Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-07-15
Who Discovered
America !
BY Frederic J. Haskin.

1
sen, librarian Of the University Of Copen-
hagen and a great student Of history, has
madc remarkable discovery in his delv-
inp among ancient Portuguese and
| Danish archives He has discovered that
John Scolvo, n Danish sea captain, landed
/ upon the shores Df America IN 1916,
sixteen years before Columbus Mr.. j.
| Christian Bay, head Of the medical refer
encc section Of the Crerar Library here,
who has just translated tho results Of
| DIR. Larsens research work into English,
states that the maps, documents and
| journals which DIR. Larsen has unearthed
are conclusive evidence that John Scolvo's
voyage is the first recorded discovery Of
the western continent
/ II is generally believed that various
Scandinavian navigators had seen North
America or some Of the islands near it long
before the voyage Of Columbus but this
has never been proved. DR.. larsen claims
TO have proof positive Of Scolvo's voyage.
| ff this is so, and anyone who hears the
story from the scholarly Mr.. Bay finds il
hard 10 doubt IT, it makes pretty state
| of affairs over here. To be perfectly
logical VIC ought to change the District
] of Columbia to the District Of ScOlvia, VIC
ought 10 have n Scolvis, Ohio, and as
1 for some of the national anthems
| However, people are never perfectly
| logical, so this momentous discovery, 80
exciting to the savants, will probably not
make the slightesC stir among us We
have worked up lot of quite justified,
sentimental fondness for Columbus, and IL
would be hard for anyone to get our
| sympathy oreven our neutral hearing for
any Scolvo-Columbu controversy. We
feel about Columbus as the man in the
hakcspeare-Bacon controversy felt
about the well-known playwright when he
said, 'Well, If Shakespeare didn't write
his plays they we're written by another
man named Shakespeare.
Nevertheless IL is fascinating 20 muse
| upon old Scolvo's voyage suddenly com
ing TO light after more than FIVE hundred
wears. And it is especially fascinating
/ to sit in Mr.. Bays small study among
ancient tones and exquisite bits OF
illuminated parchment, and hear his mild
voiced. auaintly-worded story Of the
Danish pilot.
now TT STARTED.
II would seem that il all began with
| Henry the Navigator, Portuguese
prince. and a strange monk-like figure
In history. This Henry was man OF
vision and great organizing ability lie
surrounded himself with a group Of
adventures, explorers and fanatics, and
spent his life trying 10 find the ends Of
the world. One Of his greatest ambitions
was TO reach India by sailing around the
Cape Of Good Hope. After nineteen At
tempts he accomplished this Then, as ne
had theory that he might reach another
part Of India by northwestern passage,
he wrote to his brother-ln-law, Christian,
the King Of Denmark, and asked him
] FtFft m
from Denmark.
He sent two Portuguese noblemen,
Hanen and Cortereal the Elder by name,
10 represent him on this voyage and
Christian selected promising young sea
captain, John Scolf or Scolvo, TO pilot
them on their way II was a perIlOtls
Journey that they undertook, but they
seem to have been perIl-loving men IN
those days. II would have been difficult
enough TO cross the South Atlantic, says
| Mr.. Bay. but TO pilot a small caravel
| across the Arctic Ocean required both
courage and great skill. Evidently John
Scolvo had both these traits. He steercd
| his little craft across the ocean 70 Iceland,
passed the coast of Greenland which he
saw but did not land upon, and then,
through ice-hlled waters, rough and I'M
known. he came 70 the coast OF Labrador
and the mouth of the St. Lawrence River.
scoLvo a CLAM.
John Soolvo's journal shows him to be
very tacIturn about his discovery. He
mentions that they have come to land
where there are many trees, and where
"the natives hunt game by means Of
white falcons" After ascertaining these
picturesque facts he turned around and
came back 20 Denmark, and no more is
heard of him. The two Portuguese noble
men, however, we're more impressed with
what they had discovered. They hurried
back to report to Henry the Navigator
only to find that he had died IN their
| absence Que can't help being sorry for
poor Henry. He would have been so
thrilled at the new yistas for exploration
| which this discovery opened up to him.
Also if he had lived the whole early his
tory of America might have been differ
| ent, as he undoubtedly would not have
| let the new continent rest IN peace.
For some reason this is what the two
Portuguese did. They reported the re-
suits of their voyage for Alfonso. Henry's
successor but they seem to have made
little of the new land and TO have kept
the discovery of it secret, either for
political reasons or because they hoped to
use their knowledge for private gain and
the times were not then propitious for
them to exploit the new land.
Whatever the reason, they dropped out
of sight with their secret, Hamen never
to appear again, and Cortereal not until
Columbus had landed after his third
voyage. Then, however, old Cortereal be-
stirred himself. He wrote a letter to
| Alfonso which is one OF the most i'm
portant documents in DIR. LarSen's array
of proofs. In it he asked for certain
rights. grants and privileges in the new
land, and says that he wants his two sons
to go over and rediscover the continent
which he had discovered twenty years
before. This letter, says MIR. Bay, was
probably the first attempt to form a