Columbus or, in fact, any actual knowledge of it.




THE DISCOVERY OF THE MAINLAND BY THE CABOTS

(1497)

I

THE ACCOUNT GIVEN BY JOHN A. DOYLE[1]


As early as the reign of Edward III, sailors from Genoa and other
foreign ports had served in the English navy. The increasing
confusions of Italy after the French invasion naturally tempted her
seamen to transfer their skill to the rising powers of western Europe.
Among such emigrants was John Cabot, a Venetian, who settled in
Bristol, and then, after a return to his own country, again revisited
his adopted city. Of his earlier history and personal character we
know nothing. Our own records furnish nothing but the scanty outlines
of his career, and the one glimpse of light which is thrown upon the
living man is due to a lately discovered letter from his countryman,
the Venetian ambassador. Of his son, Sebastian, we know more. He was
born in Bristol, returned with his parents to Venice when three years
old, and revisited England as a boy or very young man. His features,
marked with the lines of thought and hardship, still live on the
canvas of Holbein; and one at least of the naval chroniclers of the
day writes of him in the language of warm personal affection.