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Page 44
Ramusio here distinctly asserts that the only document in relation
to the voyage of Verrazzano which he had been able to procure, was
the letter which he published; but he informs his readers that he
had been told by certain persons who had known and conversed with
Verrazzano, that it was the intention of the navigator, as he
himself declared, to seek permission from Francis I, his adopted
sovereign, in whose service it is claimed he made the discovery, to
make another voyage to the new found land for the purposes of
colonization and further exploration; and he also states, upon the
same or other authority, that Verrazzano on another voyage was
killed and eaten, by the natives of the country. Consequently,
Verrazzano must have made a second voyage to America and obtained
such permission from the king. But there is not a particle of
evidence in existence, apart from the declarations of these persons
to Ramusio, that any such permission was ever given, or that a
second voyage took place. It proved the credulity of Ramusio that he
received these naked statements without any examination.] with the
suggestion of Coronelli, the Venetian geographer, that the place
where he thus met his death was at the entrance of the gulf of St.
Lawrence, The spurious letter of Carli adds that he had been in
Egypt, Syria and most other parts of the world. The ancient
manuscripts of Dieppe, as we have seen, [Footnote: Ante, p. 112,
note] speak of one of his name who accompanied Aubert, in his voyage
to Newfoundland, in 1508; and the statement of Hakluyt before
referred to, gives some ground to believe that he was employed in
early voyages to that region, before he engaged in his operations
against the commerce of Spain.
What is certainly known of him relates almost exclusively to his
career as a French corsair, during the few years which intervened
between the breaking out of hostilities between Francis I and
Charles V, and his death, in 1527. His cruises, though directed
principally against the Spaniards, were not tender of the interests
of Portugal; and it is accordingly from Spanish and Portuguese
writers and documents of the period, that the little information
that exists in relation to him, is derived. He is called by the
former, Juan Florin or Florentin, or simply, the Florentine,--the
French corsair. He is designated on an occasion to be noted, as Juan
Florin of Dieppe. [Footnote: On the capture of the treasure fleet.
See Appendix, iv.] They appear to have known him by no other name.
They never heard of him as a discoverer, real or pretended, of new
countries, until long afterwards. The Verrazzano letter had not been
published when Peter Martyr, Oviedo and Gomara wrote; and when
Martyr and Gomara make mention of him, they do so only by the title
by which he was designated by the Spanish sailors. There was,
therefore, no opportunity for his identification by them in the
double character of a great discoverer, and a corsair; and it was
not until many years after the publication of the Verrazzano letter
that this identification was first declared by Barcio [Footnote:
Ensayo Chronologico, sub anno, 1524.].
There is no room, however; to doubt its entire correctness. That the
occupation of Verrazzano was that of a cruizer on the seas, is not
only declared in the letter ascribed to him, [Footnote: Ramusio
gives Verrazzano this character more distinctly than it appears in
the original version. One of the first alterations of the text, is
of the passage previously referred to, relating to the cruise of the
Normandy and Dauphiny, after their repairs in Brittany. The Carli
version, reads, in connection with the two ships on that occasion:
date restaurati ara V. S. M. inteso il discorso facemo con quelle
armate in querra per li liti di Spagna, that is, "where being
repaired, your serene majesty will have understood we made the
cruize with THIS FLEET OF WAR along the coasts of Spain," from which
it is to be implied only, that the cruize was for the purpose of
depredating on Spanish commerce. But Ramusio, as became his
practice, with this document at least, altered this clause into doce
poi che furono secondo il bisogno raccociate So ben armeggiate, per
i liti di Spagna ce n'andammo in carso, il che V. M. haverd inteso
per il profitto che ne facemmo; which Hakluyt fairly renders:
"Where, after we had repaired them in all points as was needfull,
and armed them very well, we took our course along by the coast of
Spain, which your majesty shall understand, BY THE PROFIT WE
RECEIVED THEREBY." As this cruize according to the date of the
letter must have taken place in 1523, this language, which is
Ramusio's own, as to the profit, would seem to refer almost to the
capture by Verrazzano of the treasure sent by Cortes, to the emperor
which occurred in the summer of that year, as hereafter related: but
Verrazzano's fleet consisted of six instead of two ships on that
occasion. The words of Ramusio, show, however, that he knew
Verazzano was a rover, in search of booty on the seas or at least,
that he so regarded him.] but is clearly established by the
agreement made by him with Chabot. Besides, there is no other
Giovanni, a Florentine, known in the history of the time, sailing in
that capacity under the French flag and from the same port of
Dieppe; and the references must have therefore been to him alone.
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