THE VOYAGES OF THE CABOTS

Henry’s patent, bearing date March 5, 1495/6, and distinguished as “the most ancient American state paper of England,” gave to the grantees sweeping powers and a pretty complete commercial monopoly. They were authorized to sail in all seas to the East, the West, and the North; to seek out in any part of the undiscovered world islands, countries, and provinces of the heathen hitherto unknown to Christians; affix the ensigns of England to all places newly found and take possession of them for the English crown. They were to have the exclusive right of frequenting the places of their discovery, and enjoy all the fruits and gains of their navigations except a fifth part, which was to go to the king. The sole restriction imposed was that on their return voyages they should always land at the port of Bristol. With these generous concessions, however, the canny king stipulated that the enterprise should be wholly at the Cabots’ “own proper costs and charges.”

Hakluyt reproduces the text of this precious document in the first volume of the Principal Navigations. It runs as follows:

"Henry by the grace of God, King of England and France, and lord of Ireland, to all to whom these presents shall come, Greeting.

"Be it knowen that we have given and granted, and by these presents do give and grant for us and our heires, to our welbeloved John Cabot citizen of Venice, to Lewis, Sebastian, and Santius, sonnes of the sayd John, and to the heires of them, and every of them, and their deputies, full and free authority, leave and power to saile to all parts, countreys, and seas of the East, of the West, and of the North, under our banners and ensignes, with five ships of what burthen or quantity soever they be, and as many mariners or men as they will have with them in the sayd ships, upon their owne proper costs and charges, to seeke out, discover, and finde whatsoever isles, countreys, regions or provinces of the heathen and infidels whatsoever they be, and in what part of the world soever they be, which before this time have bene unknowen to all Christians: we have granted to them, and also to every of them, the heires of them, and every of them, and their deputies, and have given this license to set up our banners and ensignes in every village, towne, castle, isle, or mainland of them newly found. And that the aforesayd John and his sonnes, or their heires and assignes may subdue, occupy, and possesse all such townes, cities, castles and isles of them found, which they can subdue, occupy, and possesse, as our vassals, and lieutenants, getting unto us the rule, title, and jurisdiction of the same villages, townes, castles, & firme land so found.

"Yet so that the aforesayd John, and his sonnes and heires, and their deputies, be holden and bounden of all the fruits, profits, gaines, and commodities growing of such navigation, for every their voyages as often as they shall arrive at our port of Bristoll (at the which port they shall be bound and holden onely to arrive) all maner of necessary costs and charges by them made, being deducted, to pay unto us in wares or money the fift part of the capitall gaine so gotten. We giving and granting unto them and to their heires and deputies, that they shall be free from all paying of customes of all and singular such merchandize as they shall bring with them from those places so newly found. And moreover, we have given and granted to them, their heires and deputies, that all the firme lands, isles, villages, townes, castles and places whatsoever they be that they shall chance to finde, may not of any other of our subjects be frequented or visited without the license of the foresayd John and his sonnes, and their deputies, under paine of forfeiture aswell of their shippes as of all and singuler goods of all them that shall presume to saile to those places so found. Willing, and most straightly commanding all and singuler our subjects aswell on land as on sea, to give good assistance to the aforesayd John and his sonnes and deputies, and that as well in arming and furnishing their ships or vessels, as in provision of food, and in buying of victuals for their money, and all other things by them to be provided necessary for the sayd navigation, they do give them all their helpe and favour.

“In witnesse whereof we have caused to be made these our Letters patents. Witnesse our selfe at Westminster the fift day of March, in the eleventh yeare of our reigne.”

Under this patent, the following year—1497—John Cabot sailed out of Bristol with one small vessel, and supplemented the discovery of Columbus in finding the mainland of America.

John Cabot, like Columbus, was a Genoese, but neither the exact place nor the date of his birth is known. He was in Venice as early as 1461, as appears from a record in the Venetian archives of his naturalization as a citizen of Venice under date of March 28, 1476, after the prescribed residence of fifteen years. There he was apparently a merchant. It is said that he also made voyages at times as a shipmaster. He became proficient in the study of cosmography and in the science of navigation. With Columbus he accepted the theory of the rotundity of the earth, and is said to have been early desirous of himself putting it to a practical test. At one time he visited Arabia, where at Mecca he saw the caravans coming in laden with spices from distant countries. Asking where the spices grew, he was told by the carriers that they did not know; that other caravans came to their homes with this rich merchandise from more distant parts, and that these others told them that it was brought from still more remote regions. So he came to reason in this wise: that “if the Orientals affirmed to the Southerners that those things come from a distance from them, and so from hand to hand, presupposing the rotundity of the earth, it must be that the last ones get them at the North toward the West.” On this argument he later based his Northwest Passage scheme. He moved to England probably not long before the development of this scheme (some early writers, however, place the date about the year 1477), and took up his residence in Bristol, to “follow the trade of merchandise.” His wife, a Venetian, and his three sons, all supposed to have been born in Venice, accompanied him. Sebastian, the second son, who became the most illustrious of the family, was then a youth, but sufficiently old to have already some “knowledge of the humanities and the sphere,” as he long afterward stated. The brothers, it is supposed, were all of age when the king’s patent was issued, and Sebastian about twenty-three.

John Cabot’s expedition sailed early in May and was absent three months. It was essentially a voyage of discovery. His vessel was a Bristol ship, and called the “Matthew.” The ship’s company comprised eighteen persons, “almost all Englishmen and from Bristol.” The foreigners were a Burgundian and a Genoese. Sebastian, it is believed, accompanied his father, but neither of the other sons. The chief men of the enterprise were “great sailors.”

The brave little ship plowed the mysterious sea for seven hundred leagues, as estimated, when on the twenty-fourth of June, in the morning, land was sighted. This was supposed by the early historians, and so set down in their histories, to have been the island of Newfoundland. But through nineteenth century findings of data it has been made clear that it was the north part, or the eastern point of the present island of Cape Breton, off the coast of Nova Scotia. This is demonstrated by the inscription “prima tierra vista” at the head of the delineation of that island, on a map attributed to Sebastian Cabot composed in 1544, nearly half a century after the voyage, and subsequently missing till the discovery of a copy three centuries later, in 1843, in Germany, at the house of a Bavarian curate, whence it passed to the National Library at Paris. On this map Cape Breton island forms a part of the mainland of Nova Scotia, the Gut of Canso not then having been discovered. On the same day that the landfall was made a “large island adjacent” to it was discovered, and named St. John because of its finding on the day of the festival of St. John the Baptist. It is marked the “I del Juan” on this map, and is the present Prince Edward Island.

A landing was made at the landfall and Cabot planted a large cross with “one flag of England, and one of St. Mark by reason of his being a Venetian,” and took possession for the English king. No human beings were seen, but “certain snares set to catch game, and a needle for making nets,” showing that the place was inhabited, were found and taken to be displayed to the king upon the return home. In one contemporary account, a letter of another Venetian merchant in England, Lorenzo Pasqualigo, written from London to his brothers in Venice, Cabot is said to have coasted, after striking land, for three hundred leagues, and to have seen “two islands at starboard.” Accepting this statement as authentic, with other data subsequently found, his course from his “Prima Vista” has been traced by later historical authorities in this wise: northwesterly, to obtain a good view of his Isle of St. John; northerly, through the present Northumberland Strait, sighting the coast of New Brunswick near Miramichi Bay; along the Gulf of St. Lawrence; northeasterly, passing to the north of Newfoundland through the Strait of Belle Isle, between Newfoundland and Labrador; and thence homeward. It is well indicated on the accompanying sketch-map originally published in connection with a paper contributed to the Maine Historical Society by Frederick Kidder, a competent authority, in 1874.

Cabot believed that the lands he had discovered lay in “the territory of the Grand Cham,” as Columbus thought his were of eastern Asia.

The expedition arrived back at Bristol early in August and the story it brought created a sensation. With his report to the king Cabot exhibited a map of the region visited and a solid globe, and presented the game-snares and net-needle which he had found. He told the king that he believed it practicable by starting from the parts which he had discovered, and constantly hugging the shore toward the equinoctial, to reach an island called by him Cipango, where he thought all the spices of the world and also the precious stones originated; and this region found and colonized, there might be established in London a greater storehouse of spices than the chief one then existing, in Alexandria. All this much moved the king, and he promised to promote a second expedition for this purpose in the following spring.

Kidder’s sketch-map of John Cabot’s voyage in 1497.

Meanwhile John Cabot became the hero of the hour, and great honours were paid him. The king gave him money and granted him an annual pension of twenty pounds (equal to two hundred modern pounds in purchasing value), which was to be charged upon the revenues of the port of Bristol; he dressed in silk; and he was styled the “Great Admiral.” He also appears to have been knighted. He distributed largess with a free hand, if the tales of the letter-writers of the day are to be accepted. One wrote that he gave an island to the Burgundian of his crew and another to the Genoese, “a barber of his from Castiglione, of Genoa.” And this writer adds, “both of them regard themselves counts.” Reports of his exploits and of the king’s further intentions were duly made known to rival courts by their envoys in England, and excited their jealousy.

The second expedition was provided for by the king’s license dated the third of February, 1497/8. This was a patent granted to John Cabot alone, the sons not being named. Hakluyt gives only the following record from the rolls:

“The king upon the third day of February, in the 13 yeere of his reigne, gave license to John Cabot to take sixe English ships in any haven or havens of the realme of England, being of the burden of 200 tunnes, or under, with all necessary furniture, and to take also into the said ships all such masters, mariners, and subjects of the king as willingly will go with him, &c.”

The patent itself did not find print till the nineteenth century. It was published for the first time in 1831, in the Memoirs of Sebastian Cabot, by Richard Biddle, an American lawyer of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, sometime resident in London, by whom, after painstaking search, it was found in the rolls. Quaint of style as well as of spelling, it runs as below:

“To all men to whom theis Presenteis shall come send Gretyng: know ye, that We of our Grace especiall, and for divers causes us movying We have geven and graunten, and by theis Presentis geve and graunte to our welbeloved John Kabotto, Venecian, sufficiente auctorite and power, that he, by him his Deputie or Deputies sufficient, may take at his pleasure VI Englisshe Shippes in any Porte or Portes or other place within this our Realme of England or obeisance, so that and if said Shippes be of the bourdeyn of C C tonnes or under with their apparail requisite and necessarie for the safe conduct of the said Shippes, and them convey and lede to the Londe [land] Isles of late founde by the seid John in oure name and by our commaundemente. Paying for theym and every of theym as if we should in or for our owen cause paye and noon [none] otherwise. An that the said John by him his Deputie or Deputies sufficiente, maye take and receyve into the said Shippes, and every of theym all such maisters, maryners, Pages, and other subjects of their owen free wille woll goo [would go] and passe with him in the same Shippes to the said Lande or Iles, without anye impedymente, lett or perturbance of any of our officers or ministres or subjects whatsoever they be by theym to the sayd John, his Deputie, or Deputies, and all other our seid subjects, or any of theym passinge with the sayd John in the said Shippes to the said Londe or Iles to be doon, or suffer to be doon or attempted. Geving in commaundemente to all and every our officers, ministres and subjects seying or herying theis our Lettres Patents, without any ferther commaudement by Us to theym or any of theym to be geven to perfourme and secour the said John, his Deputie and all our said Subjects so passyng with hym according to the tenor of theis our Lettres Patentis. Any Statute, Acte, or Ordennance to the contrarye made or to be made in any wise notwithstanding.”

Five ships were got together for this expedition. Three of them are supposed to have been furnished by Bristol merchants and two by the king; one chronicler, however, says that the Cabots contributed two. London merchants joined with Bristol men in the adventure. It was understood to be an enterprise for colonization combined with further discovery. The number of men enlisted for the voyage was placed at three hundred. Among them, as on the first voyage, were mariners experienced in venturesome undertakings. The fleet sailed off at the beginning of May, 1498. One of the ships, aboard of which was the priest, “Friar Buel,” put back to Ireland in distress. The other four continued the voyage.

With the departure from Bristol nothing more is heard of John Cabot. He drops out of sight instantly and mysteriously. Various conjectures as to his fate are entertained by the historians. Some contend that he died when about to set sail. But confronting this theory is a letter of the prothonotary, Don Pedro de Ayala, residing in London, to Ferdinand and Isabella, under date of July 25, 1498, reporting the sailing of the expedition. “His [the king’s] fleet consisted of five vessels which carried provisions for one year. It is said that one of them ... has returned to Ireland in great distress, the ship being much damaged. The Genoese [John Cabot, as appears in the text elsewhere] has continued the voyage.” If so important a man as John Cabot had now become had died before May and the departure of the expedition of which he was the acknowledged head, it is fairly reasoned that Ayala would have been aware of it. No shred of satisfactory information has rewarded the searcher for a solution of the problem. Nobody knows what became of him.

At this point Sebastian Cabot enters upon the scene in the leading part. That he started with the expedition there is no doubt. Doubtless he succeeded to its leadership as the “Deputie” of his father in accordance with the terms of the patent. The conduct of it and the discoveries that followed, big in import, were his from the outset.

Sebastian Cabot, though not over twenty-four, was an experienced mariner, and accomplished, like his father, in the science of navigation. He was full of ardour to achieve distinction as a discoverer. The news of Columbus’s exploits had kindled in his heart “a great flame of desire to attempt some notable thing.” As the master spirit of this second Cabot expedition and with its results his heart’s desire was splendidly attained; although the expedition was counted a failure by its backers, and the value of its discoveries to England was lost to the now indifferent king.

No contemporary account of this remarkable voyage was published, and historians have founded their descriptions of it mainly on reports of a much later period, derived from conversations with Sebastian Cabot at first, second, or third hand. These reports are contradictory in essential parts, and their authors confuse this second with the first expedition or treat the two as one voyage. Its story, as most satisfactorily picked out, runs practically in this wise: Sebastian steered first northwest and directed his course by Iceland. At length he came upon a formidable headland running to the north. This coast he followed for a great distance, expecting to find the passage to Cathay around it. In the month of July his ships were encountering “monstrous heaps” of ice floating in the water, and daylight was almost continual. At length failing to find any passage the ships’ prows were turned about and in course of time Newfoundland was reached, where the expedition sought refreshment. How far north Sebastian had penetrated it is impossible to determine from the conflicting statements. He himself is quoted as saying, twenty years and more afterward, that he was at fifty-six degrees when compelled to turn back. But modern authorities find presumptive evidence that he discovered Hudson’s Strait and gained the sixty-seventh degree through Fox’s Channel before he turned. From Newfoundland he sailed south, and coasted down along the North American coast, still hopeful of finding the much-sought-for passage, till, the company’s provisions falling short, he was obliged to take the homeward course. The southernmost point reached is as indefinite as the northern, but authorities generally agree that it was near thirty-six degrees, off North Carolina, or about the latitude of Gibraltar.

Cabot is declared by early writers to have named the “great land” along which he first coasted, assumed to be Newfoundland, “Baccaloas,” a German term then in use in the south of Europe for codfish, because of the multitudes of “big fish” found in the region. Later authorities, however, say that this name was applied by Portuguese navigators who came after Cabot. The name subsequently settled down upon a small island on the east coast of Newfoundland. It seems to be agreed that landings were made by Cabot’s company at several points. The natives, probably of Newfoundland, were seen dressed in beasts’ skins, and they were found making use of copper. Great sailors’ yarns were spun about the abundance of the fish of the region, so great that “the progress of the ships were sometimes impeded by them.” Bears, of which there were a plenty, were accustomed to feed on the fish, plunging into the sea and catching them with their claws.

Just when the expedition reached the home port of Bristol is not known. It was expected back in September; it had not arrived in October. There is no printed record of its arrival. Not having been successful in finding the passage and reaching Cathay, it was regarded as a failure by its princely and mercantile backers. The king, too, was found to have lost his interest in western discovery or colonization. He was most deeply engrossed in domestic affairs. “Great tumults” were happening, “occasioned by the rising of the common people and the war in Scotland.” Moreover, this Henry was now concerned in the pending Spanish alliance and he was loath to run counter to the Pope’s Bull of 1493. The geographical value of the Cabot discoveries was unappreciated, and no more talk was then heard of further western voyaging.

Sebastian Cabot himself was not at that time aware that his father and he had discovered a continent. His opinion was that all of the north part of America was divided into islands.