Page:History of merchant shipping and ancient commerce (Volume 2).djvu/76

 Sebastian Cabot, in the ship Matthew, of Bristol, a vessel of two hundred tons burthen, first discovered, according to the common opinion, Newfoundland, being the first Englishman (for he was born at Bristol) who had landed in America. How far he proceeded south has been a question of much controversy; it is, however, generally admitted that his voyage north and south was confined within the 67th and 38th degrees of north latitude, and that it did not occupy altogether more than six months. In the account of the privy purse expenses of Henry VII. there is the following entry: "10th of August, 1497. To hym that found the New Isle, 10l.," and Hakluyt states, in the dedication of his second volume to Sir Robert Cecil, that "all that mighty tract of land from 67 degrees northward to the latitude almost of Florida was first discovered out of England by the com-*