinio servendosi del testimonio di Cornelio Nepote scri ve che dal Re di Svetia furon donati a Metello Celere procon- sole dolla Gallia, alcuni mercadanti Indiani, che erano da foi- tuna marittima stati trasportati da' lor paesi ne' liti di Svetia. Dicono ancora trovasse scritto, che a' tempi di Ottone Impe- ratore fu presa nel mar settentrionale Germanico una certa nave, che di Levante dalla forza de' contrari veiiti vi erastata portata- II che ( come essi afFermano ) a modo alcuno far non APPlJNblX NO. 53. S9S SI saria potuto, se quel mare settentrionale fosse per cagione do' gran freddi e ghiacci semper innavigabile. Uii altro argo- mento ancora havevano ; che oltre il mar Indico, il golfo Gan- getico, I'Aurea Chersoneso, over Malacha, e la provincia de Sina, et oltra le navigationi de' Moderni, sapevano di eerto, che questo mare Indico era posto in lungliezza quasi nel grado 180 et in larghezza nel 25 grado, poco di la del meri- diano di Tartaria, e dell'amplissimo imperio del Cathai (qua! da naviganti e cercato, come scopo e premio delle fatiche lore) e considerando come e quanto questo gran mar delle Indie si andasse ogni hor piu sotto questo meridiano ingolfando e pie- gando verso settentrione, non con legger coniettura, ne senza ragione ( essendo che le cose incognite possono essere cosi false come vere) giudicavano esser verisimile, che se il mar nostro settentrionale o di verso levante o di verso ponente si distendesse alia volta di Mezo giorno se particolarmente sotto quell'istesso meridiano, sotto il quale il mar Indico verso settentrione si piega, che facilmente sotto 1' istesso meridiano col mar d' India congiungere si potrebbe Questi sono i principali argomenti, ne' quali Sebastiano Cabota confida- tosi, persuase agli huomini di questi paesi, di potersene passare dal mar settentrionale dalla banda di Levante (perciocche quella di Ponente havevano indarno et esso et il padre cer- cata ) facilmente et in curto tempo nell' India Orientale, o almeno di giungere nel regno del Cathai, di dove sperava ritornare carico di oro, di gioie e di speziarie. Ramusio, 2." Ediz., Venezia, 1606, presso i Giunti. vol. ii, p. 212. ^' .-.,,''■ ^ ■• 11 I'm if-!;,;; ■ ' f ,''3 ' m i::i!4 v\y. m illl (liii LII. Extract from Lanquefs Chronicle on the Voyage of 1 553 to the North-East. In this meane whyle there were three noble shyppea furnyshed for the great adventure of the unknown viage into the easte by the north seas. The great encourager of this I 394 APPENDIX NO. 54. viage was Sebastian Gaboto, an englisheman, borne at Bris- tow, but a Genoways sonne. These shyps dyd shortly after passe gallantly by Grenewiche in the kinges presence, one of the mariners Standyng upon the mayne topmaste of one of them." [Lanquet, Cooper et Crowley. An Epitome of cronicles, Lon- don, Thomas Marshe, 1559, sub anno 1553] . ■ LiiL ^./Vv:;':-"", Extract from Grafton's Chronicle on the same Voyage. About this time there were three noble ships set forth and furnished for the great adventure of the unknowne voyage in- to the East, by the North seas. The great doer and encour- ager of which voyage was Sebastian Gaboto an Englishe man, borne at Bristow, but was the sonne of a Genoway. These shipes at the last arrived in the country of Muscovia, not with- out great losse and danger, and namely of their captain, who was a worthy and adventerous gentlema called sir Hugh Willoughby, Knight, who beyng tossed and driven by tem- pest, bee was at the last found in his ship frozen to death and all his people. But now the said voyage and trade is greatly advanced. . * '^ ■ « ■ ■ [Grafton, A Chronicle at large, London, 1569, sub anno 1553.] LIV. Extract from Holinshed's Chronide on the sam^ Voyage. Edward VI An. Reg. 6 About this time there were three notable ships set forth and furnished for the great adventure of the unknowne voyage into the east by the north seas. The great doer and encourager of which voiage was Sebastian «i< APPENDIX NO. 56 395 Gaboto an Englishma born at Bristow, but was the son of a Genowaies. These ships at the last arrived in the countrie of Moscovia not without greai losse and danger, and namely of their captaine, who was a worthie and adventurous gentleman called sir Hugh Willoughby knight who being tossed and driven by tempest, lie was at the last founde in his ship frosen to death and all his people. But now the sayde voy- age and trade is greatly advanced . . [Holinshed, The Chronicles of Englande, Scoilande, and Irelande, London, 1557, t. ii, p. 1714, sub anno 1553] . I.V. Extract from John Siow's Chronicle on the same Voyage. Edward VI A. D. 1553 The twentith of May, by the encouragement of one Sebastian Cabotte three great ships wel furni- shed were sette forthn for the adventure of the unknown voy- age to Muscovia, and other easte partes by the North seas, divers merchants and other being free of that voyage, yeelded towards the charges of the same five and twentie pounds apeece. Sir George Barnes and Sir William Garrard being y^ principal doers therein. [Stow. Chronicle, Lond. 1580, p. 1057]. ^ ; f ; LVI Cahofs Instructions. Ordinances, instructions, and advertisements of and for the direction of the intended voyage for Cathay, compiled, made and delivered by the right worshipfull M. Sebastian Cabota Esquier governour of the mysterie and companie of the Marchants adventurers for the discoverie of Regions, :! .196 Appenmx no. Sfl. Dominions, Islands and placoeunknowen, the 9. day of May, in the yerc of Lord God 1553 and in the 7. yeere of tlie rcigno of our most dread soveraigne Lord Edward the G by the grace of God, king of England, Fraunee and Ireland, defender of the faith, and of the Church of England and Ire- land, in earth supreamo head. First the Captaine general, with the pilot maior, the masters, marchants and other officers, to be so knit and ac- corded in unitie, love, conformitie, and obedience in everj^ degree on all sides, that no dissention, variance, or contention may rise or spring betwixt them and the mariners of this companie, to the damage or hinderance of the voyage : for that dissention (by many experiences) hath overthrown many notable intended and likely enterprises and exploits. 2 Item, for as much as every person hath given an othe to be true, faithfull, and loial subjects, and liege men to the kings most excellent Maiestie, his heijjes and successors, and for the observation of all lawes and statutes, made for the preservation of his most excellent Maiestie, and his crown Imperiall of his realmes of England and Ireland, and to serve his Grace, the Realme, and this present A^oyage truely, and not to give up, intermit or leave otF the said voyage and enterprise untill it shalbe accomplished, so farre forth as pos- sibilitie and life of man may serve or extend : Therfore it behoveth every person in his degree, as well for conscience, as for dueties sake to remember his said charge, and the ac- complishment thereof. 3 Item, where furthermore every mariner or passenger in his ship hath given like othe to bee obedient, to the Captaine generall, and to every Captaine and master in his ship, for the observation of these present orders contained in this booke, and all other which hereafter shalbe made by the 12 coun- sailers in the present book named, or the most part of them, for the better conduction, and preservation of the fleete, and atchieving of the voyage, and to be prompt, ready and obedient in all acts and feates of honesty, reason, and duetic to be ministred, shewed and executed, in advancement and preferment of the voyage and exploit : therefore it is APPENDIX NO. 56. 397 convenient that this present booke shall once every wcckc ( by the discretion of the Captaine ) be read to the said coin- pnnie, to the intent that every man may the better remember his othe, conscience, duetie and charge. 4 Item, every person by vertue of his othe, to doe eflectu- ally and with good wil ( as farre forth as him shall compile ) all and every such act and acts, deede or deeds, as shalbc to him or them from time to time commanded, committed and cnioyned (during the voyage )by the Captain generall, with the assent of the Counsell and assistants, as well in and dur- ing the whole Navigation and voyage, as also in discovering and landing, as cases and occasions shall require. 5 Item, all courses in Navigation to be set and kept, by the advice of the Captaine Pilot maior, masters, and master mates, with the assents of the counsailers and the most num- ber of them and in voyccs uniform ely agreeing in one to pre- vaile, and take place, so that the Captaine generall, shall in all counsailes and assemblies have a double voyce. 6 Item, that the fleete shall keep together, and not sepa- rate themselves asunder, as much as by winde and weather may be done or permitted, and that the Captainos, Pilots and masters shall speedily come aboord the Admiral, when and as often as he shall seeme to have iust cause to assembleo them for counsaile or consultation to be had concerning the affaires of the fleets and voyage. 7 Item, that the marcbants, and other skilful persons in writing, shal daily write, describe, and put in memorie the Na- vigation of every day and night, with the points, ond obser- vation of the lands, tides, elements, altitude of the sunne, course of the moon and starres, and the same so noted by the order of the Master and pilot of ever ship to be put in writ- ing the captaine generall assembling the masters together once every weeke (if winde and weather shal serve) to conferre all the observations and notes of the said ships, to the intent it may appeare wherein the notes do agree, and wherein they dissent, and upon good debatement, delibera- tion and conclusion determined, to put the same into a com- mon leger, to remain of record for the company: the like m m I ',' 398 APPENDIX NO. 56. order to be kept in proportioning of the Gardes, Astrolnhes, and otlier instruments prepared for the voyage, at the charge of the companie. 8 Item, tliat all enterprises and exploits of discovering or landing to search lies, regions and such like, to be searched and attempted, and enterprised by good deliberation and common assent, determined advisedly. And that in all en- terprises, notable ambassages, suites, requests, or presentement of giftes, or presents to Princes, to be done and executed by the captaine generall in person, or by such other, as ho by common assent shall appoint or assigne to doe or cause to be done in the same. 9 Item, the steward and cooke of every ship, and their associats, to give and render to the captaine and other head officers of their shippe weekely (or oftner), if it shall seeme requisite, a iust or ph ine and perfect accompt of expense, of the victuals, as wel flesh, fish, bisket, raeate, or bread as also of beere, wine, oyle or vineger, and all other kinde of victualling under their charge, and they, and every of them so to order and dispende the same, that no waste or un- profitable excesse be made otherwise then reason and ne- cessitie shall command. 10 Item, when any inferiour or meane officer of what degree or condition he shalbe, shalbe tried untrue, remisse, negligent, or unprofitable in or about his office in the voyage, or not to use him selfe in his charge accordingly, then every such officer to be punished or removed at the discretion of the captaine and assistants, or the most part of them, and the person so removed not to be reputed, accepted, or taken from the time of his remove, any more for an officer, but to remaiue in such condition and place, as hea shall be assigned unto, and none of the companie, to resist such chastisement or wortiiie punishment, as shalbe ministred unto him moderately, according to the fault or desert of his offence, after the lawes and common customes of the seas, in such cases heretofore used and observed. 11 Item, if any Mariner or officer inferiour shalbe found by his labour not meete nor worthie the place that he is presently ^^ APPENDIX NO. 66. 399 shipped for, such person may bee unshipped and put on lande at any place within the kings Muiesties reahne and do- minion, and one other person more able and more worthy to be put in his place, at the decretion of the captaine and mas- ters, and order to be taken that the portic dismissed shalbo allowed proportionably the value of that he shall have deserved to the time of his dismission or discharge, and ho to give order with sureties, pawn, or other assurance, to re- pay the overplus of that he shall have received, which he shall not have deserved, and such wages to be made with the partio newly placed as shalbe thought reasonable, and he to have the furniture of al such necessaries as were prepared for the partie dismissed, according to right and conscience. 12 Item, that no blaspheming of God, or detestable swea- ring be used in any ship, nor communication of ribaldrio, filthy tales, or ungodly talke to be suffred in the company of any ship, neither dicing, carding, tabling, nor other divelish games to be frequented, whereby ensueth not onely povertie to the players, but also strife, wariance, brauling, fighting, and oftentimes murther to the utter destruction of the parties and provoking of Gods most iust wrath, and sworde of vengeance. These and all such like pestilences, and con- tagions of vices, and sinnes to bee eschewed, and the offenders once monished, and not reforming, to bee punished at the dis- cretion of the captaine and master, as appertaineth. 13 Item, that morning and evening prayer, with other com- mon services appointed by the kings Maiestie, and lawes of this Realme to be read and saide in every ship daily by the minister in the Admirall, and the marchant or some other person learned in other ships, and the Bible or par- aphrases to be read devoutly and Christianlj' to Gods honour, and for his grace to be obtained and had by humble and heartie praier of the Navigants accordingly. 14 Item, that every officer is to be charged by invcntorie with the particulars of his charge, and to render a perfect ac- compt of the difFraying of the same together with modest, and temperate dispending of powder, shot, and use of all -I' ilil ;.;•! ill!! ■■m 400 APPENDIX NO. B8. kiiidc of artillery, which is not to bo misused, but diligently to bo preserved for the necessary defence of the fleete and voyage, together with due keeping of all instruments of your N ivigation and other requisites. 15 Item, no liquor to be spilt on the balast, nor filtliinos to be left within boord: the cook room, and all other places to be ke[)t cloano for the Vjetter health of the companie, the gro- mals and pages to bee brought up according to the laudable order and use of the Sea, as well in learning of Navigation, as in exercising of that which to them appertaineth. 16 Item, the liveries in apparel given to the mariners be to be kept by the marchants, and not to be worne, but by the order of the captaine, when ho shall see cause to muster or shewe them in good amy, for the advancement and honour of the voyage, and the liveries to bee redelivered to the keep- ing of the marchants, untill it shall be thought convenient for every person to have the ful use of his garment. 17 Item, when any mariner or any other passenger shul have neede of any necessarie furniture of apparell for his body, and conservation of his health, the same shall bee delivered him by the Marchant, at the assignement of the captaine and Master of that shippe, wherein such needie person shall be, at such reasonable price as the same cost, without any gnino to be exacted by the marchants, the value therof to be entred by the marchant in his booke, and the same to bo discounted off the parties wages, that so shal receive, and weare the same. 18 Item, the sicke, diseased, weake,and visited person within boord, to be tendred, relieved, comforted and holpen in the time of his infirmicie, and every manor of person, without respect, to Vioare anothers burden, and no man to refuse such labour us f-hall be put to him for the most benefite, and publike wealth of the voyage, and enterprise, to be atchieved exactly. 19 Item, if any person shal fortune to die, or miscary in the voyage, such apparell, and other goods, as he shall have at the time of his death, is to be kept by the order of the captaine and Master of the shippe and an inventorie to be made of it, and conserved to the use of his wife, and children, or other- ^^^^^m APPENDIX NO 56. 401 ithin ill the thout such ubliko actly. in the ave at ptaino of it, other- wise according to his mind, and wil, and tho day of his death t() ho ontrcd in tho Marohunts and Stewards hookes : to tlio intent it may ho knowon what wages ho shall have deserved to his death, and what shall rest duo to him. 20 Item, that tho Ahirohants a[»pointod for this prt^ont vo- yage, shall not mako any show or sale of any kind of marchan- dizes, or open their commodities to any forroin princes, or any of their suhiects, without tho consent, privitie or agreement of tho Captaines, tho capo Mai'chants and tho assistants, or fouro of thorn, whereof tho captaino generall, the Pilot Maior, and capo Marchant to ho three, and every of the pettio marchantstoshewo his reckoning to tho caj)o marchant when they, or any of them shall be required : and no commutation or trucko to be made by any of tho pettio niarchants, without the assent ahovesaid: and all wares, and commodities trucked, bought or given to the companio, by way of marcliaiidise, trucke, or any other respect, to be booked by tho marchants, and to bo wel ordrod, packed, and conserved in one maese en- tn-oly, and not to bo broken or altered, until the shippes shall ro- turne to tho right discharges, and inventorie of al goods, wares, and marchandises so trucked, bought, or otherwise dispended, to be presented to the Governor, Consuls, and assistants in London, in good order, to the intent the Kings Maiestie may be truly answered of that which to his grace by his grant of corporation is limited, according to our most bound dueties, and the whole companio also to have that which by right unto them appertainoth, and no embezolmcnt shall be used, l>ut tho truth of tho whole voyage to bee opened, to tho com- mon wealth and benetito of the whole companio, and mystcrie, as appertainoth, without guile, fraude, or male engine. 21 Item, no particulier person, to hinder or preiudicate tho common stocke of the company,in sale or preferment of his own proper wares, and things, and no particular emergent or pur- chase to be employed to any several profitc, untill the com- mon stocke of the companio shall be fiu'nished, and no person to hinder the com'mon benefite in such purchases or contin- gents, as shal fortune to any one of them, by his owne proper policie, industrie, or chance, norno contention to rise in that 26 i! Il:; 402 APPENDIX NO. 58. behalfe, by any occasion of iewel, stone, pearles, precious mettals, or other things of the region, where it shall chance the same to rise, or to be found, bought, trucked, permuted, or given: but every person to be bounden in such case, and up- on such occasion, by order, and direction, as the Generall Captaine, and the Councell shall establish and determine, to whose order and discretion the same is left : fo^* that of things uncertaine, no certaine rules may or can be given. 22 Item, not to disclose to any nation the state of our reli- gion, but to passe it over in silence, without any declaration of it, seeming to beare with such lawes, and rites, as the place hath, where you shall arrive. 23 Item, for as much as our people, and shippes may ap- peare unto them strange and wonderous, and theirs also to ours : it is to be considered, how they may be used, learning much of their natures and dispositions, by some one such per- son, as you may first either allure, or take to be brought aboord your ships, and there to learne as you may, without violence or force, and no woman to be tempted, or intreated to incon- tinencie, or dishonestie. 24 Item, the person so taken, to be well entertained, used and apparelled, to bt set on land, to the intent that he or she may allure other to draw nigh to shewe the commodities : and if the person taken may be made drunke with yourbeero, or wine, you shal know the secrets of his heart. 25 Item, our people may not passe further into a land, then that they may be able to recover their pinnesses, or ships, and not to credit the faire words of the strange people, which be many times tried subtile and false, nor to be drawen into pcr- ill of losse, for the desire of golde, silver, or riches, and estecme your owne commodities above al other, and in countenance shew not much to desire the forren commodities nevertheless take them as for friendship, or by way of permutation. 26 Item, every nation and region is to be considered advi- sedly, and not to provoke them by any disdaine, laughing, con- tempt, or such like, but to use them with prudent circum- spection, with al gentlenes and curtesio, and not to tary long in one place, untill you shall have attained the most worthy APPENDIX NO. 56, 403 place * may be found, in such sort, as you may returne „ vic- tuals sufficient prosperously. 27 Item, the names of the people of every Island, are to be taken in writing, with the commodities and incommodities of the same,their natures, qualities and dispositions, the site of the same, and what things they are most desirous of, and what commodities they wil most willingly depart with, and what mettals they have in hils, mountaines, strearaes, or rivers, in or under the earth. 28 Item, if people shal appeare gathering of stones, gold mettall, or other like, on the sand, your pinnesses may drawe nigh, marking what things they gather, using or playing upon the drumme, or such other instruments, as may allure them to barkening, to fantasie, or desire to see, and heare your in- struments and voyces, but keepe you out of danger, and shewe to them no poynt or signe of rigour and hostilitie. 29 Item, if you shall bo invited into any Lords or Rulers house, to dinner, or other parliance, goe in buch order of strength, that you may be stronger then they, and be warie of woods and ambushes, and that your weapons be not out of your possessions. 30 Item, if you shall see them weare Lyons or Beares skinnes, having long bowes, and arrowes, be not afraid of that sight : for such be worno oftentimes more to feare strangers, then for any other cause. 31 Iiem, there are people that can swimme in the sea, havens, and rivers, naked, having bowes and shafts, coveting to draw nigh your ships, which if they shal finde not wel watched, or warded, they wil assault, desirous of the bodies of. I en, .vhich they covet for meate ; if you resist them, tbey dive, and so wil flee, and therefore diligent watch is to be kept both day and night, in some Islands. 32 Item, if occasion shal serve, that you may give advertisements of your proceedings in such things as may correspond to the expectation of the company, and likelihood of successe in the voyage, passing such dan- geis of the seas, perils of ice, intollerable coldes, and other impediments, which I'y sundry authors and il -:ll .;:| 404 APPENDIX NO. 56. writers, have ministred matter of suspition in some heads that this voyage could not succede for the extremitie of the North pole, lacke of passage, and such like, which have caused wavering minds, and doubtful heads, not onely to withdraw themselves from the adventure of this voyage, but also dis- swaded others from the same, the certaintie wherof, when you shall have tried by experience, ( most certaine Master of all worldly knowledge) then for declaration of the trueth, which you shall have experted, you may by common assent of coun- sell, sende either by land, or otherwaies, such two or one per- son, to bring the same by credite, as you shal think may passe in safetie : which sending is not be done, but upon urgent causes, in likely successe of the voyage, in finding of passage, in towardlines of beneficiall traffike, or such other like, where- by the company being advertised of your estates and pro- ceedings, may further provide, foresee, and deter~^)ine that which may seeme most good and beneficiall f : ^' ^ ublikc wealth of the same : either providing before hand such things, as shall bee requisite for the continuance of the voyage, or else otherwise to dispose as occasion shall serve : in which things your wisedomes and discretions are to be used, and shewed, and the contents of this capitule, by you much to be pondred, for that you be not ignorant, how many persons, as well the kings Maiestie, the Lords of his honorable Counsel, this whole companie, as also your wives, children, kinsfolkes, allies, friends and familiars, be replenished in their hearts with ar- dent desire to learne and know your estates, conditions, and welfares, and in what likelihood you be in, to obtain this r table enterprise, which is hoped no lesse to succeed to v u then the orient or Occident Indias have to the high be, t, of the Empereur, and kings of Portugal, whose subiects in- dustries, and travailes by sea, have inriched them, by those lands and Islands, which were to all Cosmographers, and other writers both unknowne, and also by apparances of reason voido of experience thought and reputed unhabitable for extremities of heates, and colds, and yet indeed tried most rich, peopled, temperate, and so commodious, as all Europe hath not the hke. V - [A.J^ APPENDIX NO. 56. 405 33 Item, no conspiracies, parttakings, factions, false tales, untrue reports, which be the very seedes, and fruits of conten- tion, discord and confusion, by evill tongues to be suffered, but the same, and all other ungodlines to be chastened charitably with brotherly love, and alwaies obedience to be used and practised by al persons in their degrees, not only for duetie and conscience sake towards God, under whose mercifull hand navigants above all other creatures naturally bee most nigh, and vicine, but also for prudent and worldy pollicie, and pub- like weale, considering and alwaies having present in your mindes that you be all one most royall kings subiects, and naturals, with daily remembrance of the great importance of the voyage, the honour, glorie, praise, and benefite that de- pend of, and upon the same, toward the common wealth of this noble Realme the advancement of you the travailers therein, your wives, and children, and so to endevour your selves as that you may satisfie the expectation of them, who at their great costs, charges, and expenses, have so furnished you in good sort, and plentie of all necessaries, ac the like was never in any realme seene, used, or knowen requisite and needful for such an exploit, which is most likely to be at- chieved, and brought to good effect if every person in his vocation shall endevour himselfe according to his charge, and most bounden duetie : praying the living God, to give you his grace, to accomplish your charge to his glorie, whose merciful hand shal prosper your voyage, and preserve you from all dangers. In witnes whereof I Sebastian Gabota, Governour aforesaide, to these persent ordinances have subscribed my name, and put my scale, the day and yeere above written. The names of the twelve Counsellors appointed in this voyage. (•' i* 406 APPENDIX NO. 58. LVII. Appointment of Sebastian Cabot as Governor of the Company of Merchant Adventurers, 26 Feb. 1555. Febr. 26 1555. Westminster. Letters patent constituting William marquis of Westminster and others a body corporate, by name of Merchant Advent- urers of England for discovery of lands, territories etc. un- known and not before frequented etc. S[ebastian] C[abot] to o--^ the first Governor. \ Lemon, Calendar of Domestic State Papers, 1547-80. T. _ p. 65]. LVIIL Queen Mary's Confirmation of the pension for life to Sebastian Cabot. Anno D. 1555. Rex et Regina, Omnibus ad quos, etc. salutem. Sciatis quod nos, De gratia nostra speciali, ac ex certa scientia et mero Motu nostris, nee non in consideratione boni veri et acceptabilis ser- vitii Nobis, per dilectum servientem nostrum Sebastianum Caboto armigerum ante hac impensi et imposterum impen- dendi, Dedimus et concessimus, ac per Praesentes pro nobis Hae- redibus et Successoribus nostris, damns et concedimus prae- fato Sebastiano, quandam Annuitatem sive annualem Red- ditura centum sexaginta sex librarum tresdecim solidorum et quatuor denariorum legalis monetae angliae, Habendam gaudendam et annuatim percipiendam eandem APFKNDIX NO. 59. 407 Annuitatem sive Annualem Reditum centum sexaginta sex librarum tresdecim solidorum et quattuor denariorum prae- fato Sebastiano et Assignatis suis, a festo Annunciationis beatae Virginia ultimo praeterito, ad terminum et pro termino Vitae eiusdem Sebastiani de Thesauro nostro Haeredum et Successorum nostrorum per manus Thesaurari et Camera- riorum nostrorum Haeredum et Successorum nostrojum ibidem pro tempore existentium, ad festa Nativitatis Sancti Johannis Baptisstae, Sancti Michaelis Archangeli, Natalis Domini et Annunciationis beatae Mariae Virginis, per aequales Portio- nes annuatim solvendam ; prima solutione inde incipiente ad festum Nativitatis Sancti Johannis Baptistae ultimo prae- terito ; Eo quod expressa mentio etc. In cuius rei etc Teste Rege et Regina apud Saint James XXVII. Die No- vembris. Per breve de Privato sigillo — Rymer, XV, 427. ^4- LIX. Decree of Queen, Mary, dividing the pension of Sebastian Cabot ■with William Worfhington. , v^ AnnoD. 1557. Rex et Regina omnibus ad quos etc. salutem. Cum nos, per Literas nostras Patentes gerentes datam apud voestem. vicesimo septimo die Novembris annis Regnorum nostrorum secundo et tertio, de gratia nostra speciali, ac ex certa scientia et mero Motu nostris, necnon in consideratione boni veri et acceptabilis servitii nobis per dilectum servientem nostrum Sebastianum Caboto Armigerum antea impensi et tunc in posterum impendendi, pro Nobis Haeredibus et Suc- cessoribus nostris dederimus et concesserimus praefato Se- \> 408 APPENDIX NO. 59. bastiano quandam Annuitatem sive annualem Reditum cen- tum sexagiiita sex Libraruni tresdecim solidorum et quatuoi" Denariorum legalis Monetae Angliae, Habendam gaudendam et annuatim percipiendam eandem Annuitatem sive annualem Redditum centum sexaginta sex Librarum tresdecim solidorum et quatuor Denariorum prae- fato Sebastiano et assignatis suis a festo Annunciationis be- atae Mariae Virginis, tunc ultimo praeterito ad minum et pro Termino Vitae eiusdem Sebastiani de Thesauro nostro Hae- redum et successorum nostrorum per manus Thesaurari et Camerariorum nostrorum ibidem pro tempore existentium ad festa Nativitatis Sancti Johannis Baptistae, et Sancti Micha- elis Archangeli, Natalis Domini, et Annunciationis Beatae Mariae Virginis per aequales Portiones annuatim solvendam, prima solutione inde incipiente ad Festum Nativitatis Sancti Johannis Baptistae tunc ultimo praeterito, prout in dictis Literis Patentibus inter alia plenius continetur. Quas quidem Litteras Patentes praefatus Sebastianus Caboto nobis in Cancellariam nostram sursum reddidit et restituit oancellandas, et ibidem jam cancellatae existunt, prout certam inde habemus notitiam, ea tamen intentione quod nos, alias literas nostras patentes de Annuitate praedicta eidem Se- bastiano et dilecto servienti nostro Wilielmo Worthington Armigero ac eorum alteri diutius viventis in forma sequente facere et concedere dignaremur j Sciatis igitur quod Nos pro considerationibus praedictis nee non in consideratione boni veri et fidelis servitii Nobis, per di- lectos servientes nostros Sebastianum Caboto et Willielmum Worthington Armigeros ante hac impensi et in posterum impendendi, de Gratiis nostris specialibus, ac ex certis scien- tiis et meris Motibus nostris, dedimus et concessimus, ac per Praesentes, pro Nobis Haeredibus et Successoribus nostrum praefatae Reginae damns et concedimus eisdem Sebastiano et Willielmo ac eorum alteri diutius viventis, dictam Annuita- tem sive annualem Redditum centum sexaginta sex librarum tresdecim solidorum et quattuor Denariorum legalis Monetae Angliae, Habendam gaudendam et annuatim percipiendam eandem APPENDIX NO 59. 409 annuitatem sive annualem Redditum centum sexaginta sex Librarum tresdecim solidorum et quatuor Denariorum praefa- tis Sebastiano Caboto et Willielmo Worthington ac eorum alteri diutius viventis et assignatis suis, ac assignatis eorum alterius diutius viventis, a festo Annunciationis beatae Ma- rine Virginis ultimo praeterito ad Terminum et pro Termino Vitarum eorumden Sebastiani ot VVillielmi, ac eorum alterius diutius viventis, de Thesauro nostro, Haeredum et Successo- rum nostrorum dictae Reginae, ad Preceptam sacarii nostri Westum. Haeredum et Successorum nostrorum dictae Re- ginae, ibidem pro tempore existentium ad festa Nativitatis Sancti Johannis Baptistae, Sancti Micliaelis Archangeli, Nata- lis Domini, et Annunciationis beate Mariae Virginis, per ae- quales portiones annuatim solvendam ; Eo quod expressa mentio, etc. In cuius rei etc. Teste Rege et Regina apud "Westmonasterium vicesimo nono die Mai. Per Breve de Private Sigillo.—Rymer, XV, 466 The fixD. i i