Discoverers Web: John Cabot

John Cabot

Giovanni Caboto (Cabots Italian name, other spellings are used as well) was born in Genova, probably around 1451. However, already when he was a child, or maybe a young man, he moved to Venice.

It was probably on hearing of Columbus's discovery of 'the Indies' that he decided to find a route to the west for himself. He went with his plans to England, because:

  1. He incorrectly thought the spiceries were coming from northern Asia
  2. Because a degree of longitude is shorter the further one is from the equator, the voyage from western Europe to eastern Asia would be shorter on higher latitudes.
King Henry VII gave him a grant "full and free authoritie, leave, and power, to sayle to all partes, countreys, and seas, of the East, of the West, and of the North, under our banners and ensignes, with five ships ... and as many mariners or men as they will have in saide ships, upon their own proper costes and charges, to seeke out, discover, and finde, whatsoever iles, countreyes, regions or provinces of the heathen and infidelles, whatsoever they bee, and in what part of the world soever they be, whiche before this time have beene unknowen to all Christians."

Cabot went to Bristol to make the preparations for his voyage. Bristol by then was the second-largest seaport of England, and during the past years (from 1480 onwards) several expeditions had been sent out to look for Hy-Brasil, an island that would lay somewhere in the Atlantic according to Celtic legends. Some people think Newfoundland may have been found on (one of) these voyages.

Cabot left with only one vessel, the Matthew, a small ship (50 tuns), but fast and able. The crew consisted of only 18 people. He departed on 20 May, 1497 (he had also made a voyage in 1496, but got no further than Iceland). He sailed to Dursey Head, Ireland, from where he sailed due west to Asia - or so he thought. He landed on the American eastcoast at 24 June, 1497. I would have liked to be more precise, but his landing-place is a matter of much controversy. He went ashore to take possession of the land, and explored the coast for some time, probably departing at 20 July. On the homeward travel his sailors thought they were going too far north, so Cabot sailed a more southernly course, reaching Brittany instead of England. At 6 August he arrived back in Bristol.

Back in England Cabot got well rewarded (a pension of 20 pounds a year), and a patent was written for a new voyage. The next year, 1498, he departed again, with 5 ships this time. Except for one of the ships, that soon after depart made for an Irish port because of distress, nothing was heared of the expedition, or of John Cabot, ever since.

As I said before, Cabot's landfall is still unknown, because of lack of evidence. Many experts think it's on Cape Breton Island, but others look for it in Newfoundland, Labrador or Maine. We'll probably never know the truth.

John's son Sebastian later made a voyage to North America, looking for the northwest passage (1508), and one to repeat Magellan's voyage around the world, which ended up looking for silver along the River Plate (1525-8). About the 1508 voyage little is known, and Morison doubts whether it really has taken place, suggesting it might be nothing more than bluff.

In 1498-1500 a few Portuguese travels, Miguel and Gaspar Corte-Real being the most famous participants, visited Greenland, Labrador and Newfoundland. In 1501-5 an English syndicate, consisting of 3 Azoreans and 2 English traders, made voyages to Newfoundland. From 1504, if not before, Breton, Basque, Portuguese and English fishermen crossed the ocean to catch fish on the Newfoundland banks.

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