PEOCEEDINGS FOR 1897 CXIX 



Port Kood must be first rounded ; even a steiimei* taking thcat course 

 Avould sight the island. A sailing vessel " tacking," as in nine cases out 

 often must happen, would run, when falling off to the left, quite close 

 to its shores. By consulting an Admiralty chart it will be seen that the 

 first fishermen of the gulf must have known the position and, conse- 

 quently, the advantages of Prince Edward Island, as we know the 

 Basques did before Carti^r's time. 



An Old Log Book. 



Before treating of the voyage of 1493, a few words may bo here in- 

 serted in reference to an old log book, which will serve to illustrate to 

 some degree that voyage, as well as the remarks we shall have to make 

 regarding the map of Juan de la Cosa. In volume second, of the fourth 

 edition, of Ramusio's great collection of voyages, printed at Venice in 

 1G06 by J. Giunti, we have what purj)orts to be a log kept by Sebastian 

 Cabot when attempting a passage to Cathay by the northeast in 1556-57. 

 If this date be correct, the log cannot possibly be Cabot's, for we know 

 he was living quietly in England during that period. Stephen Burrough, 

 however, made a second voyage to the northeast in those years. Whilst 

 there are some indications that the log may be his, it must be plain to 

 the careful reader that the tone, sentiments and general texture of ideas, 

 are more like those of an Italian than those of an Englishman. Certainly 

 Sebastian Cabot visited those northeastern seas, and it is quite possible 

 that portions of his log are mixed up with the records of a later explorer. 

 Apart from the question of authorship, the log is valuable to us, throw- 

 ing, as it does, such vivid lights on voyages of exploration in the six- 

 teenth century. We are not told the tonnage of the vessel, but as the 

 log sjîeaks of entering ver}' shallow channels, it must have been as small 

 as the " Matthew." We can glean from the log book that, in the bois- 

 terous northern sea, this little craft could sail more than one hundred 

 miles a day. On one Saturday at noon the}' were in latitude 5!J° 42' and 

 on Monday at noon in 63° 30', that is 228 miles in forty-eight hours. 

 On some other occasions we find the rate of speed nearly five miles an 

 hour. This proves that the Bristol schooners in Cabot's day could, under 

 favourable conditions, such as the "Matthew" had in the Gulf of St. 

 Lawrence and from Belle Isle to England, average fully one hundred 

 miles a day. This is not theory; it is warranted by fiicts. We learn 

 moreover, that, contrary to what Mr. Harris.se asserts, these vessels did not 

 come to anchor at night when coasting unknown shores, not even a dense 

 fog stopped them, although they then ])roceeded cautiously and '■ with 

 the lead in hand," as we are told. When a storm raged or closely packed 

 ice drifted towards them, they sought shelter in a harbour, or to the 

 l".cwar(l of an island, until the storm had abated its fury, or the ice 



