On the map of Verrazano the Cape of Florida is most unmistakable, though by an error in following Ptolemy, the draftsman placed the cape nine degrees too high, thus vitiating the latitudes, also failing to eliminate the error before reaching Cape Breton. This however, does not prevent us from recognizing the leading points of the coast. At Cape “Olimpo” we strike Cape Hatteras, and near “Santanna” is the mouth of Chesapeake Bay. “Palamsina,” a corruption perhaps of Pallavicino, marks the entrance to the Delaware. “Lamuetto,” possibly Bonivet after the general of that name, distinguishes what apparently was intended for Sandy Hook; while “San Germano” and “La Victoria” stand on the lower Bay of New York. Verrazano did not know enough about the river of “the steep hills” to enable him to give it a pronounced name, though in after times the Hudson, as we shall see, was called “the river of the mountains.” It will be readily recognized that San Germano is a name given out of compliment to his patron by Verrazano, as it recalls the splendid palace of Francis I., at St. Germaine-en-Lay. If circumstances had favored, the name of Francis might have been affixed to a great French metropolis at the mouth of the Hudson.
EXTRACT FROM THE
VERRAZANO MAP
REVISED 1891
The influence of the Verrazano Map upon succeeding charts was most marked down even to 1610, when all obscurity in regard to the position of the Harbor of New York had passed away. The same is true of the exhibition of the relation of New York Bay to Rhode Island and the Island of Luisa. The influence of Verrazano upon the Globe of Vlpius, 1542, was most emphatic, as will be noticed later; though it is to be remembered that Verrazano’s voyage was pictured on the Map of Maijolla before the Verrazano Map was drawn, notes from Verrazano, probably out of the “little book” that he mentions, affording the requisite material. Verrazano evidently furnished an abundance of names for localities, and the various draftsmen seemed to have exercised their judgment to some extent respecting their use. It would, however, prove wearisome to the reader to peruse any minute statements of the contents of the many maps that indicate the Bay of New York; since neither the authenticity nor the influence of the voyage of Verrazano can now be questioned. In directions where it was never suspected, the Letter of Verrazano to Francis I. had a decided influence, as will be noted hereafter, though attention may again be called to the fact that Barlow, in his voyage to North Carolina, 1584, used the Letter without credit, according to the custom of the time; while, when Gosnold visited New England, in 1602, he sailed, as tacitly acknowledged, with the Letter of Verrazano, translated by Hakluyt as his guide.
Next, however, the reader’s attention must be directed to the voyage of Estevan Gomez, who followed Verrazano in 1525. This adventurer was a Portuguese in the service of Spain. While Verrazano was abroad on his voyage, Gomez attended the nautical congress at Badajos, in Spain, when, we are told, Sebastian Cabot was present. At this congress Portugal opposed the plan presented for an expedition to the Indies, being very jealous, as usual, of the power of Spain. The differences of the two powers were nevertheless reconciled, and the king of Spain, with the aid of several merchants, fitted out a caravel and put Gomez in command. Gomez, if he did not stand as high as some men of his time, was a navigator of experience. In 1519 he sailed as chief pilot with Magellan, but incurred much odium by leaving him in the Straits which now bear Magellan’s name, and returning to Spain. Peter Martyr, who gives an account of the congress at Badajos, says: “It is decreed that one Stephanus Gomez, himself a skilful navigator, shall go another way, whereby, between Baccalaos and Florida, long since our countries, he says he will find out a way to Cataia. Only one ship, a caravel, is furnished for him,” and, the chronicler continues, “he will have no other thing in charge than to search out whether any passage to the great Chan from among the various windings and vast compassing of this our ocean is to be found.” Of the voyage out from Spain few particulars are now available, though the account of the return was penned by Martyr subsequently to November 13, 1525, and probably before the close of the year. The voyage was, upon the whole, a short one. Martyr, however, says that he returned at the end of “ten months,” while Navarrete states that he sailed in February. Galvano tells us that, having failed to obtain the command of an expedition to the Moluccas, he went on the coast of the new world in search of a passage to India, observing that “the Earl Don Fernando de Andrada, and the doctor Beltram, and the merchant Christopher de Serro, furnished a galleon for him, and he went from Groine, in Gallicia, to the Island of Cuba, and to the Cape of Florida, sailing by day because he knew not the land.” Galvano tells us, likewise, that he passed the Bay of Angra and the river Enseada, and so “went over to the other side, reaching Cape Razo in 46° N.” This means that he sailed up from Florida past the coast of Maine. Martyr, writing after the return of Gomez, indulges in a strain of ridicule, and says: “He, neither finding the Straight, nor Cataia, which he promised, returned back in ten months after his departure;” and continues: “I always thought and supposed this worthy man’s fancies to be vain and frivolous. Yet he wanted not for suffrages and voices in his favor and defense.” Still, Martyr admits that “he found pleasant and profitable countries agreeable with our parallels and degrees of the pole.”
The results of the voyage along the coast from Florida to Newfoundland are indicated on the Map of Ribeiro, 1529, which represents a new exploration, as nothing seems to have been borrowed from either the voyage of Verrazano or from the voyages made by the Portuguese, with the exception that Ribeiro used old Portuguese maps of Newfoundland, which was the case with Verrazano. We must, however, confine our observations to things that relate to this immediate region, and notice what the accompanying maps so fully exhibit, the difference of the delineation of Sandy Hook and Long Island. On the Ribeiro Map Sandy Hook appears as “Cabo de Arenas,” the Sandy Cape, exaggerated in size, while Long Island is hardly distinguishable, as the coast line runs too close to the north. It is indicated by the section of the coast between two rivers, “Montana Vue,” evidently one of the hills of Long Island that the navigator now views from the sea. On the Verrazano Map, the region of Sandy Hook is “Lamuetto” and “Lungavilla,” while Long Island is indicated as a part of the mainland, bearing the names of “Cabo de Olimpo” and “Angolesme,” the bay of “San Germano” lying between. The delineations of Verrazano exhibit his short stay and hasty departure, while the survey of Gomez must have occupied more time, at least around Sandy Hook. That this map resulted from the voyage of Gomez is evident from the legend, which calls the land “Tierra de Estevan Gomez;” (the country of Stephen Gomez) while eastward, where the coast of Maine is delineated, is the “Arcipelago” of Gomez. On this Map of Ribeiro the lower Bay of New York is indicated by “E. de S. Xpoal,” with several Islands. A river appears between this bay, given in later documents as Bay of “St. Chrispstabel,” and Long Island, but the name of the river is not given. “B. de S. Antonio,” however, is given which indicates the upper bay or harbor, and subsequently we shall see the river itself indicated as the river “San Antonio,” while the place of Sandy Hook in the old cartography will be fully established and identified with Cape de Arenas. Ribeiro evidently had pretty full notes of the calculations and observations of Gomez.
FRA. DRAKE.