Chap. III. of the ENGLISH in AMERICA. 195 
not fupported themfelves by fifliing. King Henry exa- 
mined very clofely into the Affair, and finding that ex- 
treme Want was the foie Caiife of an AfHon, other wife 
inexcufable, he fatisfied the French^ to the full Extent of 
their Demands, out of his own Coffers, and pardoned, in 
his own Subjedls, that Wrong which Necefiity forced 
them to commit. Thefe were very hard Beginnings ; 
and yet to thefe we owe our Newfoundland Trade ; and, 
I think, it is much to the Honour of the EngUjh Nation, 
that without having any of thofe Encouragements, which 
the Spaniards met with from the very beginning, they con- 
tinued to purfue thofe Expeditions for Difeovery ; till in 
the End they met with thofe Rewards which they fo well 
deferved. 
6. Within this dark Period of Time, for the Accounts 
of our rifing Navigation have been moft imperfedlly 
tranfmitted to Pofterity, there were Numbers of Englijh- 
meny who, with very little Profpeft of private Advan- 
tages, fpread themfelves, by the Help of foreign Ship- 
ping, into all Parts of the World •, that, by their En- 
quiries and Obfervations, they might be able to under- 
ftand how Trade was managed, and Maritime Affairs 
conduced, in other Countries ; that, in time, by their Infor- 
mations, the like Advantages might accrue to their own, 
of which Voyages and Travels, there are many fhort Notes 
collected in Hackluit \ which do great Honour to thefe 
Times, and ought to perpetuate the Memory of the 
worthy Perfons ; who, with fo much Labour and Ha- 
zard, laid the Foundation of our naval Strength and 
Glory. 
Thefe Notices foon roufed a< 51 ;ive and induftrious Per- 
fbns,, to try what Ufe could be made of fuch Helps, and 
perhaps the Reader will not think his Time mifpent in 
reading an Inftance of this Kind. Mr. William Haw- 
linSy the Father of the famous Sir John HawkinSy and 
the Grandfather of Sir Richard HawkinSy both eminent 
Seamen, was himfelf an Officer in the Navy of King 
Henry the Vlllth, and for his Merit much efteemed by 
that Prince, made about the middle of his Reign three 
profperous Voyages to Guinea and Brazil ; in the laft of 
thefe, having feme Dealings with a Prince or Chief of the 
Eraziliansy he expreffed a Defire of feeing England *, but, 
at the fame Time, fliewed a Sufpicion of his not obtain- 
ing Leave to come Home again -, to cure which, Captain 
Hawkins very readily offered to leave Mr. Martin Cockramy 
of Plymouth y who ftood next to himfelf in Efteem with the 
JndianSy as a Hoftage, which Offer was readily ac- 
cepted. 
This Brazilian Chief he brought over, and prefented 
to his Mafter King Henry y who received him kindly, en- 
tertained him coiirteoufly, and difmiffed him generoufly, 
after a Year’s flay in Etigland. But it fo fell out, in his 
Paffage home, that, either through Change of Air, Short- 
nefs of Provifions, or feme other Misfortune, the Indian 
Chief died ; which threw the Englijh into great Concern, 
from an Apprehenfion that Mr. Cockram would be either 
puniflied with Death, or detained during Life, upon ac- 
count of this Accident : But the thing fell out better ; for 
upon hearing what the Englijh had to alledge ; the Sa- 
vages readily obferving, that it was far from being likely 
that they would return to their Country if they had 
treated their King amifs, and that it was not in their 
Power to preferve his Life, if attacked by Sicknefs, they 
freely fet their Hoftage at Liberty, kindly entertained the 
Men, and furniftied the Ship with, a fufficient Cargo for 
Englandy which encouraged other Merchants to trade 
to the unfettled Ports of Brazily (by which I mean the 
Forts not yet in the Poffeflion of the Portugueze) and this 
from feveral Places, viz. Brijioly Southamptony and Londony 
during all the latter Part of this Monarch’s Reign, who 
muft be allowed to have had a very public Spirit with 
regard to Maritime Concerns, for the Improvement of 
v/hich he fpared neither Pains nor Treafure. 
7. In the Time of King Edward the Vlth the Court 
was fplit into Faftions, which neceffarily occafioned Dif- 
putes and Divifions among the People •, fo that the Times 
were by no Means favourable for new and great 
Undertakings, or even for the Improvement of thofe 
Branches of Commerce, which were but newly opened 1 
VoL, IL Numb» 820 
on the contrary, it feems that feveral Perfons, who were 
intrufted with Offices by the I.ord High Admiral, and 
fuch as had the, Care and Diredlion of the Cuftonis, laid 
heavy Burdens upon thofe that engaged in the Iceland 
and Newfoundland Fiftieries j and took fuch large Sums 
for Licences, and under other Pretences, as had like to 
have ruined the former, which was an old Trade, and 1 
greatly difeouraged the latter, which was a new one. - 
Upon Complaint of this to Parliament, the Matter fell 
under a clofe Examination, as appears from fome Papers 
of Sir William Cecily which are yet in being ; for there 
are no Journals of the Proceedings of the Houfe of Com-' 
mons fo early as this Time preferved 1 But from the Pa- 
pers before- mentioned, we are informed, that this Com- 
plaint was made by the Weft-country Members, and by 
a Burgefs from Tarmouthy in Norfolk y and thereupon a 
Law was made in the Year 1 548, and the fecond of that 
Prince’s Reign •, by which it was enadled, that every 
Officer, who ftiould, for the Time to come, extort, pro- 
cure, or receive any Sum of Money from a Merchant, 
Mafter of a Ship, Fadlor^ or Fifherman, for, or under 
Colour of, granting him Leave, or Licence, to fifh in the 
North Seas, on the Coafts of Ic dandy or on the Banks of 
Newfoundlandy fhould, for the firft Offence, forfeit tre- 
ble the Sum fo extorted ; and for the fecond, ftiould 
fuffer Fine and Ranfom at the King’s Pleafure. 
The fame Year the King was pleafed to grant to Sehaf- 
tian Cahoty his old Servant, by the Advice and Coun- 
cil of his Uncle, Edward Duke of Somerfety the Office of 
Grand Pilot of Englandy with a Fee of one hundred fixty- 
fix Pounds thirteen and four-pence, to be paid him Quar- 
terly at the Exchequer *, which fhews, that thefe kind of 
Services were ftill regarded *, and that in fuch Intervals 
of Peace, as the Miniftry then had, they were mindful of 
the Intereft of their Country, and inclined to do what lay 
in their Power to promote Navigation and Commerce*' 
But they were ftill hurt by a too earneft Defire to grafp at 
the whole Trade of the IndieSy which induced them to 
liften to all the Propofals made for difeovering either a 
North-eaft or a North-weft Paffage ; and by bending 
all their Strength that way, neglecfted thofe Undertakings 
that were eafier, and which might have been carried into 
Execution at a much lighter Expence. This was owing to 
Mr. Sehajiian Cahoty who firft ftarted the Notion of a 
Paffage into the South Seas by the North- weft, and who 
fell very readily into the other Projedb of finding a Paffage 
into the Indian Ocean by the North-eaft. 
He was at that time Mafter of the great Company 
eredled for the Benefit of Commerce, under the Title of 
Merchant- Adventurers for the Difeovery of New Landsy 
and the great Oracle, as he deferved to be, of all the fea- 
faring People ; and this gave him an Opportunity of 
pufhing that Point which he had rrioft at Heart, the 
Importance of which he underftood better than any Man»' 
and in the Execution of which no body had gone farther, 
or managed an Expedition with greater Diferetion. But 
this Turn diverted the whole Attention of the State to this 
Point, and this alone, as if nothing had been worth dif- 
eovering but a Paffage to the Spice IJlands ; while in the 
mean time the Spaniards attacked and fubdued a very 
great Part of both the Continents of America. If, inftead 
of this, the Endeavours of the Seamen in that Reign had 
been applied to the profecuting what Cahot had fo well 
begun, I mean the intire Difeovery of Floriday and the 
Countries adjacent, it muft have ended in a Settle- 
ment on the Gulph of MexicOy which might probably 
have been attended with very great Advantages. 
It cannot however be denied, that the Schemes which 
were profecuted had a very fair Appearance of Succefs, 
and I think it may be allowed alfo, by fuch as take the 
Pains to perufe Mr. Cabofs, Inftruftions to Sir Hugh 
Willoughbyy that no Man ever conceived with greater 
Strength of Judgment, or expreffed himfelf in clearer 
Terms, than he did. I might, to prove this, give an 
Extrad; of thefe Inftrudions ; but it would be befide my 
prefent PUrpofe, and giving the Reader no more than 
what he may already find in Hackluit ; whereas I aim at 
affording him new Lights, without tranferibirig other 
People’s Labours, except where I am under a Necefiity 
D d d of. 
