as early as 1566; but the account in Camden's Annals goes to show (for what it may be worth) that it was first seriously debated about 1576, when Frobisher made his first voyage for the discovery of such a passage.1 account is as follows: The At this time [1576] some studious heads, moved with a commendable desire to discover the more remote regions of the World, and the secrets of the Ocean, excited well-money'd men, no less inflamed with a desire of profit, to discover whether there were any strait in the North part of America, through which men might sail to the rich country of Cathay, and so the wealth of the East and West might be conjoined by a mutual commerce. Those studious men probably argued that there was a strait open on that part, taking it for granted that the nearer the shore a man cometh the shallower are the waters. But they which sail to the West Coast of Iceland find by experience the sea to be deeper. . . . Then they argued, that whereas the Ocean is carried with the daily motion of Primum Mobile [or the uppermost heaven], being beaten back by the opposition of America it runneth Northward to Cabo Fredo, that is, the Cold Cape or Promontory, about which place it should be emptied through some Strait into the Sea Del Sur: otherwise it would be beaten back with the like violence upon Lapland and Finmark, as it is in the South part of the world beaten back from the Strait of Magellan (a strait full of isles, and by reason of the narrowness of the strait, being so full of isles, uncapable of so great a quantity of waters) along the Eastern coast of America to Cabo Fredo. For witnesses they bring Anthony Jenkinson an Englishman, than whom no man had fuller knowledge of the North part of the World . . . also Bernard le Torr a Spaniard. . . Herewith these money'd men being persuaded, sent Martin Frobisher with nine pinnaces to discover this strait.2 This passage appears to be taken from Chapter II. §§ 7, 8, 9 of Gilbert's "Discourse," of which the following paragraph is a summary. 1 Frobisher started on his first voyage for the discovery of a North-West passage rather less than two months after the publication of Gilbert's "Discourse." He made two further attempts in 1577 and 1578, but was turned back by ice. The last voyage involved him and others in a great disappointment, as (in the rather caustic words of Camden) he brought back "a great quantity of stones" which he took for gold: which since "we have seen cast forth to mend the high-ways." 2 Camden, tr. "R. N." 1635, revised. Following the diurnal motion of Primum Mobile, the sea must run, circularly, from east to west. Arriving at the Straits of Magellan, the waters are forced, owing to the narrowness of that channel, up along the east coast of America to Capo Fredo; and so the current, being continually maintained, "as Jaques Cartier affirmeth," must either pass through a passage to Cathay, or strike back upon the coasts of Norway, etc., with even greater force, "which it doth not." The like course of the water is observed in the Mediterranean Sea, which coming from the Euxine, etc., along the coast of Europe, is impeded by the Straits of Gibraltar, and flows back, in consequence, along the African coast. Another current comes from the north-east "from the Scythian sea (as M. Jenkinson ... told me) which runneth Westward towardes Labrador," and must find a way through, or meet the other current coming from the south; but "no such conflictes of streames" are found "about any parte of Labrador or Terra Noua, as witnesse our yerely fishers and other saylers that way, but is there disgested, as aforesaid, and founde by the experience of Bernard de la Tore, to fall into Mare del Sur." Why should not Camden have given Gilbert the credit for this speculation, if it was really his? The publication of the "Discourse" can hardly have been the occasion for these discussions, as that was too near Frobisher's departure, and therefore the "money'd men (if Camden's account is correct) must have been approached earlier. It is curious, however, that Gilbert's initiative, if it was really his, should not have been mentioned. Camden must have known both Gilbert and Ralegh, and he was certainly intimately acquainted with Bacon and other leading men of the time. On this ground alone I find it very difficult to believe that Gilbert's theory — which apparently produced such important results when divulged -was held back by him for ten years. There are also further reasons for doubting the story of the Gascoigne epistle. I drew attention to one in the last chapter, in the inconsistency of the dates. There is He was another in the occupations of Gilbert himself. not a sailor, and would therefore-unless he was an ingenious theorist and practised writer (of which there is no evidence)—have been incapable of producing a treatise on Navigation, with various nautical inventions, as announced (see below, p. 311). Also in 1566 he was serving as a soldier in Ireland under Sir Henry Sidney, and the main purpose of the petition which he presented in that year to the Queen, on coming over from Ireland with dispatches in November, was evidently north-western colonisation, which seems to have been his object throughout his life-for he was a poor man, and hoped to establish his fortunes in another country.1 In the article on Gilbert in the Dictionary of National Biography the writer states that "on 6 Nov. 1577 Gilbert set forth another 'discourse': How Her Majesty might annoy the King of Spain by fitting out a fleet of war-ships under a pretence of a voyage of discovery, and so fall upon the enemy's shipping, destroy his trade in Newfoundland and the West Indies, and possess both Regions (State Papers, Dom. cxviii. 12)." This document, which is in the Record Office, is a short paper in manuscript, apparently a memorial, or the draft of a memorial, to the Queen (with the above description and date), which may be by Gilbert, but which cannot be stated with any certainty to be by him. As the Calendar says, "This has been signed, but the signature has been obliterated with a pen. It is, however, conjectured to be H. Gylberte.'" This conjecture obtains support from the fact that in the following year (June 1578) Gilbert received a patent for the occupation and settlement of 1 Since this chapter was first written I have had the benefit of reading the Life of Sir Humphrey Gilbert, by Mr. W. G. Gosling (of Newfoundland), Constable & Co., 1911. A copy of Gilbert's petition of 1566, and of the objections to it raised by the Corporation of Merchant Adventurers, will be found on p. 69 sq. of that book. The petition was for a licence "for the discovery of a passage to Cathay, and all the other rich parts of the world, hitherto not found," and a concession to occupy countries "as shall be discovered . . . towards any part of the north and west as shall be by us chosen." The Company, while expressing willingness to confer with Gilbert, claimed the sole right of such trading and occupation. Newfoundland. One thing, however, may, in my judgment, be stated with absolute certainty, that the writer of the MS. memorial of 1577 was not the author of the "Discourse" published with the Gascoigne epistle in 1576. The style of the memorial, however, is perhaps compatible with Gilbert's character. The memorialist says: First yo highnes owght undoubtedly to seeke the kingdome of heaven, and upon that foundason to beleeve that there can never bee constant and firme league of amytie betwene those princes whose division is planted by the woorme of thier conscience. What follows is interesting from the light it throws on the methods of "unofficial" warfare which prevailed under the aegis of Queen Elizabeth. The policy to pursue, says the writer, is to make the enemy spend money and diminish his power at sea, either by open hostility or by some colourable means: "The way to work the feat is to set forth under such like colour of discovery certain ships of war to the Newfound Land which with your good licence I will undertake without your Majesty's charge."1 These may be left "to pretend it as done without your privity either in the service of the Prince of Orange or otherwise." The ships of France, Spain and Portugal to be met at Newfoundland, where they would take the best and burn the worst, "and those that they take to carry into Holland and Zealand, or as piratts to shroud themselves for a small time upon your Majesty's coasts under the friendship of some certain vice-admiral of this realm, who may be afterwards committed to prison as in displeasure for the same." The writer concludes: "I hold it as lawful in Christian policy to prevent a mischief betimes as to revenge it too late, especially seeing that God himself is a party in the common quarrels now afoot, and his enemy's malicious disposition towards your highness The 1 Spelling modernised, and so in the quotations which follow. document has been printed by Mr. Gosling (see note on previous page). The facsimile, however, of Gilbert's signature, which is printed at the end of it (p. 139), bears no resemblance to the erased signature in the original document, which Mr. Gosling himself admits "is not in Gilbert's handwriting" (p. 127). The reproduction, therefore, of a signature by Gilbert in that place is rather misleading. and his church manifestly seen although God's merciful providence not yet fully felt." An appeal of this kind was much more likely to find favour with Elizabeth than the longer and more speculative "Discourse" which was published in 1576. It is also more in keeping with what can be gathered as to Gilbert's temperament and experience. I doubt, however, whether it is his, and it is impossible to say how far Gilbert's charter to discover and colonise in the North-West of America, which was granted in June 1578, was attributable to this writing. It appears that towards the end of 1578 the expedition started, Ralegh, Gilbert's half-brother, being one of the company, and that fears of the Spanish fleet, and other difficulties, led to its return without reaching the coast of America; also that Gilbert and Ralegh reached home separately, some time in 1579. The renewal of the voyage was prohibited by the Council, no doubt owing to fears of trouble with Spain, and Gilbert and Ralegh proceeded to Ireland, where the former had served under Sir Henry Sidney from 1566 to 1570.1 In 1581 Gilbert was again in London, trying to raise money for a further expedition to Newfoundland, as his charter would have otherwise expired in 1584. He appears at that time to have been in great want. At last, after many difficulties, and, as appears from the relations, with inadequate supplies for effecting a settlement in America, he sailed to Newfoundland from Plymouth on 11th June 1583, and after formally taking possession of the country on behalf of the English Crown, was compelled to return, and met his death on the homeward voyage in a storm at sea on 9th September 1583. His was the fate of many pioneers, whose work seems a failure to their own generation. Camden, in an allusion to the event, describes him as "vir acer et alacer," 2 a "keen and active," or "keen and enterprising," man; also as "belli pacisque artibus clarus" ("renowned in the arts of war and peace"); but that these 1 Ralegh may also have been there before, but this is uncertain. |