IN NORTHERN MISTS 



others, Labrador is marked as having been discovered by the 

 English, sometimes, indeed, with the addition that they came 

 from Bristol. As already mentioned, no hint is to be found in 

 trustworthy documents of Sebastian Cabot's having taken 

 part in these expeditions or having been in any way connected 

 with them, and there is therefore no ground for assuming this. 

 And the remarkable thing is that even his father's name is 

 not mentioned in connection with them, though it was so few 

 years since he had sailed from the same port. 



We find, however, in various works of the sixteenth century 

 records of voyages to northern or north-western waters, 

 supposed to have been made by Sebastian Cabot; which may 

 be due, directly or indirectly, to himself. Formerly there was 

 a tendency to connect these statements with John Cabot's, 

 voyages of 1497 and 1498 [cf. Harrisse], but this assumption 

 seems to have little probability. G. P. Winship [1899, 

 pp. 204 f.], on the other hand, has pointed out with good 

 reason that according to Sebastian Cabot's own words the 

 voyage was undertaken by himself in the years 1508-9; but 

 even this appears to me uncertain; in any case I doubt that 

 he reached America. 



We hear of a voyage to the north-west said to have been 

 undertaken by Sebastian Cabot from Peter Martyr (in his 

 "Decades," 1516), from the Venetian Minister to Spain, Con- 

 tarini, especially in a report to the Venetian Senate in 1536, from 

 Ramusio (1550-54 and 1556), from Gomara (1553), and from 

 Antonio Galvano (1563),^ 



We may expect the most trustworthy of these authorities 

 to be Peter Martyr, who was the oldest, and who knew 

 Sebastian Cabot personally; but certain main features of 

 the voyage are to some extent common to all the accounts. 

 If we compare these, the voyage is said to have taken place 

 somewhat in the following manner: the expedition, consisting 



1 As to the works of these authors, see Winship (1900). Markham (1893) 

 reproduces them (except Contarini's report of 1536) in translations, which, 

 however, must be used with some caution. 



