300 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



This, then, is our first introduction to Sebastian Cabot. We have 

 made it clear that he was bora in Venice, and that probably he was taken 

 in curly life to Bristol, which gave the foundation for a very natui-al 

 stor}-— that he was a Bristol man by birth. We find no record of his 

 having been with his fiither on the first voyage, nor is there an}^ contem- 

 poraneous record of his having been in charge of the second voyage of 

 1498. Henry VII. died in 15u0, and the young king, Henry Vllf., 

 hastened to ally himself Avith King Ferdinand of Spain against Louis 

 Xri. of France. In the spring of 1512 Henry sent an expedition, under 

 Lord Willoughby, into Spain, to aid his father-in-law with his struggles 

 against the French king. Sebastian Cabot accompanied the expedition. 

 He must have already acquired a name for himself, since we find King 

 Ferdinand asking for his services. There are now records of his being 

 called to court. He was appointed naval captain on the 20th of October, 

 1512. In the fall of 1515 he was created j)ilot to the king, and in 1518 

 he received his appointment as pilot major of Spain. This account of 

 him, b}^ Peter Martyr, was written in 1515, when Sebastian was oflicially 

 associated with him and was his "familiar friend." So far as we can 

 judge by the narrative, Peter Martyr, the historian, never heard of John 

 Cabot, the discoverer. He never heard of a strange Venetian coming, 

 year after year, from Bristol to London, following the court from West- 

 minster to Woodstock, servilel}^ seeking the acquaint ance of the power- 

 ful, receiving rebufl's with the patience of a brave heart, sustaining the 

 pain of misery with a calm mind, humbling himself before the great, 

 putting each adversity behind him like a forgotten thing, unfolding ever 

 his plans, exposing his hope to noble, to merchant, to seaman ; pushing 

 further into confidence, rising higher into favour, until, at last, the king 

 hearkens and the king grants. This was the work of .years, and the man 

 who writes the first historj^ of the new world never hears his name ! Sic 

 vos non vobis ! 



From this story, told by Sebastian to Peter Martyr, we learn that he 

 furnished two ships at his own charge, and, with three hundred men, 

 sailed towards the north pole, and to such a high latitude that, in the 

 month of July, he found icebergs and almost i:)erpetual day. Then, im- 

 peded by the ice, he sailed to the south, until he reached the latitude of 

 the straits of G-ibraltar and the same longitude as the island of Cuba. 

 Q^'his would correspond with the location of Chesaj^eake bay. He found 

 people covered with the skins of wild animals, and he called the land 

 Baccalaos because of the fish he found there. And he found "in maner 

 ■continuall daylight." On the 22nd day of June the sun is visible during 

 the entire twenty-four hours in latitude G5° 43'. In latitude 60°, at the 

 entrance to Hudson straits, the sun would be above the horizon for 

 something over nineteen hours, and the short night would be clear. 



The famous Giambaptista Ramusio, who wrote a narrative history of 

 -earl}^ voyages, in the preliminary discourse, and writing under date of 



