Chapter 11
These maps passed at once into Italy; and that of Ribero, bearing the date of 1529 and the arms of the then reigning pontiff, Clement VII, and his successors, the most finished of the three copies known to exist, is still to be found at Rome, and is reasonably supposed to have been the original; and like the last decade of Peter Martyr in 1526, which mentions the discoveries of Gomez, to have been sent to the Holy Father at his desire, in order to keep him informed of the latest discoveries. [Footnote: Nouvelles Annales des Voyages. Nouvelle series, tome xxxv. Annee 1853. Tome troisieme. Paris. Les Papes geographes et la cartographic du Vatican. Par R. M. Thomassey. Appendix p. 275.] Other copies of the Spanish charts showing the exploration of Gomez, found their way in to Italy about the same time, proving that there was then no interdict against their exportation from Spain to that country, at least. [Footnote: In regard to the freedom which the charts of the Spanish navigators so enjoyed there is confirmatory proof in Ramusio. In the preface to his third volume, dedicated to his friend Fracastor of Florence, he writes: "All the literary men daily inform you of any discovery made known to them by captain or pilot coming from those parts, and among others the aforesaid Sig. Gonzalo (Oviedo) from the island of Hispaniola, who every year visits you once or twice with some new made chart."] This appears by a volume which was published in Venice in 1534 under the auspices of Ramusio, [Footnote: M. d'Avezac in Bulletin de la Societe de Geographic for July and August, 1872.] embracing a summary of the general history of the West Indies by Peter Martyr and a translation of Oviedo's natural history of the Indies of 1526, containing the account of Gomez' voyage, with a map of America upon which the discoveries of Gomez are laid down the same as upon the Spanish maps of 1527 and 1529, before mentioned. The following colophon, giving the origin of this map, is to be found at the end of the translation of Oviedo: "Printed at Venice, in the month of December 1534. For the explanation of these books there has been made an universal map of the countries of all the West Indies, together with a special map, taken from two marine charts of the Spaniards, one of which belonged to Don Pietro Martire, Councillor of the Royal Council of the said Indies, and was made by the pilot and master of marine charts, Nino Garzia de Loreno, in Seville. The other was made also by a pilot of the majesty, the emperor, in Seville. With which maps the reader can inform himself of the whole of this new world, place by place, the same as if he had been there himself." [Footnote: This volume has no general title, but contains three books, primo, secondo & ultimo della historia de l'India Occidentali. It is very rarely found with the large map of America. We are indebted to the kindness of James Lonox, Esq. of New York, for the use of a perfect copy in this respect.] The special map here referred to is one of Hispaniola, in the same volume, and was undoubtedly taken from that of Nuno Garcia, in the possession of Peter Martyr. It was therefore made in or before the year 1526, since Martyr died in that year. The map of America, by the pilot of the emperor at Seville, was probably the anonymous map of 1527 before mentioned, as it appears not to have had the name of the author upon it. These facts prove at least that the map of Ribero was in Italy in the year 1529, and that the map of 1527 may have been there before that year.
It was from the delineation of the coast on one or other of these two maps, which are in that respect almost identically the same, that the description of it in the Verrazzano letter was derived. This will now be made manifest by the application of that description to the map of Ribero, so much of which as is necessary, is here reproduced for that purpose.
In making the proof thus proposed, it is to be borne in mind that the letter is positive and explicit as to the extent and limits of the discovery or exploration which it describes. It fixes them by three different modes which prove each, other: 1. By giving the latitude of the commencement and termination of the voyage along the coast; 2. By a declaration in two different forms of the entire distance run, and 3. By a statement of intermediate courses and distances, from point to point, between the landfall and the place of leaving the coast, separately, making in the aggregate the whole distance named. There can be therefore no mistake as to the meaning of the writer in respect of the extent of the exploration.
As to its limits and extent, we have already had occasion to quote his language in impressing upon Francis the great length of the voyage; giving both at the same time: "In the voyage," he says, "which we made by order of your majesty, in addition to the 92 degrees which we ran towards the west from our point of departure, before we reached land in latitude 34, we have to count 300 leagues which we ran northeastwardly and 400 nearly east, along the coast, before we reached the 50th parallel of north latitude, the point where we turned our course from the shore towards home." This distance is also mentioned in the total at the end of the voyage, where he says: "finding our provisions and naval stores nearly exhausted, we took in wood and water, and determined to return to France, having discovered 700 leagues of unknown lands."
The several courses and distances run are described in the letter, from point to point, as follows: [Footnote: The translation of Dr. Cogswell, in N.Y. Hist. Collections, is here used, somewhat condensed.]
First. "We perceived that it (the land) stretched to the SOUTH and L. coasted along in that direction in search of some port in which we might come to anchor, and examine into the nature of the country, but for FIFTY LEAGUES we could find none in which we could lie 50 securely."
SECOND. "Seeing the coast still stretched to the south we resolved to change our course and stand to the northward, and as we still had the same difficulty, we drew in with the land, and sent a boat ashore. Many people, who were seen coming to the sea-side, fled at our approach. We found not far from this people another. This country is plentifully supplied with lakes and ponds of running water and being in the latitude of 34, the air is salubrious, pure and temperate, and free from the extreme both of heat and cold. We set sail from this place continuing to coast along the shore, which we found stretching out to the west (east?) While at anchor on this coast, there being NO HARBOR to enter, we sent the boat on shore with twenty-five men to obtain water. Departing hence, and always following the shore, which stretched to the NORTH, we came in the space of FIFTY LEAGUES to another land which appeared beautiful and 50 full of the largest forests."
THIRD. "After having remained here three days riding at anchor on the coast, as we could find no harbor we determined to depart, and coast along the shore to the NORTHEAST. After proceeding ONE HUNDRED LEAGUES, we found a very pleasant situation among some STEEP HILLS THROUGH WHICH A VERY LARGE RIVER, deep at its mouth forced its way 100 to the sea."
FOURTH. "We took the boat and entering the river we found the country on its banks well peopled. All of a sudden a violent contrary wind blew in from the sea, and forced us to return to our ship. Weighing anchor, we sailed EIGHTY LEAGUES TOWARDS THE EAST, as the coast stretched in that direction, and always in sight of it. At length we discovered an island, triangular in form, about ten leagues from the mainland. We gave it the name of your majesty's 80 illustrious mother."
FIFTH. "We did not land there, as the weather was unfavorable, but proceeded to another place, FIFTEEN LEAGUES distant from the island, where we found a very excellent harbor. It looks towards the south, on which side the harbor is half a league broad. Afterwards, upon entering it, the extent between the east and the north is twelve leagues, and then enlarging itself, forms a VERY LARGE BAY, twenty 15 leagues in circumference."
SIXTH. "Having supplied ourselves with every thing necessary, on the sixth of May we departed from the port and sailed one hundred and fifty leagues, keeping so close to the coast as never to lose it from our sight. WE DID NOT STOP TO LAND, as the weather was very favorable for pursuing our voyage, and the country presented no 150 variety. The shore stretched to the EAST"
SEVENTH. "And FIFTY LEAGUES beyond, MORE TO the NORTH, where we found a MORE ELEVATED COUNTRY. The people were entirely different from the others we had seen, so rude and barbarous that we were unable by any signs we could make, to hold communication with them. Against their will WE PENETRATED TWO OR THREE LEAGUES INTO THE 50 INTERIOR with twenty-five men."
EIGHTH. "Departing from thence we kept along the coast, steering BETWEEN EAST AND NORTH, and found the country more pleasant and open. Within FIFTY LEAGUES we discovered thirty two islands, all 50 near the mainland."
NINTH. "We had no intercourse with the people. After sailing between east and north ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY LEAGUES MORE we determined to return France, having discovered 700 leagues of unknown lands." 150 Making a total of 695 L.
Now let the reader trace for himself, these courses and distances, as shown on the accompanying sketch of the map of Ribero. according to the following scale, [Proofreaders Note: scale omitted] representing the measurements in the letter; which are calculated on the basis of 15.625 leagues to a degree, while those on the map are 17 1/2 leagues; and he will find, that not only is the whole littoral distance between the parallels of 34 degrees and 50 degrees on the map about seven hundred leagues, but that the several courses and distances, of which this entire distance is composed according to the letter, correspond with similar divisions on the map, proving to a certainty that this map was the source from which the line of coast described in the letter was derived, or the reverse.
It will be observed that the FIRST course, beginning according to the letter at the landfall, in latitude 34 N., commences on the map a little north of C. Trafalgar as there laid down, now Cape Fear, and proceeds southerly fifty leagues to C. de S. Roman.
The first course being retraced, the SECOND, also of fifty leagues, starting from the landfall near C. Traffalgar, extends to C. de S. Juan of the map, the well known point of Hatteras.
The THIRD, runs from C. de S. Juan, one hundred leagues NORTHWARDLY, to the Montana verde, the Navesinks at the mouth of the Hudson, "described as the pleasant situation among steep hills, through which a very large river forced its way into the sea." The perfect identification of this course and distance has already been observed.
The fourth extends EASTERLY from the Montana verde eighty leagues and strikes the islands of the C. de Muchas yllas, or Cape Cod, where, among the Elizabeth islands, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket, the island of Louise is intended by the letter to be placed. This course, easterly, fixes the position of that island at this point.
The FIFTH course and distance embrace fifteen leagues from the islands of C. de Muchas yllas, but the direction is not stated, and is left to be inferred from the fact which is stated that they proceeded on to another place where they entered a harbor, at the mouth of a large bay opening between NORTH and east, of twelve leagues in width. This course must therefore have been NORTHERLY and proceeded along the easterly shore of C. de Muchas yllas or Cape Cod.
The sixth runs easterly from the harbor on the C. de Muchas yllas, or Cape Cod, one hundred and fifty leagues EASTERLY which include the opening of the great bay of twelve leagues and proceeds along the Arecifes or C. Sable on the coast of Nova Scotia to the Sarcales, probably Cape Canso at Chedabucto bay, WHERE THE COAST TRENDED MORE NORTHERLY.
The SEVENTH, from the Sarcales, fifty leagues MORE TO THE NORTH, extends along the tierra de los Bretones or island of C. Breton to the cape of that name, passing the R. de la buelta, the easterly limit of the voyage of Gomez. From this river easterly the map is compiled, as the names indicate, from Portuguese charts.
The EIGHTH, from C. Breton FIFTY LEAGUES between north and east, runs along the easterly coast of the tierra de los Bretones, to the supposed northerly shore of the bay between that land and the tierra de los Bacallaos or Newfoundland, but in reality the southerly entrance into the gulf of St. Lawrence,
The NINTH from the termination of the last course, embraces one hundred and fifty leagues between north and east along the coast of the Bacallaos to C. Rasso or Cape Race and thence along the easterly coast of the Bacallaos to the Y. de Bacallaos In latitude 50 degrees N., the point of departure from the coast, and making the complement of 695 leagues, in all.
Such exact and unexceptional concurrence in the observation of distances for over two thousand miles, as this comparison exhibits, by two different navigators sailing at different times, under different circumstances of wind and weather, and under different plans of exploration, is impossible. So far as regards the distances running north and south, such an agreement might happen, because the truth in that direction was ascertainable by any one, by means of observations of the latitude; but not as regards those running east and west; for these, no means of determining them existed, as before explained: and accordingly on the Ribero map they are grossly incorrect. From the Montana verde to the C. de Muchas yllas, that is, from the Hudson to the west end of the peninsula of Cape Cod, the distance appears to be eighty leagues, or nearly double its true length; while the width of the great bay between the C. de Muchas yllas and the Arecifes, or from Cape Cod to Cape Sable is shown to be less than twenty leagues, whereas it is more than fifty. And so also from the Arecifes to the Sarcales, from Cape Sable to Cape Canso, it is one hundred and thirty-five leagues on the map, or twice the actual distance. These great errors show how impossible it was at that time to calculate longitudinal distances correctly. But two navigators, sailing independently as mentioned, could not have fallen into these errors exactly to the same extent, exaggerated in the two cases by the same excessive length, and in the other by the same extraordinary diminution. Yet in the particulars just described the map and the letter correspond precisely. Such a coincidence of mistakes, could not have been accidental.
One of these documents must, therefore, have been the source of the other. In determining between them, there can be no mistake in adopting as the original, that one which has a certain and indisputable authenticity, and rejecting that which is unsupported by any other testimony. The voyage of Gomez was long the subject of consideration and preparation, and was heralded to the world for months before it was undertaken. The order of the king of Spain under which it was made, still exists in the archives of that kingdom. The results of the expedition were announced by credible historians of the country, immediately after its return; and the nautical information which it brought back, and in regard to which alone it possessed any interest at the time, was transferred at once to the marine charts of the nation, imperfectly it is true, and spread before the world. These charts still remain in their original form, as they were then prepared. With these incontrovertible facts to sustain it, the discovery of Gomez must stand as established in history and, consequently, the claim of Verrazzano must fall. [Footnote: The map of Ribero is not a faithful representation of the exploration of Gomez, in many respects. The tierra de Ayllon is made to embrace a large portion of the country the coast of which was discovered by Gomez. The bay of Santa Maria, or the Chesapeake, is placed two degrees further south than it should he, that is, in latitude 35 degrees, instead of 37 degrees N. The R. de los Gamos, or Penobscot, mentioned by Cespedes, is not named at all. The question, however, of its greater or less correctness is of no importance on the present occasion; it is sufficient that it was followed by the writer of the letter, erroneous as it was.]
X.
THE CAREER OF VERRAZZANO. AN ADVENTUROUS LIFE AND AN IGNOMINIOUS DEATH. CONCLUSION.
The true history of Verrazzano, so far as known, is now to be given, in order to make a final disposition of this story. Nothing is preserved in relation to his early life. Even the year of his birth is matter of conjecture. He is called by Ramusio, Giovanni da Verrazzano, Florentine; and according to Pelli, was born about the year 1485, His father was Piero Andrea, son of Bernardo, the son of Bernardo of Verrazzano, a little town situated in the Val di Greve, near Florence,--the latter Bernardo having belonged to the magistracy of the priors in 1406. All that his eulogist was enabled to gather concerning him, beyond this brief genealogy, is taken from the Verrazzano letter and the discourse of Ramusio, relating how he was killed, roasted and devoured by the savages in a second voyage to America; [Footnote: The account which Ramusio gives of Verrazzano, and the manner of his death, occurs in his Discourse on Labrador, the Baccalaos and New France (vol. III fol. 41), in which, after reffering to the Cortereaes and Sebastian Cabot, he adds:
"There also sailed along the said land, in the year 1524, a great captain of the most Christian king in France, called Giovanni da Verrazzano, a Florentine; and he ran along all the coast, as far as Florida, as will be particularly seen by a letter of his, written to the said king, which alone we have been able to have, because the others have got astray in the troubles of the unfortunate city of Florence. And in the last voyage which he made, having wished to descend on the land with some companions, they were all put to death by those people, and in the presence of those who remained on board of the ship, were roasted and devoured. Such a wretched end had this valiant gentleman, who, had not this misfortune intervened, would, by the great knowledge and intelligence which he had of maritime affairs, and of navigation, accompanied and favoured by the immense liberality of King Francis, have discovered and made known to the world, all that part of the earth, up to the north pole, and would not have been contented with the Coast merely, but would have sought to penetrate far inland, and as far as he could go; and many, who have known and conversed with him, have told me, that he declared it was his intention to seek to persuade the most Christian King to send from these parts, a good number of people to settle in some places of said coast which are of temperate climate, and very fertile soil, with very beautiful rivers and harbors capable of holding any fleets. The settlers in these places would be the occasion of producing many good results, and among others of bringing those rude and ignorant tribes to divine worship, and to our most holy faith, and to show them how to cultivate the land, transporting some of the animals of our Europe to those vast plains; and finally, in time, having discovered the inland parts, and seen whether among the many islands existing there, any passage to the south sea exists, or whether the main land of Florida or the West Indies continues up to the pole. This and so much is what has been related of this so brave a gentleman, of whose toil and sweat, in order that his memory may not remain buried, and his name pass into oblivion, we have desired to give to the light the little that has come into our hands."
Ramusio here distinctly asserts that the only document in relation to the voyage of Verrazzano which he had been able to procure, was the letter which he published; but he informs his readers that he had been told by certain persons who had known and conversed with Verrazzano, that it was the intention of the navigator, as he himself declared, to seek permission from Francis I, his adopted sovereign, in whose service it is claimed he made the discovery, to make another voyage to the new found land for the purposes of colonization and further exploration; and he also states, upon the same or other authority, that Verrazzano on another voyage was killed and eaten, by the natives of the country. Consequently, Verrazzano must have made a second voyage to America and obtained such permission from the king. But there is not a particle of evidence in existence, apart from the declarations of these persons to Ramusio, that any such permission was ever given, or that a second voyage took place. It proved the credulity of Ramusio that he received these naked statements without any examination.] with the suggestion of Coronelli, the Venetian geographer, that the place where he thus met his death was at the entrance of the gulf of St. Lawrence, The spurious letter of Carli adds that he had been in Egypt, Syria and most other parts of the world. The ancient manuscripts of Dieppe, as we have seen, [Footnote: Ante, p. 112, note] speak of one of his name who accompanied Aubert, in his voyage to Newfoundland, in 1508; and the statement of Hakluyt before referred to, gives some ground to believe that he was employed in early voyages to that region, before he engaged in his operations against the commerce of Spain.
What is certainly known of him relates almost exclusively to his career as a French corsair, during the few years which intervened between the breaking out of hostilities between Francis I and Charles V, and his death, in 1527. His cruises, though directed principally against the Spaniards, were not tender of the interests of Portugal; and it is accordingly from Spanish and Portuguese writers and documents of the period, that the little information that exists in relation to him, is derived. He is called by the former, Juan Florin or Florentin, or simply, the Florentine,--the French corsair. He is designated on an occasion to be noted, as Juan Florin of Dieppe. [Footnote: On the capture of the treasure fleet. See Appendix, iv.] They appear to have known him by no other name. They never heard of him as a discoverer, real or pretended, of new countries, until long afterwards. The Verrazzano letter had not been published when Peter Martyr, Oviedo and Gomara wrote; and when Martyr and Gomara make mention of him, they do so only by the title by which he was designated by the Spanish sailors. There was, therefore, no opportunity for his identification by them in the double character of a great discoverer, and a corsair; and it was not until many years after the publication of the Verrazzano letter that this identification was first declared by Barcio [Footnote: Ensayo Chronologico, sub anno, 1524.].