JOHN CABOT'S VOYAGES 



herself of it; this was not to come until about eighty years 

 later. 



But John Cabot's discovery was not altogether unheeded 

 in the years that followed; it was considered of sufficient 

 importance for his son, Sebastian Cabot, by appropriating 

 the honor of it, to acquire much fame and reputation in his 

 day as a great discoverer and geographer. But whether he 

 ever made discoveries on the east coast of North America is 

 very doubtful, indeed it is not even certain that he ever under- 

 took a voyage to these regions. There can be no doubt that 

 he himself asserted he had done so repeatedly and to different 

 men, though his various utterances, so far as we know them, 

 agree imperfectly. We see, too, that as early as 151 2 he had 

 the reputation of being acquainted with north-western waters, 

 since he obtained an appointment in the service of King 

 Ferdinand of Aragon on account of the remarkable knowledge 

 he claimed to possess of " la navigacion a los Bacallaos '* 

 ("the voyage to Newfoundland") [cf. Harrisse, 1892, p. 20]. 

 But Sebastian Cabot seems, on the whole, to have been one 

 of those men who are more efficient in words than deeds. 

 It was the habit of the time to be not too scrupulous about 

 the truth, if one had any advantage to gain from the contrary, 

 and Sebastian was evidently no better than his age. If his 

 utterances are correctly reported, he endeavored, when his 

 father had long been dead and forgotten, to claim for himself 

 the honor of his voyages, in which he succeeded so well that 

 for many centuries he, and not his father, was regarded as the 

 discoverer of the continent of America. In the legend on the 

 map of the world of 1544, it is true, he was modest enough to 

 share the honor with his father, and this legend is at the 

 same time the only evidence which might point to Sebastian 

 as having been present on that occasion; but, as we have 

 already seen, no great importance can be attached to it, and it 

 is not confirmed by contemporary statements about the voyage. 

 His assertion that he had been in north-western waters is in 

 direct conflict with statements in the protest made on March 



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