A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 06: Arranged in Systematic Order: Forming a Complete History of the Origin and Progress of Navigation, Discovery, and Commerce, by Sea and Land, from the Earliest Ages to the Present TimeKerr, Robert
History
A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 06: Arranged in Systematic Order: Forming a Complete History of the Origin and Progress of Navigation, Discovery, and Commerce, by Sea and Land, from the Earliest Ages to the Present Time
Kerr, Robert
Voyages and travels
The weather becoming fair next day, the 25th July, we left that
port[35], and after getting out of the river, we sailed to the E.N.E.
the land forming a semicircular bay, the extremities lying S.E. and N.W.
From Monday the 27th of the month, we went along this land, till on
Wednesday the 29th we came to another cape, after which the land turned
to the east for about 15 leagues, and then turned to the north. We
sounded about three leagues from this cape, and had ground at 24
fathoms. The land on this part of the coast seems better and freer of
woods, than any we had seen, having fine green fields and fair meadows.
We named this land Cape St Alvise, because first seen on the day of that
saint. It is in lat. 49° 30' N. On Wednesday morning, being to the east
of that cape, whence we sailed N.W. till night, keeping near the land,
which trends from south to north for about 15 leagues to another cape,
which we named _Memorancie_, after which the coast trends to the N.W.
About 3 leagues from this cape we tried soundings, but had no bottom
with a line of 150 fathoms. We went along this coast to the lat. of 50°
N. At sunrise of Saturday 1st August, we had sight of other land lying
north and north-east, which was high, craggy, and mountainous, having
low land interposed, with woods and rivers. We continued along this
coast, still trending N.W. to look for a gulf or passage, till the 5th
of the month; but we had great difficulty to advance five miles in all
that time, the wind and tide being both adverse. At the end of these
five miles, we could plainly see land on both sides, which appeared to
spread out; but as we were unable to work up to windward, we proceeded
to another cape to the southward, being the farthest out to sea within
sight, and about five leagues from us. On coming up to this head-land,
we found it nothing but rocks, stones, and craggy cliffs, such as we had
not seen the like of since leaving Cape St Johns. The tide being now in
our favour carried our ships to the westwards against the wind, when
suddenly one of our boats struck on a rock and overset, so that our
people had to leap out and set it to right again. After going along this
coast for two hours, the tide turned against us, so that it was
impossible to advance any farther with all our oars. We went therefore
to land, leaving 10 or 12 of our people to keep the boats, and going by
land to the cape, we observed the land beyond to trend S.W. After this
we returned to our boats, and then to the ships, which had drifted four
leagues to leeward of the place where we left them.
[Footnote 35: In a side-note, Hakluyt expresses an opinion that this
harbour is what is now called Gaspay, or Gaspe Bay in lat. 48° 44' N.,
near Cape Rosiers, the south cape of the river St Lawrence.--E.]
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