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.
VII
THE ENGLISH CLAIM TO AMERICA
Hakluyt reproduces the several conflicting accounts of the two Cabot voyages extant in his day and marshals them as the “testimonies” confirming the English claim to North America. They are thus summarized in his catalogue of contents of the Principal Navigations.
“The first taken out of the mappe of Sebastian Cabota cut by Clement Adames;
“the second used by Galeacius Butrigarius the Popes legate, and reported by him;