Portion of Michael Lok’s map, London, 1582
What Cabot accomplished by his voyage of 1497 was in the first place to prove the existence of a great country beyond the ocean to the west of Ireland, which country he himself assumed to belong to Asia and to be part of China. Besides this he discovered great quantities of fish off the newly discovered coast; a discovery which was soon to create a great fishery, carried on by several nations, off Newfoundland, and one which surpassed the Iceland fishery, hitherto the most important. But John Cabot evidently had little idea of the importance of this last discovery. He had, as Soncino says, “set his mind on higher things,” for he thought that by following the coast of the mainland farther to the west he would be able to reach the wealthy Cipango (Japan) and the Spice Islands in the equatorial regions.
Cabot’s voyage of 1498
Here we have in brief the plan of his next voyage. Cabot himself had great expectations and saw a brilliant future before him, when he would rule as a prince over newly conquered kingdoms which he would make subject to the English Crown. And, as we have seen, he was liberal in distributing islands to his barber, to a Burgundian, etc.
At the beginning of 1498 Cabot obtained new letters patent, dated February 3, in the thirteenth year of Henry VII.’s reign.[315] These letters are in John Cabot’s name alone (his sons are not mentioned this time).
They give him the right of taking at his pleasure six English ships in any English port, of 200 tons or under, with their necessary equipment, “and theym convey and lede to the Londe and Iles of late founde by the seid John in oure name and by oure commaundemente, payng for theym and every of theym as and if we should in or for our owen cause paye and noon otherwise.” And the said John might further “take and receyve into the seid shippes and every of theym all suche maisters maryners pages and our subjects, as of their owen free wille woll goo and passe with hym in the same shippes to the seid Londe or Iles,” etc. etc.
It thus seems as if this not very prodigal king had on second thoughts considerably reduced his first plan of sending a fleet of ten, fifteen or twenty ships with all the prisoners of the realm.
Authorities for the voyage of 1498
The most important documents on this voyage are:
(1) Two contemporary letters, written before the return of the expedition, by the older Spanish Ambassador in London, Ruy Gonzales de Puebla, and the younger contemporary Spanish Minister in London, Pedro de Ayala, to Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain. The latter’s is dated July 23 (August 3, N.S.), 1498; the former’s is undated, but of about the same time.