John Cabot The Discoverer of the Continent of North America

By virtue of the discovery of Columbus, Spain claimed all the land beyond the western ocean. The other countries of Europe, however, refused to recognize its claim to any land except that actually discovered, explored, and possessed. Kings, nations, private individuals even, sent out expeditions to discover and settle lands in the New World, hoping to find treasure and to reach Cathay and Cipango. We are particularly interested in John Cabot, whose discoveries gave England its first claim to the New World.

John Cabot was not, like Columbus, a writer as well as a discoverer; we know little about his life, and the accounts of his discoveries are meager and contradictory. Cabot was born about 1450, so he was a few years younger than Columbus. Like him, he was by birth a native of Genoa. Cabot, however, moved to Venice and became an adopted son of that City of the Sea. He was a good navigator and went East on trading ventures. Having an inquiring turn of mind, when he bought cargoes of spices he tried to learn something about the countries from which they came.

Like most master-navigators of the time, Cabot was a maker of maps and charts. He also believed that the world is round; he thought that Cathay and Cipango and “the spice lands” could be reached by sailing west. He tried in vain to secure the aid of Portugal or of Spain in fitting out an expedition to undertake the westward voyage. Columbus was one of many who were beginning to believe that the world was a sphere; he was bolder and more persistent than most of them, and had the good fortune to prove the truth of his theory.

About 1490 Cabot went to England “to follow the trade of merchandises” and to seek aid in his exploring projects. In 1496 he secured the countenance of Henry VII. of England, who granted John Cabot and his sons, Sebastian, Lewis, and Sanctius permission “for the discovery of new and unknown lands,” “upon their own proper cost and charges.” In return for his countenance the king was to receive one-fifth of all profits. Much uncertainty surrounds Cabot’s first voyage. It is now thought that his son Sebastian did not accompany him, as was long believed to be the case. Some say that Cabot had two ships, some say he had five, but an Italian acquaintance writing at the time says that he made his discovery with only “one little ship of Bristol and eighteen men.”

Cabot set sail from Bristol in May and returned in August. He sailed northwest, and it is supposed that the land which he reached was Labrador. From the time the Norsemen left “Vinland the Good,” Cabot was the first European to touch the mainland of North America. He sailed some distance along the coast of what he thought was “the land of the great Khan.” He saw no inhabitants, but observed that the sea swarmed with fish, and on his return he suggested that England should send fishermen thither instead of depending on the fisheries of Iceland. He noted, too, that “the tides are slack and do not flow as they do here,” that is, in England.

A few days after Cabot’s return, a Venetian who was in England wrote his family an account of the voyage. “His name is Zuan Cabot,” he said, “and he is styled the great Admiral. Vast honor is paid to him; he dresses in silk and the English run after him like mad people.” The Venetian went on to say that Cabot “planted on his New-found land” the flags of England and Venice.

The king was so pleased with Cabot’s first voyage of discovery that it was promised he should have fitted out for a second voyage a fleet of ten ships and to man it he was to have “all prisoners except traitors.” Some merchants of Bristol aided in fitting out the expedition. With these ten ships, Cabot wished to go on westward to the east, hoping to reach Cipango, “where he thinks all the spices of the world and also all the precious stones originate.”

From the time that this second expedition was planned we lose sight of John Cabot. Whether he returned safe or died on the voyage, we do not know. The English did not then attach enough importance to the western world to make records of Cabot’s voyages. They were disappointed at not finding gold and gems nor a direct passage to the East. To England in the early sixteenth century the new-found land was valuable only as a “cod fish coast.”

Sebastian Cabot, the son of the “great Admiral,” was, like his father, a chart-maker and navigator. He is said to have accompanied his father on one or both of his voyages, but there is no proof that he went on either.

The great object of Sebastian Cabot’s ambition was the discovery of a direct route to Asia. He undertook, under authority of the king of Spain, a westward expedition to reach the Pacific. On this voyage he discovered a great river which he named La Plata. Afterwards he returned to England and received from Edward VI. a pension for his services as Great Pilot. In 1553, he took part in the expedition to find a northeast passage to Asia; later, in search of a northwest passage, he sailed along the coast of America as far south, it is said, as Chesapeake Bay.