cabot's second voyage

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By: History.com Editors

Updated: June 6, 2023 | Original: November 9, 2009

John Cabot (or Giovanni Caboto, as he was known in Italy) was an Italian explorer and navigator who was among the first to think of sailing westward to reach the riches of Asia. Though the details of his life and expeditions are subject to debate, by the late 1490s he was living in England, where he gained a commission from King Henry VII to make an expedition across the Atlantic. He set sail in May 1497 and made landfall in late June, probably in modern-day Canada. After returning to England to report his success, Cabot departed on a final expedition in 1498, but was allegedly never seen again.

Giovanni Caboto was born circa 1450 in Genoa, and moved to Venice around 1461; he became a Venetian citizen in 1476. Evidence suggests that he worked as a merchant in the spice trade of the Levant, or eastern Mediterranean, and may have traveled as far as Mecca, then an important trading center for Oriental and Western goods.

He studied navigation and map-making during this period, and read the stories of Marco Polo and his adventures in the fabulous cities of Asia. Similar to his countryman Christopher Columbus , Cabot appears to have become interested in the possibility of reaching the rich gold, silk, gem and spice markets of Asia by sailing in a westward direction.

Did you know? John Cabot's landing in 1497 is generally thought to be the first European encounter with the North American continent since Leif Eriksson and the Vikings explored the area they called Vinland in the 11th century.

For the next several decades, Cabot’s exact activities are unknown; he may have been forced to leave Venice because of outstanding debts. He then spent several years in Valencia and Seville, Spain, where he worked as a maritime engineer with varying degrees of success.

Cabot may have been in Valencia in 1493, when Columbus passed through the city on his way to report to the Spanish monarchs the results of his voyage (including his mistaken belief that he had in fact reached Asia).

By late 1495, Cabot had reached Bristol, England, a port city that had served as a starting point for several previous expeditions across the North Atlantic. From there, he worked to convince the British crown that England did not have to stand aside while Spain took the lead in exploration of the New World , and that it was possible to reach Asia on a more northerly route than the one Columbus had taken.

First and Second Voyages

In 1496, King Henry VII issued letters patent to Cabot and his son, which authorized them to make a voyage of discovery and to return with goods for sale on the English market. After a first, aborted attempt in 1496, Cabot sailed out of Bristol on the small ship Matthew in May 1497, with a crew of about 18 men.

Cabot’s most successful expedition made landfall in North America on June 24; the exact location is disputed, but may have been southern Labrador, the island of Newfoundland or Cape Breton Island. Reports about their exploration vary, but when Cabot and his men went ashore, he reportedly saw signs of habitation but few if any people. He took possession of the land for King Henry, but hoisted both the English and Venetian flags.

Grand Banks

Cabot explored the area and named various features of the region, including Cape Discovery, Island of St. John, St. George’s Cape, Trinity Islands and England’s Cape. These may correspond to modern-day places located around what became known as Cabot Strait, the 60-mile-wide channel running between southwestern Newfoundland and northern Cape Breton Island.

Like Columbus, Cabot believed that he had reached Asia’s northeast coast. He returned to Bristol in August 1497 with extremely favorable reports of the exploration. Among his discoveries was the rich fishing grounds of the Grand Banks off the coast of Canada, where his crew was allegedly able to fill baskets with cod by simply dropping the baskets into the water.

John Cabot’s Final Voyage

In London in late 1497, Cabot proposed to King Henry VII that he set out on another expedition across the north Atlantic. This time, he would continue westward from his first landfall until he reached the island of Cipangu ( Japan ). In February 1498, the king issued letters patent for the second voyage, and that May Cabot set off once again from Bristol, but this time with five ships and about 300 men.

The exact fate of the expedition has not been established, but by July one of the ships had been damaged and sought anchorage in Ireland. Reportedly the other four ships continued westward. It was believed that the ships had been caught in a severe storm, and by 1499, Cabot himself was presumed to have perished at sea.

Some evidence, however, suggests that Cabot and some members of his crew may have stayed in the New World; other documents suggest that he and his crew returned to England at some point. A Spanish map from 1500 includes the northern coast of North America with English place names and the notation “the sea discovered by the English.”

What Did John Cabot Discover?

In addition to laying the groundwork for British land claims in Canada, his expeditions proved the existence of a shorter route across the northern Atlantic Ocean, which would later facilitate the establishment of other British colonies in North America .

One of John Cabot's sons, Sebastian, was also an explorer who sailed under the flags of England and Spain.

John Cabot. Royal Museums Greenwich . Who Was John Cabot? John Cabot University . John Cabot. The Canadian Encyclopedia .

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Pre-Revolution Timeline - The 1400s

A decade when the men who discovered the New World began the exploration and colonization of the Americas, even if they weren't the firsts they thought they were.

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Above: Explorer John Cabot. Image courtesy Wikipedia Commons. Right: Painting Christopher Columbus taking possession of San Salvador, Watling Island by L Prang and Co., 1893. Images courtesy Library of Congress.

Columbus and Cabot

1497 Detail

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1497 - Detail

May 2, 1497 - on his second voyage for england from the port of bristol, john cabot (aka giovanni, a genoese native sailing under the english flag) rediscovers the north american continent on june 24, 1497, the first european exploration of the continent since norse explorers in the 11th century. he explores the northeast coast, landing first at cape bonavista in newfoundland. they made landfall for a short period of time to raise the english flag, then explored the coast. his ship was known as the matthew of bristol..

Although the first voyage in 1496 had been a failure, England still wanted John Cabot, the Italian explorer, to sail under their flag and make discoveries for their nation. Another voyage was planned. He would set sail again to find a north passage to Asia as Columbus had most likely thought, at the time, he had found the southern route in his voyages of 1492 and 1493 . Like other explorers before and after Columbus and Cabot, that did not work out as planned. They had found America, the Caribbean islands and North America instead. Cabot, with nearly twenty shipmates on the ship Matthew of Bristol, left Bristol on May 2, 1497. One of his shipmates was likely William Weston, a merchant from Bristol who may have returned to Newfoundland two years later under Cabot's patent. The Matthew of Bristol headed due west, passing the tip of Dursey Head in southern Ireland, before shifting slightly north in a parabola before crossing the Atlantic Ocean. After over a month at sea, John Cabot arrived on June 24, 1497 near Avalon Peninsula on the southern end of Newfoundland. He would explore that eastern coast of Newfoundland, but did not explore deep inland, returning to England thereafter. The exact location of Cabot's landfall has been disputed with claims by localities in Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, St. John's Bay and Cape Bonavista, Newfoundland, and Maine that they were the true destination of Cabot's landing. Most historians seem to think that the location is either on Cape Breton Island or Newfoundland.

John day letter, 1497, cabot's second voyage, the letter below from john day, a bristol merchant in the spanish trade who knew of cabot's second voyage, was thought sent to christopher columbus, the lord grand admiral. it speaks, in as much detail as is known, about the voyage. your lordship's servant brought me your letter. i have seen its contents and i would be most desirous and most happy to serve you. i do not find the book inventio fortunata, and i thought that i (or he) find it because i wanted very much to serve you. i am sending the other book of marco polo and a copy of the land which has been found [by john cabot]. i do not send the map because i am not satisfied with it, for my many occupations forced me to make it in a hurry at the time of my departure; but from the said copy your lordship will learn what you wish to know, for in it are named the capes of the maindland and the islands, and thus you will see where land was first sighted, since most of the land was discovered after turning back. thus your lordship will know that the cape nearest to ireland is 1800 miles west of dursey head which is in ireland, and the southernmost part of the island of the seven cities is west of bordeaux river, and your lordship will know that he landed at only one spot of the mainland, near the place where land was first sighted, and they disembarked there with a crucifix and raised banners with the arms of the holy father and those of the king of england, my master; and they found tall trees of the kind masts are made, and other smaller trees, and the country is very rich in grass. in that particular spot, as i told your lordship, they found a trail that went inland, they saw a site where a fire had been made, they saw manure of animals which they thought to be farm animals, and they saw a stick half a yard long pierced at both ends, carved and painted with brazil, and by such signs they believe the land to be inhabited. since he was with just a few people, he did not dare advance inland beyond the shooting distance of a crossbow, and after taking in fresh water he returned to his ship. all along the coast they found many fish like those which in iceland are dried in the open and sold in england and other countries, and these fish are called in england 'stockfish'; and thus following the shore they saw two forms running on land one after the other, but they could not tell if they were human beings or animals; and it seemed to them that there were fields where they thought might also be villages, and they saw a forest whose foliage looked beautiful. they left england toward the end of may, and must have been on the way 35 days before sighting land; the wind was east-north-east and the sea calm going and coming back, except for one day when he ran into a storm two or three days before finding land; and going so far out, his compass needle failed to point north and marked two rhumbs below. they spent about one month discovering the coast and from the above mentioned cape of the mainland which is nearest to ireland, they returned to the coast of europe in fifteen days. they had the wind behind them, and he reached brittany because the sailors confused him, saying that he was heading too far north. from there he came to bristol, and he went to see the king to report to him all the above mentioned; and the king granted him an annual pension of twenty pounds sterling to sustain himself until the time comes when more will be known of this business, since with god's help it is hoped to push through plans for exploring the said land more thoroughly next year with ten or twelve vessels - because in his voyage he had only one ship of fifty toneles and twenty men and food for seven or eight months -- and they want to carry out this new project. 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. since your lordship wants information relating to the first voyage, here is what happened: he went with one ship, his crew confused him, he was short of supplies and ran into bad weather, and he decided to turn back. magnificent lord, as to other things pertaining to the case, i would like to serve your lordship if i were not prevented in doing so by occupations of great importance relating to shipments and deeds for england which must be attended to at once and which keep me from serving you: but rest assured, magnificent lord, of my desire and natural intention to serve you, and when i find myself in other circumstances and more at leisure, i will take pains to do so; and when i get news from england about the matters referred to above - for i am sure that everything has to come to my knowledge - i will inform your lordship of all that would not be prejudicial to the king my master. in payment for some services which i hope to render you, i beg your lordship to kindly write me about such matters, because the favour you will thus do me will greatly stimulate my memory to serve you in all the things that may come to my knowledge. may god keep prospering your lordship's magnificent state according to your merits. whenever your lordship should find it convenient, please remit the book or order it to be given to master george. i kiss your lordship's hands, johan day so word was spreading throughout europe of the race to discover the new world, or passages to asia, no matter what side of the topic, in this case england versus spain, that you were on. it was likely christopher columbus had the wish to stay informed about the competition and whether that competition was breaching the terms of the treaty of tordesillas , of which england was not really part of, or at least stretching it to their advantage. columbus, essentially, wanted to protect his monopoly. john cabot would take a third voyage for england , beginning may 1498. photo above: john cabot statue at cape bonavista, 2016, evan t. jones. courtesy wikipedia commons. image below: discovery of north america engraving showing john and sebastian cabot, 1855, ballou's pictorial, volume 8, page 216. courtesy library of congress. info source: department of history, university of bristol; heritagenf.ca; canadian historical review, 38 (1957), pp. 219-28; john cabot database, johncabotdatabase.weebly.com; wikipedia commons..

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Columbus meeting with the Spanish Queen. Courtesy Wikipedia Commons.

Christopher Columbus, by Ridalfo Ghirlandaio, 1520. Courtesy Wikipedia Commons.

Replica of the ship Matthew of Bristol of John Cabot. Courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

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Early Years in Venice

John Cabot had a complex and shadowy early life. He was probably born before 1450 in Italy and was awarded Venetian citizenship in 1476, which meant he had been living there for at least fifteen years. People often signed their names in different ways at this time, and Cabot was no exception. In one 1476 document he identified himself as Zuan Chabotto, which gives a clue to his origins. It combined Zuan, the Venetian form for Giovanni, with a family name that suggested an origin somewhere on the Italian peninsula, since a Venetian would have spelled it Caboto. He had a Venetian wife, Mattea, and three sons, one of whom, Sebastian, rose to the rank of pilot-major of Spain for the Indies trade. Cabot was a merchant; Venetian records identify him as a hide trader, and in 1483 he sold a female slave in Crete. He was also a property developer in Venice and nearby Chioggia.

Cabot in Spain

In 1488, Cabot fled Venice with his family because he owed prominent people money. Where the Cabot family initially went is unknown, but by 1490 John Cabot was in Valencia, Spain, which like Venice was a city of canals. In 1492, he partnered with a Basque merchant named Gaspar Rull in a proposal to build an artificial harbour for Valencia on its Mediterranean coast. In April 1492, the project captured the enthusiasm of Fernando (Ferdinand), king of Aragon and husband of Isabel, queen of Castille, who together ruled what is now a unified Spain. The royal couple had just agreed to send Christopher Columbus on his now-famous voyage to the Americas. In the autumn of 1492, Fernando encouraged the governor-general of Valencia to find a way to finance Cabot’s harbour scheme. However, in March 1493, the council of Valencia decided it could not fund Cabot’s plan. Despite Fernando’s attempt to move the project forward that April, the scheme collapsed.

Cabot disappeared from the historical record until June 1494, when he resurfaced in another marine engineering plan dear to the Spanish monarchs. He was hired to build a fixed bridge link in Seville to its maritime centre, the island of Triana in the Guadalquivir River, which otherwise was serviced by a troublesome floating one. Though Columbus had reached the Americas, he believed he had found land on the eastern edge of Asia, and Seville had been chosen as the headquarters of what Spain imagined was a lucrative transatlantic trade route. Cabot’s assignment thus was an important one, but something went wrong. In December 1494, a group of leading citizens of Seville gathered, unhappy with Cabot’s lack of progress, given the funds he had been provided. At least one of them thought he should be banished from the city. By then, Cabot probably had left town.

Cabot in England

Following the demise of Cabot’s Seville bridge project, the marine engineer again disappeared from the historical record. In March 1496 he resurfaced, this time as the commander of a proposed westward voyage under the flag of the King of England, Henry VII. Although there is no documentary proof, during Cabot’s absence from the historical record, between April 1493 and June 1494, he could have sailed with Columbus’s second voyage to the Caribbean. Most of the names of the over 1,000 people who accompanied Columbus weren’t recorded; however, Cabot could have been among the marine engineers on the voyage’s 17 ships who were expected to construct a harbour facility in what is now Haiti. Had Cabot been present on this journey, Henry VII would have had some basis to believe the would-be Venetian explorer could make a similar voyage to the far side of the Atlantic. It would help explain why Henry VII hired Cabot, a foreigner with a problematic résumé and no known nautical expertise, to make such a journey.

On 5 March 1496, Henry awarded Cabot and his three sons a generous letters patent, a document granting them the right to explore and exploit areas unknown to Christian monarchs. The Cabots were authorized to sail to “all parts of the eastern, western and northern sea, under our banners, flags and ensigns,” with as many as five ships, manned and equipped at their own expense. The Cabots were to “find, discover and investigate whatsoever islands, countries, regions or provinces of heathens and infidels, in whatsoever part of the world placed, which before this time were unknown to all Christians.” The Cabots would serve as Henry’s “vassals, and governors lieutenants and deputies” in whatever lands met the criteria of the patent, and they were given the right to “conquer, occupy and possess whatsoever towns, castles, cities and islands by them discovered.” With the letters patent, the Cabots could secure financial backing. Two payments were made in April and May 1496 to John Cabot by the House of Bardi (a family of Florentine merchants) to fund his search for “the new land,” suggesting his investors thought he was looking for more than a northern trade route to Asia.

First Voyage (1496)

Cabot’s first voyage departed Bristol, England, in 1496. Sailing westward in the north Atlantic was no easy task. The prevailing weather patterns track from west to east, and ships of Cabot’s time could scarcely sail toward the wind. No first-hand accounts of Cabot’s first attempt to sail west survive. Historians only know that it was a failure, with Cabot apparently rebuffed by stormy weather.

Second Voyage (1497)

Cabot mounted a second attempt from Bristol in May 1497, using a ship called the Matthew . It may have been a happy coincidence that its name was the English version of Cabot’s wife’s name, Mattea. There are no records of the ship’s individual crewmembers, and all the accounts of the voyage are second-hand — a remarkable lack of documentation for a voyage that would be the foundation of England’s claim to North America.

Historians have long debated exactly where Cabot explored. The most authoritative report of his journey was a letter by a London merchant named Hugh Say. Written in the winter of 1497-98, but only discovered in Spanish archives in the mid-1950s, Say’s letter (written in Spanish) was addressed to a “great admiral” in Spain who may have been Columbus.

The rough latitudes Say provided suggest Cabot made landfall around southern Labrador and northernmost Newfoundland , then worked his way southeast along the coast until he reached the Avalon Peninsula , at which point he began the journey home. Cabot led a fearful crew, with reports suggesting they never ventured more than a crossbow’s shot into the land. They saw two running figures in the woods that might have been human or animal and brought back an unstrung bow “painted with brazil,” suggesting it was decorated with red ochre by the Beothuk of Newfoundland or the Innu of Labrador. He also brought back a snare for capturing game and a needle for making nets. Cabot thought (wrongly) there might be tilled lands, written in Say’s letter as tierras labradas , which may have been the source of the name for Labrador. Say also said it was certain the land Cabot coasted was Brasil, a fabled island thought to exist somewhere west of Ireland.

Others who heard about Cabot’s voyage suggested he saw two islands, a misconception possibly resulting from the deep indentations of Newfoundland’s Conception and Trinity Bays, and arrived at the coast of East Asia. Some believed he had reached another fabled island, the Isle of Seven Cities, thought to exist in the Atlantic.

There were also reports Cabot had found an enormous new fishery. In December 1497, the Milanese ambassador to England reported hearing Cabot assert the sea was “swarming with fish, which can be taken not only with the net, but in baskets let down with a stone.” The fish of course were cod , and their abundance on the Grand Banks later laid the foundation for Newfoundland’s fishing industry.

Third Voyage (1498)

Henry VII rewarded Cabot with a royal pension on December 1497 and a renewed letters patent in February 1498 that gave him additional rights to help mount the next voyage. The additional rights included the ability to charter up to six ships as large as 200 tons. The voyage was again supposed to be mounted at Cabot’s expense, although the king personally invested in one participating ship. Despite reports from the 1497 voyage of masses of fish, no preparations were made to harvest them.

A flotilla of probably five ships sailed in early May. What became of it remains a mystery. Historians long presumed, based on a flawed account by the chronicler Polydore Vergil, that all the ships were lost, but at least one must have returned. A map made by Spanish cartographer Juan de la Cosa in 1500 — one of the earliest European maps to incorporate the Americas — included details of the coastline with English place names, flags and the notation “the sea discovered by the English.” The map suggests Cabot’s voyage ventured perhaps as far south as modern New England and Long Island.

Cabot’s royal pension did continue to be paid until 1499, but if he was lost on the 1498 voyage, it may only have been collected in his absence by one of his sons, or his widow, Mattea.

Despite being so poorly documented, Cabot’s 1497 voyage became the basis of English claims to North America. At the time, the westward voyages of exploration out of Bristol between 1496 and about 1506, as well as one by Sebastian Cabot around 1508, were probably considered failures. Their purpose was to secure trade opportunities with Asia, not new fishing grounds, which not even Cabot was interested in, despite praising the teeming schools. Instead of trade with Asia, Cabot and his Bristol successors found an enormous land mass blocking the way and no obvious source of wealth.

• Newfoundland and Labrador

Further Reading

Douglas Hunter, The Race to the New World: Christopher Columbus, John Cabot and a Lost History of Discovery (2012).

External Links

Heritage Newfoundland and Labrador A biography of John Cabot from this site sponsored by Memorial University.

Dictionary of Canadian Biography An account of John Cabot’s life from the Dictionary of Canadian Biography.

Recommended

Giovanni da verrazzano, jacques cartier.

Sir Humphrey Gilbert: Elizabethan Explorer

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The Voyages of John and Sebastian Cabot

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Discovering North America

Historians have debated the voyages of John and Sebastian Cabot who first discovered North America under the reign of Henry VII. The primary question was who [John or Sebastian] was responsible for the successful discovery . A 1516 account stated Sebastian Cabot sailed from Bristol  to Cathay, in the service of Henry VII; environmental hardships had compelled Sebastian to travel to lower latitudes that led to the subsequent discovery of eastern North America. Still, early writers did not provide sufficient details of the expedition creating a number of discrepancies that undermine its validity.

In 1582, Richard Hakluyt printed letters that were granted on March 5, 1496 on behalf of King Henry VII to John Cabot that asked him to discover unknown lands in an effort to annex them for the Crown and monopolize English trade. This account, in contrast, indicated that John Cabot actually led the journey with his son Sebastian as his subordinate. Despite these opposing sources, it was not until the 19th century that historians began rejecting Sebastian as the primary discoverer of North America largely due to Richard Biddle who had published a Memoir of Sebastian Cabot in 1831. This memoir collated the sixteenth century writers with documents asserting Sebastian’s father, John Cabot, was merely a sleeping partner and an elderly merchant who did not go to sea—rendering Sebastian as the leader of the journey. Eventually, important documents emerged from unexamined archives of European states that almost irrefutably debunked Sebastian as the captain...

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Who was John Cabot and What Happened to His Final Expedition?

John Cabot was an explorer and navigator who was the first European since Leif Erikson in the eleventh century to set foot on North American soil. So what is John Cabot best known for? Did Cabot discover America? This is the story of Cabot’s last voyage.

John Cabot was born Giovanni Caboto in Genoa around or perhaps slightly earlier than 1450 and it’s believed he moved to Venice in 1461. There, he read of Marco Polo’s adventures along the Silk Road in the late thirteenth century and wanted to explore the wonderful cities in China, Persia, India and Japan for himself. Lands he believed were rich with gold, spices and exotic luxuries.

While he was working for a Venetian mercantile company in the early 1480s, he travelled to the eastern Mediterranean where goods from the East and West were freely traded. It was on these travels that he learned navigational skills and, it is assumed, he got the idea that a shorter route to Asia would be to go west from Europe.

Zuan Cabotto, the Venetian version of Giovanni Caboto, was mentioned in several documents in Venice in the 1480s. He married Mattea around 1481 and by 1484 they had three sons, Ludovico, Sebastian and Sancto.

John Cabot’s whereabouts over the next decade are a matter of conjecture. He may have fled Venice as an insolvent debtor around 1488 and possibly spent time in Valencia and Seville in Spain. He then came to England sometime in 1495 and went to Bristol.

Like Christopher Columbus, he believed the world was much smaller than it actually is, and he set sail from England in May 1497 believing he would find the silk and spices of Asia just a few thousand miles west. In fact he landed in North America.

The First Cabot Expedition

John Cabot (known in Italian as Giovanni Caboto) (Photo: UniversalImagesGroup via Getty Images)

Undertaking long expensive journeys in those days required funding and royal patronage and Cabot secured both.

The money came from a number of wealthy merchants in Bristol as well as from his Italian connections, most notably Brother Giovanni Antonio de Carbonariis, a Milanese diplomat and the Pope’s tax collector in England.

With the money secure, he needed the blessing of King Henry VII, who Cabot convinced by arguing that England didn’t have to stand by and watch idly while the Spanish explored the New World unopposed.

On March 5 1496 the king issued Letters Patent. This is a legally-binding document that allowed Cabot to set sail under the English flag. He was given the right to ‘discover and investigate whatsoever islands, countries, regions or provinces of heathens and infidels, in whatsoever part of the world placed, which before this time were unknown to all Christians.’

In the summer of 1496 he attempted the voyage. However, according to a contemporary report, a letter written by a Bristol merchant to – it is believed – Christopher Columbus, ‘he went with one ship, his crew confused him, he was short of supplies and ran into bad weather, and he decided to turn back.’

Cabot’s Second Voyage

John Cabot Arrives In Newfoundland, Canada (Photo: Stock Montage via Getty Images)

On May 2 1497, Giovanni Caboto – or John Cabot as he was now known – set sail from Bristol on a small ‘fifty tons burden’ ship called The Mathew with around eighteen men. This time the voyage would be a success.

They made landfall in North America on June 24, although the precise location has been disputed for five centuries. Some say they landed at the southernmost tip of Labrador on Newfoundland – so called, allegedly, as one sailor proclaimed a ‘new found land’ – others suggest Cape Breton Island on Nova Scotia or even the Maine coast.

When they went ashore, there was evidence of habitation but no people. John Cabot took possession of the land for King Henry VII, planting the flags of England and Venice.

Like Columbus who ended up in the West Indies, John Cabot believed, quite wrongly as it transpired, he had found the northeast coast of Asia.

Cabot and his men returned to Bristol in August 1497 with reports of an extremely successful voyage, but that wasn’t enough. He wanted to return, and this time he set his sights further. Much further.

The Mystery of Cabot’s Last Voyage

John Cabot is thought to have been lost at sea (Photo: Corbis Historical via Getty Images)

On February 3 1498, Cabot was issued with new Letters Patent from the king and soon after, left Bristol with five ships and around 300 men.

The aim was to retrace his previous steps but to continue west from his first landing point until he reached the island Marco Polo named Cipangu. Today we know it as Japan, and any modern world map will tell you that the journey west from Bristol to Japan is virtually impossible.

Whichever way he was planning to go, north via Canada or South around the southern tip of Chile, is in excess of 20,000 miles, in February, through the Arctic Ocean or the Southern Ocean… As we say, virtually impossible.

The five ships of Cabot’s last voyage were equipped with a years’ worth of food and supplies. It’s believed one ship got damaged and turned back to Ireland, with the others sailing forth into the unknown.

That’s the last that anyone recorded of Cabot’s final voyage. To this day, no-one knows what became of the ships or the men. Accounts vary as to what may have happened. Some say they were caught in a storm and all perished. Others suggest they made it to the continental USA and stayed there. Yet more suggest they all returned to the UK.

By 1500, John Cabot was presumed dead.

One of the men who was scheduled to sail in this final expedition, Lancelot Thirkill, was recorded as living in London in 1501. Maybe he went and came back. Maybe he didn’t go at all.

Did John Cabot Discover America?

Leif Erikson Exploring Greenland (Photo: Bettmann via Getty Images)

The short answer is no. Norse explorer Leif Erikson settled in Vinland – modern day Newfoundland – around 1000 AD and there were indigenous populations in what we now know as the United States from about 15,000 BC.

While he can’t lay claim to the discovery of America, the Cabot discoveries were historically important in that they laid the groundwork for English expansion into North American lands. In addition they established quicker and shorter routes across the Atlantic Ocean which facilitated the English colonisation of North America.

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John Cabot Facts, Voyage, and Accomplishments

Published: Jul 25, 2016 · Modified: Nov 11, 2023 by Russell Yost · This post may contain affiliate links ·

John Cabot was a Genoese navigator and explorer whose 1497 discovery of parts of North America under the commission of Henry VII of England is commonly held to have been the first European exploration of the mainland of North America since the Norse Vikings' visits to Vinland in the eleventh century.

It would also be one of the last times, until Queen Elizabeth, that England would set foot in the New World.

John Cabot Facts: Early Life

John cabot facts: england and expeditions, john cabot facts: historical thoughts, online resources.

He may have been born slightly earlier than 1450, which is the approximate date most commonly given for his birth.

In 1471, Caboto was accepted into the religious confraternity of St John the Evangelist. Since this was one of the city's prestigious confraternities, his acceptance suggests that he was already a respected member of the community.

Following his gaining full Venetian citizenship in 1476, Caboto would have been eligible to engage in maritime trade, including the trade to the eastern Mediterranean that was the source of much of Venice's wealth.

A 1483 document refers to his selling a slave in Crete whom he had acquired while in the territories of the Sultan of Egypt, which then comprised most of what is now Palestine, Syria, and Lebanon.

Cabot is mentioned in many Venetian records of the 1480s. These indicate that by 1484, he was married to Mattea and already had at least two sons.

Cabot's sons are Ludovico, Sebastian, and Sancto. The Venetian sources contain references to Cabot's being involved in house building in the city. He may have relied on this experience when seeking work later in Spain as a civil engineer.

Cabot appears to have gotten into financial trouble in the late 1480s and left Venice as an insolvent debtor by 5 November 1488.

He moved to Valencia, Spain, where his creditors attempted to have him arrested. While in Valencia, John Cabot proposed plans for improvements to the harbor. These proposals were rejected.

Early in 1494, he moved on to Seville, where he proposed, was contracted to build, and, for five months, worked on the construction of a stone bridge over the Guadalquivir River. This project was abandoned following a decision of the City Council on 24 December 1494.

After this, Cabot appears to have sought support from the Iberian crowns of Seville and Lisbon for an Atlantic expedition before moving to London to seek funding and political support. He likely reached England in mid-1495.

Like other Italian explorers, including Christopher Columbus , Cabot led an expedition on commission to another European nation, in his case, England.

Cabot planned to depart to the west from a northerly latitude where the longitudes are much closer together and where, as a result, the voyage would be much shorter. He still had an expectation of finding an alternative route to China.

On 5 March 1496, Henry VII gave Cabot and his three sons letters patent with the following charge for exploration:

...free authority, faculty, and power to sail to all parts, regions, and coasts of the eastern, western, and northern sea, under our banners, flags, and ensigns, with five ships or vessels of whatsoever burden and quality they may be, and with so many and with such mariners and men as they may wish to take with them in the said ships, at their own proper costs and charges, to find, discover and investigate whatsoever islands, countries, regions or provinces of heathens and infidels, in whatsoever part of the world placed, which before this time were unknown to all Christians.

Those who received such patents had the right to assign them to third parties for execution. His sons are believed to have still been under the age of 18

Cabot went to Bristol to arrange preparations for his voyage. Bristol was the second-largest seaport in England. From 1480 onward, it supplied several expeditions to look for Hy-Brazil. According to Celtic legend, this island lay somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean. There was a widespread belief among merchants in the port that Bristol men had discovered the island at an earlier date but then lost track of it.

Cabot's first voyage was little recorded. Winter 1497/98 letter from John Day (a Bristol merchant) to an addressee believed to be Christopher Columbus refers briefly to it but writes mostly about the second 1497 voyage. He notes, "Since your Lordship wants information relating to the first voyage, here is what happened: he went with one ship, his crew confused him, he was short of supplies and ran into bad weather, and he decided to turn back." Since Cabot received his royal patent in March 1496, it is believed that he made his first voyage that summer.

What is known as the "John Day letter" provides considerable information about Cabot's second voyage. It was written during the winter of 1497/8 by Bristol merchant John Day to a man who is likely Christopher Columbus . Day is believed to have been familiar with the key figures of the expedition and thus able to report on it.

If the lands Cabot had discovered lay west of the meridian laid down in the Treaty of Tordesillas, or if he intended to sail further west, Columbus would likely have believed that these voyages challenged his monopoly rights for westward exploration.

Leaving Bristol, the expedition sailed past Ireland and across the Atlantic, making landfall somewhere on the coast of North America on 24 June 1497. The exact location of the landfall has long been disputed, with different communities vying for the honor.

Cabot is reported to have landed only once during the expedition and did not advance "beyond the shooting distance of a crossbow." Pasqualigo and Day both state that the expedition made no contact with any native people; the crew found the remains of a fire, a human trail, nets, and a wooden tool.

The crew appeared to have remained on land just long enough to take on fresh water; they also raised the Venetian and Papal banners, claiming the land for the King of England and recognizing the religious authority of the Roman Catholic Church. After this landing, Cabot spent some weeks "discovering the coast," with most "discovered after turning back."

On return to Bristol, Cabot rode to London to report to the King.

On 10 August 1497, he was given a reward of £10 – equivalent to about two years' pay for an ordinary laborer or craftsman. The explorer was feted; Soncino wrote on 23 August that Cabot "is called the Great Admiral and vast honor is paid to him and he goes dressed in silk and these English run after him like mad."

Such adulation was short-lived, for over the next few months, the King's attention was occupied by the Second Cornish Uprising of 1497, led by Perkin Warbeck.

Once Henry's throne was secure, he gave more thought to Cabot. On 26 September, just a few days after the collapse of the revolt, the King made an award of £2 to Cabot. In December 1497, the explorer was awarded a pension of £20 per year, and in February 1498, he was given a patent to help him prepare a second expedition.

In March and April, the King also advanced a number of loans to Lancelot Thirkill of London, Thomas Bradley, and John Cair, who were to accompany Cabot's new expedition.

Cabot departed with a fleet of five ships from Bristol at the beginning of May 1498, one of which had been prepared by the King. Some of the ships were said to be carrying merchandise, including cloth, caps, lace points, and other "trifles."

This suggests that Cabot intended to engage in trade on this expedition. The Spanish envoy in London reported in July that one of the ships had been caught in a storm and been forced to land in Ireland but that Cabot and the other four ships had continued on.

For centuries, no other records were found (or at least published) that relate to this expedition; it was long believed that Cabot and his fleet were lost at sea. But at least one of the men scheduled to accompany the expedition, Lancelot Thirkill of London, is recorded as living in London in 1501.

The historian Alwyn Ruddock worked on Cabot and his era for 35 years. She had suggested that Cabot and his expedition successfully returned to England in the spring of 1500. She claimed their return followed an epic two-year exploration of the east coast of North America, south into the Chesapeake Bay area and perhaps as far as the Spanish territories in the Caribbean. Ruddock suggested Fr. Giovanni Antonio de Carbonariis and the other friars who accompanied the 1498 expedition had stayed in Newfoundland and founded a mission.

If Carbonariis founded a settlement in North America, it would have been the first Christian settlement on the continent and may have included a church, the only medieval church to have been built there.

The Cabot Project at the University of Bristol was organized in 2009 to search for the evidence on which Ruddock's claims rest, as well as to undertake related studies of Cabot and his expeditions.

The lead researchers on the project, Evan Jones and Margaret Condon, claim to have found further evidence to support aspects of Ruddock's case, particularly in relation to the successful return of the 1498 expedition to Bristol.

They have located documents that appear to place John Cabot in London by May 1500 but have yet to publish their documentation.

• John Cabot's Wikipedia Page
• Cabot Project
• Find a Grave: John Cabot Memorial
• John Cabot Study Guide
• The History Junkie's Guide to Famous Explorers
• The History Junkie's Guide to Colonial America

World History Edu

• Famous Explorers

John Cabot: History and Major Accomplishment of the Renowned Italian Explorer

by World History Edu · February 6, 2024

John Cabot, born Giovanni Caboto around 1450 in Genoa, Italy, was an Italian explorer and navigator known for his voyages across the Atlantic Ocean under the commission of Henry VII of England. This exploration led to the European discovery of parts of North America, believed to be the earliest since the Norse visits to Vinland in the eleventh century.

John Cabot, for example, was an Italian explorer known for his 1497 voyage to North America, where, though mistaking the land for Asia, he reached Newfoundland. Cabot is thought to have died only a few years later, possibly on a similar voyage. Image: A painting of Cabot by Italian painter Giustino Menescardi.

This is the story of the famed Italian explorer.

Birth and Early Life

His exact birth date is uncertain, but he is thought to have been born to a spice merchant, Giulio Caboto, and his wife; this background likely instilled in Cabot a curiosity about foreign lands and the lucrative spice trade.

Cabot’s early life is shrouded in mystery, but it is believed that he received a decent education, likely in navigation and seamanship, given Genoa’s prominence as a maritime republic.

By the late 1470s, Cabot had moved to Venice, a leading maritime power with extensive trade networks, where he became a citizen in 1476. During his time in Venice, he likely engaged in trade in the Eastern Mediterranean, gaining invaluable experience and knowledge about the trade routes.

Who were the 10 Most Influential Explorers of the Age of Discovery?

Time in England

By the 1480s, Cabot had moved to Spain and later to England, where he settled in Bristol, a leading maritime center. Bristol merchants had been interested in finding a direct trade route to Asia by sailing westward, and Cabot proposed that by sailing across the North Atlantic, one could reach Asia quicker and more safely than by the traditional routes around Africa.

Newfoundland Arrival

In 1496, Cabot received a royal patent from King Henry VII, which authorized him to search for unknown lands to establish trade. This patent was a significant milestone, as it marked England’s entry into the era of transatlantic exploration. The following year, Cabot set sail with one ship, the Matthew, and a crew of about 20 men. The exact course of his 1497 voyage is the subject of much debate, but it is widely accepted that he landed on the coast of what is today known as Newfoundland or Cape Breton Island, claiming the land for the English crown.

Significance of Cabot’s voyage

Cabot’s 1497 voyage was significant for several reasons. Firstly, it is believed to have been the first European exploration of the North American mainland since the Norse. Secondly, it laid the groundwork for future English claims in North America, which would eventually lead to the establishment of English colonies in the New World.

Despite the historical significance of his 1497 voyage, details about Cabot’s life and subsequent expeditions remain scarce and sometimes contradictory. A second expedition is believed to have taken place in 1498, with Cabot commanding a larger fleet aimed at establishing a base in the New World and further exploring the coast. However, the fate of this expedition is unclear, with some accounts suggesting that Cabot and his fleet were lost at sea, while others propose that he returned to England but fell out of favor.

Did you know…?

• Giovanni Caboto, known as John Cabot in English, reflects a historical European practice of adapting names to local languages in documents, a tradition often embraced by individuals themselves, leading to variations like Zuan Caboto in Venetian and Jean Cabot in French.
• In Venice, Cabot used “Zuan Chabotto,” a local form of John. He maintained this version in England among Italians, while his Italian banker in London uniquely referred to him as “Giovanni” in contemporary documents.
• For the 500th anniversary of Cabot’s expedition, Cape Bonavista, Newfoundland was officially recognized by Canada and the UK as his first landing site, despite other proposed locations for his historic North American arrival.

Cabot’s legacy is complex; while he did not establish lasting European settlements in North America, his voyages opened the North Atlantic and contributed to the European understanding of the New World’s geography. His expeditions under the English flag were among the first steps in the long process that eventually led to the establishment of British North America.

In the centuries following Cabot’s voyages, his achievements were somewhat overshadowed by those of other explorers such as  Christopher Columbus  and  Vasco da Gama .

However, the 19th and 20th centuries saw a resurgence of interest in Cabot as historians and scholars began to recognize his contributions to the Age of Discovery.

Today, John Cabot is celebrated as a pioneering figure in Atlantic exploration, with monuments, geographical locations, and institutions named in his honor, reflecting the enduring impact of his voyages on the history of exploration and the eventual shaping of the modern world.

Most Famous Explorers of All Time

Frequently Asked Questions about John Cabot and his Voyages

These FAQs aim to provide a brief overview of some of the most common questions related to John Cabot and his exploratory voyages to North America.

When was John Cabot born?

Cabot’s birth might predate the commonly cited year of 1450, suggesting an earlier timeline. His 1471 admission into Venice’s esteemed Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista indicates his early respect and standing within the community, reflecting his societal position.

Why was Vasco da Gama determined to open trade route to the east?

Who were john cabot’s parents.

Cabot, son of Giulio Caboto, with a brother named Piero, had his birthplace debated between Gaeta, Province of Latina, and Castiglione Chiavarese, Province of Genoa, Italy.

John Cabot, originally Giovanni Caboto, was an Italian navigator and explorer who is credited with the discovery of parts of North America under the commission of Henry VII of England in 1497.

What did John Cabot discover?

John Cabot is best known for his 1497 voyage across the Atlantic Ocean, where he reached what is believed to be the coast of Newfoundland, thus marking one of the earliest European explorations of the North American continent since the Norse.

Why did John Cabot explore?

Cabot was motivated by the desire to find a westward route to Asia to access its lucrative spice trade, bypassing the overland routes that were controlled by the Ottomans.

Was John Cabot the first to discover North America?

No, Cabot was not the first. The Norse, led by Leif Eriksson, had reached North America, specifically Vinland, which is thought to be modern-day Newfoundland, around the year 1000. However, Cabot’s voyage in 1497 is significant as it led to the European rediscovery of the continent.

Who was Barentsz and how significant was his exploration of the Arctic?

Did john cabot think he had found asia.

Yes, like many explorers of his time, Cabot believed that the lands he had found were the eastern outskirts of Asia. The concept of the “New World” as separate continents of North and South America was not widely recognized at the time.

What happened to John Cabot after his voyages?

The details surrounding Cabot’s fate after his voyages are unclear and subject to debate. He is believed to have embarked on a second voyage in 1498, from which he may not have returned, possibly dying during this expedition.

Cabot’s voyages were significant because they were among the first to suggest the existence of a northwestern route to Asia and they laid the groundwork for future European exploration and eventual colonization of the Americas. Image: Sculpture of Giovanni Caboto, crafted by Italian artits Augusto Benvenuti in 1881.

Did John Cabot have any interaction with indigenous peoples?

There is no conclusive evidence that Cabot directly interacted with indigenous peoples during his voyages. The records of his 1497 voyage are sparse, and if there were interactions, they were not well-documented.

What flag did John Cabot sail under?

John Cabot sailed under the flag of England, having been granted a royal patent by King Henry VII, which authorized him to explore “new lands” on behalf of the English crown.

Tags: 15th Century Explorers Age of Discovery Canada Henry VII of England Italian explorers John Cabot Newfoundland North America

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In This Article Expand or collapse the "in this article" section Giovanni Caboto (John Cabot)

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Giovanni Caboto (John Cabot) by Francesco Guidi Bruscoli LAST MODIFIED: 29 November 2022 DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199730414-0374

Giovanni Caboto (John Cabot, b. c. 1450–d. c . 1500) was an Italian navigator credited to be the first European to set foot in North America after the Norse, during an expedition of 1497 carried out under the English flag. Little is known about his origins, although he certainly took up Venetian citizenship, implying origin elsewhere. He was known as Zuan Chabotto in Venice, and he presented himself as a Venetian when he moved to England. As early as the late sixteenth/early seventeenth century, Richard Hakluyt and Samuel Purchas praised Caboto’s pioneering “discoveries” (despite some confusion between the role of Giovanni and that of his son). But it was especially from 1897 (the 400th anniversary of his landing) that—following new archival discoveries—his achievement as an explorer was celebrated. Until then his role had been overshadowed by that of his son Sebastian, who in part because of the influence of Sebastian’s own accounts, had been credited with being in charge of the voyages. It was in particular Henry Harrisse, in John Cabot, the Discoverer of North America, and Sebastian his Son: A Chapter of the Maritime History of England under the Tudors, 1496–1557 (London: Stevens, 1896), who revived the figure of Giovanni, while at the same time lambasting Sebastiano as an impostor. In the same period, more or less co-incident with the 400th anniversary of Columbus’s 1492 voyage, general interest in voyages of exploration revived also in Italy, although studies on Caboto mainly focused on his origin. In the 1940s new documentary discoveries threw some light on Caboto’s years both in Spain and in Venice. In the 1950s the discovery of John Day’s letter in the Simancas archive stimulated a new wave of studies, for the letter hints at a previously unknown voyage of 1496, provides many technical details concerning the 1497 voyage (thus opening debate on the latitude of the landing), and alludes to earlier discoveries. The most important study, still a crucial reference for studies on Caboto, is James A. Williamson’s The Cabot Voyages and Bristol Discovery under Henry VII (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press/Hakluyt Society, 2nd Series, vol. 120, 1962). For the 500th anniversary of the landing, in 1997, several conferences were organized, in many cases leading to the publication of proceedings. The most relevant recent advances, however, have been made within the framework of the Cabot Project, based at the University of Bristol. Following unpublished leads left behind by deceased scholar Alwyn Ruddock, Evan Jones and others have proposed new hypotheses, and uncovered the first known financiers of the 1497 voyage.

The volume of literature on Giovanni Caboto is overwhelming. New waves of publications coincided either with the celebration of anniversaries (especially in 1897 and 1997) or with the discovery of new documents, as summarized by Luzzana Caraci 1999 . In Italian the first analytical study of Caboto’s achievements was Almagià 1937 . In English the classic work (still seminal) is Williamson 1962 . Countless scholars and writers have published on Caboto’s voyages before and since. Among the most recent academic publications, Pope 1997 discusses at length the possible landfall of the 1497 voyage, still claimed by various Canadian regions, including Cape Bonavista (Newfoundland) and Cape Breton (Nova Scotia), whereas Jones 2008 sets the agenda for new streams of research to be undertaken in order to substantiate or rebut novel claims made by deceased historian Alwyn Ruddock (d. 2005). Recent popular literature includes Hunter 2011 , which takes a broader approach including Columbus’s voyages, and Jones and Condon 2016 , which summarizes current knowledge and is the prelude to a forthcoming academic publication.

Almagià, Roberto. Gli italiani primi scopritori dell’America . Rome: La Libreria dello Stato, 1937.

Voluminous (and rare) publication in Italian on Italian “first discoverers” of America. Starts from Columbus, and devotes several pages to Caboto. It also includes tables and maps. Critically discusses documents relating to the life and voyages of Caboto (and his son).

Hunter, Douglas. The Race to the New World: Christopher Columbus, John Cabot, and a Lost History of Discovery . New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011.

A popular history book, aimed at comparing the figures, the careers, and the achievements of Christopher Columbus and Giovanni Caboto. Includes the hypothesis (not backed by any documentary evidence) that Caboto might have accompanied Columbus on his second voyage of 1493.

Jones, Evan T. “Alwyn Ruddock: ‘John Cabot and the Discovery of America.’” Historical Research 81 (2008): 224–254.

DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-2281.2007.00422.x

Discusses claims made by late historian Alwyn Ruddock concerning new discoveries relating to Caboto’s voyages. This article originated new archival research aimed at substantiating or clarifying Ruddock’s claims. See also The Cabot Project , cited under Internet Resources .

Jones, Evan T., and M. Condon. Cabot and Bristol’s Age of Discovery: The Bristol Discovery Voyages 1480–1508 . Bristol, UK: University of Bristol, 2016.

Aimed at a general audience, this book presents an updated summary of what we currently know about Caboto and his voyages. It also discusses claims made by the late historian Alwyn Ruddock concerning the discovery of new documents. Also available online .

Luzzana Caraci, Ilaria. “Giovanni Caboto cinquecento anni dopo.” In Giovanni Caboto e le vie dell’Atlantico settentrionale . Atti del Convegno Internazionale (Roma, 29 settembre–1 ottobre 1997). Edited by Marcella Arca Petrucci and Simonetta Conti, 51–68. Rome: CISGE, 1999.

Useful and articulated—albeit brief—summary of the main advancement in the knowledge of Caboto’s life and voyages from the sixteenth century (until 1997).

Pope, Peter. The Many Landfalls of John Cabot . Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1997.

DOI: 10.3138/9781442681699

Discusses the current knowledge about Caboto, but also the claims of his son Sebastiano (denying his participation in his father’s voyage). Much space is devoted to the possible landfalls of the 1497 voyage and to the celebrations of 1897 (400th anniversary of the landing), when “anglophone/francophone cultural tensions [and] competition between Canada and Newfoundland” (p. 8) sparked debate on the landfall itself.

Williamson, James A. The Cabot Voyages and Bristol Discovery under Henry VII . Hakluyt Society Works, 2nd Series, Vol. 120. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1962.

Albeit dated, it is still the fundamental reference for sources concerning the voyages of John Cabot, as well as his son Sebastian’s and other Bristol voyages. A long introduction summarizes and compares all the sources and offers a considered narrative. It also includes an Appendix by R.A. Skelton, “The Cartography of the Voyages.” The volume reworks, with new documents added, an earlier study of 1929.

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Italian or French or English?

Cabot’s biological name and birthplace has been the subject of debates throughout history. In Italy, he was famously known as Giovanni Caboto . However, evidence from the early 15th century point to Cabot’s background as being non-Italian. In France, he was known as Jean Cabot , while in Spain, he is named Juan Caboto . Also according to the 1484 Venetian Testamentary documentation, Cabot registered himself under the name “Zuan Chaboto” in Venice. In England, he used the name “John Cabot” which was supported by the Venetian residents in London. In October 2010, an anonymous Italian banker from London discovered a document pertaining to Cabot’s original name, which was reportedly identified as “Giovanni Chabotte.”

Naturalized Citizenship

Based on ancient Venetian records, Cabot became an active member of a religious confraternity administered by the St. John the Evangelist Brotherhood in 1470. Seven years later, Cabot acquired his first-ever Venetian citizenship which allowed him to play a crucial role in the Mediterranean maritime trading years. In 1483, Cabot documented the detailed events covered throughout the trade, one of which included the selling of “Crete” slaves in the Sultan Territories of Egypt . In 1497, he visited the Milanese ambassador to London who was then based in the Mecca region in the Arab states. Due to his key roles in pioneering the Venetian years of exploration, he was given the name “Zuan Cabotto.”

In 1484, Cabot married a Venetian named Mattea . The couple eventually had three sons – Sebastian, Ludovico and Sancto. According to Venetian sources, Cabot settled in Spain to pursue his civil engineering profession months after he built a house for his family. After dealing with financial issues during the late 1480s, Cabot migrated from Venice to work as a full-time insolvent debtor in Valencia in November 1488. During his stay in Valencia, some creditors attempted to arrest him in accordance with the “Lettre De Raccomandiazone a Giustizia” (A Letter of Recommendation to Justice). However, the attempt failed to push through after Cabot’s proposals under his “John Cabot Montecalunya” document were rejected by authorities in Valencia. In 1494, Cabot moved to Seville where he worked on the proposal of the Guadalquivir River Bridge construction. The Seville city council initially rejected Cabot’s proposal in December 1494. Cabot continued migrating from one place to another until he finally reached the English territory in 1495.

Explorers Abound

Cabot’s first voyage began in 1497. Bristol-based merchant John Day , who happened to be one of Cabot’s backers, wrote a letter to Columbus. The letter stated the significance of the 1497 voyage, which eventually provoked Columbus’ decision to take a crucial role in it. In March 1496, Cabot finally received his patent from Columbus. The second part of voyage meanwhile started during the annual feast of St. John the Baptist in June 1497. During Cabot’s second voyage, he found a ship from a certain American island. The ship, which was initially found by the Bristow merchants, was recovered by Cabot’s navigation team in August 1497.

In the middle of 1497, the Newfoundland Post Office in America commemorated the 400th day of Cabot’s North American voyage. The office issued a commemorative stamp in honor of Cabot. According to the Bristol Chronicler publication, the first voyage letter submitted to Columbus was actually issued by an anonymous Venetian merchant in Bristol. Cabot became aware of the publicized issue, yet he neither confirmed nor denied it. The dispatch for the second letter was reportedly issued by the Duke of Milan who admittedly mentioned the short details of Cabot’s succeeding voyages.

Northwest Passage

After Cabot’s two voyages, he immediately approached Henry VII . In August 10, 1497, the king rewarded Cabot 10 pounds – which were then the equivalent of his salary during the first two years of working as a craftsman in London. In August 23 of the same year, Venetian explorer Soncino praised Cabot for being a great admiral in the Atlantic and North American voyage. Perkin Warbeck , who secured Henry VII’s throne during the 1497 Second Cornish Uprising, awarded him 20 pounds worth of pension grants in December 1497. In February 1498, Warbeck gave Cabot his full royal patent acquisition for his succeeding expeditions. The Great Chronicle, a London newspaper, reported that Cabot departed along with five ships from Bristol during the first week of May 1498. The departure was approved by Henry VII. According to the Spanish envoy based in London, one of the ships was devastated by a powerful storm. Cabot and his league of navigation backers unexpectedly landed in Ireland after the destruction. In 1499, Cabot fulfilled his final voyage – the North West Passage expedition.

Cabot’s exact cause of death remains a mystery in the chronicles of history. However, his legacy continues to be very well-respected all around the world. In 1972, the John Cabot University was established in Rome, Italy. A decade later, the exalted John Cabot bronze statue designed by Stephen Joyce was created. The latter is currently displayed at the Bristol Harbour area. The Cabot Circus shopping center opened at Bristol in 1998.

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Navigate between maps, north america 1497: john cabot’s expeditions.

?? 1497–Aug 1499 Roldán in revolt against Columbus

May–Aug 1497 John Cabot explores coast of Newfoundland

24 June 1497

Age of columbus, north america, john cabot’s expeditions.

Columbus’ discoveries created excitement in Europe and in 1496 Henry VII of England agreed to sponsor another Italian navigator, John Cabot , in his own explorations. Cabot arrived off the coast of Newfoundland in 1497, possibly—his voyages are poorly documented—returning to explore the coast of North America the following year, but, like Columbus, was disappointed to find no wealthy Asian kingdoms. Meanwhile, Columbus faced renewed problems in Hispaniola when Roldán led a revolt of Spanish settlers and Taíno against his authority (1497–99) .

Main Events

1497–31 aug 1499 roldán’s rebellion ▲.

In 1496 Christopher Columbus left Hispaniola for Spain, leaving his brother Bartholomew in charge of the colony. Dissatisfied with the governance of the Columbus brothers, Francisco Roldán, the mayor of La Isabela, seized this opportunity to lead many of the Spanish settlers and soldiers in revolt in 1497. Basing himself in the semi-independent Taíno chiefdom of Jaragua, Roldán’s actions also encouraged the short-lived revolt of the chiefdoms of Maguá and Higüey the following year. In 1498 Columbus returned, finally bringing an end to the revolt by buying Roldán off with concessions. in wikipedia

? May–6 Aug 1497 John Cabot’s second voyage ▲

In March 1496 the Venetian navigator Giovanni Caboto—John Cabot in English—was granted letters patent by Henry VII of England to explore the seas. After an unsuccessful first voyage, Cabot departed Bristol aboard the Matthew in May 1497, sighting part of North America—most likely Cape Breton Island or one of Newfoundland’s capes—on 24 June. Landing just once to take possession of the land for the king, Cabot proceeded northwards along the coast before returning to arrive back in England in August. in wikipedia

History Moments

May 5, 2021 Leave a Comment

Cabots’ Second Voyage

It must be remembered that John Cabot took the time to go on shore at his landfall, and planted the banners of England and St. Mark there.

Continuing Cabots Discover North America Mainland , our selection from Voyage of the Cabots 1497-1498 by Samuel Edward Dawson published in 1894. The selection is presented in six easy 5-minute installments. For works benefiting from the latest research see the “More information” section at the bottom of these pages.

Previously in Cabots Discover North America Mainland.

Time: 1497 Place: Newfoundland

And now we may pass on to the consideration of the second voyage; and first among the writers, in order of time as also in order of importance, is Peter Martyr of Anghiera, who published his Decades of the New World in 1516. Sebastian Cabot had then been in Spain for four years, high in office and in royal favor. Peter Martyr was his “familiar friend and comrade,” and tells the Pope, to whom these Decades were addressed as letters, that he wrote from information derived from Cabot’s own lips. Here, I venture to think, many of the writers on this subject have gone astray; for the whole question changes. Martyr knows of only one voyage, and that was beyond doubt the voyage of 1498; he knows of only one discoverer, and that the man from whose lips he writes the narrative. The landfall is far north, in a region of ice and perpetual daylight. At the very outset the subject is stated to be “those northern seas,” and then Peter Martyr goes on to say that Sebastian Cabot furnished two ships at his own charges; and that, with three hundred men, he sailed toward the north pole, where he saw land, and that then he was compelled to turn westward; and after that he coasted to the south until he reached the latitude of Gibraltar; and that he was west of the longitude of Cuba. In other words, he struck land far in the north, and from that point he sailed south along the coast as far as Cape Hatteras. That Labrador was the landfall seems clear; for he met large masses of ice in the month of July. These were not merely the bergs of the western ocean, but masses of field-ice, which compelled him to change his course from north to west, and finally to turn southward. The same writer states that Cabot himself named a portion of the great land he coasted “Baccalaos,” because of the quantity of fish, which was so great that they hindered the sailing of his ships, and that these fishes were called baccalaos by the natives. This statement has given rise to much dispute. As to the quantity of fish, all succeeding writers concur that it was immense beyond conception; and probably the swarming of the salmon up the rivers of our Pacific coast may afford a parallel; but that Cabot did not so name the country is abundantly clear. A very exhaustive note on the word will be found at page 131 of Dr. Bourinot’s Cape Breton .

Bearing in mind the preceding considerations, the study of the early maps will become profitable, and I would now direct attention to them to ascertain what light they may throw upon the landfall of John Cabot and the island of St. John opposite to it. It must be remembered that John Cabot took the time to go on shore at his landfall, and planted the banners of England and St. Mark there. At that time of year and in that latitude, it was light at half-past three, but it was five when he saw land, and he had to reach it and perform the ceremonies appropriate for such occasions; so the island opposite could not be far away. The island, then, will be useful to identify the landfall if we find it occurring frequently on the succeeding maps.

Don Pedro de Ayala, joint Spanish ambassador at London, wrote, on July 25, 1498, to his sovereigns that he had procured and would send a copy of John Cabot’s chart of his first voyage. This map of Juan de la Cosa is evidence that Ayala fulfilled his promise. It is a manuscript map made at the end of the year 1500, by the eminent Biscayan pilot, who, if not the equal of Columbus in nautical and cosmographical knowledge, was easily the second to him. Upon it there is a continuous coast line from Labrador to Florida, showing that the claim made by Sebastian Cabot of having coasted from a region of ice and snow to the latitude of Gibraltar was accepted as true by La Cosa, whatever later Spanish writers may have said. Recent writers of authority have arrived at the conclusion that, immediately after Columbus and Cabot had opened the way, many independent adventurers visited the western seas; for there are a number of geographical facts recorded on the earliest charts not easy to account for on any other hypothesis. Dr. Justin Winsor shows that La Cosa, and others of the great sailors of the earliest years of discovery, soon recognized that they had encountered a veritable barrier to Asia, consisting of islands, or an island of continental size, through which they had to find a passage to the golden East. Their views were not, however, generally accepted.

That La Cosa based the northern part of his map upon Cabot’s discoveries is demonstrated by the English flags marked along the coast and the legend “ Mar descubierto por Ingleses ,” because no English but the Cabot expeditions had been there; and what is evidently intended for Cape Race is called “Cavo de Ynglaterra.” The English flags mark off the coast from that cape to what may be considered as Cape Hatteras. Cabot, as before stated, confidently expected to reach Cathay. He sailed for that as his objective point, and he was looking for a broad western ocean, so that narrow openings were to him simply bays of greater or less depth. The sailors of those early voyages coasted from headland to headland, as plainly appears from many of the maps upon which the recesses of the sinuosities of the coast are not completed lines, and it must be borne in mind that in sailing between Newfoundland and Cape Breton the bold and peculiar contours of both can be seen at the same time. This is possible in anything like clear weather, but, in the bright weather of Midsummer Day, Cape Ray would necessarily have been seen from St. Paul’s, and the opening might well have been taken for a deep indentation of the coast. Between “Cavo descubierto” and “Cavo St. Jorge” such an indentation is shown on the map, but the line is closed, showing that Cabot did not sail through.

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The Moscow Trials

(march 1962).

This article was first published in Survey , No. 41, April 1962, pp. 87–95. Prepared for the MIA by Paul Flewers.

AT the twenty-second congress of the CPSU, N.S. Khrushchev once again raised the question of the “great purge”, this time in open session and with more detailed references to individual instances of Stalin’s persecution of his opponents. Khrushchev did not directly mention the three great Moscow trials, but the whole tenor of his reply to the discussion on the party programme made it clear that these trials were frame-ups. His remarks on the Kirov assassination alone were sufficient to demonstrate this, since the Kirov affair was the king-pin of the entire structure of these trials.

The assassination, 25 years ago, of Sergei Mironovich Kirov – Secretary of the Leningrad party organisation and member of the Politbureau – was the signal for the merciless repression of all Stalin’s known, suspected or potential opponents in the party. The range and thoroughness of this action was matched by the domestic and international propaganda campaign that accompanied it: for the Stalinist objective was not merely the physical destruction of all those who might conceivably constitute a rallying point for opposition within the party; not merely the creation in the USSR of an atmosphere of terror in which self-preservation should become the overriding consideration for each individual; it was also the complete moral annihilation of the leading figures of the Russian Revolution. Only Lenin would remain untouched, a great messianic figure; and by his side would rise the figure of Stalin, his sole true disciple. Consciousness of the past history of the Russian Revolution was to be erased from the mind of man and a new history was to take its place, the Stalin legend.

The campaign launched for this purpose – which may truly be termed a brain-washing campaign – was on a colossal scale. Its highlights were the three great Moscow trials in August 1936, January 1937 and March 1938, when almost the entire Bolshevik “old guard” was found guilty of organising the murder of Kirov, of wrecking, sabotage, treason, plotting the restoration of capitalism, etc. And it was precisely the defendants at these trials who, with their self-accusations, their abject penitence, their acceptance and praise of Stalin’s policies, showed themselves as eager as the Stalinists to support this campaign. Never before in history had there been a conspiracy of such dimensions, conspirators of such former eminence, and at the same time conspirators so uniformly anxious to attest the unrighteousness of their cause and the utter criminality of their actions.

At once sordid and deeply tragic, combining the grim reality of apparently normal juridical procedure with the lack of any evidence against the accused other than their own nightmarishly unreal confessions, these trials shocked the liberal conscience of the entire world. Yet it was, strangely enough, in Great Britain, a country proud of its tradition of liberal thought and action, that the most influential voices were raised in their defence.

Thus A.J. Cummings, then a political columnist of considerable standing, although admitting to some difficulty in accepting the guilt of all the accused, wrote of the first trial that “the evidence and the confessions are so circumstantial that to reject both as hocus-pocus would be to reduce the trial almost to complete unintelligibility”. (News Chronicle , 25 August 1936) The Moscow correspondent of the Observer also wrote (23 August 1936) that: “It is futile to think that the trial was staged and the charges trumped up. The government’s case against the defendants is genuine.” Sir Bernard Pares ( Spectator , 18 September 1936) likewise expressed the view that:

As to the trial generally, I was in Moscow while it was in progress and followed the daily reports in the press. Since then I have made a careful study of the verbatim report. Having done that I must give it as my considered judgement that if the report had been issued in a country (that is, other than the USSR) without any of the antecedents I have referred to, the trial would be regarded as one which could not fail to carry conviction ... The examination of the 16 accused by the State Prosecutor is a close work of dispassionate reasoning, in which, in spite of some denials and more evasions, the guilt of the accused is completely brought home.

These statements were made use of by the Anglo-Russian Parliamentary Committee in presenting to the public its summarised version of the official report (itself not verbatim) of the first Moscow trial. Its account of the second trial (compiled by W.P. and Zelda K. Coates) was introduced by Neil Maclean, MP, with a preface by the Moscow correspondent of the Daily Herald , R.T. Miller, and contained two speeches by Stalin, “in that simple and clear style of which Mr Stalin is such a master”, as Maclean put it. Maclean in his introductory foreword asserted that:

... practically every foreign correspondent present at the trial with the exception, of course, of the Japanese and German – have expressed themselves as very much impressed by the weight of evidence presented by the prosecution and the sincerity of the confessions of the accused.

In the course of his preface Miller wrote that “the prisoners appeared healthy, well-fed, well-dressed and unintimidated”; that “Mr Dudley Collard, the English barrister ... considered it perfectly sound from the legal point of view”; and that the accused “confessed because the state’s collection of evidence forced them to. No other explanation fits the facts.” [1]

Leaving aside Mr Collard, whose well-known political sympathies might explain his easy acceptance of surface appearances, it is clear that none of these commentators had the slightest understanding of the political struggle raging in the Soviet Union; a struggle of which these trials and those that had preceded them from 1928 onwards (which these gentlemen had apparently totally forgotten) were a reflection. Nor could any of them have really made a serious study of the official report. The circumstances of the time made many politically conscious people desire above all to think the best of the Soviet Government, and the views quoted above, deriving in part from this very desire, in part from sheer ignorance, were very welcome to the Stalinists. If they did not wholly convince, they at least helped to lull suspicion.

*  *  *

The most outstanding and the most influential supporter of the Stalinist campaign in the country was D.N. Pritt, an MP, a KC, and formerly president of the enquiry set up to investigate the proceedings of the Reichstag fire trial. Pritt entered the campaign with an article in the News Chronicle (27 August 1936), later reprinted in pamphlet form, The Moscow Trial was Fair (with additional material by Pat Sloan). He then expanded his analysis and argument in a booklet of 39 pages entitled The Zinoviev Trial (Gollancz, 1936). In this he first of all suggests that the bulk of the criticism of the trial emanated from the extreme right-wing opponents of the Soviet government. Still, he admits that much of it was made in good faith and came from “newspapers and individuals of very high reputation for fairness”. However, he goes on to imply that these critics had not, as he had, really studied the whole of the available evidence, but had relied upon incomplete reports. Moreover, they had not his advantage of being an eyewitness of the trial and a lawyer into the bargain. Having established in the reader’s mind that all criticism coming from sources hostile to the Soviet regime is ipso facto baseless, and having made plain his own geographical and professional superiority to the “fair-minded” critics, he argues that:

It should be realised at the outset, of course, that the critics who refuse to believe that Zinoviev and Kamenev could possibly have conspired to murder Kirov, Stalin, Voroshilov and others, even when they say themselves that they did, are in a grave logical difficulty. For if they thus dismiss the whole case for the prosecution as a “frame-up”, it follows inescapably that Stalin and a substantial number of other high officials, including presumably the judges and the prosecutor, were themselves guilty of a foul conspiracy to procure the judicial murder of Zinoviev, Kamenev and a fair number of other persons. (pp. 3–4)

The most general and important criticism of the trial, Pritt says, is that it was impossible to believe that “men should confess openly and fully to crimes of the gravity of those in question here”. (p. 5) In fact, of course, the critics” difficulty was not to believe that “men” should confess to “grave crimes”, but that these particular men should confess in that particular manner to crimes so contrary to everything known of their very public political pasts, so contrary to their known political philosophy, and so manifestly incapable of achieving their alleged objectives. For among those 16 accused there were, as Khrushchev has now obliquely reminded us, “prominent representatives of the old guard who, together with Lenin, founded “the world’s first proletarian state”. ( Report on the Programme of the CPSU , Soviet Booklet No. 81, 1961, p. 108) These were now transformed, in the words of the indictment, into “unprincipled political adventurers and assassins striving at only one thing, namely, to make their way to power even through terrorism”. ( Report of Court Proceedings: The Case of the Trotskyite-Zinovievite Terrorist Centre , People’s Commissariat of Justice of the USSR, Moscow 1936, p. 18)

Pritt himself, however, does not appear to be wholly at ease about the lack of evidence adduced other than the confessions, for he suggests that the Soviet government would have preferred all or most of the accused to have pleaded not guilty, for then the “full strength of the case” would have been apparent. As it was, “all the available proof did not require to be brought forward”. (p. 9) He assumes the existence of this proof; he writes that we cannot possibly know “what further facts there were in the record that were not adduced at all”. Not, that is, whether further facts were available, but what facts.

Although there is constant mention of facts, Pritt never gets down to a consideration of verifiable factual evidence adduced in alleged corroboration of the confessions. The closest he gets to giving an example of this is when he refers to an alleged conversation between two of the accused in which “a highly incriminating phrase was used”. Each of the accused denied using it, but each said that the other had. Pritt found this highly significant. He does not explain why the accused should have shied at admitting the use of “incriminating phrases” when they had already confessed to capital crimes.

Pritt claims to have reached his conclusion on the basis of a careful study of the official report of the trial. Surely, then, he must have been aware that, when it was not simply a question of “incriminating phrases”, conversations about conversations, but of concrete facts, some very glaring discrepancies were exposed, such as, for example, the flatly contradictory evidence of two of the accused, Olberg and Holtzmann, and the alleged meeting at a non-existent hotel.

It hardly seems possible that a man of Pritt’s professional training could have failed to see that the whole structure of the confessions simply did not hang together. He did not even notice anything strange in the tale of those two desperadoes Fritz David and Bermin-Yurin, who, after spending two and a half years preparing a plan to kill Stalin at the Congress of the Communist International, decided, when it came to the point, that they could not shoot “because there were too many people”!

For Pritt “anything in the nature of forced confessions is intrinsically impossible”; it was “obvious to anyone who watched the proceedings in court that the confessions as made orally in court could not possibly have been concocted or rehearsed”; and not even the keenest critic had been able to find a false note (pp. 12–14). The picture he gives of himself is that of an utterly credulous bumpkin. Any reasonably objective student of Soviet politics must have been aware at the time that this trial and those that followed were frame-ups. It did not require Khrushchev to admit that “thousands of absolutely innocent people perished ... Many party leaders, statesmen and military leaders lost their lives”; that “they were ‘persuaded’, persuaded in certain ways, that they were German, British or some other spies. And some of them ‘confessed’.”

For the Moscow trials were all of a piece with those that had preceded them: the Shakhty trial in 1928; the Industrial Party trial in 1930; the Menshevik trial in 1931; and the Metro-Vickers trial in 1933. [2] No student of these trials would fail to see that they served a definite political purpose and that justice had been perverted to this end. The very occurrence, previous to the Moscow trials, of exactly similar confession trials – with all their “technical” failures (attempted retraction of confessions; an accused going insane; long dead men named as conspirators, etc) – should have been enough to raise doubts in the mind of the most prejudiced. But the supporters of Stalin clearly did not want to see the truth. [3]

Here, as elsewhere, it was the paramount task of the Communist Party to “sell” the trials. For this purpose, in addition to public meetings throughout the country and articles in the Daily Worker and other periodicals, a stream of pamphlets was published. The Moscow correspondent of the Daily Worker , W.D. Shepherd, wrote two pamphlets in 1936: The Truth About the Murder of Kirov (31 pages) and The Moscow Trial (15 pages). In 1937, two leading English communists, Harry Pollitt and R. Palme Dutt, wrote The Truth about Trotskyism: The Moscow Trial (36 pages), and in 1938 R. Page Arnot and Tim Buck dealt with the third trial in Fascist Agents Exposed (22 pages). Supplementing all this there were the so-called verbatim Reports of the Court Proceedings (published in English by the People’s Commissariat of Justice of the USSR), and the abridged version of the official report of the August 1936 trial, published by the Anglo-Russian Parliamentary Committee. This does not, of course, exhaust the list of published matter issued directly or indirectly by the Communist Party in defence at the trials. Party contributors to the Left Book Club publications naturally also supported the campaign. In this respect JR Campbell’s Soviet Policy and its Critics (Gollancz, 1938, 374 pages) and Soviet Democracy (Gollancz, 1937, 288 pages) by Pat Sloan, are notable.

The bulk of this material eschews any attempt at reasoning and concentrates on invective in the verbal knuckleduster style typical of the Stalinist school. Campbell’s book is a much more ambitious effort in that he admits knowledge of the Dewey Commission [4] , quotes from its proceedings, and also uses quotations from Trotsky’s writings, albeit within strict limits. Thus he quotes Trotsky’s words:

Why, then, did the accused, after 25, 30 or more years of revolutionary work, agree to take upon themselves such monstrous and degrading accusations? How did the GPU achieve this? Why did not a single one of the accused cry out openly before the court against the frame-up? Etc, etc. In the nature of the case I am not obliged to answer these questions.

Here Campbell stops and comments: “But if there is no answer then a most important element in the case of the Soviet government is upheld.” (p. 252) He does not follow the quotation further, which runs:

We could not here question Yagoda (he is now being questioned himself by Yezhov), or Yezhov, or Vyshinsky, or Stalin, or, above all, their victims, the majority of whom, indeed, have already been shot. That is why the Commission cannot fully uncover the inquisitorial technique of the Moscow trials. But the mainsprings are already apparent. ( The Case of Leon Trotsky , pp. 482–83)

A very striking illustration of the Stalinist technique – low cunning, contempt for the truth, contempt for the reader’s intelligence – is to be seen on page 213 of Campbell’s book in his quotation from Trotsky’s The Soviet Union and the Fourth International . He begins in the middle of a paragraph:

The first social shock, external or internal, may throw the atomised Soviet society into civil war. The workers, having lost control over the state and economy, may resort to mass strikes as weapons of self-defence. The discipline of the dictatorship would be broken down [5] under the onslaught of the workers and because of the pressure of economic difficulties the trusts would be forced to disrupt the planned beginnings and enter into competition with one another. The dissolution of the regime would naturally be thrown over into the army. The socialist state would collapse, giving place to the capitalist regime, or, more correctly, to capitalist chaos.

And on this, Campbell writes: “This was more than a prophecy. It was the objective of the conspirators.” The very next paragraph in Trotsky’s essay begins: “The Stalinist press, of course, will reprint our warning analysis as a counter-revolutionary prophecy, or even as the expressed ‘desire’ of the Trotskyites.”

Campbell’s book is a long diatribe against “Trotskyism” and of its 374 pages there is hardly one on which the name Trotsky does not appear. Since this was written after the third Moscow trial, he has caught up with the Soviet scenario, successively developed with each trial. The crimes of the accused are now “only a culminating point in the struggle which Trotsky and his followers have been waging against the Bolshevik party since 1903”.

One of the curiosities of this period is the book written by Maurice Edelman from the notes of a Peter Kleist, entitled GPU Justice (1938). [6] According to Edelman, Kleist was “by no means a communist”. Efforts to convey an impression of objectivity are evident. The book dispenses with the usual Stalinist bludgeoning invective and affects a dispassionate, disengaged attitude, but its phraseology and tone are unmistakably pro-Stalinist. The Soviet Union is a classless society; the GPU is simply a police force like any other (only superior, of course); it is a misconception to consider it a secret police; if you are innocent no one can make you guilty; talk of GPU torture is Polish fascist slander; he, Kleist, is treated considerately, without brutality, and, therefore, so is every other suspect. There are many little touches designed to bring out the humanity of Kleist’s captors. The Lubyanka and Butyrki prisons are depicted as rest-homes, where lengthy discussions (reproduced apparently verbatim) permit Stalinists to defend Stalin and Trotskyites to expose themselves as avowed wreckers and saboteurs in collaboration with the White Guards. The book could obviously only have been written by someone with a very clear idea of the party line, and at the same time someone anxious to appear non-partisan. The cloak of non-partisanship is worn pretty thin, however, by the author’s efforts to defend and extol, not merely “GPU justice”, but almost every aspect of Soviet life, including the forced labour camps. Finally, in an appendix, Kleist on the Moscow Trials , all pretence of impartiality is dropped. There one reads: “Why do they confess? was the typical journalistic question, and no one, except the communist papers, supplied the obvious answer: ‘Because they were guilty.’” (p. 211) In this section the stock Stalinist arguments are put forward by Kleist himself and not, as in the main narrative, through the mouths of others.

To these arguments he adds one of his very own. It gives the appearance of having been inserted to show that in spite of his total agreement with the party line, he is nevertheless by no means a communist. For he says that, the GPU having established the guilt of the accused, they were “at this point quite conceivably offered remission of the death sentence”. This, he argues, “would account for the fluency of the confession and for the calm with which the majority of the prisoners heard the sentence of death” (p. 217). Apparently, Kleist regards this kind of double-crossing as a mark of the humanity of GPU justice.

His final sentence is worth noting:

In the years which have passed since this my release , the bursting into flames of the Spanish-Fascist rebellion, the risings and intervention of the Nazis in Austria and the promise of intervention in Czechoslovakia, have convinced me that whatever bewilderment is felt outside the Soviet Union at the unearthing of these Fascist conspirators, Fascist conspiracy in conjunction with Trotskyist conspiracy does exist and that its extirpation, so far from endangering the USSR, marks another peril avoided. (p. 218)

Leaving aside the peculiar logic of this passage, attention is drawn to the words emphasised. The book was published in 1938. Kleist was released in April 1937. Thus, no “years” could have passed since his release. The reader may work out for himself the chronology of the events to which he refers, all of which he says took place after his release.

The verdict of the British press was in general unfavourable to the Moscow trials. Among the dailies the Manchester Guardian stood out as their sharpest critic. In addition to its own editorial comment, it published cables from Trotsky rebutting the evidence and attacking Stalin’s policy, earning what is probably the rarest praise ever bestowed by a revolutionary on a “bourgeois” newspaper. “I know full well”, Trotsky telegraphed from Mexico (25 January 1937), “that the Manchester Guardian will be one of the first to serve the truth and humanity.” Typical of the Manchester Guardian ’s attitude was its statement of 28 August 1936: “He [Stalin] surrounds himself with men of his own making [7] and devotes all the power of the state to removing those who, however remotely, might become rival centres of authority.”

Nothing as bluntly condemnatory as this came, however, from The Times . Indeed, in 1936 and 1937, its attitude might justly be construed as favourable to Stalin. The trials, it thought, reflected the triumph of Stalin’s “nationalist” policy over that of the revolutionary die-hards. The conservative forces, with the overwhelming support of the nation, had now demonstrably gained the day. On this single point it was curiously at one with Trotsky himself, who wrote in an article in the Sunday Express (6 March 1938) that: “From beginning to end his [Stalin’s] programme was that of the formation of a bourgeois republic.” It was only with the 1938 trial that The Times expressed doubts as to the general trend of affairs in the Soviet Union. On balance one cannot say that The Times saw very clearly in this matter. [8]

The labour press was naturally in agreement with the views expressed by the Socialist International and the International Federation of Trade Unions (Louis de Brouckère and F. Adler on behalf of the LSI, and Sir W. Citrine and Walter Schevenels on behalf of the IFTU sent telegrams of protest on the occasion of each of the trials). Writing on the second trial in Reynolds News (7 February 1937), H.N. Brailsford said that it left him “bewildered, doubtful, miserable”; pointed however to the confessions – “If they had been coerced, surely some of them ... would have blurted out the truth”; referred then to the conflict of the evidence with known facts, and concluded: “In one Judas among 12 apostles it is easy to believe. But when there are 11 Judases and only one loyal apostle, the Church is unlikely to thrive.” In the Scottish Forward , Emrys Hughes” witty, ironic articles bluntly exposed the trials as “frame-ups”.

On the other hand, however, it was the communists alone who maintained a campaign consonant with their objectives. There can be little doubt that they did finally succeed in diverting the attention of left-wing opinion and those others whom they courted from the essential issues raised by the trials, and in persuading a very large body of public opinion that Stalin’s policy was right.

In this task they received powerful support from the New Statesman and Nation , which reached an audience not in general susceptible to direct communist approach. This journal gave an exhibition of dithering evasiveness and moral obtuseness rarely displayed by a reputedly responsible publication. The 1936 trial, “if one may trust the available reports, was wholly unconvincing” (28 August 1936). At the same time:

We do not deny ... that the confessions may have contained a substance of truth. We complain because, in the absence of independent witnesses, there is no way of knowing ... When we hear that so close and trusted a friend of Stalin as Radek, is suspected ... we are compelled to wonder that there may not be more serious discontent in the Soviet Union than was generally believed.” (5 September 1936)

An article on the second trial, Will Stalin Explain? (30 January 1937), stated that “the various parts of the plot do not seem to hang together”; but the confessions could not be doubted because that would mean doubting Soviet justice; on the other hand, “to accept them as they stand is to draw a picture of a regime divided against itself”. If there was an escape from this dilemma, would Stalin please tell them what it was?

In the absence of any answer from Stalin to this complaint, the journal had to be, and apparently was, satisfied with matters as they stood. For after the verdict it asserted that: “Few would now maintain that all or any of them were completely innocent.” (6 February 1937) Reference is made to a letter from Mr Dudley Collard (the letter noted earlier in this article) and the comment made: “If he is right, we may hope that the present round-up and the forthcoming trial will mean the final liquidation of ‘Trotskyism’ in the USSR, or at least of the infamous projects to which that word is now applied.”

The third trial again demonstrated the New Statesman and Nation ’s remoteness from reality and indifference to the moral issues raised: “The Soviet trial is undoubtedly very popular in the USSR. The exposure of Yagoda ... pleases everyone and seems to explain a great deal of treachery and inefficiency in the past.” But: “the confessions remain baffling whether we regard them as true or false, and the prisoners as innocent or guilty. There has undoubtedly been much plotting in the USSR.” (12 March 1938)

True or false; innocent or guilty: one could take one’s choice – what was important was that the confessions were baffling. Even more baffling were the mental processes by which an otherwise humane and intelligent man could write in a manner at once so callous and so superficial.

This type of confusion and refusal to face facts dominated the thinking of many left-wing intellectuals and the left wing of the labour movement during the 1930s. The experience of the great Russian purge destroyed no illusions, taught them nothing. And even today it is doubtful if there is a full appreciation of the profound effect those events had on Russian society and the men who lead it.

1. A member of the Fabian Society, Mr Collard performed the same service for the second Moscow trial as Pritt had done for the first (see D. Collard, Soviet Justice and the Trial of Radek , 1937). In 1936 he sent from Moscow a long telegram of protest against the appeal for mercy addressed to the court by Adler and Citrine. Yet in the New Statesman of 6 February 1937 he stated that “English reports of previous trials induced in me certain misgivings as to the genuineness of the charges”.

2. There were 53 accused at the 1928 trial – far too many for its proper staging. Right at the beginning it was announced that one, Nekrasov, had gone mad. Two other accused tried to withdraw their confessions during the course of the trial, giving a sickening glimpse of the preliminary investigation’s “rehearsal” horrors. At the next trial, in 1930, one Osadchy was brought into court under guard to give evidence as a member of the “conspiracy”. Osadchy had been one of the state prosecutors in the 1928 trial. With each trial the staging “improved”, but in the very nature of such trials perfection was impossible. Even at their “best” they could only deceive those suffering from what Ignazio Silone called the disease of juridical cretinism. It is worth noting that at the third Moscow trial the State Prosecutor, Vyshinsky, himself called attention to the connection between all these trials. ( Report of the Court Proceedings in the Case of the Anti-Soviet Bloc of Rights and Trotskyists , Moscow 1938, pp. 636–37)

3. It is worth recording that Moscow University recently conferred on D.N. Pritt the honorary degree of Doctor of Law. During the ceremony Academician Ivan Petrovsky, Rector of the University, praised Pritt as an “outstanding lawyer and selfless defender of the common people”.

4. See The Case of Leon Trotsky and Not Guilty (Secker and Warburg, 1937 and 1938).

5. The original reads: “The discipline of the dictatorship would be broken. Under the ...”, etc.

6. Recommended in Philip Grierson’s Books on Soviet Russia, 1917–1942 (1943) as “sober and matter-of-fact narrative; an admirable corrective to more sensational writings” (p. 125).

7. Among them, of course, N. Khrushchev, who, speaking from the roof of Lenin’s tomb to a parade of 200,000 workers after the 1937 trial, said: “By lifting their hands against Comrade Stalin they lifted them against everything that is best in humanity, because Stalin is the hope, Stalin is the expectation, Stalin is the lighthouse of all progressive humanity. Stalin, our banner! Stalin, our will! Stalin, our victory!” ( Daily Telegraph , 1 February 1937)

8. “Stalin’s policy of nationalism has been amply vindicated. Russia has made much industrial progress, social conditions are improving.” ( The Times , 20 August 1936) “Today the Russian dictatorship stages what is evidently meant to be the most impressive and terrifying of its many exhibitions of despotic power ... The customary overture has already been played by the Soviet press ... howling for the blood of those whom it denounces, in the grimly proleptic phrase, as “this Trotskyist carrion”.” ( The Times , 2 March 1938).

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Last updated: 17 February 2023

Russia's Nuclear Deterrent Command Center Imperiled by Winter Freeze—Report

A Russian nuclear deterrent command center in Moscow has been imperiled by power outages that have impacted more than one-quarter of the region's cities amid freezing temperatures, a Russian Telegram channel has reported.

The VChK-OGPU outlet, which purports to have inside information from Russian security forces, reported that the 820th Main Center for Missile Attack Warnings—part of the Russian Space Forces, a branch of the country's Aerospace Forces—near Solnechnogorsk in Moscow is without power.

It serves as the space forces early warning network against potential ballistic missile attacks.

The development comes as Russians are reported to be suffering from power outages in their homes in the Moscow region caused by technical issues at plants amid subzero temperatures.

On January 4, a heating main burst at the Klimovsk Specialized Ammunition Plant in the town of Podolsk, which is about 30 miles south of central Moscow. Since then, tens of thousands of Russians are reported to have no heating in their homes.

Affected areas include the cities of Khimki, Balashikha, Lobnya, Lyubertsy, Podolsk, Chekhov and Naro-Fominsk, a map published by a Russian Telegram channel and shared on other social media sites shows.

Other Russian media outlets reported that in Moscow, residents of Balashikha, Elektrostal, Solnechnogorsk, Dmitrov, Domodedovo, Troitsk, Taldom, Orekhovo-Zuyevo, Krasnogorsk, Pushkino, Ramenskoye, Voskresensk, Losino-Petrovsky and Selyatino are also without power.

The Telegram channel said that at the 820th Main Center for Missile Attack Warnings, "the crew...is on duty around the clock."

"It is here that the decision on a retaliatory nuclear strike is executed," the channel said.

Newsweek could not independently verify the report and has reached out to the Russian Defense Ministry by email for comment.

Power outages have also been reported in Russia's second-largest city, St. Petersburg, in the country's western Voronezh region, in the southwest city of Volgograd, and in Rostov, which borders Ukraine, a country that Russia has been at war with since February 24, 2022.

On Sunday, two shopping malls in St. Petersburg were forced to close because of problems with light and heating, reported local news outlet 78.ru. Hundreds of other homes in the city have had no electricity, water or heating for days amid temperatures of -25 C (-13 F).

Russian authorities have also been forced to compensate passengers of a train that ran from Samara to St. Petersburg (a 20-hour journey) without heating during -30 C (-22 F) temperatures. Videos circulating on social media showed carriage windows frozen over. A passenger also said the toilet didn't work during the trip because of frozen pipes.

Do you have a tip on a world news story that Newsweek should be covering? Do you have a question about the Russia-Ukraine war? Let us know via [email protected].

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