JOHN CABOT, Italian navigator and explorer, was born Giovanni Caboto in 1450, probably in Salerno. He migrated to Venice in 1461 and became a citizen in 1476.

Caboto moved to England in about 1484 where he joined the shipping community in Bristol as a harbor pilot. In 1497, he decided to cross the Atlantic, and received letters of patent from Henry VII granting him the authority to claim any land he might find for England, colonize it, and organize trade with the new colonies.

John Cabot sailed from Bristol on May 20, 1497 and landed after 35 days at the northern tip of Newfoundland. He had discovered the North American continent, but mistook it for China. Having followed the island south until he hit Maine without finding signs of the eastern civilization he had envisioned, the explorer sailed back to Europe. John Cabot undertook a second Atlantic passage in 1498. His voyages during this time helped lay the groundwork for Britain's later claim to Canada. It was during a voyage to the Americas in 1499 that John Cabot was lost at sea.

Sebastiano Caboto, John’s son, built on the family tradition. In 1537 he explored the Rio Paraguay and the Parana’ at the service of the King of Spain. When he failed to find a Southern passage to Asia, he attempted to reach the continent from the North sailing East on top of Scandinavia, and West above Canada, on behalf of the English Crown.

In 1555 Sebastiano was named Governor for life of the “Company of Merchants Trading with Russia”, or Muscovy Company, which served as a model to the West India Company and other consortia of Merchant Adventurers in subsequent centuries.

The North-West passage between Atlantic and Pacific Ocean was eventually discovered by Roald Amundsen in 1905.

CABOTAGE (naut.): Coasting trade, coasting cruise. Sailing in sight of land, in order to take advantage of fair weather and changing coastal breezes, without losing track of the ship’s longitude. The Cabotos, John and Sabastiano, adopted this ancient technique in their attempts to reach Asia by sailing round America and Russia. For a more extensive account of the life and journeys of John Cabot, please click here