Progress of maritime discovery—Henry VII., 1485-1509—His
encouragement of maritime commerce, and treaties with foreign
nations—Voyages to the Levant—Leading English ship-owners—Patent
to the Cabots, 1496—Discovery of the north-west coast of America,
June 21, 1497—Second patent, Feb. 3, 1498—Rival claimants to the
discovery of the North American continent—Sebastian Cabot and
his opinions—Objects of the second expedition—Third expedition,
March 1501—How Sebastian Cabot was employed from 1498 to 1512—He
enters the service of Spain, 1512—Letter of Robert Thorne to
Henry VIII. on further maritime discoveries—Sebastian Cabot
becomes pilot-master in Spain, 1518, and afterwards (1525) head
of a great trading and colonising association—Leaves for South
America, April 1526, in command of an expedition to the Brazils—A
mutiny and its suppression—Explores the river La Plata while
waiting instructions from Spain—Sanguinary encounter with the
natives—Returns to Spain, 1531, and remains there till 1549,
when he settles finally in Bristol—Edward VI., 1547-1553—Cabot
forms an association for trading with the north, known as the
“Merchant Adventurers”—Despatch of the first expedition under Sir
H. Willoughby—Instructions for his guidance, probably drawn up
by Cabot—Departure, May 20, 1553—Great storm and separation of
the ships—Death of Sir H. Willoughby—Success of Chancellor—His
shipwreck and death at Pitsligo—Arrival in London of the first
ambassador from Russia, Feb. 1557—His reception—Commercial
treaty—Early system of conducting business with Russia—The
benefits conferred by the Merchant Adventurers upon England—The
Steelyard merchants partially restored to their former
influence—Cabot loses favour with the court, and dies at an
advanced age.
[Sidenote: Progress of maritime discovery.]
The re-opening of the route to India by way of the Cape of Good Hope
and the discovery of the West Indian Islands gave, at an early period,
an impetus to the maritime commerce of England, and consequently
rendered the reign of Henry VII. more important, so far as concerns her
naval history, than that of any previous English monarch.
[Sidenote: Henry VII., 1485 to 1509.]
Like the sovereigns of more ancient times, Henry was not only a
merchant on his own account, but a great encourager of maritime
expeditions; in that he often himself furnished the ships and advanced
the requisite capital for their equipment. Indeed, it seems probable
that the vast sums found in his exchequer at his death were, in a
great measure, derived from his own successful commercial adventures.
Although the pursuit of trade may be sometimes deemed incompatible with
regal functions and dignity, there can be no doubt that the example
and practice of Henry VII. extended the field for maritime adventure
among his subjects, and at the same time aroused the cupidity of the
English nation by the prospect of incalculable wealth derivable from
intercourse with distant foreign lands.
[Sidenote: His encouragement of maritime commerce,]
Beyond the encouragement he afforded to maritime discovery, Henry
adopted various measures to promote, as he conceived, the interests of
the merchant navy, among others removing the differential duties which
had been in force against English shipping; but unfortunately, as has
been too frequently the case in the conduct of the navigation laws of
England, he adopted a policy of protection almost as ruinous to her
commerce as that which had previously conferred special advantages
upon the shipping of foreign nations. Thus we find a law of his first
parliament[48] prohibiting the importation of Bordeaux wines in any
other than English, Irish, and Welsh bottoms, these vessels being
manned with sailors wholly of their own countrymen, a law which was,
two years afterwards, even further extended and enlarged, the reasons
assigned being “that great minishing and decay hath been now of late
time of the navy of this realm of England, and idleness of the mariners
within the same, by the which this noble realm, within short process of
time, without reformation be had therein, shall not be of ability, nor
of strength and power, to defend itself.” Of course such reasoning was
then unanswerable; indeed, has been held to be so even in our own time.
Accordingly it was enacted[49] that no wines of Gascony or Guienne
should be imported into England unless in ships belonging to the king
(of which, by the way, his Majesty had a goodly number) or to his
subjects; nay more, any such wines imported in foreign bottoms were to
be forfeited.
Many arguments might, indeed, at that time have been urged in favour
of these stringent laws, more especially as the policy of the Italian
republics aimed at monopolising in their own ships the transport of all
they required, and at rendering their ports the entrepôt for the supply
of goods not merely for their own peoples, but for all other nations.
Although a difference of opinion has ever existed as to the best means
of attaining these objects, Henry VII. lays down sound principles
of political economy and liberal sentiments with regard to the
advantages to be derived from free intercourse with all nations, in his
instructions to the commissioners appointed to negotiate treaties of
commercial reciprocity with foreign countries. “The earth,” he says,
“being the common mother of all mankind, what can be more pleasant and
more humane than to communicate a portion of all her productions to
all her children by commerce?” This opinion, though at variance with
the laws prohibiting the importation of French wines except in English
ships, was practically carried into effect with the maritime states of
Italy. His chief object in doing so may have been to obtain reciprocal
advantages in their ports, and such was no doubt the case, for it is
well known that Henry VII. materially reduced his import duties on the
goods of Venice and of other Italian cities, and that he afterwards
entered into a liberal commercial treaty with France.
[Sidenote: and treaties with foreign nations.]
[Sidenote: Voyages to the Levant.]
On the 1st July, 1486, Henry likewise concluded a treaty with James
III. of Scotland, by which a cessation of hostilities by sea and land
was stipulated and mutual good will exchanged; while he also procured
privileges for English fishermen in Norway and Sweden with the view
of giving greater scope to the enterprise of English ship-owners.[50]
These liberal measures produced the desired effect. We now[51] read of
“tall ships” belonging to London, Southampton, and Bristol making their
annual voyages to the Levant; their principal trading places at first
being Sicily, Crete, Chios, and sometimes Cyprus, Tripoli, and Beyrout
in Syria. Their outward cargoes consisted chiefly of fine kerseys of
divers colours, coarse kerseys, and other kinds of cloths, in return
for which they obtained silks, camlets, rhubarb, malmseys, muscatel
and other wines, sweet oils, cotton, wool, Turkey carpets, galls,
pepper, cinnamon and other spices. These details, with particulars of
the more important of these voyages, were copied by Hakluyt himself
“from certaine auncient Ligier bookes”[52] of Sir William Locke,
mercer, of London, Sir Wm. Bowyer, Alderman, and Master John Gresham.
Many of these accounts are interesting and instructive, and two of
them may be referred to with advantage as illustrative of the size and
character of the ordinary English merchant vessels then trading with
the Mediterranean. One of the smaller class, named the _Holy Cross_, is
described as “a short ship of 160 tons burthen.” She traded with Crete
and with Chios, and her last voyage seems to have been an unfortunate
one. Having been a full year at sea in performance of this voyage, “she
with great danger returned home, where, upon her arrival at Blackwall,
her wine and oil casks were found so weak that they were not able to
hoist them out of the ship, but were constrained to draw them as they
lay, and put their wine and oil into new vessels, and so unload the
ship.” As to the ship herself, she is described as having been “so
shaken in this voyage and so weakened that she was laid up in the dock
and never made voyage afterwards.”
As there is no reason for doubting the accuracy of the above statement,
it is clear that these English merchantmen must have been badly-built
vessels and very slow sailors. Indeed, the description of the voyage
of a larger vessel confirms this opinion so far as regards speed. She
is spoken of as “the good ship _Matthew Gonson_, of burthen 300 tons,”
and the names of her owner, “old Mr. William Gonson, Pay-master of the
King’s Navie,” and of her principal officers are also given. The whole
number of this ship’s company is represented to have been one hundred
men; she is said to have had “a great boat which was able to carry
ten tons of water, which at our return homewards we towed all the way
from Chio until we came through the Strait of Gibraltar into the main
ocean,” as well as a long-boat and skiff; while it is remarked that,
“we were out upon this voyage eleven months, and yet in all this time
there died of sickness but one man.”
These are the only extant narratives furnishing any insight into the
working of English merchant ships at the beginning of the sixteenth
century; but the trade with the Levant must then have been of
considerable importance, as an English consul was established at Chios
in the year 1513,[53] while English factors were about that period sent
to Cuba and the other countries in the West discovered and colonised by
the Spaniards.
[Sidenote: Leading English shipowners.]
[Sidenote: Patent to the Cabots, 1496.]
Among the earliest and most enterprising men engaged in the trade with
the West Indies may be mentioned Mr. Robert Thorne, of Bristol, than
whom the age produced no more shrewd and intelligent merchant. Having
established agents in Cuba and placed others on board of the Spanish
fleet, he expended large sums of money in procuring exact descriptions
and charts of the newly-discovered seas, and, by his representations,
the king was, in a great measure, induced to follow the example of
Spain and Portugal, and to encourage voyages of discovery. Indeed
before Vasco de Gama had doubled the Cape of Good Hope or Columbus
discovered the West Indian Islands, the ship-owners of Bristol had
found their way to Iceland, and had almost, if not quite, reached
the coasts of Newfoundland. There is, however, no well-authenticated
account of any of these voyages to the West till 1496, when Henry
granted, March 5th, a patent to John Cabot, a Venetian by birth, who
had settled at Bristol, and to his three sons, Lewis, Sebastian, and
Sanctus, giving them authority to “sail to all parts, countries, and
seas of the East, of the West, and of the North, under our banner and
ensign, with four ships of what burden or quantity so ever they be, and
as many mariners or men as they will have with them in the said ships,
upon their own proper costs and charges.”[54] Cabot and his followers
are therein authorised to set up the royal banner “in every village,
town, castle, isle, or mainland by them newly found,” and to subdue,
occupy, and possess all such regions, and to exercise jurisdiction
over them in the name of the king of England. They were also to enjoy
the privilege of exclusive resort and traffic to all places they might
discover, reserving one-fifth of the clear profit of the enterprise to
the crown.
[Sidenote: Discovery of the north-west coast of America, 21 June, 1497.]
The expedition proposed under this patent did not, however, actually
set sail till the beginning of the year 1497. On the 21st of June of
that year, Sebastian Cabot, in the ship _Matthew_, of Bristol, a
vessel of two hundred tons burthen, first discovered, according to the
common opinion, Newfoundland,[55] being the first Englishman (for he
was born at Bristol) who had landed in America. How far he proceeded
south has been a question of much controversy; it is, however,
generally admitted that his voyage north and south was confined within
the 67th and 38th degrees of north latitude, and that it did not occupy
altogether more than six months. In the account of the privy purse
expenses of Henry VII. there is the following entry: “10th of August,
1497. To hym that found the New Isle, 10_l._,” and Hakluyt states, in
the dedication of his second volume to Sir Robert Cecil, that “all that
mighty tract of land from 67 degrees northward to the latitude almost
of Florida was first discovered out of England by the commandment of
Henry VII.” The same authority, quoting from Peter Martyr, further
says, “He” (Cabot) “was thereby brought so far with the south, by
reason of the land bending so much to the southward, that it was there
almost equal in latitude with the sea Fretum Herculeum, having the
North Pole elevated in manner in the same degree. He sailed likewise in
this tract so far towards the west that he had the island of Cuba on
his left hand in manner in the same degree of longitude.”[56]
[Sidenote: Second patent, 3 Feb., 1498.]
[Sidenote: Rival claimants to the discovery of the North American
continent.]
That one of the Cabots discovered the northern continent of America,
at the period named, is well authenticated, and in Biddle’s memoirs of
him many other authorities are quoted in confirmation of this fact.[57]
But if any doubt still remains, the second patent, granted on the
3rd of July, 1498, by Henry VII., the original of which was found by
Mr. Biddle in the Rolls Chapel, sets this question finally at rest.
That document indeed only named the father, “John,” but the previous
patent was in the names of “John Cabot and his sons,” and it does
not follow that the discovery of the “Lande and Isles” is intended
to be attributed to the personal action of the elder Cabot. However,
though the continent of America was first discovered by an expedition
commissioned to “set up the banner” of England, this in no way detracts
from the honour justly due to Christopher Columbus, who had five years
previously made known, for the first time, the existence of a world
in the West. Although his great discoveries were confined to the West
Indian Islands and to a portion of the South American continent,
they revealed the important fact that rich lands, hitherto unknown,
lay in a certain quarter of the globe, and could be reached with no
extraordinary difficulty or danger by intrepid and skilful mariners.
Again, as Columbus did not sight the continent of America until August
1498, in the course of his third voyage, he could hardly then have been
ignorant of the discoveries made by Cabot on the 24th of June, 1497,
which created nearly as much noise in Europe as his own had done a few
years before, and were considered of such vast importance that Henry
VII., whose court was then filled with the agents of various foreign
powers, fitted out the second expedition under the decree of 3rd July,
1498, which had for its object commercial intercourse with a continent
the existence of which was unknown to Columbus, except, perhaps, by
common report, until six months afterwards.
The discovery of a new world of vast extent is, however, too high
an honour to be conferred on any one man. While the great Genoese
navigator fully deserves the credit of having explored the mysteries
of the Atlantic Ocean, and of having shown the existence of rich
continental lands to the west, Sebastian Cabot is entitled to the
honour of having been the first to discover that portion of those
lands now constituting the United States of America; and to Great
Britain more than to any other country is due the fame of the thorough
exploration and first colonisation of a world destined to surpass in
wealth and power the greatest of modern nations.
[Sidenote: Sebastian Cabot, and his opinions.]
Cabot, like Columbus and all of the navigators of the fifteenth
century, was of opinion that Cathay (China or India) could be reached
by sailing to the west, and more especially to the north-west, an
opinion which has prevailed even to our own times. Consequently the
vessels under his first patent sailed from Bristol to discover a
north-west passage to that country; and it was only when Cabot found
his voyage to the north and north-west impeded by ice and land
respectively, that he turned to the south in the hope, no doubt, of
finding either a western passage or reaching the countries which had
been discovered by Columbus.
[Sidenote: Sebastian Cabot.]
For this voyage of 1498, English merchants adventured small stocks
of different kinds of merchandise, besides despatching various small
vessels, all of which were placed under charge of Sebastian Cabot;[58]
so that England commenced trading operations with America in the course
of the very first year after its discovery. Henry VII. appears also to
have taken a pecuniary interest in this expedition, for in the account
of the privy purse expenses there are the following entries:—
“22nd March, 1498. To Lancelot Thirkill of London, upon a prest (loan
or advance) for his shipp going towards the New Islande, 20_l._”
“Delivered to Lancelot Thirkill (for himself), going towards the New
Isle, on prest, 20_l._”
“April 1st, 1498. To Thomas Bradley, and Lancelot Thirkill, going to
the New Isle, 30_l._”
“To I. Carter, as going to the New Isle, in rewerde, 2_l._”
[Sidenote: Object of the second expedition.]
[Sidenote: Third expedition, March 1501.]
The object of this second expedition seems to have embraced
colonisation as well as commerce, for, in the words of the patent, it
extended “to all such masters, mariners, pages and other subjects, as
of their own free will, will go and pass with him in the same ships,
to the said Lande or Isles.” Three hundred men altogether are said to
have gone with Cabot on this occasion, but there is no description
of the vessels in which they embarked, beyond the expression in the
patent that they were to be of the “bourdeyn of C.C. tonnes or under.”
Nor are there any clear and well-authenticated accounts of the voyage.
It, however, does not appear to have been so successful as had been
anticipated; and as the great interest which the discoveries had at
first excited languished soon afterwards, no further patents were
granted by Henry until March 1501, when he commissioned three merchants
of Bristol and three Portuguese to proceed in search of lands to the
west. Sebastian Cabot himself would seem to have abandoned for a
time any further expedition from England, and to have either sought
employment in Spain or perhaps settled for a time in America, as we
lose sight of him for a few years about that period. Nor are there any
authentic accounts of the result of the expedition fitted out under
the patent of 1501, nor of one subsequently issued by Henry VII., the
last during his reign, and bearing date 9th December, 1502; but an
intercourse, which had for its object both trade and colonisation, was,
from the following entries in the account of the privy purse expenses,
evidently maintained for some years afterwards:—
“17th November, 1503. To one that brought hawkes from the Newfounded
Island, 1_l._”
“8th April, 1504. To a preste (priest) that goeth to the New Island,
2_l._”
“25th August, 1505. To Clays going to Richmond with wylde catts and
popyngays of the Newfound Island; for his costs, 13_s._ 4_d._”
“To Portugales” (Portuguese) “that brought popyngays and catts of the
Mountaigne with other stuff to the King’s grace, 5_l._”
[Sidenote: How Sebastian Cabot was employed from 1498 to 1512.]
No mention is made of Cabot in either of these patents, but as it is
certain that he did not enter the service of Spain until the 13th of
September, 1512, and as it is hardly possible to suppose that so active
a mind would have remained unemployed during the intermediate period,
it may therefore be presumed that for a portion at least of that time
he was in some manner engaged on the coast of America. In confirmation
of this opinion, the Calendars of Bristol of the year 1499 contain the
following entry:—
“This yeare, Sebastian Cabot, borne in Bristoll, proferred his service
to King Henry for discovering new countries; which had noe greate or
favorable entertainment of the king, but he, with no extraordinary
preparation, set forth from Bristoll, and made greate discoveries.”[59]
If Cabot was thus employed, the omission of any mention of his name in
the patents of 1501 and 1502 is in some measure accounted for; and, in
support of the Bristol records, it may be mentioned that Navarette,
in describing from the records in the Spanish archives the voyage of
Hojeda, who sailed from Spain on the 20th of May, 1499, says,[60]
“What is _certain_ is that Hojeda in his first voyage found certain
Englishmen in the neighbourhood of Caquibaco.”
[Sidenote: He enters the service of Spain, 1512.]
When it is considered that Cabot did not enter a foreign service for
many years after this period, and that he was the only man in England
at that time fully competent to conduct an expedition to America, it
is likely that the Englishmen Hojeda saw were no other than Sebastian
Cabot himself with his exploring party. Having been stopped the year
before by the failure of provisions while sailing southward, it is
natural to suppose that he would in a new expedition resume his former
search, till at length he reached that part of the coast where Hojeda
met with the party of Englishmen, and where the “great discoveries”
mentioned in the Bristol manuscript were no doubt made. It is, however,
a remarkable fact that while the name of Amerigo Vespucci, the pilot
who accompanied Hojeda, is now for ever associated with the whole of
that vast continent, no headland, cape, or bay has preserved the memory
of Sebastian Cabot. But the mysterious disappearance of his “maps and
discourses,” which he had prepared for publication,[61] may account
in a great measure for the name of Cabot having been unnoticed in
connection with America, and may be adduced as a reason why doubts have
so long existed as to his occupations between 1498 and 1512. Had these
documents been preserved, they would assuredly have supplied abundant
information on this point. Peter Martyr says,[62] that Cabot did not
leave England until after the death of Henry VII., which occurred
in 1509; and Herrera, the Historiographer of the king of Spain,
records the additional fact that, in 1512, he entered the service of
Ferdinand, who, anxious to secure the services of so distinguished a
navigator, “gave him the title of his Captain, and a liberal allowance,
and retained him in his service, directing that he should reside at
Seville, to await orders.”[63]
No specific duties were, however, assigned to him beyond the general
revision of the Spanish maps and charts then extant, till, in 1515, he
became a member of the Council of the Indies, with the expectation of
commanding in the following year another expedition for the discovery
of a north-west passage to India.[64] But the death of Ferdinand put
an end to this scheme, and the troubles which then ensued in Spain
induced Cabot to return to England, where, shortly afterwards, he was
appointed to prepare an expedition similar to that which Ferdinand,
shortly before his death, had proposed. The result, however, of this
further attempt in the same direction, in 1517, while it confirmed the
opinion which had been formed of Cabot’s ardent love of enterprise and
dauntless intrepidity, proving, as all other similar expeditions have
done, a failure, though, in this instance, chiefly as it would seem
from the cowardice of Cabot’s companion Sir Thomas Pert, retarded for a
time any renewed efforts in that most forbidding, but favourite region
of discovery. Then, and for years afterwards, many persons were so
impressed with the idea that the rich lands of Cathay could be reached
either by passage directly across the North Pole, or to the east or
west of it, that it has been a subject of almost constant discussion;
and the following extracts from a letter addressed by the intelligent
Robert Thorne to Henry VIII. describe pretty accurately the opinions
prevailing in his time:—[65]
[Sidenote: 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.”
[Sidenote: 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.
[Sidenote: 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.
[Sidenote: Leaves for South America, April 1526, in command of an
expedition to the Brazils.]
[Sidenote: A mutiny and its suppression.]
As Portugal had hitherto monopolised the lucrative commerce of that
new-found region, the utmost alarm was excited when it became known
that a Spanish expedition was preparing to sail under the charge of
so daring and intrepid a mariner as Sebastian Cabot. Remonstrances
in every conceivable form were addressed to the government of Spain;
threats and entreaties were alternately used to terrify or to soothe
the navigator himself, and even assassination was openly spoken of
as not an unmerited punishment to defeat “so nefarious a project.”
The king of Portugal himself had, more than once, in the most public
manner, asserted that it would be “the utter destruction of his poor
kingdom” if he was deprived of the monopoly of the trade with the
Moluccas.[73] Although the opposition did not prevail, the influence
which had been used delayed the departure of the expedition until
April 1526, and the seeds of discontent had been so extensively sown
among the fleet, that a mutiny on the coast of Brazil, not unlike
what Columbus had encountered on his first great voyage of discovery,
threatened the annihilation of the Spanish fleet. Cabot, like Columbus,
when similarly situated, saw that his only safety lay in extreme
boldness, for, like him, he belonged to that rare class of men whose
powers unfold at trying moments. He knew that by a daring exercise of
that rightful authority, to which the habit of command on the ocean
lends a moral influence, men ready to commit murder may be awed into
passive instruments. He therefore seized the three leaders of the
mutiny, though they were his confidential officers, and the men next
to himself in authority, and placing them in a boat, ordered them to
be pulled on shore and there left. The effect throughout the fleet
of these bold and summary proceedings was instantaneous. Discord
disappeared with the chief conspirators, and, during the five years of
service through which the expedition passed, full as they were of toil,
peril, and privation, the voice of discontent was never afterwards
heard.
[Sidenote: Explores the river La Plata while waiting instructions from
Spain.]
Having expelled the only individuals who, in the event of his death,
had been named in succession to the command of the expedition, Cabot
felt that he would not have been justified in proceeding with the
squadron on the long and perilous voyage originally contemplated. He
therefore put into the La Plata, and sent advice to the king of what
had occurred, by John Barlow, one of the Englishmen who had accompanied
him; resolving in the meantime to explore that great river, in
attempting which his predecessor in the office of pilot-major, Diego de
Solis, had not long before been slain.[74]
[Sidenote: Sanguinary encounter with the natives.]
Running boldly up the river, which, until very recently, was the dread
of navigators, Cabot reached a small island about half a league from
the northern shore, and nearly opposite to the present Buenos Ayres.
Here the natives made a very formidable show of resistance, but were
repulsed. Proceeding seven leagues farther up the river, he erected
a fort. Having completed this work, and taken every precaution for
the safety of the ships, he commenced the exploration of the Parana,
taking care, as he proceeded, to build small forts, on which he could
fall back with his boats and caravels in case of disaster, until he
reached its junction with the Paraguay, which he ascended thirty-four
leagues. Here everything presented a new aspect, with indications of a
comparatively higher state of civilisation; but the natives engaged in
the cultivation of the soil, being jealous of the strangers, and under
the impression that they had come to take away their produce, seized
three of Cabot’s men, who had incautiously strayed from the main body,
and a sanguinary conflict ensued, in which three hundred of them were
killed, and twenty-five of the Spaniards.
When Cabot returned to his ships, he made arrangements to convey to
the king intelligence of his discoveries, and entered more fully into
detail of the incidents which had occurred since he left, especially
of those which had compelled him to abandon the voyage originally
contemplated. The prospects were so promising that Charles V. resolved
to fit out a fresh expedition to aid Cabot in the prosecution of
further discoveries; means were, however, wanting to furnish the
promised aid, the Cortes having, in the same year, refused a grant of
money solicited by the king for pressing necessities of State. It was
therefore hopeless to expect that they would vote fresh supplies for
remote and hazardous expeditions. But though Cabot’s residence in the
La Plata was measured tediously by hope deferred, and finally blasted,
it was not passed in inactivity, his researches while there having
ultimately proved of great value to the commerce of Spain.
[Sidenote: Returns to Spain, 1531, and remains there till 1549, when he
settles finally in Bristol.]
[Sidenote: Edward VI., A.D. 1547-1553.]
On Cabot’s return to Spain, in 1531, he resumed his former position of
pilot-major, and about eighteen years afterwards, or fifty-three years
after the date of his first commission from Henry VII., he, then an
old man, returned to Bristol, the place of his birth in 1549. Whatever
may have been the motives of the king of Spain for consenting to the
departure of his pilot-major, he soon became alarmed at the event. To
England the services of a man of Cabot’s skill and knowledge was then
invaluable. The youth who had then just ascended the English throne had
already given such evidence of capacity as to excite the attention of
Europe, and anticipations were universally expressed of the memorable
part he was destined to perform. Edward VI. saw the advantages to be
derived from the services of Sebastian Cabot. Naval affairs had from
his boyhood seized his attention as a sort of passion. Even when a
child “he knew all the harbours and ports both of his own dominions
and of France and Scotland, and how much water they had, and what was
the way of coming into them: and, hence,”[75] Charles V., seeing the
mistake he had made in parting with Cabot, endeavoured by various
means, though without avail, to induce him to return to Spain.[76]
But for some time after his arrival in England Cabot lived in
comparative retirement, devoting himself to the consideration of
questions of importance to navigators, and endeavouring to improve
the means whereby they were enabled to shape their courses with
greater safety and certainty across the ocean. Not the least important
of his studies was the variation of the compass; if not the first
he was among the first who showed the extent of these variations in
different places, and who attempted to frame a theory on this important
subject. His earliest transatlantic voyage had carried him to a quarter
where the variations of the needle are most sudden and striking. Nor
are they much less sudden in the La Plata, where, from Cabot’s long
residence, they must have secured his deliberate attention and careful
consideration. But, in the absence of his “maps and discourses,” there
are now no means extant of ascertaining the nature of the theory he
had formed, though it must have been of a practical character, as the
seamen brought up in his school, and sailing under his instructions,
were particularly attentive in noting the variations of the needle.[77]
Though seeking retirement, his knowledge and experience, were of too
varied and valuable a character to be allowed any lengthened repose.
Frequently consulted, and his advice generally adopted, many adventures
owe their origin to his genius; and one of the greatest of these, which
arose out of the then prevailing stagnation of trade, is especially
worthy of note. “Our merchants,” remarks Hakluyt,[78] “perceived the
commodities and wares of England to be in small request about us and
near unto us, and that their merchandise, which strangers, in the time
and memory of our ancestors, did earnestly seek and desire, were now
neglected and the price thereof abated, although they be carried to
their own parts.”
[Sidenote: Cabot forms an association for trading to the North,]
Cabot, having been consulted as to the best mode of remedying this
depressed state of things, recommended, after a conference with the
merchants of London, “that three ships should be prepared and furnished
out for the search and discovery of the northern part of the world,
to open a way and passage to our men for travel to new and unknown
kingdoms.”[79]
So general was the desire to secure a continuation of Cabot’s
services, that, notwithstanding his advanced age, the Letters Patent
incorporating the association for carrying out the expedition he had
recommended declared him to be governor, an office he was to enjoy
“during his natural life, without a moving or dismissing from the same
room.” But the association had to encounter the opposition of the
Steel-yard, the powerful foreign body whose monopoly had long exercised
a very prejudicial influence on English manufactures and commerce.
[Sidenote: known as the Merchant Adventurers’ Company.]
For the interests, therefore, of England, and to afford a fair
field in the then known markets of the world to her merchants and
manufacturers, it became necessary to break down the monopoly exercised
by the Germans, from their privileged site on the banks of the Thames,
and the “Merchant Adventurers’ Company,” with Sebastian Cabot as its
governor, was made the instrument of effecting this desirable change.
Edward himself, fully alive to the necessity of abolishing the foreign
monopoly, seems, by the records in his journals,[80] to have taken
great interest in the formation and progress of this company of English
traders, and, in spite of the vast influence of the Steel-yard, to have
afforded to his merchants every facility in his power for the despatch
of the expedition which Cabot had recommended.
[Sidenote: Despatch of the first expedition under Sir H. Willoughby.]
“Strong; and well-seasoned planks for the building of the requisite
ships were provided,” and to guard against the worms, “which many times
pearceth and eateth through the strongest oak,” it was resolved for
the first time in England, though sheathing had been used for some
years previously in Spain, “to cover a piece of the keel of the shippes
with thinne sheets of lead.”[81] Sir Hugh Willoughby, “a most valiant
gentleman and well borne,” and highly recommended for his “skill in the
services of war,”[82] was placed in command of the expedition. Nor were
these the only requisite qualities, for it seems to have been thought
no slight recommendation that he should be of “tall and commanding
stature.” Richard Chancellor, the second in command, with the title
of Pilot-Major, is described as a man of highly-cultivated intellect
and refined manners, combined with great shrewdness and powers of
observation, and withal a skilful and intrepid seaman.
[Sidenote: Instructions for his guidance, probably drawn up by Cabot.]
Following the example of Portugal when she sent forth Vasco de Gama,
and of Spain when Columbus was first despatched on his famous voyage,
Edward had letters of safe conduct prepared for his expedition of
discovery to the North, which were written in the Latin, Hebrew,
and Chaldee tongues, and addressed to kings, princes, and foreign
potentates and states.[83] By these addresses the people of strange
nations were to be propitiated and enlightened as to the advantages
they would derive from friendly intercourse with England. But all the
instructions for the government of the expedition, which have been
justly regarded as models, and as reflecting the highest credit on his
sagacity, good sense, and comprehensive knowledge, were prepared by
Cabot himself; they contain thirty-two voluminous articles. After the
regulations to enforce discipline and obedience, it is therein required
that “all courses in navigation are to be set and kept up by the advice
of the captain, pilot-major, masters, and masters’ mates, with the
assents of the counsailers and the most number of them, and in voyces
uniformely agreeing in one to prevaile, and take place, so that the
Captaine-generall shall in all counsailes and assemblies have a double
voyce.” A log-book is ordered to be kept containing the courses steered
and the observations on the winds, weather, and tides: the daily
altitude of the sun at noon, and the position of the moon and stars,
attention to these matters being carefully and specially enjoined. The
captain is also required to record the “names of the people of every
island, with the commodities and incommodities of the same, their
natures, qualities, and dispositions, the site of the same, and what
things they are most desirous of, and what commodities they will most
willingly part with, and what mettals they have in hils, mountains,
streames, or rivers, in or under the earth.”
But beyond these special and minute instructions for the navigation
of the fleet, and for the discovery of new branches of commerce or
sources of mineral wealth, the most rigid attention is enjoined to the
moral and religious duties of the crews, so “that no blaspheming of
God, or detestable swearing be used in any ship, nor communication of
ribaldrie, filthy tales, or ungodly talke to be suffred in the company
of any ship, neither dicing, carding, tabling, nor other devilish games
to be frequented, whereby ensueth not only povertie to the players, but
also strife, variance, brawling, fighting, and oftentimes murther, to
the utter destruction of the parties, and provoking of God’s most just
wrathe and sworde of vengeance. These, and all such like pestilences,
and contagions of vices, and sinnes to be eschewed, and the offenders
once monished and not reforming, to be punished at the discretion of
the captaine and master, as appertaineth.” It is likewise ordered “that
morning and evening prayer, with other common services appointed by the
King’s Majestie, and lawes of this realme, to be reade and saide in
every ship daily by the minister in the Admirall, and the marchant or
some other person learned, in other ships, and the Bible or paraphrases
to be read devoutly and Christianly to God’s honour, and for his grace
to be obtained and had by humble and heartie praier of the navigants
accordingly.”
Indeed, the whole document is full of admirable advice and of the
soundest principles, as valuable to the success of the commercial
adventure as to the discipline and comfort of every person engaged in
the expedition.[84]
Descending to minute details, the cook or steward is required to give
weekly, or oftener if desired by their superiors, an exact account of
the victuals, such as “flesh, fish, biscuit, meat, bread,” as also
of “beer, wine, oil, or vinegar,” with any other things under his
charge. Incompetent officers and incapable seamen are to be discharged,
whenever a suitable opportunity occurs of getting rid of them. Economy
is strictly enjoined, and cleanliness in the cook’s room rigidly
enforced. The best clothes of the sailors are only to be used when
mustered in good array for the honour and advancement of the voyage.
Various instructions are given for the security of health and general
good management of the crew, and the sailors are warned against people
who “can swim in the sea in havens, naked, armed with bows and shafts,
who are desirous to seize the bodies of the sailors, which they covet
for meat.”
[Sidenote: Departure 20 May, 1553.]
On the 20th of May, 1553, the squadron dropped down the river Thames to
Greenwich, and its departure is thus quaintly described:—
“The greater shippes are towed downe with boates and oares, and the
mariners being all apparelled in watchet or skie-coloured cloth, rowed
amaine and made way with diligence. And being come neere to Greenwich
(where the court then lay), presently upon the newes thereof, the
courtiers came running out, and the common people flocked together,
standing very thicke upon the shoare: the Privie Counsel, they lookt
out at the windowes of the court, and the rest ranne up to the toppe of
the towers; the shippes hereupon discharge their ordinance, and shoot
off their pieces after the manner of warre and of the sea, insomuch
that the toppes of the hilles sounded therewith, the valleys and the
waters gave an eccho, and the mariners they shouted in such sort that
the skie rang again with the noyse thereof. One stood in the poope of
the ship, and by his gesture bids farewell to his friendes in the best
manner hee could, another walkes upon the hatches, another climbes the
shrowds, another stands upon the maine yard, and another in the top of
the shippe. To be short, it was a very triumph (after a sort) in all
respects to the beholders. But (alas) the good King Edward (in respect
of whom principally all this was prepared) hee only by reason of his
sicknesse was absent from this shewe, and not long after the separation
of these ships, the lamentable and most sorrowful accident of his death
followed.”[85]
[Sidenote: Great storm and separation of the ships.]
[Sidenote: Death of Sir H. Willoughby.]
Amidst these great rejoicings, mingled with many lamentations and
numerous misgivings, this celebrated expedition took its departure from
the Thames. After leaving Harwich the ships had favourable winds, but,
anticipating severe weather as they proceeded northwards, arrangements
were made that in the event of separation, they were to rendezvous
at the Castle of Wardhouse in Norway. Their anticipations were soon
realised. Violent storms arose. The ships, though superior to most
of the vessels of the period, were ill adapted to contend against
the angry gales of the Northern Ocean. Sir Henry, with two of the
ships, having been separated from the one under the command of Richard
Chancellor, failed to make the contemplated progress to the eastward,
and wintered in Lapland. But the rigour of the climate proved far more
severe than had been anticipated. After terrible sufferings, he and the
whole of the crews of the two ships perished, through cold, famine, and
disease, amidst the ice and snow of the Arctic regions.
[Sidenote: Success of Chancellor.]
The pilot-major, Chancellor, was more fortunate. He reached the
“Wardhouse” with his ship in safety, and having remained there
several days, resolved to proceed, notwithstanding the disheartening
representations which were made to him. Passing through unknown seas,
he at last reached the Bay of St. Nicholas, where he anchored, and
afterwards landed at a castle on the beach not far from the place
where the town of Archangel has since been built. The natives, “being
amazed with the strange greatnesse of the shippe (for in those parts
before they had never seen the like), beganne presently to avoyde and
to flee;” but Chancellor, in accordance with his instructions, “looked
pleasantly upon them, comforting them by signs and gestures,”[86]
and by numerous acts of courtesy and kindness he soon secured their
confidence and friendship. Having gained in time an imperfect knowledge
of their language, this remarkable seaman made a long tour through a
portion of the interior, visiting Moscow, where he was well received.
Here he opened the first commercial intercourse between Russia and
England, which soon proved a source of great wealth to the people of
both countries.
[Sidenote: His shipwreck and death at Pitsligo.]
[Sidenote: Arrival in London of the first Russian ambassador, Feb.
1557.]
Though his task must have been of the most arduous character, he seems
to have performed it with so much skill and judgment that the Emperor
of Russia readily entered into his plans for promoting commercial
intercourse between England and Russia, and despatched with him an
ambassador to negotiate treaties on the most liberal bases, at the
same time granting to the “Association of Merchant Adventurers” and
“their successors for ever” special privileges. Chancellor, however,
did not live to reap the fruit of his labours and receive the rewards
and honours to which he was so well entitled. On his return to England,
his ship was dashed to pieces during a furious gale at Pitsligo, in the
north of Scotland; and, in his praiseworthy and successful exertions
to save the life of the Russian ambassador, he unfortunately lost his
own.[87] But mourning is only for a season. The lamentations on the
loss of so many brave men, and especially on Chancellor, were drowned
in the shouts of rejoicing which soon afterwards welcomed the Russian
ambassador to the city of London. On the 27th February, 1557, he was
met twelve miles from the City by “fourscore merchants with chaines of
gold and goodly apparell,” with their retinue of servants and “horses
and geldings” more gaudily adorned than themselves, and on reaching
the boundaries of the City, the “Lord Mayor, accompanied by all the
aldermen, received him, accompanied by Viscount Montague and other
members of the court of the Queenes Majestie, together with a great
number of merchants and notable personages riding before, and a large
troupe of servants and apprentices following.”
So great, indeed, we are told, were the crowds of people that lined his
path that the ambassador had much difficulty in reaching his lodging
“in Fantchurch Streete,” where he was provided with every luxury
befitting his dignity and the importance of the embassy on which he had
come, till he finally left London on the 3rd of May following.[88]
[Sidenote: His reception.]
[Sidenote: Commercial treaty.]
Nor, indeed, were the attentions shown to this first Russian envoy
bestowed in vain. Before he set out homewards, in “the noble shippe
the _Primrose_,” a valuable commercial treaty was concluded with
Russia, which continued in force almost until our own day, to the
great advantage of the people of both countries, but especially of the
English.
[Sidenote: Early system of conducting business with Russia.]
It is not a little curious now to look back to the early history of
that trade and the mode whereby it was conducted, nor is it either
uninteresting or uninstructive. The correspondence between the Company
and its agents in Russia furnishes ample means for showing how it was
conducted, and provides, probably, the earliest specimens extant of the
English mode of conducting business with foreign countries, and of the
care and precision with which it was carried on. Nothing can be clearer
than the Company’s letter of instructions and bill of parcels,[89]
containing as it does in the shortest possible space all that was
necessary for the guidance of their agents.
[Sidenote: The benefits conferred by the Merchant Adventurers upon
England.]
To the Company of Merchant Adventurers, and more especially to its
first governor, Sebastian Cabot, England is deeply indebted. They
were among the earliest traders who gave an impetus to her over-sea
commerce, aiming as they did to make England a depôt for foreign
produce, and her ships the carriers by sea for the merchants of
other nations as well as their own. “For we must take care,” remarks
the Company in one of those letters to its agents, “to utter good
quantitie of wares, especially the commodities of our realme, although
we afford a good peny-worth to the intent to make others that have
traded thither, wearie, and so to bring ourselves and commodities in
estimation, and likewise to procure and have the chiefe commodities of
that country in our hands as waxe and such others, _that other nations
may be served by us and at our hands_.”[90]
It was by these means that England obtained her mercantile
pre-eminence, achieving her maritime superiority by such methods rather
than by any complicated scheme of legislative enactments, and in this
she was assuredly far more indebted to the discoveries and wise policy
of Sebastian Cabot, than to the so-called “celebrated Navigation
Laws of Oliver Cromwell,” a hundred years afterwards. Barrow in his
history frankly owns that Cabot’s knowledge and experience, combined
with his zeal and penetration, were the means, not only of extending
the foreign commerce of England, but of keeping alive the “spirit of
enterprise which even in his lifetime was crowned with success, and
which ultimately led to the most happy results for the nation”;[91] and
Campbell observes “that with equal justice it may be said of Sebastian
Cabot, that he was the author of our maritime strength, and opened the
way to those improvements which have rendered us so great, so eminent,
so flourishing a people.”[92]
But the Merchant Adventurers, besides leading the way to and developing
the trade with Russia, were instrumental in the establishment of the
whale fishery of Spitzbergen, and in the equally great, if not more
important, fisheries on the banks of Newfoundland. Nor were their
efforts confined to discoveries of new sources of wealth at sea, for,
besides their extensive commercial operations with the interior of
Russia where they had established various agencies, they entered into
trading relations with Persia. Writing to one of these agents, they
remark, “We have further hope of some good trade to be found out by
Master Anthonie Jenkinson, by reason we do perceive by your letters,
that raw silk is as plentiful in Persia as flax is in Russia, besides
other commodities that may come from thence.”[93]
[Sidenote: The Steel-Yard merchants partially restored to their former
influence.]
[Sidenote: Cabot loses favour with the court,]
The untimely death of Edward VI. (6 July, 1553), while it operated as
a severe check on the advancing commercial prosperity of England, was
no less inauspicious to the fortunes of Sebastian Cabot, who had given
to it the first great impulse. The generosity of the youthful monarch,
his ingenuous and enterprising spirit, and his fondness for maritime
affairs, offer a melancholy contrast to the sullen bigotry of Mary.[94]
Without one spark of feeling for the commercial interests of the
people whom she had been called to govern, or one thought about their
happiness, she deputed all such matters to her husband, who reduced
Cabot’s pension one half, and materially curtailed the influence he so
long possessed, it may be with some gain to his own peace of mind in
his now declining years, though to England’s loss. Foreign traders with
England had now their former special privileges partially restored,
while the Steel-Yard merchants, bringing the influence of Germany to
bear upon Philip II., were thus enabled to obtain relief from the Act
passed by Edward VI. They were not, however, satisfied with these
changes in their favour, for “at an assembly of the Houses at Lubeck,
an Edict was published against all Englishmen, forbidding all trade or
commerce with them.”[95]
[Sidenote: and dies at a very advanced age.]
From this time Cabot sank into comparative insignificance. Sixty-one
years had elapsed since the date of his first commission from Henry
VII.; he was now a very old man, and the powers of nature, fast failing
through age, were still more rapidly exhausted by the usage he received
from the court. The exact date of his death is not known, nor has
any record been left where he was buried. He who, with Christopher
Columbus, had presented a new world to his sovereign, died like him
neglected, if not despised, and at last so thoroughly unknown, that
England cannot point to the spot of earth where rests all that was
mortal of one of her best and bravest seamen.[96]
FOOTNOTES:
[48] 1 Hen. VII. c. 8.
[49] Hen. VII. c. 8; see Parl. Hist. vol. i. p. 407.
[50] Rymer’s ‘Fœdera,’ vol. xii. p. 335.
[51] According to Hakluyt, “In the yeeres of our Lord 1511, 1512, &c.,
till the year 1534” (ii., p. 96).
[52] Hakluyt’s remark here is worthy of note, “Neither did our
merchants onely employ their owne English shipping before mentioned,
but sundry strangers also—Candiots, Raguseans, Venetian galiasses,
Spanish and Portugal ships” (II., p. 96).
[53] Macpherson, vol. ii. p. 46.
[54] Macpherson, vol. ii. p. 11. The charter of patent is dated at
Westminster, March 5, 1495-6.—Rymer, xii. p. 595.
[55] A close examination of the story of Cabot shows that the spot
first seen by him could not have been Newfoundland. Moreover, Ortelius,
who had Cabot’s own map before him, places an island of St. John in
lat. 56° N., off the coast of Labrador, with which the account of its
general sterility and the abundance of Polar bears agrees much better
than with Newfoundland. The present Isle of St. John’s, off the coast
of Newfoundland, was so called by Cartier, A.D. 1534 (Hakluyt, iii. p.
204). The second patent, too, speaks of “land and islands” as distinct
discoveries of the first voyage. The fact is, all the territory round
that neighbourhood was called “New Land,” as in the Stat. 33 Henry
VIII., and Robert Thorne (ap. Hakluyt, i. p. 214) speaks of “_our New
found lands_.” Thus, West Indies once meant the whole of America. That
Cabot reached 67½° of N. lat. cannot be doubted, as Ramusio, in the
Preface to the third volume of his ‘Voyages,’ distinctly states that
the navigator had written to him to that effect (Ramusio, iii. 417).
The presumption is, further, strong that John Cabot, the father, did
not make any voyages, but that all the credit of the new discoveries
is due to Sebastian and his brothers. Indeed, Sir George Peckham (ap.
Hakluyt, iii. p. 165) asserts this as a fact. Sir Humphrey Gilbert,
too, while saying that Sebastian was specially sent, makes no allusion
to the father.
[56] Hakluyt, ibid.
[57] A very interesting memoir of Sebastian Cabot, recently published
(1869) by Mr. J. F. Nicholls, the City Librarian of Bristol, enables us
to add some particulars of his life (and of that of his father) which
have been only just discovered. Thus we learn from Mr. Rawdon Brown’s
‘Venetian Calendars’ that John Cabot (the father) was made a citizen of
Venice, A.D. 1476; and from the Spanish State Papers, vol. i. p. 177,
under date July 25, 1498, “that the people of Bristol sent out every
year two or three light ships, _caravelas_, in search of the island of
Brazil and the seven cities, according to the fancy of that Italian
Cabot; and that _they have done so for the last seven years_,” (i. e.,
_before_ Columbus had landed on Guanahani). Mr. Nicholls further quotes
from a hitherto unpublished tract by Hakluyt, only lately discovered
(see Wood’s Maine Hist. Soc., 1868), the following remarkable words.
“A great part,” says Hakluyt, “of the continent (of America) as well
as of the islands was first discovered for the king of England by
Sebastian Gabote, an Englishman, born in Bristowe, son of John Gabote,
in 1496; naye, more, Gabote discovered this large tracte of prime
lande two years before Columbus saw any part of the continent.” Again,
under the date of Aug. 24, 1497, Mr. Rawdon Brown quotes from the
Venetian Archives this passage: “Also some months ago, his Majesty
Henry VII. sent out a Venetian (so called, naturally, as having been
made a Venetian citizen), who is a very good mariner, _and has good
skill in discovering new islands_, and he has returned safe ... and
next spring his Majesty means to send him with twenty ships.” All this
shows the strong presumption that the first charter was granted _after_
discoveries that Cabot had made previously on his own or his father’s
account. Mr. Nicholls also gives an engraving of a remarkable portrait
of Cabot, then a very old man, and a copy of the unique map of his
travels, dated 1544, preserved in the Bibliothèque at Paris. On this
map it is stated in Latin and Spanish that John and Sebastian Cabot
together discovered the New Land on June the 24th, 1494, and that Cabot
himself “made this figure extended in plane” (i. e. the Map) in 1544.
The street in Bristol where Canynge, and probably the Cabots, lived is
still called ‘Cathay.’
[58] ‘Memoir of Sebastian Cabot,’ by Biddle, p. 86, Lond., 1832.
[59] ‘Memoirs, Historical and Topographical, of Bristol and its
neighbourhood, from the earliest period down to the present time,’ by
the Rev. J. W. Seyer, vol. ii. p. 208.
[60] Tom. iii. p. 41.
[61] In a tract addressed to Sir Philip Sydney and published in 1582,
Hakluyt says: “But, shortly, God willing, shall come out in print all
his (Sebastian Cabot’s) own mappes and discourses drawne and written
by himselfe;” at the same time, stating that these were then in the
“custody of Mr. William Worthington.”
[62] Peter Martyr speaks of Cabot as “his very friend whom I use
familiarly, and delight to have him sometimes keep me company in
mine own house; for being called out of England, by command of the
Catholic King of Castile, after the death of King Henry VII., he was
made _one of our council_, as touching the affair of the New Indies,
looking daily for ships to be furnished for him, to discover this hid
secret of nature (i. e. why the seas in these parts ran with so swift
a current from the east to the west), this voyage is appointed to be
begun in March in the year next following, being the year of Christ
1516.”—Decades, ii. c. 12.
[63] Herrera, dec. i. lib. ix. cap. xiii.
[64] R. Eden’s ‘Munster,’ Lond., 1553. Cabot calls himself on the map
previously referred to “Captain and Pilot-Major of his sacred Imperial
Majesty the Emperor Don Carlos the Vth.” Robert Thorne (said by Stowe
to have been born in 1492) was one of the most eminent of the Bristol
merchants of his days. He died in London in 1532, and is buried in the
Temple Church. At his death he forgave all his debtors, at the same
time leaving £4440 for charitable purposes, and £5140 to poor relations.
[65] Hakluyt, vol. i. p. 112.
[66] A note on the margin of Hakluyt (vol. i. p. 213) adds, “in the
eighth year of his reigne” i. e. 1516-7. This letter is not dated, but
cannot be earlier than 1517, when Henry VIIIth’s voyage of discovery
was undertaken.
[67] This malady had broken out before. It appears from the history of
Bristol to have been very severe in 1486. Erasmus directly attributes
it to the dirty habits of the English people at that period, and to the
utter want of ventilation in their houses. Nicholls’s Life of Cabot, p.
33.
[68] Peter Martyr, dec. vi. cap. ix.
[69] Peter Martyr, dec. vi. cap. x.
[70] Nicholls says, that Thorne entered into this adventure chiefly
that two English friends of his might go in one of the ships, and bring
back an account of the lands discovered.—‘Life of Cabot,’ p. 115.
[71] The ships of the expedition must have been much larger than one
hundred tons to have required or even found suitable accommodation for
so many men.
[72] Peter Martyr, dec. vii. cap. vi.; Herrera, dec. iii. lib. ix. cap.
iii. Letter from Robert Thorne to Dr. Ley, ambassador to the Emperor
Charles V. Appendix. No. I.
[73] Peter Martyr, dec. vii. cap. vii.
[74] Peter Martyr, dec. iii. cap. x.
[75] Burnet’s ‘History of the Reformation,’ vol. ii. p. 225.
[76] Strype’s ‘Historical Memorials,’ ii. p. 190.
[77] Biddle’s ‘Life of Sebastian Cabot,’ pp. 177-180.
[78] Hakluyt, vol. i. p. 243.
[79] Hakluyt, vol. i. p. 243.
[80] Burnet’s ‘History of the Reformation,’ vol. ii., from the Cotton
MSS.
[81] Hakluyt, vol. i. p. 243.
[82] Ibid. vol. i. p. 244.
[83] Strype’s ‘Memorials,’ vol. ii. p. 76. The Coronation Medal of
Edward VI. gives his titles in Greek, Latin, and Hebrew.
[84] Hakluyt, vol. i. pp. 226-229.
[85] Hakluyt, vol. i. p. 245, who calls the place “the Ward-house,”
probably a small fort or guard-house.
[86] Hakluyt, vol. i. p. 246.
[87] Chancellor was drowned, according to Hakluyt, Nov. 7, 1556 (vol.
ii. p. 286).
[88] Hakluyt, vol. i. pp. 286, 287.
[89] Appendix No. 2.
[90] Hakluyt, vol. i. p. 297.
[91] Barrow’s ‘Chronological History,’ &c., p. 36.
[92] Campbell’s ‘Lives of the Admirals.’
[93] Hakluyt, vol. i. p. 307.
[94] Among the first acts of Elizabeth, when she ascended the throne,
was to address a letter on the subject of commercial intercourse “To
the right mightie and right victorious Prince, the Great Sophie,
Emperor of the Persians, Medes, &c., &c., and the people on this side
and beyond the river of Tigris.”
[95] Treaties of Commerce, by Wheeler, ed. of 1601, p. 97.
[96] The last public appearance recorded of Cabot was his dining on
board the pinnace _Seathrift_, Capt. W. Burroughs, at Gravesend, on
April 27, 1556. But he is known to have been alive on May 27, 1557,
when Philip of Spain compelled him to resign his pension. It further
appears that Eden (see his ‘Taisnerus’ in the King’s Library, British
Museum) was present at his death; but he has not noted either the place
or date thereof.—J. F. Nicholls, ‘Life of Cabot,’ p. 186, Lond. 1869.
One of the most eminent early members of the Merchant Adventurers’
company was Sir Andrew Judde, the founder of Tonbridge School, whose
name appears as the owner of two ships despatched to Russia in 1577,
one of them being commanded by Anthony Jenkinson, who went on the first
embassy from England to Persia. Judde in early life had been to Guinea,
and had brought back some gold dust for Edward VI., as is recorded on
his monument in St. Helen’s Church, Bishopsgate. Hakluyt thus describes
an elephant’s head which he saw in his house. “This head divers have
seen in the house of the worthy merchant Sir Andrew Judde, where also I
saw it and beheld it, not only with my bodily eyes, but more with the
eyes of my mind and spirit considering by the worke, the cunning and
the wisdome of the work maister.” Judde was Lord Mayor in 1550-1, and
took an active part against Wyatt in his rebellion.—Rivington, ‘Histy.
of Tonbridge School,’ 4to., 1869, p. 10.