With my history minor complete, I decided to take more classes in law, until I saw your colonial history course. I have always had a strong interest in history, particularly dealing with the United States. The open option to study really almost anything we want dealing with colonial history, gave me the option to pursue extended study on this particular figure. I greatly enjoyed studying Roman history and I feel that this topic presents a great way to explore both colonial America and Italian history.

There is great debate as to precisely where John Cabot first landed on his voyage from Bristol England to the Americas. Many historians and scholars believe that Cabot did in fact discover North America, however they do not know how and why he landed where he did and in addition, the spot in which he landed. If Cabot did in fact keep a log or made maps of his voyage, they have disappeared. The only true information we have is a few secondhand maps that appear to be derived from Cabot’s journey. Historians have a number of theories as to where it was Cabot first landed: some say he landed in Labrador; others say it was Nova Scotia or Cape Breton Island; still others support a landing in Newfoundland; and a few even believe that he landed all the way in the Gulf of St. Lawrence or even Maine.[7] The problem is in the fact that there is evidence that suggests that anyone of these places could have been that place on Cabot’s landfall. It is simply impossible to determine because of the severe lack of primary historical information. A general consensus, if there were such a thing, would most likely support a Nova Scotia landfall.
 

The name of Cabot’s ship was the Matthew; it is believed to be named after his wife. It was a relatively small vessel, only able to carry about 50 tons of wine and other cargo. The vessel was decked, with high sterncastle and three masts. The two forward masts carried square mainsails to propel the vessel forward.[8]

There were about twenty people on board. Mostly made up of sailors and merchants from Bristol, although it remains unclear as to whether or not any of Cabot’s sons were on board.

The Matthew left Bristol sometime in May 1497. The consensus seems to be that Cabot sailed down the Bristol Channel, across to Ireland, and then north along the West Coast of Ireland before turning out to sea.[9] Of course where he landed is up for debate, however we do know that sometime around the 24^th of June he made landfall. We also know that he returned to Bristol on August the 4^th, after a 15-day return trip. This of course means that he was able to explore the region for about a month. The evidence describing the landfall comes from Pasqualigo, Soncino, and Day, who were non-participants in the voyage but wrote a series of letters describing the events. Taken together it appears that Cabot and his men went ashore, the first Europeans since the Norse to set foot in North America. They put up a cross and planted beside it the banners of England and Venice, and claimed the country for the king of England. They met no inhabitants, but saw signs of human life. Cabot thought he had reached the northeastern part of Asia and he began to look for riches but never found them.[10]

19^th Century interpretation of John Cabot’s discovery of North America. (Heritage Online Encyclopedia).

John Cabot returned home to Bristol and was quickly dubbed Henry the VII’s northern Columbus on 6 August 1497. Cabot and everyone else thought that a new, shorter route to Asia had been found. He did not find silks and spices, but it was thought that these riches could not be far away - and it was known that Columbus himself had not yet found anything of great commercial value. So Cabot became a hero: "... he is called the Great Admiral and vast honor is paid to him", wrote Lorenzo Pasqualigo, a Venetian living in London, "and he goes dressed in silk, and these English run after him like mad ...."[11] Henry VII granted £10 and later a pension of £20 a year. In February 1498, Henry authorized Cabot to take six ships, and return to the land of promise, so to speak. In May 1498 Cabot set sail with a fleet of five vessels; this of course was a significant advance over the previous year.[12] This particular voyage is dubbed as one of history's great puzzles. We know that Cabot’s fleet sailed, that one ship returned damaged after a storm, and that John Cabot disappears from the historical record. Everything else is speculation.[13] It seems likely that some of the vessels retraced the 1497 route and ended up exploring the area in more detail, and then returned to England with more geographical knowledge. John Cabot died on the voyage. In researching the death of Cabot, I discovered a so called “tradition” that asserts that he was shipwrecked not far from Grates Cove, where he got ashore together with his son Sancio and some of the crew. There they died, either by starvation or at the hands of Beothuk Indians.[14] Graves Cove is a small community that is on the northern part of the Avalon Peninsula. The earliest mention of Cabot’s death in the area comes from William Cormack’s journal, who in 1822 discussed a rock that is said to havean inscription by Cabot and his son. It is said that two men who arrived in a media van have since mysteriously taken the rock away.

Map of Newfoundland showing Grates Cove. (illustration by Duleepa Wijayawardhana)

The one overriding constant in researching John Cabot has been its extreme difficulty. It has not been due to the lack of information, rather in the fact that there is so much contradictory information concerning this particular figure. Moreover, most of the contradictory positions are valid because it is virtually impossible to refute all if any of the historical interpretations of Cabot and his endeavors. This is true because of the extreme lack of historical references dating back to Cabot. However most if not all of the historians that study Cabot, believe that he is in fact the true discoverer of the North American mainland. It is quite possible that we may never know for sure, exactly where Cabot landed in 1497. The voyages of Cabot obviously demonstrated that he had not found an easy and profitable route to Asia. He had found fish and trees, but not the great cities, which could provide riches and power. What he and Columbus had found, was beginning to become clear to the people of his time, that a new continent existed between Europe and Asia. This, of course, was a considerable disappointment to those who had backed Cabot's voyages. They were not concerned with discovering new territory, they simply wanted to find valuables and gain power through their commercial sailing endeavors. 

John’s son Sebastian later made a voyage to North America, again looking for a shorter route to Asia. Sebastian’s travel leads to more European travels to the area, principally coming first from the Portuguese and later the rest of Europe.

Statue of John Cabot in Newfoundland.