conteyned shall not extende to any person whiche shall bye eny
fisshe in any parties of Iseland, Scotlands, Orkeney,
Shotlande, Ireland, or Newland [Newfoundland]."

The caution, however, suggested above must be borne in mind in
noticing the earliest mention of Newfoundland; the name was
indiscriminately applied to the island itself and to the neighbouring
coasts, so that it is for some time impossible to be sure whether it
is employed in the wide or narrow sense. It is certain, however, that
the island was becoming well known. Its position as the nearest point
to Europe made it familiar to the band of Northerly explorers.
Verrazzano, a Florentine, in the service of France, determined to
discover a western way to Cathay, sailed along America northward from
North Carolina, and placed the French flag on the territory lying
between New Spain and Newfoundland, which newly acquired territory was
thenceforth designated Norumbega or New France. All such original
annexations, whether pretended or real, were in the circumstances
extremely ill-defined; and maps of the time were frequently vague,
confusing, and contradictory. Cartier, on his way to sow the seeds of
a French Empire in North America, sailed past the coast (1534), and on
his second voyage (1535) foregathered with Roberval in the roadstead
of St. John's. Still earlier, in 1527, a voyage was made to the island
by John Rut, with the countenance of Henry VIII. and encouragement of
Cardinal Wolsey, but the authorities for this voyage are late and
unreliable. Purchas reproduces a valuable letter from John Rut (who
was a better sailor than scholar) to the King, from which it appears
that he found in the harbour of St. John's "eleven saile of Normans
and one Brittaine, and two Portugall barks, and all a fishing," as
well as two English trade-ships.[17]