[s. E. DAWSON] THE VOYAGES OF THE CABOTS 243 



«truck the very centre, could pass in an34hing like clear weather through 

 the strait without seeing for many hours the land on one side or the other. 

 For my part, while 1 have given the above details for the sake of those 

 who have not sailed through the strait, I know, of my own pei'sonal 

 knowledge, that the land is seen on both sides from the deck of a passing 

 vessel. The circumstance of such a fact being disputed will justify this 

 mention of a personal experience. 



It was ray fortune in May, 1882, to be returning home in the SS. 

 ^' Peruvian," and on the 7th we entered field ice off St. Pierre island. 

 While the vessel was slowly steaming through the openings, a small piece 

 of ice passed unnoticed under the ship and strij^ped off all the flanges of 

 the screw close to the boss. This ha})pened at 5.20 a.m. and in broad day- 

 light. We had met what is locally called '' the bridge," for the last of 

 the field ice coming down from the gulf, had filled up the strait. 



The vessel was then precisely in Cabot strait ; St. Paul's was 19 miles 

 and Cape Ray 22 miles away on either hand, and there, in the very strait 

 itself, she drifted about from May 8th until May 19th, so that for the 

 space of 11 days I had the opportunity of studying at leisure the contours 

 -of all these surrounding lands— St. Paul's, Cape North, Cape St. Lawrence 

 -and Cape Pay. Being helpless we drifted close under the land in the bay 

 between Cape St. Lawrence and Cape North (for the water is everywhere 

 •deep), and then, caught by the outward current, passed seawai'ds between 

 St. Paul's island and Cape North. All this while the land around was 

 visible, and 1 am, therefoi-e, in a po.sition to be more certain than most 

 peoi)le that ior John Cabot to get through Cabot strait without seeing 

 land was impracticable. 



Let us consider the conditions involved in this new theory. John 

 Oabot set. out to sail due west and that course would bring him to 

 Labrador. Magnetic variation is waived aside as being a merely 

 ^'academic question," so he did not sail by his compass. Still, by the 

 force of the Arctic curi-ent and perhaps the winds, he dropped south of 

 ■Cape Race. He still sailed west and naturally one would expect him to 

 strike Cape Bi-eton, but he did not. He turned instinctively to the north- 

 Avest, just at the point to strike the middle of Cabot strait. The inward 

 current off Cape Pay carried him through and, although to be in that 

 current he could not have been farther from the Cape than 10 or 15 

 miles, he did not see Table Mountain, 1,700 feet high, three miles in rear 

 ■of the point of land. Then he changed his course and again sailed west, 

 iind the Mugdaler. Islands lay in front of him, but the other current 

 running out through Cabot strait caught him and turned his course 

 «out h west until he saw Mount Squirrel, 35 miles south, on the Cape 

 Breton coast. Here is another ditïiculty. Entry Island, of the Mag- 

 <lalens, was straight ahead, 580 feet high, and visible at a distance of 32 

 miles. There are only 45 marine miles between Entr}* island and the 

 nearest point of Cape Breton, but he did not see it either, and thus having 

 passed within 20 miles of land, 1,700 feet high, which he did not see, he 

 saw land to the south far behind him, 500 feet less in elevation. It is 

 understating the case to say that such a course is impossible in any 

 ariangement of winds, tides, currents, or fogs, which can be imagined. 

 This very circuitous navigation, out of sight of land, is supposed to 

 have been eftected by currents in the strait, and we have at our hand at p. 

 xvii. of the "Proceedings" in the front of this volume, Mr. W. Bell Daw- 

 son's summary of his surveys in the gulf during the past three years. On 



