While it has been difficult to pinpoint the exact time frame of these North Atlantic probes, evidence that they were indeed occurring by the 1490's is found in a report sent by Pedro de Ayala, a Spanish envoy located in London. The year after Cabot's successful transatlantic voyage he wrote Ferdinand and Isabella stating that for the previous seven years the Bristolians had been equipping caravels to look for the islands of Brasile and the Seven Cities. While it is not possible to ascertain whether or not these were large scale ventures and precisely what their motives might have been, Ayala's words seem to supply some proof of westward bound voyages.

Another document which supports this claim is found in the letter written by the English merchant John Day to an unidentified Spanish 'Lord Grand Admiral' who is believed to have been Christopher Columbus. Day wrote:

It is considered certain that the cape of the said land was found and discovered in the past by the men from Bristol who found 'Brasil' as your Lordship well knows. It was called the Island of Brasil, and it is assumed and believed to be the mainland that the men from Bristol found (Williamson 214).

John Day's letter. This letter was written by the English merchant John Day to an unidentified Spanish 'Lord Grand Admiral' who is believed to have been Christopher Columbus. From Ian Wilson, John Cabot and the Matthew (Tiverton, England: Redcliffe Press, ©1996) 6. Courtesy of the Spanish National Archives. Valladolid, Spain. (40 kb)

However, the English were not the only ones who based their explorations and cartography on reports of mythical Atlantic islands. The Portuguese had also probed into the western ocean looking for a large land mass northwest of the Azores, a group of islands lying in the mid North Atlantic which were discovered by the Portuguese around 1480 (Wilson 40). The misconception that these supposedly real but unseen lands were geographically near Europe displays just how infrequently even master mariners ventured away from sight of the coastline. The English explorers, like those from Bristol, attempted to uncover new territory by venturing further out into the ocean. Most ships in those days generally tended to stick fairly close to land by hopping from island to island, rather than braving the dark uncharted waters of the North Atlantic.

The Search for a Western Passage to the East

The well established wine trade of Bristol, along with the spice trade between England and the Orient, enjoyed suffered heavy blows in 1453. The fall of Constantinople created hostilities which made it difficult for European traders to acquire oriental spices from the East and forced Bristol merchants to seek out new trading routes and markets. They believed they could either sail around Africa's southern tip or west across the Atlantic to the coasts of Cipangu (Japan) and Cathay (China). The equally well established wine trade also suffered a set back in 1453 when France wrested Bordeaux and Gascony from English control. As a result, Bristol was forced to redirect its wine trade to places like Spain, Portugal and the Atlantic islands of the Canaries and Madeira. Along with Icelandic expeditions to exchange West English cloth for stockfish and the ancient trading routes with Limerick and Galway in Ireland, such voyages gave Bristol seamen further experience navigating through Atlantic waters.

All this meant that Bristol seamen, particularly, were skilled and experienced in deep-sea, Atlantic navigation. By the last decade of the fifteenth century they had already ventured on the more experimental process of voyaging, straight out on a westerly course in search of mythical, and perhaps real, lands with which new trade might grow and prosper (Little 9).

Thus, by the time Cabot was ready to undertake his transatlantic journey, Bristol was a port which was well known for its expeditions of exploration. In addition to this, it was an important center of English trade and one of the best ship building ports in all of Europe. Aside from possessing a rank almost the equivalent of London, Bristol proved to be a logical choice for Cabot because it faces west into the Atlantic. Yet on top of all this, lay another advantage: Bristol mariners boasted a well known reputation as experts in navigating through northern waters. Thus, even without direct evidence, an argument might be made that Cabot had probably settled in Bristol before he approached the king of England with his proposal.

Bristol Channel. Bristol proved to be a convenient port for John Cabot because of its strategic position near the Bristol Channel which leads into the Atlantic Ocean. Illustration by Duleepa Wijayawardhana.

Cabot's Voyages

Henry agreed to the proposed journey and in March of 1496 he granted the Letters Patent which authorized Cabot and his sons to explore the 'all parts, regions, and coasts of the eastern, western and northern seas unknown to all Christians' (Biggar 7).

Letters Patent. On 5 March 1496, King Henry VII granted a letters patent to John Cabot and his sons. This permitted them to investigate, claim and possess any new lands so long as they did not intrude on Spanish or Portugal territories. From André Vachon, in collaboration with Victorin Chabot and André Desrosiers, Dreams of Empire: Canada before 1700, Records of Our History series, English transl. by John F. Flinn (Ottawa, Ontario: Public Archives of Canada, ©1982) 23. Plate 7. Courtesy of Public Records Office, London, England: Chancery, Warrants for the Great Seal, Series II, C 82/146, no. 6. (48 kb)

Although the king would receive one fifth of any trading profits obtained from the expedition, the financial burden of the voyage and the equipment lay with Cabot and his Bristol backers. The men of Bristol were willing to invest their money because they dreamed of turning their prosperous little port into a great center of Asian spice distribution among the European markets (Roberts 219).

It is known that Cabot - with a Bristolian crew - embarked on an intial voyage in 1496, one year before he set out on his historic journey. Widely believed to have been an experimental journey to the west, the vessel was forced to return to Bristol because of poor weather and dwindling supplies. There is also a reference by John Day to a disagreement between Cabot and his crew members. In 1497 when Cabot was ready to attempt the voyage again, the merchants of Brisol refused to supply him with the five ships he was permitted to take with him on his westward expedition (Little 18). For this transatlantic voyage the merchants only equipped him with one vessel: the Matthew.

Outfitted for sea and accompanied by a crew of 18 men, Cabot left Bristol in May of 1497 and sailed West. Approximately one month later, he landed upon the eastern shores of North America, possibly in Newfoundland. What Cabot thought of his discovery is unknown, but he certainly could not have realized the profound effects which it would have upon England and indeed Europe. His seemingly humble discovery enabled England - previously overshadowed on the political stage by more powerful countries like Spain and Portugal - to eventually built itself into one of the world's greatest empires. Made possible by financial backing from Bristol's wealthy merchant class and the prime location of the harbour, Cabot's 1497 transatlantic voyage formed a lasting bridge between the old world and the new.

John Cabot leaving Bristol, May 1497. Cabot leaving Bristol on his "Voyage of Discovery". Painting by Thomson. From J.A. Cochrane, The Story of Newfoundland (Montreal: Ginn and Co., 1938) 29. (62 kb)

20th Century Bristol

Today, 500 years after John Cabot's historic voyage to the mainland New World, Bristol has a population in excessive of 380 000 and is presently the largest city in Western England. Due to its prime location on the Avon River and close proximity to the Severn, Bristol continues to be dominated by sea trade just as it was one thousand years ago.