What Happened To John Cabot?
In 1497, Italian navigator and explorer Giovanni Caboto, better known as John Cabot, set sail over the Atlantic Ocean for North America.
His crew of 18 to 20 men on his ship, the Matthew of Bristol, reached Bonavista Bay in Newfoundland on June 24, 1497. The exact location of his landing isn’t known for sure, with some theorizing it was anywhere between Labrador and Maine.
With his landing in North America, wherever it was, he became the first-known European to reach North America since the Vikings centuries earlier.
Cabot landed only once during his expedition and did not venture farther from the ship than what he deemed the shooting distance of a crossbow. He made no contact with any First Nations. That being said, his crew did find the remains of a fire, human trails, nets and a wooden tool.
After spending enough time on land to get fresh water, they raised the Venetian and Papal banners, claimed the land for the King of England and then continued their exploration of the coast.
Cabot reached England in August 1497.
Less than a year later, Cabot set sail for North America once again, leaving England in May 1498 with five ships. The ships carried merchandise so that he could trade on his expedition.
And from this moment on, Cabot disappears from history.
It is not known if he died on the voyage there, died on the voyage back or completed the voyage and then died after he returned to England.
So what happened to him on that last voyage?
Some speculate that he decided to remain in North America with the First Nations.
One historian, Alwyn Ruddock, stated that Cabot returned successfully to England in 1500 after exploring as the Caribbean. Her evidence was a map by Juan de la Cosa that listed the North American cost as having been “discovered by the English” between 1497 and 1500.
There is a record of at least one man who was believed to be on the expedition, Lancelot Thirkill, living in London in 1501. It is not known if he made the voyage, or if he did, Cabot made the voyage back from North America.
It is more than likely, we will never know what happened to John Cabot on that famous last voyage.