Giovanni Caboto was born in Genoa around 1450, later moving to Venice and becoming a naturalized citizen of that city state in 1476. He took employment with a Venetian mercantile firm and learned his trade on the Mediterranean Sea, sailing the eastern shores and visiting the fabled city of Mecca. Becoming convinced that the quickest way to the rich trade of the far east was by sailing west, he moved his family to London in 1484, changed his name to John Cabot and petitioned King Henry VII for letter patent to permit him to seek out the way to China.
Early Voyages
It was not until after Columbus proved the sailing west theory that Henry finally granted Cabot authorization to sail “to all regions, countries and seas in the east, in the west and in the north.” (The south belonged to Spain.) Cabot wasted no time getting underway and sailed from Bristol in the same year. Before long he was back due to foul weather, lack of supplies and problems with the crew.
Taking more time to prepare, Cabot sailed again on May 2, 1497 in the bark Matthew with 18 men. Five weeks later, on June 24, he stepped ashore, raised a cross and banner of the king and claimed the land for Henry VII. Despite finding signs of human habitation, Cabot made no effort to contact them, instead returning to Matthew and sailing further down the coast of what may have been Nova Scotia. He returned to England in August without setting foot ashore again. Henry VII granted him £10 for his discoveries and the people of Bristol granted him a pension and called him “the Great Admiral”.
Search for China
Convinced he had landed on the coast of Asia, Cabot set out again on February 3, 1498 with several ships filled with trade goods from merchants in London and Bristol. His exact route is unknown but it is believed he sailed past the coast of Greenland and started north until his crew mutinied and demanded warmer weather. Sailing south in search of Japan he sailed past Newfoundland and then down the coast to Nova Scotia as far south as New England before turning back. Some accounts claim he sailed as far as Florida but given the time he was away from England this is unlikely.
By now he probably knew that he had not found Asia. Henry VII lost interest in these voyages when he reaped no financial returns.
The fate of John Cabot is unknown. He returned to England and probably died shortly afterwards for there is record of only two payments of his annual pension. It is also suspected that he was lost at sea off Newfoundland during a later voyage.
See Jacques Cartier for the next voyage of importance to Canada.
Bibliography
Thomas B. Costain – The White and the Gold – 1954
Edwin and Mary Guillet – The Pathfinders of North America – 1957
Encyclopedia Canadiana
