The Boy's Hakluyt: English Voyages of Adventure and Discovery

by Edwin M. Bacon; Richard Hakluyt

"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[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.