AN EARLY COLONIAL PROJECT
After the Cabot voyages, which were, financially, a failure, nothing
more is heard of American enterprises originating in England until March
19, 1501. On that date Henry VII granted a patent ‘to our beloved
subjects Richard Ward, Thomas Ashehurst, and John Thomas, merchants of
our town of Bristol, and to our beloved João Fernandes, Francisco
Fernandes and João Gonsalves,[69] squires born in the islands of Surrys
(Azores) under the obedience of the King of Portugal’, giving them
authority to explore any regions of the earth for the purpose of
discovering any countries hitherto unknown to Christians. The patentees
were further empowered to set up the king’s standard on all places by
them newly discovered, and to occupy such places as his vassals and
governors, making laws and enforcing the obedience of all who should
resort to those regions. During ten years following the grant of the
patent they were to have a monopoly of trade with their discoveries,
other persons being forbidden to engage in it without obtaining their
licence and that of the king, and then only on condition of paying to
the patentees one-twentieth part of the value of the goods shipped.
Certain exemptions from customs duties on small quantities of goods were
granted to the masters and mariners employed by the patentees, who were
themselves entitled to import one shipload of merchandise duty free at
some time within the first four years after the grant of the patent. If
foreigners persisted in intruding into the dominions of the patentees
the latter were given leave to expel and punish them at their
discretion, even if they were subjects of a friendly power. They were
also granted, jointly and singly, the rank and privileges of Admiral,
with power to exercise the same in the new lands. A significant clause
provided that no foreigner, under colour of any concession formerly
granted under the Great Seal, should resort to the new lands without the
licence of the patentees. Finally, the three Portuguese mentioned in the
patent were to be naturalized and have all the rights and privileges of
Englishmen, except that they were to continue to pay customs duties on
the same scale as foreigners.[70]
A study of the terms of the charter, the original of which is in Latin
and of great length, shows that the foundation of a permanent colony,
and not merely the dispatch of a trading expedition, was contemplated.
The clauses, much elaborated in the original, relative to the rights of
legislation, power to exclude foreigners, and administrative authority
of the patentees, all point to this conclusion, although there is very
little evidence that they were ever carried into effect. The locality is
not mentioned, but it must have been somewhere on the coast of Greenland
or North America between the Arctic Circle and the extremity of the
peninsula of Florida, limits which are sufficiently wide, but which are
necessitated by the extreme vagueness and the contradictory nature of
the indications of the site of the projected settlement. The permission
to expel foreigners by force of arms is interesting as showing that
Henry VII, on paper at least, was in a less conciliatory mood than usual
towards the Spaniards, at whom and the Portuguese the clause was
levelled. The express revocation of any previous grants under the great
seal could only apply to the patents obtained by the Cabots in 1496 and
1498, which were now annulled, most probably on account of the failure
of those navigators to achieve any commercial success by their voyages.
The somewhat incongruous combination of Bristol merchants and Portuguese
adventurers may be accounted for by the assumption that the former
provided the capital and the business management of the affair, while
the latter supplied the navigating skill and experience of similar
enterprises. João Fernandes, at least, possessed such experience. On
October 28, 1499, he had been granted a patent by King Manuel of
Portugal, authorizing him to make voyages to the North-West and giving
him the captaincy of any islands he might discover; and certain
expressions used in another patent obtained by him in 1508 imply that he
had previously made voyages in the same direction.[71] The Portuguese,
in general, thanks to their persistent attempts to find an eastern route
to Cathay, were much more advanced in the art of conducting exploring
expeditions than were the English of that period, and they had very
quickly followed in the track of the Cabots to the coast of North
America itself. The two brothers, Gaspar and Miguel Corte Real, as
important in Portuguese history as the Cabots in our own, perished in
the North-West in 1501 and 1502 respectively; while Portuguese fishermen
flocked to the Baccalaos, or Newfoundland banks, in such numbers that in
1506 an import tax was levied in Portugal on fish from that region.[72]
On the other hand, England was in its infancy as a maritime nation, and
its sailors, using inferior ships, charts, and navigating methods, had
been hitherto accustomed only to coasting voyages and very short
open-sea passages, such as were necessitated by the trade to Iceland and
Spain.
It would appear that a commencement of the American enterprise was made
in 1501, soon after the granting of the patent. It was usual to set out
on such expeditions in the early summer so as to enjoy the maximum of
good weather, and also to take advantage of the longest days when
examining a new coastline. The only positive evidence of a voyage having
been made in 1501 is an entry in Henry VII’s Privy Purse accounts[73] on
January 7, 1502: ‘To men of Bristol that found the Isle, £5.’ Scanty as
it is, this entry may be taken as proving conclusively that a voyage was
made in 1501. It was customary to make such donations on the arrival in
England of the persons concerned: John Cabot had received a similar gift
within a few days of his return from his first voyage in 1497; and the
obvious inference here is that the Anglo-Portuguese syndicate dispatched
an expedition in 1501, news of the safe arrival of which came to England
at the end of that year. It is uncertain whether a colony was planted
and messengers sent back with news to England, or whether the first
voyage was made simply for the purpose of exploring and choosing a
suitable site. It should be noted that the phrase employed does not
necessarily imply that the new land was an island in the usual
acceptation of the word; most newly discovered regions were commonly
referred to as islands until exploration proved their continental
nature.
A series of three documents, all referring to the last week of September
1502, imply the arrival of another ship or fleet from the new land at
that time. A Privy Purse entry of September 23: ‘To a mariner that
brought an eagle, 6_s._ 8_d._’, may or may not relate to the enterprise;
but another of September 30 is more explicit: ‘To the merchants of
Bristol that have been in the Newfound land, £20.’ The third piece of
evidence is the grant, on September 26, 1502, of pensions of £10 each
per annum to Francisco Fernandes and João Gonsalves, ‘in consideration
of the true service which they have done unto us to our singler pleasure
as capitaignes unto the newe found lande’.[74] Here again the
phraseology is tantalizingly vague, and leaves us completely in the dark
as to the real nature of the undertaking. It would apply equally well to
a colony, a trading voyage, or a voyage of exploration. Two facts may,
however, be deduced: first, that something of real importance had been
accomplished, as is shown by the unwonted liberality of the king, whose
habitual parsimony became accentuated in his later years; and, secondly,
that João Fernandes severed his connexion with the enterprise at this
time or earlier, since he is not recorded as obtaining either gratuity
or pension.
Indeed, the next step of which we have evidence is a reconstruction of
the whole syndicate and the grant of a new patent by the king on
December 9, 1502.[75] The number of the patentees was now reduced to
four, namely, Hugh Elyot, Thomas Ashehurst, João Gonsalves, and
Francisco Fernandes. Nothing is known of the causes of this change, by
which three of the original adventurers dropped out and one new one was
introduced; but it may safely be assumed that it was not due to an
entire lack of commercial success, since that would probably have
resulted in the winding-up of the whole concern.
The new patent was very similar in its terms to the old one, with the
following exceptions: In the general licence to conquer and colonize, a
special exception was made of the lands of the King of Portugal and any
other ‘principum, amicorum & confoederatorum nostrorum’; the period
during which the patentees might have a monopoly of trade was extended
to forty years; two shiploads, instead of one, might be imported duty
free; and Gonsalves and Francisco Fernandes were now placed on a
complete equality with Englishmen as regards the payment of customs.
Richard Ward, John Thomas, and João Fernandes were expressly debarred
from exercising privileges granted in the patent of 1501, which was
thus, for practical purposes, cancelled. The clause aiming at the rights
of the Cabots was not repeated.
On the whole, the new patent was more favourable than the old, and the
contrast seems to be intentionally emphasized between the status of the
four new patentees and that of Ward, Thomas and João Fernandes, who were
now excluded. The conduct of the latter had evidently been as
displeasing to the king as that of the former had been satisfactory.
An entry in Stow’s _Chronicle_ with reference to these expeditions has
already been discussed in connexion with the Cabot voyages. It states
that in the year 1502 three men were brought to the king, who had been
taken in the new-found islands. They were clothed in skins, ate raw
flesh, and spoke an unintelligible language. Two of them were to be seen
at Westminster two years later, when they resembled Englishmen in
clothing and appearance. These men must have arrived in the ships which
returned in September 1502.
The new patent granted by Henry VII was followed by a renewal of the
energies of the adventurers, and a Privy Purse entry of November 17,
1503, indicates the arrival in England of ships at that time. Like the
others, it affords very little information, merely recording the
payment: ‘To one that brought hawkes from the Newfoundland Island, £1’.
Another entry, ‘April 8, 1504, to a prest that goeth to the new island,
£2,’ points to a fresh sailing soon after that date, although there is
no information as to the corresponding homeward voyage in the autumn.
The Privy Purse accounts afford only one more piece of evidence, and
that is of doubtful bearing on the subject. On August 25, 1505, we find
entered: ‘To Clays going to Richemount with wylde catts and popyngays of
the Newfound Island, for his costs, 13_s._ 4_d._’, and on the same date,
‘To Portyngales that brought popyngais and catts of the mountaigne with
other stuf to the Kinges Grace, £5.’ The word ‘popinjays’ was generally
used to mean parrots, and no clear instance exists of the word being
applied to any other bird.[76] Parrots are not now to be found in the
northern part of North America, but one species at least existed on the
shores of Lakes Erie and Ontario at the beginning of the nineteenth
century,[77] and it is quite possible that Indians in Newfoundland and
Labrador bartered them to Europeans in the time of Henry VII. Hence the
extract in question need not be absolutely rejected as applying to the
present subject.
The interesting and valuable transcripts of Privy Purse accounts in Add.
MS. 7099 cease at the year 1505. They are continued to the end of the
reign by a manuscript[78] in the Record Office (first entry, October 1,
1505), but there is no further mention of donations to American
adventurers. At this point, therefore, all contemporary information
ceases. The enterprise may have been continued during the succeeding
years, but it was certainly not very long before it was abandoned, as
certain statements of a later date tend to prove.
About the period 1517–19 a play in rhymed verse was printed, entitled
_The New Interlude of the Four Elements_, of which the only known copy
is at present in the British Museum.[79] The page which should bear
information as to its origin is missing, and the date given above is
arrived at on internal evidence. The following lines vaguely refer to
the early transatlantic voyages (spelling modernized):
This sea is called the great Ocean,
So great it is that never man
Could tell it sith the world began,
Till now, within this twenty year,
Westward be found new lands
That we never heard tell of before this
By writing nor other means,
Yet many now have been there;
And that country is so large of room,
Much lenger than all Christendom,
Without fable or guile;
For divers mariners have it tried,
And sailed straight by the coast side
Above five thousand mile!
But what commodities be within
No man can tell nor well imagine,
But yet not long ago
Some men of this country went,
By the King’s noble consent,
It for to search to that intent,
And could not be brought thereto;
But they that were the venturers
Have cause to curse their mariners,
False of promise and dissemblers,
That falsely them betrayed;
Which would take no pain to sail further
Than their own lust and pleasure,
Wherefore that voyage and divers other
Such caitiffs have destroyed.
O what a thing had been then,
If that they that be Englishmen
Might have been the first of all;
That there should have taken possession,
And made first building and habitation,
A memory perpetual;
And also what an honourable thing
Both to the realm and to the King,
To have had his dominion extending
There into so far a ground,
Which the noble King of late memory,
The most wise Prince, the VIIth Harry,
Caused first to be found.
/ / / / ./ / / / ./ / / / ./ / / / ./ / / / ./ / / / ./ / / / ./ / / /
./ / / / ./ / / / .
Now Frenchmen and other have found the trade
That yearly of fish there they lade
Above an hundred sail.
/ / / / ./ / / / ./ / / / ./ / / / ./ / / / ./ / / / ./ / / / ./ / / /
./ / / / ./ / / / .
But these new lands by all cosmography
From the Khan of Cathay’s land cannot lie
Little past a thousand miles.
In common with all the other evidences of these obscure transactions,
the language here employed is vague and disputable, although it does
undoubtedly show that the colony, if it ever existed, no longer did so
at the time of writing. The voyage which failed owing to the cowardice
of the mariners was possibly one undertaken in the early years of Henry
VIII, of which other hints survive.[80] It was entered upon ‘by the
King’s noble consent’, that is, the then king, Henry VIII, and not the
late one, Henry VII, who is spoken of in a different manner further on,
where the original discovery is attributed to him. The author had
seemingly no detailed knowledge of the successive voyages of the period
1501–5. His identity is not revealed; it would be most interesting to
know who he was in view of the imperialistic notions he expressed at
such an early date.
Robert Thorne, a member of an important family of Bristol merchants,
writing in the year 1527, refers to his father, also named Robert
Thorne, ‘which, with another merchant of Bristowe, named Hugh Eliot,
were the discoverers of the newe found lands, of the which there is no
doubt, as now plainly appeareth, if the mariners would then have been
ruled, and followed their pilot’s mind, the lands of the west Indies,
from whence all the gold commeth, had been ours. For all is one coaste,
as by the carde appeareth, and is aforesaide.’ Robert Thorne, the
younger, was a strong advocate of the possibility of a northern passage
over the pole to Asia, but, in this instance, he is evidently referring
to a voyage down the North American coast in the direction of Florida
and Mexico ‘whence all the gold commeth’, and which his own map,
accompanying his book, shows to be ‘all one coast’ with the
north-western lands. It is impossible to say which voyage it was which
thus failed on account of mutiny; perhaps the last Privy Purse entry,
with regard to popinjays and wild cats, had some connexion with it. It
is worthy of remark that three separate authorities give stories of
early voyages which came to nothing on account of the insubordination of
the crews; namely, Sebastian Cabot as reported by Ramusio, the _New
Interlude_, and Robert Thorne; but it is not necessary to refer all
these stories to the same source and make them all apply to the same
voyage. The excuse was obviously a convenient one to make, and must
certainly have occurred to many a disappointed adventurer whose own lack
of constancy had been perhaps as much to blame as that of his men.
A confirmation of the association of the elder Thorne with the American
adventurers is furnished by a Record Office paper showing that on
January 7, 1502, Robert and William Thorne and Hugh Elyot, of Bristol,
were granted a bounty of £20 by the king in consideration of their
having bought a French ship of 120 tons.[81]
A consideration of Robert Thorne’s map leads to the question of the
locality to which the Bristol syndicates made their mysterious
expeditions. The map shows the whole of the Old World together with
South America and the eastern coast-line of North America. It is the
last-mentioned part which concerns the present subject. In the latitude
of the coast of Portugal, and extending to about the same length,
appears a peninsula corresponding, in shape and relative position, to
Nova Scotia together with Cape Breton. To the north of it is a long and
important indentation, which evidently represents the Gulf of St.
Lawrence. Above this the coast extends northwards for about 8° until
another gulf is reached of even larger size. Newfoundland is not
indicated as a separate island, but is massed with the land to the north
of the St. Lawrence. The second or northern gulf is puzzling, and two
explanations of it may be given. One is that it represents Davis Strait,
separating Labrador and Greenland, and that therefore the land to the
north of it is Greenland, wrongly drawn as forming part of the American
continent. The other is that it is intended for Hamilton Inlet, a gulf
occurring in the Labrador coast in the latitude of 54°. The latter is
the more satisfactory explanation of the two, more especially as a land
resembling Greenland is shown separately on the map, although much too
far to the east. Huge discrepancies in longitude, however, are
characteristic of all maps of the period. The size of the gulf, as
drawn, gives no help, since it is too small for Davis Strait and too
large for Hamilton Inlet. In latitude it corresponds more nearly with
the latter. We may take it then that Robert Thorne was not confusing
Greenland with America, and that the northern part of his map represents
the coast of Labrador. On this land is inscribed ‘Nova Terra laboratorum
dicta’, and along the coast, ‘Terra hec ab Anglis primum fuit
inventa’.[82]
Here is a conclusive solution concerning the destination of the voyages,
if only we may assume that Robert Thorne was fully acquainted with the
doings of his father and his fellow adventurers.[83] In all probability
he was, but, failing definite proof on the point, we must look for other
evidence.
[Illustration:
THE NORTH ATLANTIC.
From the map of Robert Thorne, 1527.
]
Two considerations point to the fact that the English territory was not
Newfoundland or Nova Scotia: firstly, that Thorne’s map does not
recognize the existence of Newfoundland as separate from the mainland;
and, secondly, that the patent of 1502 expressly forbade the grantees to
intrude into the lands of the King of Portugal. In the years 1500, 1501,
and 1502, the brothers Corte Real, as has been mentioned, made voyages
to North America, and explored the coasts of Virginia (taken in its
widest sense), Newfoundland, and southern Greenland. On the Cantino map,
which was drawn up for the purpose of recording their discoveries,
Newfoundland is denominated ‘Terra del Rey de Portugall’, and an
inscription on the map asserts that the explorers did not land in
Greenland, contenting themselves with viewing the coast from a distance.
Now, the coast of Virginia was generally agreed to be outside the
Portuguese half of the globe as defined by the Bull of Alexander VI and
the Treaty of Tordesillas. Consequently, Portuguese energies were
concentrated on Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, which lay in more easterly
longitude, the actual difference also being greatly exaggerated in their
maps.[84] These two regions, therefore, must be taken to be the ‘lands
of the King of Portugal’ which the patentees were to respect.
The brief notice, already quoted, in Stow’s _Chronicle_, as to the
savages brought home by one of these expeditions, may also be used in
support of a more northerly site. It is not stated that they were brown
or red men, but on the contrary, that after two years’ residence in
England they resembled Englishmen in appearance. The word Eskimo means
an eater of raw flesh,[85] and this is precisely one of the
characteristics that observers noticed about them. Both Indians and
Eskimos are found in Labrador, but Eskimos do not live in any countries
further south. Thus it may be concluded that the ships returning in 1502
came from Labrador or some other northern region. There is no evidence
that the English discoveries were anywhere to the south of Newfoundland.
No maps can be found which give support to the idea, and the voyages
which alarmed the Spanish Government at the time of Hojeda’s early
expeditions have been shown to have been those of the Cabots. The voyage
in which Robert Thorne’s father failed to penetrate to the West Indies
was thus probably an isolated venture, failing for the reason he gives,
and not repeated.
It was quite possible for a fairly lucrative trade to have been carried
on in the southern part of Labrador. As far north as 54° the timber is
plentiful and well suited for ship-building purposes. In Dawson’s work
on Labrador, already cited, it is stated that ‘Dr. Grenfell reports
trees at the head of Sandwich Bay from which 60 feet spars might be
made’, and such trees were not obtainable in western Europe. Although no
agriculture is possible, the country swarms with game and the rivers
with fish, so that, given friendly relations with the natives, a trading
post would have been able to support life during the long winter. In
addition to timber, furs, then so much in demand in Europe, might have
been exported. The fishery on the coast is still very important at the
present day, and that of Newfoundland was certainly worked soon after
the first discovery by the Cabots. The English traders may have acted as
middlemen, buying from the fishermen and selling in England, as they did
afterwards in Elizabeth’s time. The coast of Labrador is rugged and
forbidding, but at the heads of the deep inlets the climate is milder
and the conditions more suitable for Europeans. Two of these inlets
suggest themselves as likely sites for a settlement—Sandwich Bay and
Hamilton Inlet. The former is in latitude 53½°; it is 25 miles long and
6 miles wide, and contains several good harbours. The latter is in
latitude 54° and reaches 150 miles inland, with an average width of 14
miles, narrowing in one place to one-third of a mile.
The only alternative to Labrador is Greenland, with which the scanty
evidence in some respects agrees. But for what possible reason could
four or five voyages in successive years have been made to Greenland
except for purely explorative purposes? It must be borne in mind that,
although a passage to Asia was no doubt the ultimate goal of the
adventurers, the expeditions nevertheless had to pay expenses or the
enterprise would have come to an abrupt end. The Cabot experiences had
sickened King Henry of financing explorers, who came home with nothing
but geographical knowledge in their ships’ holds. Greenland provided
none of the produce which could be found in southern Labrador, and must
on that account be ruled out. The evidence of Thorne’s map, as already
interpreted, also militates against Greenland. We are therefore driven
to the conclusion that the balance of evidence places the English sphere
of influence on the coast of Labrador. Whether or not a colony was
established is unknown; all that can be said is that the patents
contemplated the formation of one. Some sort of merchandise must have
been obtained, but the trade was not sufficiently lucrative to warrant a
continuation of the business after a few years’ experience; for the
liability to losses by accident in these northern seas was no doubt
considerable.
The mainspring of the whole affair was undoubtedly the persistent belief
in the existence of a practicable channel leading to Cathay and India,
the discovery of which would have given England the possession of the
shortest route and an immense advantage over all rivals. And here is
most likely the clue to the colonizing ideas set forth in the patents;
for such a passage, when discovered, would need to be fortified if its
use was to be monopolized by the English.
After preliminary investigations, which held out strong hopes of
success, if we may judge from Henry’s liberality to the Portuguese and
the Bristol men in 1502, insuperable obstacles were encountered, and no
clear evidence survives of anything being done later than 1504 or, at
latest, 1505. The enterprise had, unfortunately, no chronicler, and the
details of its audacities and its heroisms have fallen into complete,
though undeserved, oblivion.
-----
Footnote 69:
One of these three Portuguese is in all probability the ‘labrador’
mentioned by Santa Cruz as having taken intelligence of discoveries to
Henry VII.
Footnote 70:
Patent printed in full in introduction to Hakluyt Society’s _Divers
Voyages_, ed. by J. W. Jones.
Footnote 71:
H. Harrisse, _Évolution Cartographique de Terre-Neuve_, p. 41.
Footnote 72:
Harrisse, _Discovery of North America_, p. 174.
Footnote 73:
_Add. MSS._, 7099, a manuscript copy of the original accounts, which
are not now available.
Footnote 74:
First printed by Harrisse in _John and Sebastian Cabot_ (1896). The
actual document is an appropriation for the pension and bears date
December 6, 1503, but contains a reference to the first grant on the
date given above.
Footnote 75:
_Foedera_, xiii. 37.
Footnote 76:
See _New English Dictionary_.
Footnote 77:
_Encyclopaedia Britannica_, 11th ed., art. ‘Parrots’.
Footnote 78:
_R. O., T. R. Misc._ Book 214.
Footnote 79:
Reprinted by the Percy Society, 1848, ed. J. O. Halliwell.
Footnote 80:
The evidence that the voyage in question really took place is
extremely doubtful. See Chap. X.
Footnote 81:
M. Oppenheim, _Administration of the Royal Navy_, p. 38.
Footnote 82:
The inscription alone is insufficient to identify the country with
modern Labrador, for it is certain that some early cartographers
applied the name to Greenland.
Footnote 83:
Robert Thorne the elder did not die until some time between 1519 and
1526, so that his son, writing in 1527, had had every opportunity of
hearing his story from his own lips.
Footnote 84:
A fine facsimile of the Cantino map is exhibited in the British
Museum.
Footnote 85:
Stanford’s _Compendium_, 1897: ‘Labrador’, by S. E. Dawson.