Sebastian Cabot, on his return to England, found matters in a state which did not promise him any farther advantages as a mariner, on which he went into Spain, where he was employed by Ferdinand and Isabella, in whose service he explored the eastern coast of South America, and discovered the Rio Plata, up which he sailed above 360 miles, finding it to flow through a fine country, everywhere inhabited by great numbers of people, who flocked from all parts to admire his ships. After making many other voyages, which are not specified, he settled in Seville, where he employed himself in making sea charts, and had the appointment of pilot-major, all pilots for the West Indian Seas having to pass his examination, and to have his license154. He thought fit, however, to return into England, and was employed by Henry VIII. In the service of that sovereign he made a voyage to the coast of Brazil in 1516, under the superior command of Sir Thomas Pert, vice-admiral of England, of which the following imperfect account is preserved by Haklyut.
"That learned and industrious writer Richard Eden, in an epistle to the Duke of Northumberland, prefixed to a work which he translated from Munster in 1553, called A treatise of the New India, makes mention of a voyage of discovery made from England by Sir Thomas Pert and Sebastian Cabota, about the eighth year of Henry VIII. The want of courage in Sir Thomas Pert occasioned this expedition to fail of its intended effect; otherwise it might have happened that the rich treasury called Perularia, now in Seville, in which the infinite riches which come from the new-found country of Peru, would long since have been in the Tower of London to the great honour of the king, and the vast increase of the wealth of this realm. Gonsalvo de Oviedo, a famous Spanish writer, alludes to this voyage, in his General and Natural History of the West Indies, as thus quoted by Ramusio. In the year 1517, an English corsair, under pretence of a voyage of discovery, came with a great ship to the coast of Brazil, whence he crossed over to the island of Hispaniola, and arrived near the mouth of the harbour of St Domingo, where he sent his boat to demand leave of entry for the purpose of traffic. But Francis de Tapia, the governor of the castle, caused some ordnance to be fired from the castle at the ship, which was bearing in for the port; on which the ship put about, and the people in the boat went again on board. They then sailed to the island of St John, or Porto Rico, where they went into the harbour of St Germaine, where they required provisions and other necessaries for their ship, and complained against the inhabitants of St Domingo, saying that they came not to do any harm, but to trade for what they wanted, paying in money or merchandize. In this place they procured provisions, and paid in certain vessels of wrought tin and other things. They afterwards departed towards Europe, where it was thought they never arrived, as we never heard any more news of them155."
From the above hint respecting the riches of Peru finding their way to the Tower of London, and as combined with the former voyage of Cabot to the north-west; in search of a passage to India, it may be inferred, that the object of the present voyage was to discover a passage to India by the south-west, or by what is now called Cape Horn. The passage to India by the Cape of Good Hope, had been granted exclusively by the Pope to the Portuguese; and Henry VIII. then a good catholic, wished to evade this exclusive privilege by endeavouring to discover a new route. It was well observed by one of the kings of France, in reference to the Pope having granted all the East to the Portuguese, and all the West to the Spaniards, "I wish my brothers of Spain and Portugal would shew me the testament of our father Adam, by which they claim such ample inheritance." The supposition that Cabot had perished on his voyage from Porto Rico to England was unfounded. He was alive there in 1549, in which year Edward VI. granted a yearly pension for life to him and his assigns, of L.166, 13s. 4d. to be paid quarterly, in consideration of the good and acceptable service done and to be done by him156.
We have been induced to insert this long digression in this place, because no journals remain of the voyages to which they relate. The other early voyages of the English to the New World, were all for the purpose of discovering a N.W. passage by sea to India, or for colonizing the provinces of North America, and will fail to be particularly noticed in other divisions of our work.
DEDICATION.
To the most illustrious Renee, King of Jerusalem and Sicily, Duke of Lorain and Bar, Americas Vespucius in all humble reverence and due gratitude, wisheth health and prosperity.
Most illustrious sovereign, your majesty may perhaps be surprised at my presumption in writing this prolix epistle, knowing, as I do, that your majesty is continually engaged in conducting the arduous affairs of government. I may deserve blame for presuming to dedicate to your majesty this work, in which you will take little interest, both because of its barbarous style, and that it was composed expressly for Ferdinand king of Spain. But my experience of your royal virtues has given me a confident hope that the nature of my subject, which has never yet been treated of by ancient or modern writers, may excuse me to your majesty. The bearer, Benvenuto, a servant of your majesty, and my valued friend, whom I met with at Lisbon, earnestly entreated me to write this history, that your majesty might be informed of all those things which I had seen during the four voyages to different parts of the world, which I had undertaken for the discovery of unknown countries. Of these four voyages, two were made through a vast extent of ocean towards the West, at the command of the illustrious Don Ferdinand king of Spain: The other two were to the south, in the service of Don Manuel king of Portugal. I have used my utmost diligence in the composition of this work, in hopes that your majesty would graciously receive me among the number of your dependants, considering that we were formerly companions during youth, while studying grammar under the tuition of my venerable uncle, Fra George Antony Vespucius. I wish that I were able to imitate that worthy person, as I should then be quite different from what I am: Yet I am not ashamed of myself, having always placed my chief delight in the practice of virtue, and the acquisition of literature. Should these voyages displease you, I may say, as Pliny said to his patron, "formerly my pleasantries used to delight you." Although your majesty is always occupied in affairs of state, you may certainly have as much leisure as will permit you to peruse these pages; which, however trivial in comparison, may yet please by their novelty. After the cares of government, your majesty will, I hope, receive amusement from my labours, as a pleasant desert promotes digestion after a plentiful repast. But, if I have been too tedious in my narrative, I ask pardon and take my leave.
Be it known to your majesty that I first went to these new countries in search of trade, in which I was occupied for four years, during which I experienced various reverses of fortune; at one time raised to the summit of human wishes, and afterwards reduced to the lowest ebb of misery, in so much that I had resolved to abandon commerce, and to confine my exertions to more laudable and safer exertions. I disposed myself, therefore, to the purpose of exploring various parts of the world, that I might see the wonderful things which it contains. An opportunity soon fortunately offered for satisfying this desire, as King Ferdinand of Spain fitted out four ships for the discovery of new countries towards the west, and was pleased to employ me upon this service. We set sail on the 20th of May 1497 from the port of Cadiz, taking our course through the great gulf of the ocean, in which voyage we were occupied for eighteen months, discovering many continents, and almost innumerable islands, most of which were inhabited, all of which were utterly unknown to our predecessors and the ancients. If I am not mistaken, I have somewhere read that the ocean is entirely void of countries and inhabitants, as appears to have been the opinion of our poet Dante, in his Inferno. But of the wonderful things which I have seen there, your majesty will find an account in the following narrative.