His first
voyages were from Genoa, of which city he was a native, to different ports
in the Mediterranean, with which this republic traded. His ambition,
however, was not long to be confined to seas so well known. Scarcely had he
attained the age of twenty, when he sailed into the Atlantic; and steering
to the north, ran along the coast of Iceland, and, according, to his own
journal, penetrated within the arctic circle. In another voyage he sailed
as far south as the Portuguese fort of St. George del Mina, under the
equator, on the coast of Africa. On his return from this voyage, he seems
to have engaged in a piratical warfare with the Venetians and Turks, who,
at this period, disputed with the Genoese the sovereignty and commerce of
the Mediterranean; and in this warfare he was greatly distinguished for
enterprize, as well as for cool and undaunted courage.
At this period he was attracted to Lisbon by the fame which Prince Henry
had acquired, on account of the encouragement he afforded to maritime
discovery. In this city he married the daughter of a person who had been
employed in the earlier navigations of the prince; and from his
father-in-law he is said to have obtained possession of a number of
journals, sea charts, and other valuable papers. As he had ascertained that
the object of the Portuguese was to reach India by the southern part of
Africa, he concluded, that, unless he could devise or suggest some other
route, little attention would be paid to him.
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