Letter from Robert Thorne to Henry VIII. on further maritime explorations.
“Yet these dangers or darknesse hath not letted the Spanyards and Portingals and other to discover many unknowen realms to their great perill. Which considered (and that your Grace’s subjects may have the same light) it will seem your Grace’s subjects to be without activity or courage, in leaving to doe this glorious and noble enterprise. For they being past this little way which they named so dangerous (which may be two or three leagues before they come to the Pole, and as much more after they pass the Pole), it is cleere, that from thencefoorth the seas and landes are as temperate as in these partes, and that then it may be at the will and pleasure of the mariners to choose whether they will sayle by the coasts that be cold, temperate, or hot. For they, being past the Pole, it is plain they may decline to what part they list.
“If they will go toward the Orient, they shall enjoy the regions of all the Tartarians that extend toward the midday, and from thence they may go and proceed to the land of the Chinas, and from thence to the land of Cathaio Orientall, which is, of all the mainland, most orientall that can be reckoned from our habitation. And if, from thence, they doe continue their navigation, following the coasts that returne toward the Occident, they shall fall in with Malaca, and so with all the Indies which we call oriental, and following the way, may returne hither by the Cape of Buona Speransa, and thus they shall compasse the whole worlde. And if they will take their course, after they be past the Pole, toward the Occident, they shall go in the backeside of the new foundland, which of late was discovered by your Grace’s subjects, until they come to the backeside and south seas of the Indies Occidental. And so continuing their voyage, they may return through the Strait of Magellan to this countrey, and so they compasse also the world by that way; and if they go this third way, and after they be past the Pole, goe right toward the Pole Antarctike, and then decline towards the lands and islands situated between the Tropicks, and under the Equinoctiall, without doubt they shall find there the richest landes and islands of the world of golde, precious stones, balmes, spices, and other thinges that we here esteeme most; which come out of strange countries, and may return the same way.
“By this it appeareth, your Grace hath not onely a great advantage of the riches, but also your subjects shall not travell halfe of the way that other doe, which goe round about as aforesayd.”
Mr. Thorne further explains that as the Spaniards and Portuguese had found a way by the south to the rich lands of the East, and had thus gained a material advantage over English traders, his Majesty ought not to rest until a way was found by the north, “because the situation of this your realme is thereunto nearest and aptest of all other; and also for that you have already taken it in hand.[66] And in mine opinion it will not seeme well to leave so great and profitable an enterprise, seeing it may so easily, and with so little cost, labour, and danger, be followed and obtayned.” “The labour is much lesse,” he goes on to say, “yea, nothing at all where so great honour and glory is hoped for; and considering well the courses, truly the danger and way, shorter to us than to Spain or Portugal, as by evident reasons appeareth.”
Sebastian Cabot becomes Pilot-Master in Spain, 1518,
Such were the arguments which had been used in the sixteenth century to induce the crown of England to fit out another expedition and discover an easier route to the world of “gold, balmes, and spices;” but beyond the failure of Cabot’s enterprise, a fearful scourge, the sweating sickness, had, from July to December of the year 1517, spread death and dismay, not only through the English court and city of London, but throughout the whole kingdom.[67] Suspending even the ordinary operations of commerce, it necessarily checked any further expeditions of discovery, so that Cabot would probably have remained for a time without employment, had he not been induced by the more promising aspect of affairs in Spain to return to that country. In 1518 he was appointed Pilot-Master to the Spanish monarchy, returning to Spain with Charles V. from England in 1520.
Though the functions of this office were of so much importance that no pilot was allowed to proceed to the Indies without previous examination and approval by him, they supply few incidents for record in his life. But a misunderstanding between Spain and Portugal soon brought him conspicuously forward in connection with the discoveries then being made by adventurous Spaniards, who were directing their attention to the Moluccas, through the passage which Magellan had been fortunate enough to find near the extreme southern point of the American continent. Portugal maintained that these discoveries fell within the limits assigned to her under the Papal Bull, and remonstrated in the strongest terms against any attempt on the part of Spain to carry on commerce in that quarter of the world.[68] A conference was consequently held to consider the claims of Portugal, to which the men most famed for their nautical knowledge and experience were invited. At the head of the list[69] stands the name of Sebastian Cabot, and in the roll of those present there will also be found that of Ferdinand, the son of Christopher Columbus. This conference was held at Badajos in April, 1524, and, on the 31st of May, its members solemnly proclaimed that the Moluccas were situate by at least twenty degrees within the Spanish limits.
and afterwards (1525) the head of a great trading and colonising association.
As rumours had reached Spain that the king of Portugal (in spite of the decision of this conference) was determined to maintain his pretensions by force, a company, under Spanish protection, was formed at Seville to prosecute the trade with these eastern islands. Cabot was appointed chief of this association, and among its members appears the name of his sincere friend Robert Thorne[70] of Bristol, then a resident in Spain. The agreement, which was executed at Madrid on the 4th of March, 1525, stipulated that the king of Spain was to receive from the company four thousand ducats, besides a share of the profits of the expedition, and that a squadron of at least three vessels, of not less than one hundred tons,[71] and of one hundred and fifty men each, should be furnished and placed under the command of Cabot, who was to receive the title of Captain-General. But many vexatious obstacles were thrown in the way of the expedition. Instead of pushing directly across the Pacific after traversing the Straits of Magellan, Cabot had instructions to proceed deliberately to explore on every side, particularly the western coast of the continent,[72] where the Portuguese traded.