A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. VI
by Robert Kerr
A GENERAL HISTORY AND COLLECTION OF VOYAGES AND TRAVELS.
ARRANGED IN SYSTEMATIC ORDER:
FORMING A COMPLETE HISTORY OF THE ORIGIN AND PROGRESS OF NAVIGATION, DISCOVERY, AND COMMERCE, BY SEA AND LAND, FROM THE EARLIEST AGES TO THE PRESENT TIME.
BY ROBERT KERR, F.R.S. & P.A.S. EDIN.
ILLUSTRATED BY MAPS AND CHARTS.
VOL. VI.
PART II.
(CONTINUED)
BOOK II.
(CONTINUED)
CHAPTER XI.
EARLY ENGLISH VOYAGES OF DISCOVERY TO AMERICA
Although we have already, in the Introduction to the Second Chapter of this Book, Vol. III. p. 346. given some notices of the voyages of John and Sebastian Cabot to America in the service of Henry VII. and VIII. it appears proper on the present occasion to insert a full report of every thing that is now known of these early navigations: As, although no immediate fruits were derived from these voyages, England by their means became second only to Spain in the discovery of America, and afterwards became second likewise in point of colonization in the New World. The establishments of the several English colonies will be resumed in a subsequent division of our arrangement.
It has been already mentioned that Columbus, on leaving Portugal to offer his services to Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain for the discovery of the Indies by a western course through the Atlantic, sent his brother Bartholomew to make a similar offer to Henry VII. King of England, lest his proposals might not have been listened to by the court of Spain. Bartholomew, as has been formerly related, was taken by pirates; and on his arrival in England was forced to procure the means of living, and of enabling himself to appear before the king, by the construction and sale of sea-charts and maps, in which he had been instructed by his brother. Owing to this long delay, when he at length presented himself to King Henry, and had even procured the acceptance of his brothers proposals, so much time had been lost that Isabella queen of Castille had already entered into the views of his illustrious brother, who had sailed on his second voyage to the West Indies, while Bartholomew was on his journey through France to announce to him that Henry King of England had agreed to his proposals.
The fame of the astonishing discovery made by Columbus in 1591, soon spread throughout Europe; and only four years afterwards, or in 1595, a patent was granted by Henry VII. to John Cabot, or Giovani Cabota, a Venetian citizen, then resident in England, and his three sons, Lewis, Sebastian, and Sancius, and their heirs and deputies, to sail to all parts countries and seas of the east west and north, at their own cost and charges, with five ships; to seek out discover and find whatsoever islands, countries, regions, or provinces belonging to the heathen and infidels, were hitherto unknown to Christians, and to subdue, occupy, and possess all such towns, cities, castles, and islands as they might be able; setting up the royal banners and ensigns in the same, and to command over them as vassals and lieutenants of the crown of England, to which was reserved the rule, title, and jurisdiction of the same. In this grant Cabot and his sons, with their heirs and deputies, were bound to bring all the fruits, profits, gains, and commodities acquired in their voyages to the port of Bristol; and, having deducted from the proceeds all manner of necessary costs and charges by them expanded, to pay to the king in wares or money the fifth part of the free gain so made, in lieu of all customs of other dues; of importation on the same. By these letters patent; dated at Westminster on the 5th of March in the eleventh year of Henry VII. all the other subjects of England are prohibited from visiting or frequenting any of the continents, islands, villages, towns, castles, or places which might be discovered by John Cabot, his sons, heirs, or deputies, under forfeiture of their ships and goods1.
No journal or relation remains of the voyages of Cabot and his sons in consequence of this grant, and we are reduced to a few scanty memorials concerning them; contained in the third volume of Hakluyt's Collection of the Early Voyages, Travels, and Discoveries of the English Nation. We quote from the new edition, with additions, published at London in 1810.
Two years after the before-mentioned letters patent, or on the 18th of February 1497, a licence was granted by the same king of England, Henry VII. to John Cabot, to take six English ships in any haven or havens of England, being of 200 tons burden or under, with all necessary furniture; and to take also into the said ships all such masters, mariners, or other subjects of the king as might be willing to engage with him.
It would appear that the patent of 1495 had never been acted upon; but in consequence of this new licence, John Cabot and his son Sebastian proceeded from the port of Bristol and discovered an island somewhere on the coast of America to which they gave the name of Prima Vista, probably the island of Newfoundland. The short account of this voyage of discovery left to us by Hakluyt, is said to have been inserted in Latin on a map constructed by Sebastian Cabot, concerning his discovery in America, then called the West Indies; which map, engraved by Clement Adams, was to be seen in the time of Hakluyt in the private gallery of Queen Elizabeth at Westminster, and in the possession of many of the principal merchants in London. This memorandum, translated into English, is as follows2.
"In the year 1497, John Cabot a Venetian and his son Sebastian, discovered on the 24th of June, about five in the morning, that land to which no person had before ventured to sail, which they named Prima Vista3, or, first-seen, because as I believe it was the first part seen by them from the sea. The island which is opposite4 he named St Johns Island, because discovered on the day of St John the Baptist. The inhabitants of this island use the skins and furs of wild beasts for garments, which they hold in as high estimation as we do our finest clothes. In war they use bows and arrows, spears, darts, clubs, and slings. The soil is sterile and yields no useful production; but it abounds in white bears and deer much larger than ours. Its coasts produce vast quantities of large fish, among which are great seals, salmons, soles above a yard in length, and prodigious quantities especially of cod, which are commonly called bacallaos5. The hawks, partridges, and eagles of this island are all black."
Besides the foregoing memorandum on the ancient map, Hakluyt gives the following testimonies respecting the discovery of the northern part of America, by Cabot.
Do you know how to sail for the Indies towards the northwest, as has been lately done by a Venetian citizen, a valiant man and so learned in all things pertaining to navigation and cosmography, that no one is permitted to sail as pilot to the West Indies who has not received his licence, he being pilot-major of Spain? This person, who resides in the city of Seville, is Sebastian Cabot, a native of Venice, who is most expert in these sciences, and makes excellent sea-charts with his own-hands. Having sought his acquaintance, he entertained us in a friendly manner, showing us many things, and among these a large map of the world containing sundry navigations, both those of the Spaniards and Portuguese. On this occasion he gave us the following information.
His father went many years since from Venice to England, where he followed the profession of a merchant, taking this person his son along with him to London, then very young, yet having received some tincture of learning, and some knowledge of the sphere. His father died about the time when news was spread abroad that Don Christopher Columbus, the Genoese, had discovered the coasts of the Indies by sailing towards the west, which was much admired and talked of at the court of King Henry VII. then reigning in England, so that every one affirmed that it was more attributable to divine inspiration than human wisdom, to have thus sailed by the west unto the east, where spices grow, by a way never known before. By these discourses the young man, Sebastian Cabot, was strongly incited to perform some notable and similar action; and conceiving by the study of the sphere that it would be a shorter route for going to India, than that attempted by Columbus, to sail by the north-west, he caused the king to be informed thereof, who accordingly gave orders that he should be furnished with two ships, properly provided in all things for the voyage. He sailed with these from England in the beginning of summer 1496, if I rightly remember, shaping his course to the north-west, not expecting to find any other land intervening between and Cathay or Northern China. He was much disappointed by falling in with land running toward the north, the coast of which he sailed along to the lat. of 56° N. and found it still a continent. Finding the coast now, to turn towards the east, and despairing to find the passage to India and Cathay of which he was in search, he turned again and sailed down the coast towards the equinoctial line, always endeavouring to find a passage westwards for India, and came at length to that part of the continent which is now called Florida7. And his victuals running short, he bore away for England; where he found the country in confusion preparing for war with Scotland, so that no farther attention was paid to his proposed discoveries.
3
Presuming that this discovery was Newfoundland, a name nearly of the same import, perhaps the land first seen was what is now called Cape Bonavista, in lat. 48° 50' N. long. 62° 32' W. from London. In the text, there is every reason to believe that it is meant to indicate, that Cabot named the island he discovered St Johns, and only the first seen point of land Prima-Vista. –E.
4
By this phrase is probably to be understood, the island behind this first-seen cape named
5
7
Florida is here to be taken in the extended sense as at first applied to the whole eastern coast of North America, to the north of the Gulf of Mexico. The commencement of this voyage appears to have been in search of a north-west passage; but Sebastian must have gone far above 56° N. to find the land trending eastwards: He was probably repelled by ice and cold weather. –E.