“Fernando Carli,
“In Lyons.”[417]
The notable success attending Verrazzano’s voyage in 1524, it seems, induced the celebrated navigator to undertake another in 1526. For the furtherance of this project, he and five other persons entered into an agreement in which it was stipulated that Philippe Chabot, baron of Apremont, knight of the Order of the King, governor and lieutenant-general of Burgundy, admiral of France and of Brittany,[418] was to furnish him with two galleons then at Havre de Grace, and a ship belonging to Jean Ango of Dieppe,[419] of seventy tons burden, and that the admiral was also to equip and victual them for the voyage to the New Land. The three vessels were to be ready to sail within two months.[420] Before setting sail on this voyage, Verrazzano, on Friday, the eleventh of May, 1526, gave to his brother, Hieronymus, and Zanobus de Rousselay,[421] a power of attorney by which they were empowered to act for him in any matter pertaining to his interest; and also, on the following day, a similar instrument to Adam Godeffroy of Rouen, which authorized him to transact certain business for the navigator.[422] In each of these legal instruments, Verrazzano is named “Jehan de Varasenne, nobleman, captain of the ships equipped to go on the voyage to the Indies.”
The French sea-captain, Jean Ribaut, in his report to Admiral Gaspard de Coligni, of his first voyage to Florida, in 1562, says that Verrazzano, after his return to France, in 1524, “neuer ceassed to make suite vntil he was sent thither againe, where at last he died.”[423]
The voyage of 1526 was the third made by Verrazzano to America: the first in 1508, with Thomas Aubert; the second, in 1524, in the Dauphine. This fact is corroborated by the well-informed English collector, Hakluyt, who says that he “had been thrise on that coast.”[424]
Of Verrazzano’s death, Ramusio gives this account: “In the last voyage which he made, having gone on land with some of his men, he and they were all put to death by the inhabitants, and in the presence of those who were on board the ship were roasted and devoured. Such was the terrible death of this valiant gentleman, who, had not this misfortune happened him, would, by the great knowledge and experience which he had of maritime affairs and of navigation, attended and favored by the large liberality of King Francis, have discovered and made known to the world, all that part of the earth up to the north pole, and would not have been contented with only the exploration of the coast, but would have attempted to penetrate far inland, and as far as he could go.
“Many who had known and conversed with him, have told me that he had declared that it was his intention to persuade the most Christian king to send from these parts a goodly number of people to settle in some places of the new country which are of a temperate climate and very fertile soil, with very beautiful rivers and harbors capable of holding any fleet.
“Settlers in these places would be the means of effecting many good results, and among others that of bringing those barbarous and ignorant tribes to know God and our most holy religion, showing them how to cultivate the land, transporting some of the animals of Europe to those vast plains; and finally, in time, discovering the inland parts, and seeing whether or not among the many islands in that part of the world any passage to the South Sea exists, or that the West Indies extend as far north as the pole.
“This and so much has been related respecting the achievements and efforts of this brave gentleman, and in order that his memory may not be buried and his name pass into oblivion, we have desired to give to the light the little information that has come into our hands.”[425]
Hakluyt, speaking of the map which Verrazzano had made and presented to King Henry VIII. of England, which as late as the year 1584 was still preserved by an English cartographer, says: “There is a mighty large olde mappe in parchemente, made as yt shoulde seeme, by Verarsanus, traced all alonge the coaste, from Florida to Cape Briton, with many Italian names, which laieth oute the sea, makinge a little necke of land in 40 degrees of latitude much like the streyte necke or istmus of Dariena.” The English collector also refers to a globe which he believed Verrazzano made: “There is an old excellent globe in the Queens privie gallery at Westminster, which also semeth to be of Verarsanus makinge, having the coaste in Italian, which laieth oute the very same straite necke of lande in the latitude of 40 degrees, with the sea joyninge harde on bothe sides, as it dothe on Panama and Nombre di Dios; which were a matter of singular importance, yf it shoulde be true, as it is not unlikely.”[426]