Читать книгу Canada and its Provinces - Various - Страница 8

Table of Contents

In the year 1497 Vasco da Gama rounded the Cape of Good Hope and reached the East Indies. Three years later Pedro Alvarez Cabral discovered the coast of what he believed to be a vast continent and named it Terrae Sanctae Crucis; this afterwards proved to be Brazil. But these achievements did not satisfy the ambition of the Portuguese. King Emmanuel, like all other men in Europe at that time interested in maritime enterprise, believed that a passage to Cathay would be found in the northern part of the New Land across the Atlantic. Moreover, he was jealous of the prestige gained by Spain and England through the discoveries of Columbus and Cabot. At this time there lived on the Island of Terceira a nobleman named João Corte Real, and his three sons, Vaasqueanes, Miguel and Gaspar, each of whom was an experienced mariner, ambitious and daring. Gaspar Corte Real, who at his own expense had made efforts to discover new lands, was now willing to continue his exploration, and the king, anxious to recognize his services, granted to him ‘by right heredity for ever, the governorship of any island or mainland’ he might discover. Accordingly he set sail with two ships from Terceira in the spring of 1500 under a commission from the king dated May 2 in the same year. Proceeding in a north-westerly direction he sighted the west coast of Greenland in June. By the end of the month the vessels were stopped by the ice-fields and he was obliged to head to the south. After leaving Cape Farewell he made for the south-west coast of Greenland, and a little later sailed for Lisbon. Corte Real made a report to the king of his explorations in Greenland. He made observations on the customs of the people and noted the peculiarity of their dwellings, although unable to land in many places on account of the ice. He was by no means discouraged, and made preparation to continue his quest in the following spring. On May 15, 1501, Gaspar Corte Real sailed from Lisbon on his last voyage. The expedition consisted of three ships, two of which reached Lisbon in safety in the month of October; but the ship of Gaspar Corte Real never returned to port. It appears that after cruising about Labrador and sailing up one of the inlets, where they captured a number of Indians, they rounded Cape Race and followed the southern shore of Newfoundland to Placentia Bay. In one of the harbours near that place the ships parted company, and Gaspar Corte Real remained to continue his explorations.

The failure of Cabot to find a pathway to the enchanted land had checked the enthusiasm of the Bristol merchants for adventure. However, on March 19, 1501, Henry VII granted letters patent to Richard Warde, Thomas Ashehurst and John Thomas of Bristol, merchants, and João Fernandez and Francis Fernandez and João Gonzales of the Azores, to undertake exploration in the West. The result of the expedition is unknown; but on December 9, 1502, the king granted to ‘our well beloved subjects Hugh Elyot,^[1] and Thomas Asshehurste of our town of Bristol, merchants, and to our well beloved John Gonzales and Francis Fernandez, Esquires, full and free authority faculty and power to transport themselves to all parts, regions and territories of the eastern, western, southern, arctic and northern seas.’ In an extract from the privy purse expenses^[2] of Henry VII between 1502 and 1506, various sums are credited to men who have been to the new land, for example:

To the men of Bristoll who founde Thisle	£0	100	0
To Clays goying to Richemount with wylde catts and Popyngays of the Newfound Island for his costs	0	13	4
To a preste that goith to the newe Llande	0	40	0
To the merchants of Bristoll who have bene in the newe founde Launde	20	0	0

Some of these items were probably paid to men connected with voyages under the letters patent alluded to, but no other reference to them has been found.

In the meantime Miguel Corte Real, believing his brother to have been lost, organized a search expedition consisting of three ships and sailed from Lisbon on May 10, 1502. A certain district of the coast was allotted to each for its search and all were to assemble in the harbour of St John’s, Newfoundland, on August 20. Two of the vessels met at the appointed place, but the ship of Miguel was never heard of again. After waiting for a considerable time the two ships sailed for Portugal with the melancholy tidings. King Emmanuel was much attached to the house of Corte Real, and when the third brother Vaasqueanes sought permission to organize a search for his two brothers, Gaspar and Miguel, the king withheld his consent, fearing that Vaasqueanes might share a similar fate.

In the year 1520 João Alvarez Fagundez petitioned the king of Portugal for a grant of the islands he might discover ‘within the Portuguese sphere of influence.’ He appears to have explored the coast of Nova Scotia and to have given the name of Freshwater Bay to Chedabucto Bay. He also proceeded as far as Placentia Bay in Newfoundland, claiming the islands between Chedabucto and Placentia Bays. These islands were made over to him by letters patent dated March 13, 1521.

Under the patronage of Francis I four ships sailed from France in 1523 in search of Cathay, under the command of Giovanni da Verrazano, a native of Florence. Heavy weather was encountered and the vessels returned to port. On January 17, 1524, Verrazano sailed in La Dauphine from the Desertas Rocks near Madeira, on his second attempt. After a tempestuous passage of fifty days he reached the coast of what is now North Carolina, skirted the eastern shores of the continent and then directed his course northward. He visited Nova Scotia, Cape Breton and the eastern part of Newfoundland in his efforts to find a passage to Cathay. His search proved fruitless and he reached Dieppe on July 8, 1524.

Under an agreement signed by Charles V on March 27, 1523, Stephen Gomez, a native of Portugal, was appointed commander of a caravel fitted out at the expense of the emperor to discover ‘Eastern Cathay, whereof you have notice and information.’ Gomez sailed from Corunna on August 3, 1524. He was forbidden by the terms of his instructions to enter ‘the limits of the sphere of influence’ of Portugal, and appears to have ‘sailed westward to Cape Breton Island and coasted towards the south.’ He touched at Canso and Halifax Harbour, rounded Cape Sable and entered the Bay of Fundy. Continuing his voyage southward he examined Penobscot Bay, Canso Bay, Boston Bay, Cape Cod and finally reached Santiago in Cuba. Sailing from thence he arrived at Corunna in June 1525.

For a few years exploration in England did not receive much encouragement, and it was not until the year 1527 that the Samson and the Mary of Guildford were fitted out in London to seek for a passage to the region of the Grand Khan. The ships sailed from Plymouth on June 10 under the command of John Rut. On July 1 the vessels separated during a storm near the Strait of Belle Isle and the Samson was never heard of again. The Mary of Guildford steered southward to the harbour of St John’s. From there she sailed southward, meeting in the fishing region about fifty ‘Spanish French and Portuguese vessels.’ The fate of the vessel is unknown. On November 21 a vessel answering her description arrived at St Domingo and requested permission to enter the harbour, which was granted, but a shot was fired from the fort and she put out to sea. Thus another expedition was added to the list of failures.

These are the principal early voyages to North America, but there was another factor at work which must not be passed over. Just as the beaver at a later period in North American history lured the fur-trading explorers to the Rockies, to the Pacific and to the Arctic, so the codfish brought hundreds of mariners annually to the fishing-grounds of the Atlantic coast. These fishermen had been visiting the Banks continuously from 1504, if not earlier, and every important harbour close to the fishing regions was as familiar to them as were the harbours of Europe. Many of these fishermen met savages, and like Cartier, as we shall see later, found them willing to part with their furs, even their clothing of skins, for articles of little value. Thus the fur trade began as an auxiliary of the fishing trade. Walrus hunters, whalers and codfishers plied this trade. The profits to be made from it excited the cupidity of the merchants of St Malo, Rouen, La Rochelle and elsewhere, and after the days of Jacques Cartier several individuals, such as the Marquis de la Roche and Pont-Gravé, and finally the great chartered companies, were granted a monopoly of the trade.

The French, Spanish and Portuguese navigators and the fishermen had prepared the way for Cartier’s explorations. When he sailed for North America to find the South Sea, he could shape his course to well-known harbours over frequented waters. From Greenland to Florida the coast had been thoroughly explored. It was left for him to penetrate the continent, and by his foresight and courage to give France the right to lay claim to the vast territory drained by the St Lawrence and its tributaries.

[1]	Canadian Archives, Biggar, Bulletin No. 5, p. 81.

[2]	Ibid., p. 12.