CHAPTER V

AN EARLY COLONIAL PROJECT

After the Cabot voyages, which were, financially, a failure, nothing more is heard of American enterprises originating in England until March 19, 1501. On that date Henry VII granted a patent ‘to our beloved subjects Richard Ward, Thomas Ashehurst, and John Thomas, merchants of our town of Bristol, and to our beloved João Fernandes, Francisco Fernandes and João Gonsalves,[69] squires born in the islands of Surrys (Azores) under the obedience of the King of Portugal’, giving them authority to explore any regions of the earth for the purpose of discovering any countries hitherto unknown to Christians. The patentees were further empowered to set up the king’s standard on all places by them newly discovered, and to occupy such places as his vassals and governors, making laws and enforcing the obedience of all who should resort to those regions. During ten years following the grant of the patent they were to have a monopoly of trade with their discoveries, other persons being forbidden to engage in it without obtaining their licence and that of the king, and then only on condition of paying to the patentees one-twentieth part of the value of the goods shipped. Certain exemptions from customs duties on small quantities of goods were granted to the masters and mariners employed by the patentees, who were themselves entitled to import one shipload of merchandise duty free at some time within the first four years after the grant of the patent. If foreigners persisted in intruding into the dominions of the patentees the latter were given leave to expel and punish them at their discretion, even if they were subjects of a friendly power. They were also granted, jointly and singly, the rank and privileges of Admiral, with power to exercise the same in the new lands. A significant clause provided that no foreigner, under colour of any concession formerly granted under the Great Seal, should resort to the new lands without the licence of the patentees. Finally, the three Portuguese mentioned in the patent were to be naturalized and have all the rights and privileges of Englishmen, except that they were to continue to pay customs duties on the same scale as foreigners.[70]

A study of the terms of the charter, the original of which is in Latin and of great length, shows that the foundation of a permanent colony, and not merely the dispatch of a trading expedition, was contemplated. The clauses, much elaborated in the original, relative to the rights of legislation, power to exclude foreigners, and administrative authority of the patentees, all point to this conclusion, although there is very little evidence that they were ever carried into effect. The locality is not mentioned, but it must have been somewhere on the coast of Greenland or North America between the Arctic Circle and the extremity of the peninsula of Florida, limits which are sufficiently wide, but which are necessitated by the extreme vagueness and the contradictory nature of the indications of the site of the projected settlement. The permission to expel foreigners by force of arms is interesting as showing that Henry VII, on paper at least, was in a less conciliatory mood than usual towards the Spaniards, at whom and the Portuguese the clause was levelled. The express revocation of any previous grants under the great seal could only apply to the patents obtained by the Cabots in 1496 and 1498, which were now annulled, most probably on account of the failure of those navigators to achieve any commercial success by their voyages.

The somewhat incongruous combination of Bristol merchants and Portuguese adventurers may be accounted for by the assumption that the former provided the capital and the business management of the affair, while the latter supplied the navigating skill and experience of similar enterprises. João Fernandes, at least, possessed such experience. On October 28, 1499, he had been granted a patent by King Manuel of Portugal, authorizing him to make voyages to the North-West and giving him the captaincy of any islands he might discover; and certain expressions used in another patent obtained by him in 1508 imply that he had previously made voyages in the same direction.[71] The Portuguese, in general, thanks to their persistent attempts to find an eastern route to Cathay, were much more advanced in the art of conducting exploring expeditions than were the English of that period, and they had very quickly followed in the track of the Cabots to the coast of North America itself. The two brothers, Gaspar and Miguel Corte Real, as important in Portuguese history as the Cabots in our own, perished in the North-West in 1501 and 1502 respectively; while Portuguese fishermen flocked to the Baccalaos, or Newfoundland banks, in such numbers that in 1506 an import tax was levied in Portugal on fish from that region.[72] On the other hand, England was in its infancy as a maritime nation, and its sailors, using inferior ships, charts, and navigating methods, had been hitherto accustomed only to coasting voyages and very short open-sea passages, such as were necessitated by the trade to Iceland and Spain.

It would appear that a commencement of the American enterprise was made in 1501, soon after the granting of the patent. It was usual to set out on such expeditions in the early summer so as to enjoy the maximum of good weather, and also to take advantage of the longest days when examining a new coastline. The only positive evidence of a voyage having been made in 1501 is an entry in Henry VII’s Privy Purse accounts[73] on January 7, 1502: ‘To men of Bristol that found the Isle, £5.’ Scanty as it is, this entry may be taken as proving conclusively that a voyage was made in 1501. It was customary to make such donations on the arrival in England of the persons concerned: John Cabot had received a similar gift within a few days of his return from his first voyage in 1497; and the obvious inference here is that the Anglo-Portuguese syndicate dispatched an expedition in 1501, news of the safe arrival of which came to England at the end of that year. It is uncertain whether a colony was planted and messengers sent back with news to England, or whether the first voyage was made simply for the purpose of exploring and choosing a suitable site. It should be noted that the phrase employed does not necessarily imply that the new land was an island in the usual acceptation of the word; most newly discovered regions were commonly referred to as islands until exploration proved their continental nature.

A series of three documents, all referring to the last week of September 1502, imply the arrival of another ship or fleet from the new land at that time. A Privy Purse entry of September 23: ‘To a mariner that brought an eagle, 6_s._ 8_d._’, may or may not relate to the enterprise; but another of September 30 is more explicit: ‘To the merchants of Bristol that have been in the Newfound land, £20.’ The third piece of evidence is the grant, on September 26, 1502, of pensions of £10 each per annum to Francisco Fernandes and João Gonsalves, ‘in consideration of the true service which they have done unto us to our singler pleasure as capitaignes unto the newe found lande’.[74] Here again the phraseology is tantalizingly vague, and leaves us completely in the dark as to the real nature of the undertaking. It would apply equally well to a colony, a trading voyage, or a voyage of exploration. Two facts may, however, be deduced: first, that something of real importance had been accomplished, as is shown by the unwonted liberality of the king, whose habitual parsimony became accentuated in his later years; and, secondly, that João Fernandes severed his connexion with the enterprise at this time or earlier, since he is not recorded as obtaining either gratuity or pension.

Indeed, the next step of which we have evidence is a reconstruction of the whole syndicate and the grant of a new patent by the king on December 9, 1502.[75] The number of the patentees was now reduced to four, namely, Hugh Elyot, Thomas Ashehurst, João Gonsalves, and Francisco Fernandes. Nothing is known of the causes of this change, by which three of the original adventurers dropped out and one new one was introduced; but it may safely be assumed that it was not due to an entire lack of commercial success, since that would probably have resulted in the winding-up of the whole concern.

The new patent was very similar in its terms to the old one, with the following exceptions: In the general licence to conquer and colonize, a special exception was made of the lands of the King of Portugal and any other ‘principum, amicorum & confoederatorum nostrorum’; the period during which the patentees might have a monopoly of trade was extended to forty years; two shiploads, instead of one, might be imported duty free; and Gonsalves and Francisco Fernandes were now placed on a complete equality with Englishmen as regards the payment of customs. Richard Ward, John Thomas, and João Fernandes were expressly debarred from exercising privileges granted in the patent of 1501, which was thus, for practical purposes, cancelled. The clause aiming at the rights of the Cabots was not repeated.

On the whole, the new patent was more favourable than the old, and the contrast seems to be intentionally emphasized between the status of the four new patentees and that of Ward, Thomas and João Fernandes, who were now excluded. The conduct of the latter had evidently been as displeasing to the king as that of the former had been satisfactory.

An entry in Stow’s _Chronicle_ with reference to these expeditions has already been discussed in connexion with the Cabot voyages. It states that in the year 1502 three men were brought to the king, who had been taken in the new-found islands. They were clothed in skins, ate raw flesh, and spoke an unintelligible language. Two of them were to be seen at Westminster two years later, when they resembled Englishmen in clothing and appearance. These men must have arrived in the ships which returned in September 1502.

The new patent granted by Henry VII was followed by a renewal of the energies of the adventurers, and a Privy Purse entry of November 17, 1503, indicates the arrival in England of ships at that time. Like the others, it affords very little information, merely recording the payment: ‘To one that brought hawkes from the Newfoundland Island, £1’. Another entry, ‘April 8, 1504, to a prest that goeth to the new island, £2,’ points to a fresh sailing soon after that date, although there is no information as to the corresponding homeward voyage in the autumn. The Privy Purse accounts afford only one more piece of evidence, and that is of doubtful bearing on the subject. On August 25, 1505, we find entered: ‘To Clays going to Richemount with wylde catts and popyngays of the Newfound Island, for his costs, 13_s._ 4_d._’, and on the same date, ‘To Portyngales that brought popyngais and catts of the mountaigne with other stuf to the Kinges Grace, £5.’ The word ‘popinjays’ was generally used to mean parrots, and no clear instance exists of the word being applied to any other bird.[76] Parrots are not now to be found in the northern part of North America, but one species at least existed on the shores of Lakes Erie and Ontario at the beginning of the nineteenth century,[77] and it is quite possible that Indians in Newfoundland and Labrador bartered them to Europeans in the time of Henry VII. Hence the extract in question need not be absolutely rejected as applying to the present subject.

The interesting and valuable transcripts of Privy Purse accounts in Add. MS. 7099 cease at the year 1505. They are continued to the end of the reign by a manuscript[78] in the Record Office (first entry, October 1, 1505), but there is no further mention of donations to American adventurers. At this point, therefore, all contemporary information ceases. The enterprise may have been continued during the succeeding years, but it was certainly not very long before it was abandoned, as certain statements of a later date tend to prove.

About the period 1517–19 a play in rhymed verse was printed, entitled _The New Interlude of the Four Elements_, of which the only known copy is at present in the British Museum.[79] The page which should bear information as to its origin is missing, and the date given above is arrived at on internal evidence. The following lines vaguely refer to the early transatlantic voyages (spelling modernized):

This sea is called the great Ocean, So great it is that never man Could tell it sith the world began, Till now, within this twenty year,

Westward be found new lands That we never heard tell of before this By writing nor other means, Yet many now have been there; And that country is so large of room, Much lenger than all Christendom, Without fable or guile; For divers mariners have it tried, And sailed straight by the coast side Above five thousand mile! But what commodities be within No man can tell nor well imagine, But yet not long ago Some men of this country went, By the King’s noble consent, It for to search to that intent, And could not be brought thereto; But they that were the venturers Have cause to curse their mariners, False of promise and dissemblers, That falsely them betrayed; Which would take no pain to sail further Than their own lust and pleasure, Wherefore that voyage and divers other Such caitiffs have destroyed. O what a thing had been then, If that they that be Englishmen Might have been the first of all; That there should have taken possession, And made first building and habitation, A memory perpetual; And also what an honourable thing Both to the realm and to the King, To have had his dominion extending There into so far a ground, Which the noble King of late memory, The most wise Prince, the VIIth Harry, Caused first to be found. / / / / ./ / / / ./ / / / ./ / / / ./ / / / ./ / / / ./ / / / ./ / / / ./ / / / ./ / / / .

Now Frenchmen and other have found the trade That yearly of fish there they lade Above an hundred sail. / / / / ./ / / / ./ / / / ./ / / / ./ / / / ./ / / / ./ / / / ./ / / / ./ / / / ./ / / / . But these new lands by all cosmography From the Khan of Cathay’s land cannot lie Little past a thousand miles.

In common with all the other evidences of these obscure transactions, the language here employed is vague and disputable, although it does undoubtedly show that the colony, if it ever existed, no longer did so at the time of writing. The voyage which failed owing to the cowardice of the mariners was possibly one undertaken in the early years of Henry VIII, of which other hints survive.[80] It was entered upon ‘by the King’s noble consent’, that is, the then king, Henry VIII, and not the late one, Henry VII, who is spoken of in a different manner further on, where the original discovery is attributed to him. The author had seemingly no detailed knowledge of the successive voyages of the period 1501–5. His identity is not revealed; it would be most interesting to know who he was in view of the imperialistic notions he expressed at such an early date.

Robert Thorne, a member of an important family of Bristol merchants, writing in the year 1527, refers to his father, also named Robert Thorne, ‘which, with another merchant of Bristowe, named Hugh Eliot, were the discoverers of the newe found lands, of the which there is no doubt, as now plainly appeareth, if the mariners would then have been ruled, and followed their pilot’s mind, the lands of the west Indies, from whence all the gold commeth, had been ours. For all is one coaste, as by the carde appeareth, and is aforesaide.’ Robert Thorne, the younger, was a strong advocate of the possibility of a northern passage over the pole to Asia, but, in this instance, he is evidently referring to a voyage down the North American coast in the direction of Florida and Mexico ‘whence all the gold commeth’, and which his own map, accompanying his book, shows to be ‘all one coast’ with the north-western lands. It is impossible to say which voyage it was which thus failed on account of mutiny; perhaps the last Privy Purse entry, with regard to popinjays and wild cats, had some connexion with it. It is worthy of remark that three separate authorities give stories of early voyages which came to nothing on account of the insubordination of the crews; namely, Sebastian Cabot as reported by Ramusio, the _New Interlude_, and Robert Thorne; but it is not necessary to refer all these stories to the same source and make them all apply to the same voyage. The excuse was obviously a convenient one to make, and must certainly have occurred to many a disappointed adventurer whose own lack of constancy had been perhaps as much to blame as that of his men.

A confirmation of the association of the elder Thorne with the American adventurers is furnished by a Record Office paper showing that on January 7, 1502, Robert and William Thorne and Hugh Elyot, of Bristol, were granted a bounty of £20 by the king in consideration of their having bought a French ship of 120 tons.[81]

A consideration of Robert Thorne’s map leads to the question of the locality to which the Bristol syndicates made their mysterious expeditions. The map shows the whole of the Old World together with South America and the eastern coast-line of North America. It is the last-mentioned part which concerns the present subject. In the latitude of the coast of Portugal, and extending to about the same length, appears a peninsula corresponding, in shape and relative position, to Nova Scotia together with Cape Breton. To the north of it is a long and important indentation, which evidently represents the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Above this the coast extends northwards for about 8° until another gulf is reached of even larger size. Newfoundland is not indicated as a separate island, but is massed with the land to the north of the St. Lawrence. The second or northern gulf is puzzling, and two explanations of it may be given. One is that it represents Davis Strait, separating Labrador and Greenland, and that therefore the land to the north of it is Greenland, wrongly drawn as forming part of the American continent. The other is that it is intended for Hamilton Inlet, a gulf occurring in the Labrador coast in the latitude of 54°. The latter is the more satisfactory explanation of the two, more especially as a land resembling Greenland is shown separately on the map, although much too far to the east. Huge discrepancies in longitude, however, are characteristic of all maps of the period. The size of the gulf, as drawn, gives no help, since it is too small for Davis Strait and too large for Hamilton Inlet. In latitude it corresponds more nearly with the latter. We may take it then that Robert Thorne was not confusing Greenland with America, and that the northern part of his map represents the coast of Labrador. On this land is inscribed ‘Nova Terra laboratorum dicta’, and along the coast, ‘Terra hec ab Anglis primum fuit inventa’.[82]

Here is a conclusive solution concerning the destination of the voyages, if only we may assume that Robert Thorne was fully acquainted with the doings of his father and his fellow adventurers.[83] In all probability he was, but, failing definite proof on the point, we must look for other evidence.

[Illustration:

THE NORTH ATLANTIC. From the map of Robert Thorne, 1527. ]

Two considerations point to the fact that the English territory was not Newfoundland or Nova Scotia: firstly, that Thorne’s map does not recognize the existence of Newfoundland as separate from the mainland; and, secondly, that the patent of 1502 expressly forbade the grantees to intrude into the lands of the King of Portugal. In the years 1500, 1501, and 1502, the brothers Corte Real, as has been mentioned, made voyages to North America, and explored the coasts of Virginia (taken in its widest sense), Newfoundland, and southern Greenland. On the Cantino map, which was drawn up for the purpose of recording their discoveries, Newfoundland is denominated ‘Terra del Rey de Portugall’, and an inscription on the map asserts that the explorers did not land in Greenland, contenting themselves with viewing the coast from a distance. Now, the coast of Virginia was generally agreed to be outside the Portuguese half of the globe as defined by the Bull of Alexander VI and the Treaty of Tordesillas. Consequently, Portuguese energies were concentrated on Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, which lay in more easterly longitude, the actual difference also being greatly exaggerated in their maps.[84] These two regions, therefore, must be taken to be the ‘lands of the King of Portugal’ which the patentees were to respect.

The brief notice, already quoted, in Stow’s _Chronicle_, as to the savages brought home by one of these expeditions, may also be used in support of a more northerly site. It is not stated that they were brown or red men, but on the contrary, that after two years’ residence in England they resembled Englishmen in appearance. The word Eskimo means an eater of raw flesh,[85] and this is precisely one of the characteristics that observers noticed about them. Both Indians and Eskimos are found in Labrador, but Eskimos do not live in any countries further south. Thus it may be concluded that the ships returning in 1502 came from Labrador or some other northern region. There is no evidence that the English discoveries were anywhere to the south of Newfoundland. No maps can be found which give support to the idea, and the voyages which alarmed the Spanish Government at the time of Hojeda’s early expeditions have been shown to have been those of the Cabots. The voyage in which Robert Thorne’s father failed to penetrate to the West Indies was thus probably an isolated venture, failing for the reason he gives, and not repeated.

It was quite possible for a fairly lucrative trade to have been carried on in the southern part of Labrador. As far north as 54° the timber is plentiful and well suited for ship-building purposes. In Dawson’s work on Labrador, already cited, it is stated that ‘Dr. Grenfell reports trees at the head of Sandwich Bay from which 60 feet spars might be made’, and such trees were not obtainable in western Europe. Although no agriculture is possible, the country swarms with game and the rivers with fish, so that, given friendly relations with the natives, a trading post would have been able to support life during the long winter. In addition to timber, furs, then so much in demand in Europe, might have been exported. The fishery on the coast is still very important at the present day, and that of Newfoundland was certainly worked soon after the first discovery by the Cabots. The English traders may have acted as middlemen, buying from the fishermen and selling in England, as they did afterwards in Elizabeth’s time. The coast of Labrador is rugged and forbidding, but at the heads of the deep inlets the climate is milder and the conditions more suitable for Europeans. Two of these inlets suggest themselves as likely sites for a settlement—Sandwich Bay and Hamilton Inlet. The former is in latitude 53½°; it is 25 miles long and 6 miles wide, and contains several good harbours. The latter is in latitude 54° and reaches 150 miles inland, with an average width of 14 miles, narrowing in one place to one-third of a mile.

The only alternative to Labrador is Greenland, with which the scanty evidence in some respects agrees. But for what possible reason could four or five voyages in successive years have been made to Greenland except for purely explorative purposes? It must be borne in mind that, although a passage to Asia was no doubt the ultimate goal of the adventurers, the expeditions nevertheless had to pay expenses or the enterprise would have come to an abrupt end. The Cabot experiences had sickened King Henry of financing explorers, who came home with nothing but geographical knowledge in their ships’ holds. Greenland provided none of the produce which could be found in southern Labrador, and must on that account be ruled out. The evidence of Thorne’s map, as already interpreted, also militates against Greenland. We are therefore driven to the conclusion that the balance of evidence places the English sphere of influence on the coast of Labrador. Whether or not a colony was established is unknown; all that can be said is that the patents contemplated the formation of one. Some sort of merchandise must have been obtained, but the trade was not sufficiently lucrative to warrant a continuation of the business after a few years’ experience; for the liability to losses by accident in these northern seas was no doubt considerable.

The mainspring of the whole affair was undoubtedly the persistent belief in the existence of a practicable channel leading to Cathay and India, the discovery of which would have given England the possession of the shortest route and an immense advantage over all rivals. And here is most likely the clue to the colonizing ideas set forth in the patents; for such a passage, when discovered, would need to be fortified if its use was to be monopolized by the English.

After preliminary investigations, which held out strong hopes of success, if we may judge from Henry’s liberality to the Portuguese and the Bristol men in 1502, insuperable obstacles were encountered, and no clear evidence survives of anything being done later than 1504 or, at latest, 1505. The enterprise had, unfortunately, no chronicler, and the details of its audacities and its heroisms have fallen into complete, though undeserved, oblivion.

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Footnote 69:

One of these three Portuguese is in all probability the ‘labrador’ mentioned by Santa Cruz as having taken intelligence of discoveries to Henry VII.

Footnote 70:

Patent printed in full in introduction to Hakluyt Society’s _Divers Voyages_, ed. by J. W. Jones.

Footnote 71:

H. Harrisse, _Évolution Cartographique de Terre-Neuve_, p. 41.

Footnote 72:

Harrisse, _Discovery of North America_, p. 174.

Footnote 73:

_Add. MSS._, 7099, a manuscript copy of the original accounts, which are not now available.

Footnote 74:

First printed by Harrisse in _John and Sebastian Cabot_ (1896). The actual document is an appropriation for the pension and bears date December 6, 1503, but contains a reference to the first grant on the date given above.

Footnote 75:

_Foedera_, xiii. 37.

Footnote 76:

See _New English Dictionary_.

Footnote 77:

_Encyclopaedia Britannica_, 11th ed., art. ‘Parrots’.

Footnote 78:

_R. O., T. R. Misc._ Book 214.

Footnote 79:

Reprinted by the Percy Society, 1848, ed. J. O. Halliwell.

Footnote 80:

The evidence that the voyage in question really took place is extremely doubtful. See Chap. X.

Footnote 81:

M. Oppenheim, _Administration of the Royal Navy_, p. 38.

Footnote 82:

The inscription alone is insufficient to identify the country with modern Labrador, for it is certain that some early cartographers applied the name to Greenland.

Footnote 83:

Robert Thorne the elder did not die until some time between 1519 and 1526, so that his son, writing in 1527, had had every opportunity of hearing his story from his own lips.

Footnote 84:

A fine facsimile of the Cantino map is exhibited in the British Museum.

Footnote 85:

Stanford’s _Compendium_, 1897: ‘Labrador’, by S. E. Dawson.

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