Cabot’s discovery, according to La Cosa’s map, is probably Nova Scotia
There is thus full agreement between this map and all the contemporary information we have of the voyage, and there is no room for doubt that its names represent John Cabot’s discoveries of 1497, which thus extended from Cauo de Ynglaterra on the east (with two islands, Y. verde and S. Grigor, to the east of it) to Cauo descubierto on the west. But it seems to me that this tract must be either the south coast of Newfoundland or the south-east coast of Nova Scotia, and Cauo de Ynglaterra must be either Cape Race or Cape Breton; the latter is more probable;[304] this also agrees best with all the documents we possess and involves fewest difficulties. It might then seem probable that Cabot first arrived off the land at Cauo de Ynglaterra or Cape Breton,[305] and that he sailed westward (magnetic) from there to explore the newly discovered country. The main direction of the coast of Nova Scotia is about W.S.W., and if we suppose that the compass error at Cape Breton was then about 28° W., which I have found in another way[306] (cf. above, [p. 308]; it is now 25° W.), this will mean that the coast extended a little to the north of west by compass, which exactly agrees with La Cosa’s map. On account of contrary winds, and of the care necessary in sailing along an unknown coast, the voyage may have proceeded slowly, and Cabot greatly over-estimated his distances, which is not an uncommon thing with explorers in unknown waters, ever since the days of Pytheas. Finally, about three hundred miles on, Cabot came to the south-western point of Nova Scotia, which at first he must have taken for the end of the land. But as he certainly would be bent upon deciding this, he may have continued to sail across the mouth of the Bay of Fundy until he again sighted land, the fertile coast of smiling Maine, stretching westward as far as the eye could reach, and he would then have thought that he had surely arrived at the coast of the mainland of the vast kingdom of the Great Khan. Here it must have been that he landed, as related by Pasqualigo and Soncino,[307] and saw signs of inhabitants, but met with none. He may, of course, have landed earlier at Cape Breton or in Nova Scotia without finding trace of inhabitants, and said nothing about it; for he was not looking for an uninhabited country, but the wealthy Eastern Asia. It may also very well be the spot where he first found signs of men that is called Cauo descubierto; for it is striking that on La Cosa’s map this name is not placed on any projecting headland of the coast, but in front of a comparatively deep gulf, which in that case might be the mouth of the Bay of Fundy. And it is in the sea to the west of this bay, across which Cabot sailed, that La Cosa has placed his “mar descubierta por jnglese” (sea discovered by the English). La Cosa’s “mar” will then be probably the whole gulf between Cape Sable and Cape Cod.[308]
Cabot’s homeward voyage, 1497
Cabot now thought he had found what he so eagerly sought. He was not provisioned for any long stay, and with his small crew he could not expose himself to possible attacks of the inhabitants of the country. Consequently he had good reason for turning back. To provide himself with the necessary water, and perhaps wood, for the homeward voyage would not take long. Food was a greater difficulty, and we are told that he was so short of it that on the way back he would not stop at new islands; it is true that we hear of abundance of fish, but this cannot have been sufficient. He then returned to Cauo de Ynglaterra, and thence homewards as quickly as possible.[309] The distance from Cape Breton past the southern point of Nova Scotia to the coast of Maine is 420 geographical miles. There and back, with a cruise in the open sea towards Cape Cod, it might be 1200 miles. If we suppose Cabot to have taken twenty days to do it, including the time occupied in going ashore, this will be sixty miles a day, which may seem a good deal; but if on the way back he had a favourable wind and was able to sail a somewhat straight course, it is possible; and, in that case, he may have been back at Cape Breton or Cauo de Ynglaterra about July 14 (23), and then have laid his course for home east by compass out to sea. This course took him off Newfoundland, and he had the island of Grand Miquelon, with Burin Peninsula to the east of it [“S. Grigor” on La Cosa’s map ?], in sight on his starboard bow, or on his right hand, as Pasqualigo says. As he was afraid of more land in that direction, which would be awkward to come near, especially when sailing at night, he bore off to the south-east, where he knew from the outward voyage that there was open water. After a time, thinking himself safe, he again set his course east by compass, but then had fresh land, Avalon Peninsula, ahead or on his starboard bow, and again had to bear off. He took this for another large island [“Y. verde”], but would not land, both on account of shortness of provisions, and because he wanted to be home as soon as possible with the news of his discovery, and to prepare a larger expedition to take possession of the new country.[310] To be quite sure of encountering no more land, Cabot may then have borne off well to the south-east, thus reaching the Newfoundland Banks on the south, and keeping quite clear of the icebergs which are found farther north. For his eastern voyage he was well served by the wind, since nearly all the winds in this part of the Atlantic are between south and west or north-west in July and the beginning of August. He was further helped by the current to some extent, and may, therefore, very easily have made the homeward voyage in twenty-three days, and sailed back into the port of Bristol about the 6th (15th) of August, 1497. That Cabot cannot have taken much more than twenty days on the return voyage also appears from the statement already quoted of the Bristol sailors, that they could make the voyage in fifteen days.[311]
Legend on the map of 1544
The view of John Cabot’s voyage of 1497 set forth above agrees also with the map of the world of 1544, which is attributed to the collaboration of Sebastian Cabot, but which the latter in any case cannot have seen or corrected after it was engraved, probably in the Netherlands, and by an engraver who did not understand Spanish, the language of the map [cf. Harrisse, 1892, 1896; Dawson, 1894]. Its delineation of the northern east coast of North America is for the most part borrowed from the representation on French maps of Cartier’s discoveries in the Gulf of St. Lawrence (cf. Deslien’s map of 1541). Cape Breton is called “Prima tierra vista,” and in the inscription referring to the northern part of the American coast,[312] the import of which must apparently be derived from Sebastian Cabot, we read:
“This land was discovered by Joan Caboto Veneciano and Sebastian Caboto his son in the year 1494 [sic] after the birth of our saviour Jesus Christ, the 24th of June in the morning; to which they gave the name ‘Prima Tierra Vista,’ and to a large island which is near the said land they gave the name of St. John, because it was discovered the same day” [i.e., St. John’s Day].[313]
The remainder of this legend—that the natives wear the skins of animals, that the country is unfertile, that there are many white bears, vast quantities of fish, mostly called bacallaos, etc. etc.—cannot refer, as Harrisse appears to think, to this land (Cape Breton) which was first discovered, but to the northern regions of the new continent as a whole. It is characteristic of this map, as of the earlier French ones, that Newfoundland is cut up into a number of small islands. If the view is correct that Y. Verde and S. Grigor on La Cosa’s map are also parts of Newfoundland, it may explain the fact of Sebastian Cabot having no difficulty in bringing this map, or his father’s, into agreement with the French ones, since he must have thought that a number of “islands,” discovered later, had been added.
Northern portion of the map of the world of 1544, attributed to Sebastian Cabot