This book, researched and especially written to coincide with the 500th anniversary of Cabot's voyage to the New-Found-Land, places its emphasis on the little recognized fact that Newfoundland was the epicenter for the 100 year Age of Discovery (from 1497 to the first efforts at settlement in 1610)in the European exploration of North America. More than a dozen well-known explorers from England, France, Spain, and Portugal set their course for the waters off Newfoundland - and for a hoped for, shorter passage to India. These intriguing adventure stories deal with courageous and colourful personalities, unsolved mysteries, and tragic errors in judgment.

In the early 1500s, much European knowledge of North America was based upon Cabot's first voyage to the New-Found-Land. Accordingly each explorer-navigator, sailing out across the "Ocean Sea" made straight for our shores. Given the Island's key geographic position - hundreds of miles closer to Europe than any other part of the continent - the New-Found-Land became the gateway to North America. For the nations of Europe, this island served as bot the principle landfall, and a staging ground from which to explore, and eventually settle, the vast and rich lands of North America.