Jaume Ferrer

Jaume Ferrer (Catalan pronunciation: [ˈʒawmə fəˈre], fl. 1346) was a Majorcan sailor and explorer.

Practically nothing is known of Jaume Ferrer, save that he was a Majorcan captain, who set out in a galley in 1346, and sailed down the West African coast in an attempt to reach the legendary "River of Gold". The results of this expedition, including whether Ferrer survived the journey, are unknown. Some recent research tentatively identifies Jaume Ferrer as "Giacomino Ferrar di Casa Maveri", a second generation Genoese immigrant in Majorca.

Nearly the only information for his expedition is the depiction and note given in the Catalan Atlas of 1375, attributed to the Majorcan cartographer Abraham Cresques (correct patronymic Cresques Abraham). In the bottom left corner of the map, there is a brightly painted Aragonese-flagged vessel and a note indicating merely that "Jacme Ferrer" set out in an uxer on August 10, 1346, to search for the "Riu de l'Or" (River of Gold). An uxer is a single-mast, square-rigged and oar-powered cargo galley, with rounded stern and low prow, commonly used to freight horses.

The geographic position of the ship (below the Canary Islands) suggest Ferrer probably sailed past Cape Bojador, at that time the non plus ultra of navigation, beyond which European ships dared not sail. If Ferrer survived and returned, then his feat preceded, by nearly a whole century, the famous successful passage of that cape by the Portuguese explorer Gil Eanes in 1434.

There is a sliver of additional information found in a note in the secret archives of the Republic of Genoa (uncovered in 1802), which refers to the expedition, noting that "Joannis Ferne", a Catalan, left "the city of the Majorcans" in a galeass on July 10, 1346 but the vessel was never heard of again, that he went searching for the Riu Auri ('River of Gold') because he heard that it was a collection point for "aurum de paiola" (gold nuggets?), that the people on the shores were all engaged in gold collection, and that the river was wide and deep enough for the largest ships.

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