SAILING CRAFT 45 



their vessels was the glory of their homes. 

 The way they manned and armed and fought 

 them was the terror of every foreign shore. 

 War craft and crew together were the very 

 soul and body of strength and speed and daring 

 skill, as, with defiant figurehead and glittering, 

 shield-hung sides, they rode to battle joyously 

 on the wild white horses of the mediaeval sea. 



Five centuries more, and the English, 

 another great seafaring people, first arrived 

 in Canada. Then came increasing swarms of 

 the most adventurous fishermen of Europe. 

 After these came many competing explorers 

 and colonizers, all of whose fortunes directly 

 depended on the sea. 



Cabot's English crew of eighteen hands is 

 a century nearer to our own time than Leif 

 Ericson the Norseman was to Cabot's. Yet Cabot 

 himself preceded Columbus in setting foot on 

 what may fairly be called the mainland of 

 America when he discovered Canada's eastern 

 coast in 1497. He cleared from Bristol in May, 

 reached the new regions on June 24, and 

 returned safe home at the end of July. It was 

 an age of awakening surmise. The universal 

 question was, which is the way to the golden 



