IN NORTHERN MISTS 



II, 1 52 1, by the Wardens of the Drapers' Company of London 

 against King Henry VIII. 's attempt to obtain contributions 

 towards an expedition to *' the newe found Hand " (the coast 

 of North America) in 1521 under the command of Sebastian 

 Cabot. The protest says: 



..." And we thynk it were to sore avenf to joperd V shipps w* men and 

 goods vnto the said Hand vppon the singuler trust of one man callyd as we 

 vnderstond Sebastyan, whiche Sebastyan as we here say was neu"" in that 

 land hym self, all if he maks reports of many things as he hath hard his 

 Father and other men speke in tymes past," etc. 



This statement is clear enough, and, coming as it does 

 from men who were acquainted with his father's services, 

 it cannot be disregarded. It is also confirmed by a remark- 

 able statement in Peter Martyr's narrative (in 151 5) of an 

 alleged voyage of Sebastian Cabot (see later), which con- 

 cludes : 



" Some of the Spaniards deny that Cabot [i.e., Sebastian] was the first dis- 

 coverer of the land of Bacallaos, and assert that he had not sailed so far to 

 the west." 



This might point to his really having made a voyage, but 

 in the opinion of the Spaniards, never having reached the coast 

 of North America. 



The immediate consequences of John Cabot's discovery of 

 the continent of North America was probably that the practical 

 merchants of Bristol, who were accustomed to fishing ventures 

 in Iceland, at once sent out vessels to take advantage of the 

 great abundance of fish that John Cabot had found in 1497 

 and that had evidently made so deep an impression on his 

 crew that they told everyone about it. But the English fisher- 

 men were soon followed, and, indeed, outstripped, by Portu- 

 guese, Basque, and French (chiefly Breton) fishermen, and thus 

 arose the famous Newfoundland fisheries. The cause of the 

 fishermen of Portugal and other countries having followed 

 so soon was doubtless the discovery of Newfoundland by the 

 Portuguese, Cortereal, on his voyages of 1500 and 1501 (see 

 next chapter.) 



But of the development of this fishery we hear little or 

 330 



