I was greatly impressed with Barry Fell’s America BC.
The Basque were big time cod fishermen well before Columbus’ time and they kept their fishing grounds secret- and some of the biggest cod grounds are off New England. They likely knew North America and kept it secret just like they did their cod grounds.
The Montagnais Indians developed a pidgin variety with many Basque words in it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montagnais_Pidgin_Basque
No question they were here, just a matter of the timeline.
They were going back home. :’)