N THE VOYAGE OF VERRAZZANO A CHAPTER I T THE AMERICA. BY HENRY 0. MURPHY. « J .1 Jt- X?- t,4Z% 2 / . ££ C£ / €, < - £ .-'V t yr z . s’ l SV //,, . s Y/££y y '/ // * f * u y THE VOYAGE OF VERRAZZANO: A CHAPTER IN THE Early History of Maritime Discovery in AMERICA. BY HENRY C. MURPHY. NEW YORK 1875. TO THE JWentorg or BUCKINGHAM SMITH, ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA. , The following pages, intended to show the claim of dis- covery in America by Yerrazzano to be without any real foundation, belong to a work, in hand, upon the earliest explorations of the coast which have led to the settle- ment of the United States by Europeans. They are now printed separately, with some additions and neces- sary changes, in consequence of the recent production of the map of Hieronimo de Yerrazano, which professes to represent this discovery, and is therefore supposed to its afford some proof of authenticity ; in which view it has been the subject of a learned and elaborate memoir by J. Carson Brevoort Esq. Certain important documents in relation to Yerrazzano, procured from the archives of Spain and Portugal by the late Buckingham Smith, on a visit to those countries a year or two before his death, are appended. They were to second edition his Inquiry intended ^accompany a of , a purpose which has been interrupted by his decease. They were entrusted by him to the care of his friend, G-eorge IT. Moore Esq., of Yew York, who has placed them at our disposal on the present occasion. The fragmentary and distorted form in which the letter ascribed to Yerrazzano, appeared in the collection of Bamusio, and was thence universally admitted into history, rendered it necessary that the letter should be here given complete, according to its original meaning. It is, therefore annexed in the English translation of Dr. Cogswell, which though not entirely unexceptionable is, for all purposes, sufficiently accurate. The original Italian text can, how- ever, be consulted in the Collections of the Yew York Historical Society, accompanying his translation, and also VI VERRAZZANO. in the Archivio Storico Italiano, in which it is represented by the editor to be more correctly copied from the manu- script, and amended in its language where it seemed cor- rupt ; but such corrections are few and unimportant. In all cases in which the letter is now made the subject of critical examination, the passages referred to are given, for obvious reasons, according to the reading of the Floren- tine editor. We are indebted to the American Geographical Society of New York for the use of its photographs of the Ver- razano map, and to Mr. Brevoort for a copy of the cosmogra- phy of Alfonse, from which the chart of Norumbega has been taken. And our thanks are due to Dr. J. Gilmary Shea of New York, for valuable assistance and to Dr. E. ; R. Straznicky of the Astor Library, Mons. C. Maunoir of the Societe de Geographie of Paris, Dr. J. Hammond Trumbull of Hartford, Hon. John R. Bartlett of Provi- dence, and James Lenox Esq. of New York, for various favors kindly rendered during the progress of our re- searches. Brooklyn, Sept. 1875. CONTENTS. Page I. The Discovery Attributed to Verrazzano, 1-9 II. The Verrazzano Letter not Genuine, . 10-24 III. The Letter untrue. I. No Yoyage or Discovery made for the King of France, as it states, 25-44 IY. II. Misrepresentations in regard to the Geography of the Coast. The Chesapeake. The Island of Louise. Massachusetts Bay, .... 45-56 Y. III. Cape Breton and the Southerly Coast of New- foundland, here claimed to have been discovered, were known previously. Perversion of the Text of the Letter by Bamusio, .... 57-69 VI. IY. The Description of the People and Productions of the Land not made from the Personal Observation of the Writer of the Letter. What distinctively be- longed to the Natives is unnoticed, and what is originally mentioned of them is untrue. Further important Alterations of the Text by Bamusio, . 69-83 VII. The Extrinsic Evidence in Support of the Claim. I. Discourse of the French Sea Captain of Dieppe, . 84-90 VIII. II. The Yerrazano Map. It is not an Authoritative Exposition of the Yerrazzano Discovery. Its Origin and Date in its present Form. The Letter of Anni- bal Caro. The Map presented to Henry VIII. Voyages of Verrazzano. The Globe of Euphrosy- nus Ulpius, ....... 91-115 VIII CONTENTS. IX. The Letter to the King founded on the Discoveries of Estevan Gomez. The History of Gomez and his Voyage. The Publication of his Discoveries in Spain and Italy before the Verrazzano claim. The Voyage described in the Letter traced to Ribero’s Map of the Discoveries of Gomez, . 116-133 X. The Career of Verrazzano. An Adventurous Life and Ignominious Death. Conclusion, . 134-151 Appendix, . 154-186 Index 187-197 ILLUSTRATIONS. • The Caravel, 9 Arms of the Dauphin, afterwards Henry II, 44 Cape Henry and Entrance into the Chesapeake, . 56 Birch-Bark Canoe, 83 MAPS. Facing page Chart from the Cosmography of Jean Alfonse, ... 37 Map of Hieronomo de Verrazano, of the alleged Discovery and adjacent Countries, only, .... 91 Map from the Globe of Ulpius, of the same, . .114 Map of Diego Ribero, showing the Exploration of Gomez and the alleged Track of Verrazzano, . 129 Map of Verrazano entire, at the End of the Volume. VOYAGE OF VERRAZZANO: A CHAPTER IN THE EARLY HISTORY OF MARITIME DISCOVERY IN AMERICA^ I. Attributed to . The Discovery Verrazzano. The discovery of the greater portion of the Atlantic coast of North America, embracing all of the United States north of Cape Roman in South Carolina, and of the northern British provinces as far at least as Cape Breton, by Giovanni da Yerrazzano, a Florentine, in the service of the king of France, has received until quite recently the assent of all the geographers and historians who have taken occasion to treat of the subject. This acknowledgment, for more than three hundred years, which would seem to preclude all ques- tion in regard to its authenticity at this late day, has, however, been due more to the peculiar circumstances of its publication than to any evidence of its truth. The only account of it which exists, is contained in a letter purporting to have been written by the disco- verer himself, and is not corroborated by the testimony of any other person, or sustained by any documentary proof. It was not published to the world until it 2 VERRAZZANO. * appeared for the first time in Italjq the birth place of the navigator, more than thirty years after the trans- actions to which it relates are alleged to have taken it place ; and has not, up to the present time, received any confirmation in the history of France, whose sove- reign, it is asserted, sent forth the expedition, and to whose crown the right of the discovery accordingly attached. Yet it is not difficult to comprehend how the story, appealing to the patriotic sympathies of Ramusio, was inconsiderately adopted by him, and in- serted in his famous collection of voyages, and thus receiving his sanction, was not unwillingly accepted, upon his authority, by the French nation, whose glory it advanced, without possibly its having any real foundation. And as there never was any cplonization or attempt at possession of the country in consequence of the alleged discovery, or any assertion of title under it, except in a single instance of a comparatively modern date, and with no important bearing, it is no less easy to understand, how thus adopted and pro- mulgated by the only countries interested in the ques- tion, the claim was admitted by other nations without challenge or dispute, and has thus become incorpo- rated into modern history without investigation: Although the claim has never been regarded of any practical importance in the settlement of the country, it # has nevertheless possessed an historigal and geograph- ical interest in connection with the origin and pro- gress of maritime discovery on this continent. Our own writers assuming its validity, without investiga- tion, have been content to trace, if possible, the route of Verrazzano and point out the places he explored, seek- THE VOYAGE. 3 ing merely to reconcile the account with the actual condition and situation of the country. Their ex- planations, though sometimes plausible, are often con- tradictory, and not unfrequently absurd. Led into an examination of its merits with impressions in its favor, we have nevertheless been compelled to adopt the conclusion of a late American writer, that it is 1 utterly fictitious. The grounds upon which our con- viction rests we propose now to state. Some docu- ments will be introduced, for the first time here brought to light, which will serve further to elucidate the ques- tion, and show the career and ultimate fate of Ver- razzano. The letter, in which the pretension is advanced, pro- fesses to be addressed by Verrazzano to the king of France, at that time Francis I, from Dieppe, in Nor- mandy, the 8th of July (0. S.), 1524, on his return to that port from a voyage, undertaken by order of the king, for the purpose of finding new countries ; and to give an account of the discoveries which he had accord- ingly made. He first reminds his majesty that, after starting with four ships, originally composing the expe- dition, he was compelled by storms, encountered on the northern coasts, to put into Brittany in distress, with the loss of two of them ; and that after repairing there the others, called the and Delfina - Normanda ( Dau phine), he made a* cruize with this fleet of war, as they are styled, along the coast of Spain.