The great probability of a North West Passage / deduced from observations on the letter of Admiral de Fonte

by Unknown

Cortez's Designs seem to have their Foundation in these Expeditions of the Portuguese; but it was not until after the Year 1513, that the South Sea was discovered, and the Portugueze had discovered the Moluccas, that the finding a Streight to the Northward, by which a Passage might be made to the South Sea, became a Matter of particular Attention, and was the first and principal Object of Cortez's Attention after he had become Master of the Capital of Mexico in 1521; and this Opinion of a Passage to Northward continued during the Reign of Charles the Fifth. Who in the Year 1524 sent from Old Spain to discover a Passage to the Moluccas by the North of America, without Success; but Esteven Gomez, who was sent on that Expedition, brought some Indians home with him. Then in the Year 1526 Charles the Fifth wrote to Cortez, in Answer to his Letters, and orders him to send the Ships at Zacapila to discover a Passage from New Spain to the Moluccas.

From this Time, the Year 1526, the Opinion of there being a Streight was generally received, though on what Foundation does not appear. It was certainly on some better Reason than Gasper's Discoveries; and a Consideration of the Importance such a Passage would be of to the King of Spain with respect to the Spice Islands. It is not consistent with the Characters of the Emperor Charles the Fifth, and of Cortez, when there were so many other solid Projects to pursue and this was preferred, to suppose that they should go, at that Time, on a meer visionary Scheme.

The same Opinion of a Passage to Northward prevailed in the Time of Philip the Second, and in the Year 1596 he sent Orders to the Viceroy of Mexico for discovering and making Settlements in proper Parts of California, and one Reason assigned was, 'There was much Talk about the Streight of Anian, through which the South Sea was said to communicate with that of the North, near Newfoundland; and should the English find out a practicable Passage on that Side, our Dominions, which then included all Portuguese India, would be no longer secure, all the Coast from Acapulco to Culiacan being quite defenceless, and from Culiacan Northward, not one single Settlement was made on the whole Coast.' Hist. Cal. V. i. P. 163. That now not only the Opinion of there being a Streight prevailed, but it was also fixed as to the Part, and had the Name of Anian.

The Opinion of a Passage still existed in the Reign of Philip the Third; and the same political Motives induced him to order the Conquest of California to be undertaken with all possible Expedition; and one Reason assigned is, 'His Majesty also found among other Papers a Narrative delivered by some Foreigners to his Father, giving an Account of many remarkable Particulars which they saw in that Country, when driven thither by Stress of Weather from the Coast of Newfoundland; adding, they had passed from the North Sea to the South, by the Streight of Anian, which lies beyond Cape Mendocino; and that they had arrived at a populous and opulent City, walled and well fortified, the Inhabitants living under a regular Policy, and were a sensible and courteous People; with many other Particulars well worth a further Enquiry.' It must be considered this is given us in the History of California, V. ii. P. 239, from the Monarchia Indiana of Juan Torquemada, a learned Franciscan, published at Madrid in 1613, and republished in 1723, Vol. i. P. 629, That a Paper of this Sort was found in the Cabinet of Philip the Second, was thought deserving the Attention of Philip the Third. However the Matter of it is represented here, for nothing could be published but what was first perused and altered, so as to make it consistent with the Interest of Holy Church, the State, or good Manners, before it was licensed, such Paper must have contained some material Intelligence as to a Passage; and if is said to have contained some remarkable Particulars. Neither would the Work have been licensed, if what is related as to their having been such a Paper, had not been true.

Torquemada, Vol. i. P. 20, quotes Francisco Lopez de Gomara, deemed a careful Writer, and Author of the History of the Indies. Who says the Snowy Mountains are in forty Degrees, and the furthermost Land that is laid down in our Maps; but the Coast runs to the Northward until it comes to form an Island by the Labrador, or as separated from Greenland; and this Extremity of the Land is five Hundred and ten Leagues in Length.

As to what is said as to the Latitude of forty Degrees in this Quotation from Gomara, Torquemada hath prefixed a Map to his Work, agreeable to that formed by the King's Cosmographers, in which he hath made the most Western and Northern Part of the Land in almost forty-seven Degrees, and then the Land trends to the Eastward, and the Serras Nevadas are represented to extend a great Length along the Coast, and to Latitude 57 Degrees. Mentions, Vol. i. P. 16, the Royal Cosmographers do not insert any Thing in their Charts of the Sea Coasts but what they have upon Oath, or from creditable Persons; and 'They make a Supputation in the Northern Parts of Islands, which do not lie near or contiguous to the Lands of Europe; as to which Islands, not long since discovered, the one is called Iceland, the other Greenland, which are the Bounds, Limits, or Marks, that divide the Land of the Indies from any other Part howsoever situated or disposed;' afterwards observes, which Islands are not far from the Labrador; from which it is plain he calls America an Island. And this is agreeable to what Acosta says, in the Sense which I understand him, that Quivira and Anian extend to the Western Extremity of America; and that the Extremity of the Kingdom of Anian to the North extends under the Polar or Artick Circle, and, if the Sea did not prevent it, would be found to join the Countries of Tartary and China; and the Streight of Anian takes its Course through the Northern Region, under the Polar Circle, towards Greenland, Iceland, England, and to the Northern Parts of Spain. By Greenland I understand the Land to Northward, which is the North Part of Hudson's Streights, and Cumberland Isles; and that this Streight should determine here is agreeable to what Cortez says he would send to search as far as the Baccallaos, (which was a Name given by Cabot in 1496) for the Streight by which he expected a Passage from the North to the South Sea. By Iceland is meant, as is apparent from a View of such Map hereunto annexed, the Land to Northward of Cape Farewel, or the Proper Greenland. Gomara mentions these Islands had not been long discovered. It is apparent from the Map, that they had a very imperfect Account of these Discoveries, which were made by Frobisher and Davis, who also were far from being exact in their Computations of the Longitude.

In this Map prefixed to Torquemada's Work, and here annexed, the Southern Part of Newfoundland is laid down in Lat. 55, nine Degrees more to the Northward than it ought to be, for which Reason the Labrador, Greenland, and Iceland, are placed much further to Northward than they ought to be placed, and are made to extend beyond the Polar Circle. It is from this Supposition of Newfoundland being in so high a Latitude that Acosta says, the Streight of Anian takes its Course through the Northern Region under the Polar Circle towards Greenland and Iceland. In the same Map the extremest Point of California, answerable to Cape St. Lucas, is laid down in Longitude 105 Degrees from the Meridian of Ferro, and the Extremity of the Land to Westward a Cape to Northward of Cape Fortunes, but to which no Name is given, and in Latitude 47, is placed in 135 Degrees from the Meridian of Ferro; the Difference of Longitude is 30 Degrees. This Map, published by Torquemada, was constructed before the Year 1612, therefore prior to a Map published in Holland in 1619, under the Title of Nova Totius Orbis Descriptio, prefixed to the Voyage of George Spilbergen, in which the Errors of Torquemada's Map, as to the Situation of Newfoundland, and the Places to Northward are corrected; yet great Errors are committed as to the Parts to Westward of America, making eighty-five Degrees of Longitude between Cape St. Lucas and the Extremity of the Land to Westward and Northward in Lat. 42; and ninety-five Degrees between Cape St. Lucas and the Extremity of the Land nearest to Asia. The Reason of this Difference is plain, they both err with respect to those Parts, of which they had not authenticated Accounts.

The Original from which this Map is copied was published in 1608 by the authority of Philip IV. King of Spain, in the 1^st Edition of Torquemadas Monarquia Indiana Vol. 1.

Cortez wrote to the Emperor that he had sent People on Discovery, both by Land and Water, it was not designed that their Discoveries should be communicated, as Cortez intended to turn them to his own private Advantage. But when Mendoza fitted out two Armaments, one by Land under the Command of Coronado, and the other by Sea under Alarcon; Alarcon was ordered to Latitude 53, to join the Land Forces, and to make a Survey of the Coast, and see if there was a Passage or a Communication by Water through those Countries which Coronado was to discover and subdue, with the South Sea. As to Coronado, the Franciscans had been before in those Parts, and they gave Information and Direction as to his Part of the Expedition; but as to the Part that Alarcon had, on what Information he was ordered to go to Latitude 53, and what Probability there was that it was possible for him to find such Passage, and join the Land Forces, does not appear. But from his not finding such Passage, not joining the Land Forces, and proceeding no further than the Lat. 36, though his Reason for not going further is, that the Land then trended to the Northward, which he supposed would put him further off from the Army, whom he knew were in ten Days March of him, and the Excuse of Sickness and ill Condition of his Vessels, occasioned him to return before his Time; yet his Conduct threw the whole Disgrace of the ill Success of that Expedition on Alarcon, both with the Emperor and the Viceroy: And what he wrote to the Emperor was not attended to. He wrote to the Emperor, 'That it was for him only, and not in Subordination to the Viceroy, that he had conquered, discovered, and entered on the Californias, and all those Lands on the Coasts of the South Sea; that he had learnt that some of those Lands were not far from the Coasts of Grand China; that there was but a small Navigation to the Spice Islands, which he knew was wished for at that Time; that it engaged all his Thoughts, and was his most ardent Desire to undertake such Navigation.' Torquem. Vol. i. P. 609.