INTRODUCTORY CHARTER . 
7 
discovered Labrador, as also the great abundance of 
cod-fish along this coast. He also entered some strait, 
which some have thought was Hudson’s Strait, but 
which was in all probability the Strait of Belle Isle 
at the mouth of the St. Lawrence. In 1500 a Portu¬ 
guese, Gasper Cortoreale, fitted out some ships at his 
own expense, and coasted all along Labrador, as far 
as 60°, where he saw a river or strait blocked with 
ice, which he named Eio Nevado, but which is doubt¬ 
less' Hudson’s Strait. These voyages had the effect of 
developing the Newfoundland cod-fishery, which was 
already well established in 1504. In 1517 Sebastian 
Cabot entered Hudson’s Strait. After'this there was 
a pause in the progress of Arctic discovery, although 
Master Robert Thorne made a bold proposition for an 
expedition to be sent across the Polar area to the 
Moluccas, and two ships were sent, but nothing of im¬ 
portance was done. In 1553 Sir Hugh Willoughby 
and Richard Chancelor were sent out under the in¬ 
structions of Sebastian Cabot, to proceed to China by 
a north-east route. Willoughby commanded the Bona 
Esperanza , Chancelor the Edward Bonaventure , and 
Durfoorth the Bona Conjidentia. When off the Nor¬ 
wegian coast the ships got separated by a storm, 
Willoughby proceeded as far as Willoughby’s Land, 
which is probably a portion of Nova Zembla, and 
