The Journal of Christopher Columbus (During His First Voyage, 1492-93)
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"•'^- THE JOURNAL ^ -'X'i J CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS (During his First Voyagf., 1492-93), AND DOCUMENTS RELATING TO THE VOYAGES OF JOHN CABOT AND CASPAR CORTE REAL. ffranslatr]}, toitft ^otre anH an Introliiirtion, j^ HY CLEMENTS R.-^HlfARKHAM, C.B., F.R.S., PRSSIDBNT OF THE HAKMVT SOCIKTV. LONDON: PRINTED FOR THE HAKLUYT SOCIETY, 4, LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS, W.C. xi.Dcic.xnir. G ^0 ?4 LONDON : W.C. PRINTED BY CHAS. J. CI.ARK. 4, LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS, COUNCIL or THE HAKLUYT SOCIETY. ri.KMKNTs K. Makkiiam, Ks(.). , C.H., I'.K.S., President. NlAJClR-dKNKRAI. SiR Ill.NKY KAWI.INSO.N. K.C.H., D.C.h., I.L.I)., I'.K.S. Assi>cii Jitpuwffer lie I.'/iislitut de Frame, I 'ice-President. LoRU Abkrdark, (i.C.H., F.R.S.. Inte Pre^. A'.^•..S. S. E. B. liouVKRlK-l'fSKY, Esq. V'ICK-ADMIRAI, IJNDKSAY HklNK. koBKRT Brown, E.sq., M..\., rii.D. Miller Chris rv. Esy. Thk Right Hon. Sir Molntmtart E. CiRANT Dlkk, G.C.S.I., Pres. Ji.U.S. .Albert (jray, Esq. A. P. Mai'dslay, Esq. Admiral Sir !<:. Ommannky, C.B., K.R.S. E. A. Pethkrick, Esq. Ernest Satow, Esq., f'.M.G., Minister Resident in Uruguay. S. W. Silver, Esq. CouTTs Trotter, Esq. Prok. E. B. Tylor, D.C.L. Captain Sir j. Syonky Webb, K.C.M.G. Captain \V. J. I,. Wharton, R.N. E. Delmar Morgan, Honorary Secretary. CONTENTS. Introduction : I. Journal of Columbus .... i 11. John Cabot ..... ix III. .Sebastian Cabot . , xxii IV. Gaspar Corte Real • . xliv •Sailing Uirkctions of Colu.mbus. Lkttkrs of To.sc.v- NELLI Journal of thl Fir.st Voyage of Columuu.s D0CUMKNT.S RELATING TO THE VOY.AGES OF JOHN C \uot Letters Patent granted to John Cabot and his sons 197 Name of the ship .... •99 Date of sailing • . 199 Landfall. Legend on the map of Sebastian Cabot 200 Reward for John Cabot 301 Letter from Lorenzo Pasqualigo 201 First Despatch from Raimondo di Soncino . 202 Second Despatch from Raimondo di Soncino 203 Second Letters Patent granted to John Cabot 206 Despatch from Ambassador Puebla . 207 Despatch from Ambassador Ayala . 208 Documents relating to Sebastian Cabot : From the Decades of Peter Martyr . 209 Ramusio. Recollection of a letter . 211 Account by the Guest of Fracastor, in Ramusio 212 From Gomara • . , . 215 From Galvano ..... 216 Venetian Intrigues. Letter from the Council of Ten 217 Vm CONTENTS. fAOR 218 Reward to Cabot's agent Despatch from Ambassador Contarini 223 Second Despatch from Contarini 224 Letter from the Council of Ten to Contarini 225 Letter from the Ragusan to Cabot 225 Third Despatch from Contarini 226 The Council of Ten to Soranzo DOCUMENTS RLLATINO TO THE VOYAGES OF CASPAR CORTE Real: 229 • • Extract from Galvao . Extract from Damian de Goes 232 Letter from Cantino to the Duke of Ferrara . of Venic 235 Letter from Pasqualigo to the Government 236 Letter from Pasqualigo to his brothers 238 Payment for the Cantino Map Legends on the Cantino Map 239 Index to the Journal ok Columbus 24» of Index to the Documents ret-ating to the Voyages John Cabot and Caspar Corte Real 253 ILLUSTRATIONS. to page iv Sketch of the vessels in the first voyage of Columbus face . • • • "'^ Map of Juan de la Cosa . >» Map of Sebastian Cabot ...••.. '"''"' Restoration of the Toscanelli Map . • >» 3 . • • • ,. 240 Map of Cantino . INTRODUCTION. I. —JOUKXAL OF COLI'MIU'S. ^^!^^J^)I^5«^I 11 INTRODUCTION. Cantino and La Cosa maps from his impressions. The thanks of the Society are also due to Mr. H. Welter, the publisher of Mr. Harrlsse's last work, for permission to make use of the plates of the maps of Juan de la Cosa and Cantino. Our late Secretary, Mr. R. H. Major, by his pro- duction of the Select Letters of Cohunbus ( 1 847 ; 2nd ed., 1870), brought within the reach of members of this Society all the letters written by the Admiral himself on the subject of his four voyages, as well as some other orlgineil documents. There remains for the Council to furnish the members with a trans- lation of the Journal of the first voyage, the only one that has been preserved, and this in a mutilated form. Our series will then contain all the contri- butions of the great discoverer himself, that have escaped destruction, to the history of his mighty achievements. It Is necessary, for the proper understanding of the Journal, that It should be preceded by the Toscanelli correspondence, because constant allusion is made to it by the Admiral ; the places mentioned by Toscanelli were anxiously sought for at every turn; and the letters of Toscanelli were practically the sailing directions of Columbus. The famous Florentine astronomer, Paolo Toscanelli, was looked upon as the highest authority on cosmography and navigation in that age. King Affonso V of Portu- gal, through the Canon Fer..am Martins, made an application to Toscanelli for information respecting the voyage westward to India. The astronomer INTRODUCTION. Ill replied fully on June 25th, 1474, enclosing a map. Soon afterwards Columbus, who was then at Lisbon, and had long pondered over these questions, re- solved to make a similar application to the Florentine philosopher. He sent a letter, together with a small globe embodying his ideas, to Toscanelli, entrusting them to the care of an Italian named Lorenzo Birardi, who was going to Florence.^ The reply was satisfactory.^ Toscanelli sent his correspondent a copy of his letter to Martins, and a copy of the map, with some additional remarks. It was that letter and that map that were destined to play so important a part in the conduct of the first voyage. Columbus replied, and received a second briefer but equally cordial letter from Toscanelli. The Tos- canelli correspondence is given in Italian in the Viia dell Avnuiraglio^ and in Spanish in the Histoi'y of Las Casas.^ Both these translations are inaccu- rate, and several passages are inserted that are not in the original, w'hich was in Latin. This original Latin text was discovered in i860, in the Colum- bine Library at Seville, by the librarian, Don Jose Maria Fernandez de Velasco. \\(\ found it in the Admiral's own handwriting, on a fly-leaf of one of the books which belonged to Columbus." ^ Las Casas, I, p. 92. 2 The date of the letter to Columbus is discussed in a note at pages 3 and 4. ^ Cap. xiii. * Las Casas, i, 92-96. Las Casas, by mistake, calls Toscanelli Marco Paulo, instead of Paulo, in two places. ^ The book is Llisioria rerum ubique ges/antm, by Eneas Silvio Piccolomini (Venice, 1477, small folio, 105 leaves). b2 IV INTRODUCTION. I have translated from the Lathi text, as given in his Hfe of Columbus by Don Jose Maria Asensio.* The Toscanelli map is lost. It was in possession of Las Casas when he wrote his history, and that is the last trace we have of it. But it is so minutely described in the letter that its restoration, with help from the globe of Martin Behaim, is not difficult. This has been well done in Das Ausland (1867, p. 5), and the restoration there given has been repeated to illustrate this volume.^ With the letter and map of Toscanelli as his sailing directions and chart, Columbus began to make entries in his Journal of Navigation, morning and evening, from the day he left Palos. He gives no special description of his three vessels, but it is believed that sketches of them, drawn by his own hand, have been preserved. In the Columbine Library at Seville, in the edition of the first decade of Peter Martyr, which belonged to the Admiral's son Fernando, there is a map of Espafiola drawn with a pen, and showing the earliest Spanish forts and settlements. In two places on the map there are outline sketches of the three caravels, and in the opinion of competent persons these sketches are by Columbus himself. If so, they are the only authentic representations of the first vessels that ever crossed 1 Cristobal Colon, por D. Jose Maria Asensio (Barcelona, 1890), i, p. 250. - The Ausland restoration is given by Winsor in his Narrative and Critical History of America, ii, p. 103, and in his Columbus, p. 110. INTRODUCTION. the Atlantic. One of them has been reproduced to illustrate this volume.^ The Admiral dilij^ently wrote his Journal until the day of his return to Palos. It was forwarded to Ferdinand and Isabella ; but it is now lost. Las Casas had access to it when he wrote his history, and gives a very full abstract,^ which was condensed by Herrera.^ It was also used by Fernando Columbus in the Vita dell Aininh'aglio} In one place, where the Admiral describes his proceedings in the storm, when he threw a brief account of the voyage over- board in a barrel, the version of Fernando is much more full than that of Las Casas, and appears to be copied word for word. I have noticed the differ- ences in their place. It is probable that Bernaldez also had access to the Journal, but made no great use of it,^ and Oviedo never appears to have seen it.^ In the archives of the Duke of Infantado there was, in the end of the last century, a small folio volume in a parchment cover, consisting of seventy- six leaves closely written. It is in the handwriting of Las Casas. There is another old volume, but somewhat later than that of Las Casas, also in folio, and with a similar cover, consisting of 140 leaves.