John Cabot in the MATTHEW raises the east coast of Newfoundland.
1497

Watercolor 14" x 21"


Five years after Columbus made his historic voyage another Genoese seaman crossed the Atlantic in search of the Northwest Passage, this time in the service of the king of England. Giovanni Caboto, or John Cabot as he was known in the English speaking world, was the first European after Lief Ericsson to set foot in North America. The year was 1497.

The only information about the voyage is contained in a letter by John Day, a Bristol merchant who later resided in Seville. It appears to have been written in the winter of 1497,98 to Columbus, who would have been anxious to hear about any challenges to his claims of possession in the New World.

According to Day, “he was enroute 35 days before he found land, and the winds were east and northeast and the seas were smooth on the outward as on the homeward passage, save one day when there blew up a gale, and that was two or three days before he found land.” There was no mention of fog or ice, but they are always part of the Newfoundland experience at this time of year.