size of the vessels used at that time on similar expeditions, she
was small. The two which composed the first expedition of Jacques
Cartier carried sixty men and were each of about sixty tons burden.
The Carli letter, which must be assumed to express the idea of the
writer on the subject, describes her as a caravel; which was a
vessel of light draught adapted to enter shallow rivers and harbors
and to double unknown capes where shoals might have formed, and was
therefore much used by the early navigators of the new world.
[Footnote: Le Moyen Age et la Renaissance. Tome Second. Marine, par
M. A. Jal. fol. V. (Paris 1849.)] Columbus chose two caravels, out
of the three vessels with which he made his first voyage; and the
third one, which was larger than either of the caravels, was less
than one hundred tons. The Dauphine is therefore to be considered,
from all the representations in regard to her, of less than the
latter capacity, and as specially adapted to the kind of service in
which she is alleged to have been engaged. In running north from
their extreme southerly limit, they must have passed the harbor of
Georgetown in South Carolina, and Beaufort in North Carolina, in
either of which the vessel could have entered; and in the latter,
carrying seventeen feet at low water and obtaining perfect shelter
from all winds. [Footnote: Blunt's American Coast Pilot, p. 359
(19th edition.)] But if they really had been unable to find either
of them, it is impossible that they should not have discovered the
Chesapeake, and entered it, under the alleged circumstances of their
search. That it may be seen what exactly is the statement of the
letter in regard to this portion of the coast, it is here given in
its own terms. Having represented the explorers as having reached a
point fifty leagues north of the landfall, which would have carried
them north of Hatteras, but still on the coast of North Carolina,
their movements over the next four hundred miles north are disposed