John Cabot was an Italian navigator who came to Bristol when he was about fifty years old. Born in Gaeta and later a citizen of Venice,Italy, his Italian name of Giovanni Caboto became shortened to the English style John Cabot after he had lived in Bristol. In Italian, ‘Caboto’ means “ a coastal seaman” and was quite a common name given to sailors and navigators.

He was married to a Venetian wife whose name was Mattea. His ship, the “Matthew” was almost certainly named after her.

Cabot was a lifelong friend of Christopher Columbus who also came from Italy. In 1493, Cabot learned of his friend’s voyage of discovery that had taken him to the West Indies - thinking that he had found a sea route westward to China and Japan.

With a great sense of adventure, John Cabot approached the kings of Spain and Portugal for sponsorship that would enable him to get an expedition together to similarly explore a new route to the orient by sailing west. At that time, spices and silks were carried overland from China by mule and camel, taking an enormously long time to reach Europe. A ship can carry much more cargo and if a route to the east could be found over the ocean, then the finder would become very rich indeed.

Unfortunately, Spain and Portugal were not interested in Cabots ideas.

Cabot had met many English merchants trading in the Mediterranean, and there was a large Italian community at that time in Bristol, so he decided to go to England and seek sponsorship from King Henry VII. In fact, the merchant adventurers of Bristol raised funds for his journey as well as the King, and in 1496 he was granted “Letters Patent” by the King to “..discover and claim a New World”.

In May the following year, Cabot left Bristol on his ship the Matthew and sailed west with the intention of finding China or Japan.

Instead, he discovered the “New Founde Landes” which we now know of course as Newfoundland, Canada. After anchoring his ship off the coast of this new land, he rowed ashore and planted a cross, the banners of King Henry VII of England, the Pope and of St Mark, the patron saint of Venice.

He and his companions then set sail south, travelling over nine hundred miles down the east coast of north America before turning east and back to England.

Arriving back in Bristol on August 5th 1497, he was acclaimed as a hero by his sponsors and became a major celebrity in Bristol. Immediately, he set off by horse on the road to London to inform the King of his discoveries. The King was extremely pleased to hear of Cabot’s adventures and paid him 10 for his discovery of the “new founde landes” and suggested that Cabot make a return journey to find out more of the new continent.

Sadly, John Cabot and his fleet did not return from the second expedition. Nothing is known of what happened to him. He may have perished in a storm, or hit an iceberg, or maybe even reached the new continent and died at the hands of Indians, or more likely, the Spanish.

Although we do not know for certain what happened to Cabot’s second voyage, we can credit John Cabot for both taking the English language to north America and for being the first Englishman to discover the mainland of north America. Contrary to popular belief, Columbus had not found the mainland, having reached the west Indies and much later finding what we now know as Venezuela.

At Redcliffe Quay, Bristol, we are building a re-construction of John Cabot’s ship the Matthew as part of the forthcoming celebrations of the five hundredth anniversary of his voyage in 1497. In May 1997, this little ship will set out from Bristol with eighteen crew to rediscover the Newfoundland coast and take part in the massive celebrations planned by the Province in June that year.

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