Giovanni Caboto was born in Italy. The approximate date of his birth is 1450. In 1476 Caboto became a citizen of Venice. Almost nothing is known about his Venetian period of life. Probably, it was while living in Venice that Caboto became a sailor and merchant.

Europeans in that period of history were preoccupied with finding a sea route to India, the land of spices, and Caboto was no exception. He asked Arab merchants where they get their spices from. From their vague replies, Caboto concluded that the spices were "born" in some countries located far to the northeast of the "Indies". And since Cabot considered the Earth to be a ball, he made a logical conclusion that the far northeast for the Indians is the close northwest for the Italians. His plan was simple - to shorten the path, starting from the northern latitudes, where the longitudes are much closer to each other. Caboto tried to interest the Spanish monarchs and the Portuguese king with his project to reach the country of spices, but failed.

Giovanni Caboto moved to England and settled in Bristol around the middle of 1495. Bristol was then the main seaport of the West of England and the center of the English fisheries in the North Atlantic. There, the Italian began to be called in the English manner John Cabot. In this country, he found support for his ideas, including financial support.

On March 5, 1496, Cabot received a letter of commendation from Henry VII, which allowed him and his sons to sail "to all parts, regions and shores of the East, West and North Seas, under British banners and flags, with five ships of any quality and load, as well as with any number of sailors and any people they want to take with them ... ”The king stipulated for himself a fifth of the income from the expedition.

Cabot's preparations for the trip took place in Bristol. Bristol merchants provided funds for the equipment of the expedition after they received news of the discoveries of Columbus. But they equipped only one small ship "Matthew" with a crew of 18 people. On May 20, 1497, Cabot sailed west from Bristol.

2 Newfoundland

John Cabot stayed all the time just north of 52°N. sh. Swimming took place in calm weather, however, frequent fogs and numerous icebergs made movement very difficult. Around June 22, a gale arose, which, fortunately, soon subsided. On the morning of June 24, Cabot reached some land, which he called Terra Prima Vista (in Italian, "the first land he saw"). This was the northern tip of Newfoundland. In one of the nearest harbors (Cape Bonavista), he landed and declared the country the possession of the English king. Then Cabot moved southeast near the heavily indented coast, rounded the Avalon Peninsula and in the Gulf of Placentia, having reached approximately 46 ° 30 "N and 55 ° W, turned back to the "point of departure". In the sea at On the Avalon Peninsula, he saw huge shoals of herring and cod.This is how the Great Newfoundland Bank was discovered, a large - more than 300 thousand km² - shoal in the Atlantic, one of the richest fishing areas in the world.

The entire reconnaissance route near the Newfoundland coast took about 1 month. Cabot considered the examined land inhabited, although he did not notice people there. On July 20, he headed for England, keeping to the same 52 ° N. sh., and on August 6 arrived in Bristol. Cabot correctly assessed his "fish" find, announcing in Bristol that the British no longer need to go for fish to Iceland.

3 England

After the return of Cabot, a certain Venetian merchant wrote to his homeland: "Cabot is showered with honors, called the great admiral, he is dressed in silk, and the British run after him like crazy." This report apparently greatly exaggerated Cabot's success. It is known that he, probably, as a stranger and a poor man, received from the English king an award of 10 pounds sterling and, in addition, he was assigned an annual pension of 20 pounds. The map of Cabot's first voyage has not been preserved. The Spanish ambassador in London reported to his sovereigns that he saw this map, examined it and concluded that "the distance traveled did not exceed four hundred leagues" - 2400 km. The Venetian merchant, who reported the success of his countryman, determined the distance he had traveled at 4200 km and suggested that Cabot had traveled 1800 km along the coast of the "kingdom of the great khan". However, the phrase from the king's message - "to the one [who] discovered a new island" - makes it quite clear that Cabot considered part of the newly discovered land to be an island. Henry VII and "magnifies" his "Rediscovered Island" (Newfoundland).

4 North America

In early May 1498, a second expedition headed west from Bristol under the command of John Cabot, who had at his disposal a flotilla of five ships. Even less information has come down to the present day about the second expedition than about the first. What is certain is that the English ships in 1498 reached the North American continent and passed along its eastern coast far to the southwest. Sailors sometimes landed on the shore and met people there dressed in animal skins, who had neither gold nor pearls. They were North American Indians. Due to a lack of supplies, the expedition was forced to turn back and return to England in the same 1498. Historians suggest that John Cabot died on the way, and command of the ships passed to his son Sebastian Cabot.

In the eyes of the British, the second expedition did not justify itself. It cost a lot of money and did not even bring hopes of profit (the sailors did not pay attention to the fur wealth of the country). For several decades, the British made no serious new attempts to sail to East Asia by the western route.

The great geographical achievements of Cabot's second expedition are known not from English, but from Spanish sources. Juan La Cosa's map shows, far to the north and northeast of Hispaniola and Cuba, a long coastline with rivers and a number of place names, with a bay marked "sea discovered by the English." It is also known that Alonso Ojeda at the end of July 1500, when concluding an agreement with the crown for an expedition of 1501-1502. undertook to continue the discovery of the mainland "up to the lands visited by English ships." Finally, Pietro Martyr reported that the British "reached the line of Gibraltar" (36 ° N), that is, they advanced somewhat south of the Chesapeake Bay.

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Genoese Giovanni Caboto(ital. Giovanni Caboto, c. (1450 ) , Genoa - , better known as John Cabot(English) John Cabot)) - Italian and French navigator and merchant in the English service, who first explored the coast of Canada.

Biography

Origin

Born in Italy. Known by the names: in the Italian manner - Giovanni Caboto, John Cabot - in English, Jean Cabo - in French, Juan Caboto - in Spanish. Various variants of the name are found in 15th-century non-Italian sources about Cabot.

The approximate date of Cabot's birth is 1450, although it is possible that he was born a little earlier. The supposed places of birth are Gaeta (Italian province of Latina) and Castiglione Chiavarese, in the province of Genoa.

In 1496, Cabot's contemporary, the Spanish diplomat Pedro de Ayala, mentioned him in one of his letters to Ferdinand and Isabella as "another Genoese, like Columbus, offering the English king an enterprise similar to sailing to India."

It is known that in 1476 Cabot became a citizen of Venice, which indicates that the Cabot family moved to Venice in 1461 or earlier (obtaining Venetian citizenship was possible only if they had lived in this city for the previous 15 years).

Trips

Preparation and funding

In Seville and Lisbon, Cabot tried to interest the Spanish monarchs and the Portuguese king with his project of reaching the country of spices through North Asia, but failed. Cabot moved with his family to England around the middle of 1495, where he began to be called in the English manner John Cabot. As a result, he found financial support in this country, that is, like many other Italian discoverers, including Columbus, Cabot was hired by another country, and in this case by England. His travel plan, apparently, began to emerge in the late 70s - early 80s, when he went to the Middle East for Indian goods. Then he asked Arab merchants where they get spices from. From their vague replies, he concluded that the spices "originated" in some countries located far to the northeast of the "Indies". And since Cabot considered the Earth to be a ball, he made a logical conclusion that the far northeast for the Indians - the "homeland of spices" - is the northwest close to the Italians. His plan was simple - to shorten the path, starting from the northern latitudes, where the longitudes are much closer to each other.

Upon arrival in England, Cabot immediately went to Bristol in search of support - many historians agree on this.

All subsequent Cabot expeditions started in this port, and it was the only English city that conducted research expeditions to the Atlantic before Cabot. In addition, a letter of commendation to Cabot prescribed that all expeditions should be undertaken from Bristol. Although Bristol appears to be the most convenient city for Cabot to seek funding, the revisionist British historian Alvin Ruddock, who studied Cabot's life, announced that she found evidence that Cabot actually went to London first, where he enlisted the support of the Italian community. Ruddock suggested that Cabot's patron was a monk of the Order of St. Augustina Giovanni Antonio de Carbonariis, who was on good terms with King Henry VII and introduced Cabot to him. Ruddock claimed that this was how Cabot obtained a loan from an Italian bank in London.

It is difficult to confirm her words, since she ordered her notes to be destroyed after her death in 2005. Organized in 2009 by British, Italian, Canadian and Australian researchers at the University of Bristol, The Cabot Project aims to find missing evidence in support of Ruddock's claims of early travels and other poorly understood facts of Cabot's life.

A letter of commendation to Cabot from Henry VII (March 5, 1496) allowed Cabot and his sons to sail "to all parts, regions and shores of the East, West and North Seas, under British banners and flags, with five ships of any quality and load, as well as with any the number of sailors and any people they want to take with them ... ”The king stipulated for himself a fifth of the income from the expedition. The permit deliberately left out a southerly direction to avoid confrontation with the Spanish and Portuguese.

Cabot's preparations for the trip took place in Bristol. Bristol merchants gave funds to equip a new western expedition, having received news of the discoveries of Columbus. Perhaps they put Cabot at the head of the expedition, perhaps he volunteered himself. Bristol was the main seaport of the West of England and the center of the English fisheries in the North Atlantic. From 1480, Bristol merchants sent ships west several times in search of the mythical island of the blessed Brasil, supposedly located somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean and the "Seven Golden Cities", but all the ships returned without making any discoveries. Many, however, believed that Brazil had been reached by the Bristolians earlier, but then information about its whereabouts was allegedly lost.

First trip

Since Cabot received a letter of commendation in March 1496, it is believed that the voyage took place in the summer of that year. All that is known about the first voyage is contained in a letter from the Bristol merchant John Day addressed to Christopher Columbus and written in the winter of 1497/98. Deya, moreover, they later reached the cape of those lands where Cabot intended to go. Basically, it is said about the voyage of 1497. Only one sentence is devoted to the first voyage: "Since Your Lordship is interested in information about the first voyage, this is what happened: he went on one ship, his crew confused him, there were few supplies, and he encountered bad weather, and decided to turn back."

Second trip

Almost all information about the voyage of 1497 is drawn from four small letters and in the Bristol Chronicle of Maurice Toby. The chronicle contains dry facts about the second voyage of Cabot. Conducted since 1565, the Bristol Chronicle, in an entry dated 1496/97, tells: “In this year, on the day of St. John the Baptist, the land of America was found by merchants from Bristol, on a Bristol ship named Matthew; this ship departed Bristol on the second day of May and returned home on the 6th August.” This record is valuable because of all the surviving sources, it is the only one that contains information about the start and end times of the expedition. In addition, this is the only source before the 17th century that mentions the name of the Cabot ship. Although this source is late, some details are confirmed by sources that the Bristol chronicler could not have known about. Therefore, it is believed that he copied the basic information from some earlier chronicle, replacing the words “new land” (“new found land”, or something similar) with the word “America”, which became common by 1565. Being confirmed by other sources, the information from this chronicle is considered reliable.

The above so-called letter from John Day was written by a Bristol merchant in the winter of 1497/98 to a man who is almost certainly identified as Christopher Columbus. Columbus was probably interested in sailing, because if the lands discovered by Cabot were located west of the meridian established by the Treaty of Tordesillas as the border of the spheres of influence of Spain and Portugal, or if Cabot went west of the planned one, the sailing would represent an open challenge to Columbus's monopoly rights to western exploration. The letter is valuable in that its author was supposedly directly connected with the main characters of the journey and collected all the details about him that he could. Day writes that Cabot's ship traveled 35 days before land was sighted; for about a month Cabot explored the shores, advancing to the aforementioned cape, which was located closest to the coast of Ireland; in 15 days the expedition reached the shores of Europe.

In another letter, written on August 23, 1497, by the Venetian merchant Lorenzo Pascaligo, Cabot's voyage is mentioned as a kind of rumor: “This Venetian of ours, who set off from Bristol on a small ship, returned and says that he found land 700 leagues from Bristol ... he sailed along the shores of 300 leagues ... and did not see a soul; but he brought some things here for the king ... so that by them he judges that there are inhabitants on that land.

The author of the third letter, a diplomatic one, is unknown. It was written on August 24, 1497, apparently to the ruler of Milan. The voyage of Cabot is only briefly mentioned in this letter, it is also said that the king intends to supply Cabot for a new voyage with fifteen or twenty ships.

The fourth letter is also addressed to the Milanese ruler and was written by the Milanese ambassador in London, Raimondo de Raimondi de Soncino, on December 18, 1497. The letter, apparently, is based on personal conversations of its author with Cabot and his Bristol compatriots, who are called "key people in this enterprise" and " great sailors." It also tells that Cabot found a place in the sea "swarming" with fish, and correctly assessed his find, announcing in Bristol that now the British could not go to Iceland for fish.

In addition to the above four letters, Dr. Elwyn Ruddock claimed to have found another, written on 10 August 1497 by the London-based banker Giovanni Antonio do Carbonariis. This letter has yet to be found, since it is not known in which archive Ruddock found it. From her comments, it can be assumed that the letter does not contain a detailed description of the voyage. However, the letter may be a valuable source if, as Ruddock argued, it does indeed contain new information in support of the thesis that Bristol's navigators discovered land on the other side of the ocean before Cabot.

Known sources do not agree on all the details about Cabot's journey, so they cannot be considered completely reliable. However, the generalization of the information presented in them allows us to say that:

Cabot reached Bristol on August 6, 1497. It was decided in England that he had opened the “kingdom of the great khan,” as China was called at that time.

third journey

Returning to England, Cabot immediately went to the royal audience. On August 10, 1497, he was awarded as a stranger and a pauper £10, which is equivalent to two years' earnings of an ordinary artisan. Upon arrival, Cabot was honored as a discoverer. On August 23, 1497, Raimondo de Raimondi de Soncino wrote that Cabot "is called a great admiral, he is dressed in silk, and these Englishmen run after him like crazy." Such admiration did not last long, as over the next few months the King's attention was captured by the Second Cornish Rebellion of 1497. Having restored his power in the region, the king again turned his attention to Cabot. In December 1497, Cabot was awarded a pension of £20 a year. In February of the following year, Cabot was granted a letter to conduct a second expedition. The great chronicle of London reports that Cabot sailed from Bristol in early May 1498 with a fleet of five ships. Some of the ships are said to have been loaded with goods, including luxury items, suggesting that the expedition hoped to enter into trade links. In a letter from the Spanish commissioner in London, Pedro de Ayala, to Ferdinand and Isabella, one of the ships was caught in a storm in July and was forced to stop off the coast of Ireland, while the rest of the ships continued on their way. Very few sources are known about this expedition at the moment. What is certain is that the English ships in 1498 reached the North American mainland and passed along its eastern coast far to the southwest. The great geographical achievements of Cabot's second expedition are known not from English, but from Spanish sources. The famous map of Juan de la Cosa (the same Cosa who took part in the first expedition of Columbus and was the captain and owner of its flagship Santa Maria) shows a long coastline far north and northeast of Hispaniola and Cuba with rivers and nearby place names, as well as a bay that says: "the sea discovered by the English" and with several English flags.

It is assumed that Cabot's fleet got lost in the ocean waters. It is believed that John Cabot died on the way, and command of the ships passed to his son Sebastian Cabot. Relatively recently, Dr. Alvin Ruddock allegedly found evidence that Cabot returned with his expedition to England in the spring of 1500, that is, that Cabot returned after a long two-year exploration of the east coast of North America, as far as the Spanish territories in the Caribbean.

Offspring

Cabot's son Sebastian later made at least one voyage - in 1508 - to North America in search of the Northwest Passage.

Sebastian was invited to Spain as chief cartographer. In 1526-1530. he led a large Spanish expedition to the shores of South America. Reached the mouth of the La Plata River. Along the rivers Parana and Paraguay penetrated deep into the South American continent.

Then the British again lured him to their place. Here Sebastian received the post of chief superintendent of the maritime department. He was one of the founders of the English navy. He also initiated attempts to reach China by moving east, that is, along the current northern sea route. The expedition organized by him under the leadership of Chancellor reached the mouth of the Northern Dvina in the area of ​​present-day Arkhangelsk. From here, Chancellor reached Moscow, where in 1553 he concluded a trade agreement between England and Russia [Richard Chancellor visited Moscow in 1554, under Ivan the Terrible!].

Sources and historiography

Manuscripts and primary sources about John Cabot are very few, but known sources are collected together in many works of researchers. Better general collections of documents about Cabot Sr. and Cabot Jr. are the collection of Biggar (Biggar, 1911) and Williamson (Williamson). The following is a list of known collections of sources on Cabot in various languages:

• R. Biddle, A memoir of Sebastian Cabot (Philadelphia and London, 1831; London, 1832).
• Henry Harrisse, Jean et Sebastien Cabot (1882).
• Francesco Tarducci, Di Giovanni e Sebastiano Caboto: memorie raccolte e documentate (Venezia, 1892); Eng. trans., H. F. Brownson (Detroit, 1893).
• S. E. Dawson, "The voyages of the Cabots in 1497 and 1498,"
• Henry Harrisse, John Cabot, the discoverer of North America, and Sebastian Cabot his son (London, 1896).
• G. E. Weare, Cabot's discovery of North America (London, 1897).
• C. R. Beazley, John and Sebastian Cabot (London, 1898).
• G. P. Winship, Cabot bibliography, with an introductory essay on the careers of the Cabots based on an independent examination of the sources of information (London, 1900).
• H. P. Biggar, The voyages of the Cabots and of the Corte-Reals to North America and Greenland, 1497-1503 (Paris, 1903); Precursors (1911).
• Williamson, Voyages of the Cabots (1929). Ganong, "Crucial maps, i."
• G. E. Nunn, The mappemonde of Juan de La Cosa: a critical investigation of its date (Jenkintown, 1934).
• Roberto Almagia, Gli italiani, primi esploratori dell' America (Roma, 1937).
• Manuel Ballesteros-Gaibrois, "Juan Caboto en España: nueva luz sobre un problema viejo," Rev. de Indias, IV (1943), 607-27.
• R. Gallo, "Intorno a Giovanni Caboto," Atti Accad. Lincei, Scienze Morali, Rendiconti, ser. VIII, III (1948), 209-20.
• Roberto Almagià, "Alcune considerazioni sui viaggi di Giovanni Caboto," Atti Accad. Lincei, Scienze Morali, Rendiconti, ser. VIII, III (1948), 291-303.
• Mapas españoles de América, ed. J. F. Guillén y Tato et al. (Madrid, 1951).
• Manuel Ballesteros-Gaibrois, "La clave de los descubrimientos de Juan Caboto," Studi Colombiani, II (1952).
• Luigi Cardi, Gaeta patria di Giovanni Caboto (Roma, 1956).
• Arthur Davies, "The 'English' coasts on the map of Juan de la Cosa," Imago Mundi, XIII (1956), 26-29.
• Roberto Almagia, "Sulle navigazioni di Giovanni Caboto," Riv. geogr. ital., LXVII (1960), 1-12.
• Arthur Davies, "The last voyage of John Cabot," Nature, CLXXVI (1955), 996-99.
• D. B. Quinn, "The argument for the English discovery of America between 1480 and 1494," Geog. J., CXXVII (1961), 277-85. Williamson, Cabot voyages (1962).

Literature on the topic:

• Magidovich IP, Magidovich VI Essays on the history of geographical discoveries. T.2. Great geographical discoveries (end of the 15th - middle of the 17th century) - M., Enlightenment, 1983.
• Henning R. Unknown lands. In 4 volumes - M., Foreign Literature Publishing House, 1961.
• Evan T. Jones, Alwyn Ruddock: John Cabot and the Discovery of America, historical research Vol 81, Issue 212 (2008), pp. 224–254.
• Evan T. Jones, Henry VII and the Bristol expeditions to North America: the Condon documents, historical research, 27 Aug 2009.
• Francesco Guidi-Bruscoli, "John Cabot and his Italian Financiers", historical research(Published online, April 2012).
• J.A. Williamson, The Cabot Voyages and Bristol Discovery Under Henry VII (Hakluyt Society, Second Series, No. 120, CUP, 1962).
• R. A. Skelton, "CABOT (Caboto), JOHN (Giovanni)", Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online (1966).
• H.P. Biggar (ed.), The Precursors of Jacques Cartier, 1497-1534: a collection of documents relating to the early history of the dominion of Canada (Ottawa, 1911).
• O. Hartig, "John and Sebastian Cabot", The Catholic Encyclopedia (1908).
• Peter Firstbrook, "The Voyage of the MATTHEW: Jhon Cabot and the Discovery of North America", McClelland & Steward Inc. The Canadien Publishers (1997).

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Notes

1. (PDF) (Press release) (in Italian). (TECHNICAL DOCUMENTARY "CABOTO": I and Catalan origins have been proven to be without foundation."CABOT". Canadian Biography. 2007. Retrieved 17 May 2008. .
2. Department of Historical Studies, University of Bristol. Retrieved 20 Feb 2011. .
3. Magidovich I.P., Magidovich V.I. Essays on the history of geographical discoveries. T.2. Great geographical discoveries (the end of the XV - the middle of the XVII century) - M., Enlightenment. 1983, p. 33.
4. Derek Croxton "The Cabot Dilemma: John Cabot"s 1497 Voyage &the Limits of Historiography". University of Virginia. Retrieved 17 May 2008. .
5. .
6. Magidovich I.P., Magidovich V.I. Essays on the history of geographical discoveries. T.2. Great geographical discoveries (the end of the XV - the middle of the XVII century) - M., Enlightenment. 1983. S. 33. .
7. Evan T. Jones, Alwyn Ruddock: John Cabot and the Discovery of America, Historical Research Vol 81, Issue 212 (2008), pp. 231–34. .
8. .
9. .
10. .
11. .
12. .
13. .
14. .
15. Evan T. Jones, Alwyn Ruddock: John Cabot and the Discovery of America, pp. 237–40. .
16. .
17. John day letter. .
18. Williamson, The Cabot Voyages, p. 214. .
19. Williamson, The Cabot Voyages, pp. 217–19. .
20. .
21. Evan T. Jones, Alwyn Ruddock: John Cabot and the Discovery of America, pp. 242–9. .

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Excerpt characterizing Cabot, John

Pierre also moved towards the church, which had something that caused exclamations, and vaguely saw something leaning against the fence of the church. From the words of his comrades, who saw him better, he learned that it was something like the corpse of a man, standing upright by the fence and smeared with soot in his face ...
– Marchez, sacre nom… Filez… trente mille diables… [Go! go! Damn! Devils!] - the escorts cursed, and the French soldiers, with renewed anger, dispersed the crowd of prisoners who were looking at the dead man with cleavers.

Along the lanes of Khamovniki, the prisoners walked alone with their escort and the wagons and wagons that belonged to the escorts and rode behind; but, having gone out to the grocery stores, they found themselves in the middle of a huge, closely moving artillery convoy, mixed with private wagons.
At the very bridge, everyone stopped, waiting for those who were riding in front to advance. From the bridge, the prisoners opened behind and in front of endless rows of other moving convoys. To the right, where the Kaluga road curved past Neskuchny, disappearing into the distance, stretched endless ranks of troops and convoys. These were the troops of the Beauharnais corps that had come out first; Behind, along the embankment and across the Stone Bridge, Ney's troops and wagon trains stretched.
Davout's troops, to which the prisoners belonged, went through the Crimean ford and already partly entered Kaluga Street. But the carts were so stretched out that the last trains of Beauharnais had not yet left Moscow for Kaluzhskaya Street, and the head of Ney's troops was already leaving Bolshaya Ordynka.
Having passed the Crimean ford, the prisoners moved several steps and stopped, and again moved, and on all sides the carriages and people became more and more embarrassed. After walking for more than an hour those several hundred steps that separate the bridge from Kaluzhskaya Street, and having reached the square where Zamoskvoretsky Streets converge with Kaluzhskaya Street, the prisoners, squeezed into a heap, stopped and stood for several hours at this intersection. From all sides was heard the incessant, like the sound of the sea, the rumble of wheels, and the tramp of feet, and incessant angry cries and curses. Pierre stood pressed against the wall of the charred house, listening to this sound, which in his imagination merged with the sounds of the drum.
Several captured officers, in order to see better, climbed the wall of the burnt house, near which Pierre was standing.
- To the people! Eka to the people! .. And they piled on the guns! Look: furs ... - they said. “Look, you bastards, they robbed him… There, behind him, on a cart… After all, this is from an icon, by God!.. It must be the Germans. And our muzhik, by God!.. Ah, scoundrels! Here they are, the droshky - and they captured! .. Look, he sat down on the chests. Fathers! .. Fight! ..
- So it's in the face then, in the face! So you can't wait until evening. Look, look ... and this, of course, is Napoleon himself. You see, what horses! in monograms with a crown. This is a folding house. Dropped the bag, can't see. They fought again ... A woman with a child, and not bad. Yes, well, they will let you through... Look, there is no end. Russian girls, by God, girls! In the carriages, after all, how calmly they sat down!
Again, a wave of general curiosity, as near the church in Khamovniki, pushed all the prisoners to the road, and Pierre, thanks to his growth over the heads of others, saw what had so attracted the curiosity of the prisoners. In three carriages, intermingled between the charging boxes, they rode, sitting closely on top of each other, discharged, in bright colors, rouged, something screaming with squeaky voices of a woman.
From the moment Pierre realized the appearance of a mysterious force, nothing seemed strange or scary to him: neither a corpse smeared with soot for fun, nor these women hurrying somewhere, nor the conflagration of Moscow. Everything that Pierre now saw made almost no impression on him - as if his soul, preparing for a difficult struggle, refused to accept impressions that could weaken it.
The train of women has passed. Behind him again trailed carts, soldiers, wagons, soldiers, decks, carriages, soldiers, boxes, soldiers, occasionally women.
Pierre did not see people separately, but saw their movement.
All these people, the horses seemed to be driven by some invisible force. All of them, during the hour during which Pierre watched them, floated out of different streets with the same desire to pass quickly; they all the same, colliding with others, began to get angry, fight; white teeth bared, eyebrows frowned, the same curses were thrown over and over, and on all faces there was the same youthfully resolute and cruelly cold expression, which struck Pierre in the morning at the sound of a drum on the corporal's face.
Already before evening, the convoy commander gathered his team and, shouting and arguing, squeezed into the carts, and the prisoners, surrounded on all sides, went out onto the Kaluga road.
They walked very quickly, without resting, and stopped only when the sun had already begun to set. The carts moved one on top of the other, and people began to prepare for the night. Everyone seemed angry and unhappy. For a long time, curses, angry cries and fights were heard from different sides. The carriage, which was riding behind the escorts, advanced on the escorts' wagon and pierced it with a drawbar. Several soldiers from different directions ran to the wagon; some beat on the heads of the horses harnessed to the carriage, turning them, others fought among themselves, and Pierre saw that one German was seriously wounded in the head with a cleaver.
It seemed that all these people now experienced, when they stopped in the middle of the field in the cold twilight of an autumn evening, the same feeling of unpleasant awakening from the haste that seized everyone upon leaving and the impetuous movement somewhere. Stopping, everyone seemed to understand that it was still unknown where they were going, and that this movement would be a lot of hard and difficult.
The escorts treated the prisoners at this halt even worse than when they set out. At this halt, for the first time, the meat food of the captives was issued with horse meat.
From the officers to the last soldier, it was noticeable in everyone, as if personal bitterness against each of the prisoners, so unexpectedly replacing the previously friendly relations.
This exasperation intensified even more when, when counting the prisoners, it turned out that during the bustle, leaving Moscow, one Russian soldier, pretending to be sick from his stomach, fled. Pierre saw how a Frenchman beat a Russian soldier because he moved far from the road, and heard how the captain, his friend, reprimanded the non-commissioned officer for the escape of a Russian soldier and threatened him with a court. To the excuse of the non-commissioned officer that the soldier was sick and could not walk, the officer said that he was ordered to shoot those who would fall behind. Pierre felt that the fatal force that crushed him during the execution and which was invisible during captivity now again took possession of his existence. He was scared; but he felt how, in proportion to the efforts made by the fatal force to crush him, a force of life independent of it grew and grew stronger in his soul.
Pierre dined on rye flour soup with horse meat and talked with his comrades.
Neither Pierre nor any of his comrades spoke about what they saw in Moscow, nor about the rudeness of the treatment of the French, nor about the order to shoot, which was announced to them: everyone was, as if in rebuff to the deteriorating situation, especially lively and cheerful . They talked about personal memories, about funny scenes seen during the campaign, and hushed up conversations about the present situation.
The sun has long since set. Bright stars lit up somewhere in the sky; the red, fire-like glow of the rising full moon spread over the edge of the sky, and the huge red ball oscillated surprisingly in the grayish haze. It became light. The evening was already over, but the night had not yet begun. Pierre got up from his new comrades and went between the fires to the other side of the road, where, he was told, the captured soldiers were standing. He wanted to talk to them. On the road, a French sentry stopped him and ordered him to turn back.
Pierre returned, but not to the fire, to his comrades, but to the unharnessed wagon, which had no one. He crossed his legs and lowered his head, sat down on the cold ground at the wheel of the wagon, and sat motionless for a long time, thinking. More than an hour has passed. Nobody bothered Pierre. Suddenly he burst out laughing with his thick, good-natured laugh so loudly that people from different directions looked around in surprise at this strange, obviously lonely laugh.
– Ha, ha, ha! Pierre laughed. And he said aloud to himself: “The soldier didn’t let me in.” Caught me, locked me up. I am being held captive. Who me? Me! Me, my immortal soul! Ha, ha, ha! .. Ha, ha, ha! .. - he laughed with tears in his eyes.
Some man got up and came up to see what this strange big man alone was laughing about. Pierre stopped laughing, got up, moved away from the curious and looked around him.
Previously, loudly noisy with the crackling of fires and the talk of people, the huge, endless bivouac subsided; the red fires of the fires went out and grew pale. High in the bright sky stood a full moon. Forests and fields, previously invisible outside the camp, now opened up in the distance. And even farther than these forests and fields could be seen a bright, oscillating, inviting endless distance. Pierre looked into the sky, into the depths of the departing, playing stars. “And all this is mine, and all this is in me, and all this is me! thought Pierre. “And they caught all this and put it in a booth, fenced off with boards!” He smiled and went to bed with his comrades.

In the first days of October, another truce came to Kutuzov with a letter from Napoleon and an offer of peace, deceptively signified from Moscow, while Napoleon was already not far ahead of Kutuzov, on the old Kaluga road. Kutuzov answered this letter in the same way as the first one sent from Lauriston: he said that there could be no talk of peace.
Soon after this, a report was received from the partisan detachment of Dorokhov, who was walking to the left of Tarutin, that troops had appeared in Fominsky, that these troops consisted of Brusier's division, and that this division, separated from other troops, could easily be exterminated. Soldiers and officers again demanded activity. Staff generals, excited by the memory of the ease of victory at Tarutin, insisted on Kutuzov's execution of Dorokhov's proposal. Kutuzov did not consider any offensive necessary. The average came out, that which was to be accomplished; a small detachment was sent to Fominsky, which was supposed to attack Brussier.
By a strange chance, this appointment - the most difficult and most important, as it turned out later - was received by Dokhturov; that same modest, little Dokhturov, whom no one described to us as making battle plans, flying in front of regiments, throwing crosses at batteries, etc., who was considered and called indecisive and impenetrable, but the same Dokhturov, whom during all the Russian wars with the French, from Austerlitz and up to the thirteenth year, we find commanders wherever only the situation is difficult. In Austerlitz, he remains the last at the Augusta dam, gathering regiments, saving what is possible when everything is running and dying and not a single general is in the rear guard. He, sick with a fever, goes to Smolensk with twenty thousand to defend the city against the entire Napoleonic army. In Smolensk, he had barely dozed off at the Molokhov Gates, in a paroxysm of fever, he was awakened by the cannonade across Smolensk, and Smolensk held out all day. On Borodino day, when Bagration was killed and the troops of our left flank were killed in the ratio of 9 to 1 and the entire force of the French artillery was sent there, no one else was sent, namely the indecisive and impenetrable Dokhturov, and Kutuzov was in a hurry to correct his mistake when he sent there another. And the small, quiet Dokhturov goes there, and Borodino is the best glory of the Russian army. And many heroes are described to us in verse and prose, but almost not a word about Dokhturov.
Again Dokhturov is sent there to Fominsky and from there to Maly Yaroslavets, to the place where the last battle with the French took place, and to the place from which, obviously, the death of the French already begins, and again many geniuses and heroes describe to us during this period of the campaign , but not a word about Dokhturov, or very little, or doubtful. This silence about Dokhturov most obviously proves his merits.
Naturally, for a person who does not understand the movement of the machine, when he sees its operation, it seems that the most important part of this machine is that chip that accidentally got into it and, interfering with its movement, is rattling in it. A person who does not know the structure of the machine cannot understand that not this spoiling and interfering chip, but that small transmission gear that turns inaudibly, is one of the most essential parts of the machine.
On October 10, on the very day Dokhturov walked halfway to Fominsky and stopped in the village of Aristovo, preparing to execute the given order exactly, the entire French army, in its convulsive movement, reached the position of Murat, as it seemed, in order to give the battle, suddenly, for no reason, turned to the left onto the new Kaluga road and began to enter Fominsky, in which only Brussier had previously stood. Dokhturov under command at that time had, in addition to Dorokhov, two small detachments of Figner and Seslavin.
On the evening of October 11, Seslavin arrived in Aristovo to the authorities with a captured French guard. The prisoner said that the troops that had now entered Fominsky were the vanguard of the entire large army, that Napoleon was right there, that the entire army had already left Moscow for the fifth day. That same evening, a courtyard man who came from Borovsk told how he saw the entry of a huge army into the city. Cossacks from the Dorokhov detachment reported that they saw the French guards walking along the road to Borovsk. From all this news, it became obvious that where they thought to find one division, there was now the whole French army, marching from Moscow in an unexpected direction - along the old Kaluga road. Dokhturov did not want to do anything, because it was not clear to him now what his duty was. He was ordered to attack Fominsky. But in Fominsky there used to be only Brussier, now there was the whole French army. Yermolov wanted to do as he pleased, but Dokhturov insisted that he needed to have an order from his Serene Highness. It was decided to send a report to headquarters.
For this, an intelligent officer, Bolkhovitinov, was chosen, who, in addition to a written report, was supposed to tell the whole story in words. At twelve o'clock in the morning, Bolkhovitinov, having received an envelope and a verbal order, galloped, accompanied by a Cossack, with spare horses to the main headquarters.

The night was dark, warm, autumnal. It has been raining for the fourth day. Having changed horses twice and galloping thirty miles along a muddy, viscous road in an hour and a half, Bolkhovitinov was at Letashevka at two o'clock in the morning. Climbing down at the hut, on the wattle fence of which there was a sign: "General Staff", and leaving the horse, he entered the dark passage.
- The general on duty soon! Very important! he said to someone who was getting up and snuffling in the darkness of the passage.
“From the evening they were very unwell, they didn’t sleep for the third night,” whispered the orderly voice intercessively. “Wake up the captain first.
“Very important, from General Dokhturov,” said Bolkhovitinov, entering the open door he felt for. The orderly went ahead of him and began to wake someone:
“Your honor, your honor is a courier.
- I'm sorry, what? from whom? said a sleepy voice.
- From Dokhturov and from Alexei Petrovich. Napoleon is in Fominsky,” said Bolkhovitinov, not seeing in the darkness the one who asked him, but from the sound of his voice, assuming that it was not Konovnitsyn.
The awakened man yawned and stretched.
“I don’t want to wake him up,” he said, feeling something. - Sick! Maybe so, rumors.
“Here is the report,” said Bolkhovitinov, “it was ordered to immediately hand it over to the general on duty.
- Wait, I'll light the fire. Where the hell are you always going to put it? - Turning to the batman, said the stretching man. It was Shcherbinin, Konovnitsyn's adjutant. “I found it, I found it,” he added.
The orderly cut down the fire, Shcherbinin felt the candlestick.
“Oh, the nasty ones,” he said in disgust.
By the light of the sparks, Bolkhovitinov saw the young face of Shcherbinin with a candle and in the front corner of a still sleeping man. It was Konovnitsyn.
When, first, the sulphurous tinder lit up with a blue and then a red flame, Shcherbinin lit a tallow candle, from the candlestick of which the Prussians gnawed at it ran, and examined the messenger. Bolkhovitinov was covered in mud and, wiping himself with his sleeve, smeared his face.
- Who delivers? Shcherbinin said, taking the envelope.
“The news is true,” said Bolkhovitinov. - And the prisoners, and the Cossacks, and scouts - all unanimously show the same thing.
“There is nothing to do, we must wake up,” said Shcherbinin, getting up and going up to a man in a nightcap, covered with an overcoat. - Pyotr Petrovich! he said. Konovnitsyn did not move. - Headquarters! he said, smiling, knowing that these words would probably wake him up. And indeed, the head in the nightcap rose at once. On Konovnitsyn's handsome, firm face, with feverishly inflamed cheeks, for a moment there still remained an expression of dreams far removed from the present state of sleep, but then he suddenly shuddered: his face assumed its usual calm and firm expression.
- Well, what is it? From whom? he asked slowly but immediately, blinking in the light. Listening to the officer's report, Konovnitsyn printed it out and read it. As soon as he read, he put his feet in woolen stockings on the dirt floor and began to put on shoes. Then he took off his cap and, combing his temples, put on his cap.
- Did you arrive soon? Let's go to the brightest.
Konovnitsyn immediately realized that the news he had brought was of great importance and that it was impossible to delay. Whether it was good or bad, he did not think and did not ask himself. It didn't interest him. He looked at the whole matter of the war not with the mind, not with reasoning, but with something else. There was a deep, unspoken conviction in his soul that everything would be fine; but that it is not necessary to believe this, and even more so, it is not necessary to say this, but one must only do one's own business. And he did his job, giving him all his strength.
Pyotr Petrovich Konovnitsyn, like Dokhturov, only as if out of decency included in the list of the so-called heroes of the 12th year - Barklaev, Raevsky, Yermolov, Platov, Miloradovich, just like Dokhturov, enjoyed the reputation of a person of very limited abilities and information, and, like Dokhturov, Konovnitsyn never made plans for battles, but was always where it was most difficult; always slept with the door open since he was appointed general on duty, ordering each sent one to wake himself up, he was always under fire during the battle, so that Kutuzov reproached him for this and was afraid to send him, and was, like Dokhturov, one of those inconspicuous gears which, without crackling or making noise, constitute the most essential part of the machine.
Coming out of the hut into the damp, dark night, Konovnitsyn frowned partly from a worsening headache, partly from an unpleasant thought that had crossed his mind about how this whole nest of staff, influential people would now be excited at this news, especially Benigsen, after Tarutin, the former at knives with Kutuzov; how they will propose, argue, order, cancel. And this presentiment was unpleasant to him, although he knew that without it it was impossible.
Indeed, Tol, to whom he went to inform the new news, immediately began to express his thoughts to the general who lived with him, and Konovnitsyn, silently and wearily listening, reminded him that he had to go to his Serene Highness.

Kutuzov, like all old people, slept little at night. He often dozed off unexpectedly during the day; but at night, without undressing, lying on his bed, for the most part he did not sleep and thought.
And so he lay now on his bed, leaning his heavy, large, mutilated head on his plump arm, and thought, peering into the darkness with one open eye.
Since Benigsen, who corresponded with the sovereign and had the most strength in the headquarters, avoided him, Kutuzov was calmer in the sense that he and his troops would not be forced to again participate in useless offensive actions. The lesson of the Battle of Tarutino and its eve, painfully remembered by Kutuzov, should also have had an effect, he thought.
“They need to understand that we can only lose by being offensive. Patience and time, here are my warriors heroes! thought Kutuzov. He knew not to pick an apple while it was green. It will fall on its own when it is ripe, but if you pick green, you will spoil the apple and the tree, and you will set your teeth on edge. He, as an experienced hunter, knew that the beast was wounded, wounded in the way that the entire Russian force could wound, but mortally or not, this was not yet an elucidated question. Now, from the sendings of Loriston and Berthelemy and from the reports of the partisans, Kutuzov almost knew that he was mortally wounded. But more evidence was needed, it was necessary to wait.
“They want to run to see how they killed him. Wait, you'll see. All maneuvers, all attacks! he thought. - To what? All stand out. There's definitely something fun about fighting. They are like children from whom you will not get any sense, as was the case, because everyone wants to prove how they can fight. Yes, that's not the point now.
And what skillful maneuvers all these offer me! It seems to them that when they invented two or three accidents (he remembered the general plan from St. Petersburg), they invented them all. And they all have no number!
The unresolved question of whether the wound inflicted at Borodino was fatal or not was hanging over Kutuzov's head for a whole month. On the one hand, the French occupied Moscow. On the other hand, Kutuzov undoubtedly felt with his whole being that the terrible blow in which he, together with all the Russian people, strained all his strength, should have been mortal. But in any case, evidence was needed, and he had been waiting for them for a month, and the more time passed, the more impatient he became. Lying on his bed in his sleepless nights, he did the very thing that these young generals did, the very thing for which he reproached them. He invented all possible accidents in which this true, already accomplished death of Napoleon would be expressed. He invented these accidents in the same way as young people, but with the only difference that he did not base anything on these assumptions and that he saw them not two or three, but thousands. The more he thought, the more they seemed. He invented all kinds of movements of the Napoleonic army, all or parts of it - towards Petersburg, against him, bypassing it, he invented (which he was most afraid of) and the chance that Napoleon would fight against him with his own weapons, that he would remain in Moscow waiting for him. Kutuzov even imagined the movement of the Napoleonic army back to Medyn and Yukhnov, but one thing he could not foresee was what happened, that insane, convulsive throwing of Napoleon's troops during the first eleven days of his speech from Moscow - throwing, which made possible something that Kutuzov still did not dare to think about then: the complete extermination of the French. Dorokhov's reports about Broussier's division, news from the partisans about the disasters of Napoleon's army, rumors about preparations for a march from Moscow - all confirmed the assumption that the French army was defeated and was about to flee; but these were only assumptions that seemed important to young people, but not to Kutuzov. He, with his sixty years of experience, knew how much weight should be attributed to rumors, he knew how capable people who want something are to group all the news so that they seem to confirm what they want, and he knew how in this case they willingly miss everything that contradicts. And the more Kutuzov wanted this, the less he allowed himself to believe it. This question occupied all his mental strength. Everything else was for him only the usual fulfillment of life. Such habitual fulfillment and submission to life were his conversations with the staff, letters to mme Stael, which he wrote from Tarutino, reading novels, distributing awards, correspondence with St. Petersburg, etc. But the destruction of the French, foreseen by him alone, was his spiritual, only desire.

Mysterious disappearances. Mysticism, secrets, clues Dmitrieva Natalia Yurievna

John Cabot

John Cabot

This story took place five centuries ago. Over the years, its details have been erased. Only a few facts from the life of this pioneer navigator remain, proving once again that since ancient times, sea voyages have been full of dangers and unsolved disappearances.

John Cabot (or rather, Giovanni Caboto) is an Italian navigator who went down in history as the discoverer of the east coast of North America. He was born in Genoa in 1450. At the age of 11, he moved with his family to Venice.

Giovanni, already in his youth, chose for himself the difficult path of a navigator and entered the service of a Venetian trading company. On the ships provided by her, Caboto went for Indian goods to the Middle East. He also happened to be in Mecca, to communicate with Arab merchants selling spices. Giovanni asked them where the merchants brought their goods from. From their stories, the sailor was able to form the idea that outlandish spices come from lands located somewhere far from India, in a northeast direction from it.

John Cabot was a supporter of the progressive and still unproven idea of ​​the spherical shape of the earth in those days. He sensibly calculated that what is far northeast for India is quite close northwest for Italy. The idea to sail to the cherished lands, going west, did not leave him. But their own funds were not enough to equip the expedition.

In 1494, Giovanni Caboto went to live in England and took British citizenship. In England, his name began to sound like John Cabot. He settled in the westernmost port of the country - Bristol. By this time, the idea of ​​reaching new lands in a different, western way was literally in the air. The first successes made by Christopher Columbus (the discovery of new lands in the western part of the Atlantic Ocean) spurred the Bristol merchants to equip their expedition. They obtained written permission from King Henry VII, who gave the go-ahead for exploratory expeditions in order to annex new lands to England. The merchants at their own expense equipped one ship, which was supposed to go on reconnaissance. They entrusted John Cabot, at that time already an experienced and eminent navigator, to lead the expedition. The ship was named "Matthew".

The first expedition of John Cabot, which took place in 1497, was successful. He managed to reach the northern coast of the island, later named Newfoundland. The captain went ashore in one of the ports and proclaimed the island a possession of the British crown. Having set sail from the island, the ship continued its course along its coast, to the southeast. Soon, John Cabot discovered a vast shelf shoal, very rich in fish (later this area was called the Great Newfoundland Bank and for a long time was considered one of the largest fishing areas in the world). With the news of his find, the captain returned to Bristol.

The Bristol merchants were greatly inspired by the results of the first expedition. They immediately raised funds for the second, this time more impressive - it already had five ships. The expedition was undertaken in 1498, the eldest son of John Cabot, Sebastian, took part in it. But alas, this time the expectations were not justified. Only four ships returned from the expedition, led by Sebastian Cabot. The fifth ship, on which John himself sailed, disappeared under unclear circumstances.

In those days, few people could be surprised by such incidents. The ship could get into a storm and crash, could get a hole and sink, the crew could be knocked down by some deadly disease caught on a journey. Many dangers lie in wait for sailors who are left face to face with the formidable elements. Which of them caused the famous explorer John Cabot to disappear without a trace remains a mystery to this day.

The son of the famous navigator, Sebastian Cabot, continued the work of his father. He left a bright mark on the history of the Age of Discovery, making expeditions under both the British and Spanish flags and exploring North and South America.

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John Cabot (Giovanni Caboto) (born May 23, 1450 - death 1499) was an Italian explorer and merchant in the English service, famous in history as the discoverer of the east coast of North America. Route: from English Bristol to North America; Task: find a western route to India and China (to the north of the Columbus route); Significance: the discovery of a significant section of the coast of North America and the Great Newfoundland Bank.

Origin. early years

Giovanni Caboto, a native of Genoa, was born into the family of a spice merchant. Caboto were wealthy merchants, well known not only in their native Genoa, but also in Constantinople itself.

When Constantinople fell under the onslaught of the Turkish hordes and became Istanbul, the family of the future navigator moved to wealthy Venice in 1461, later he would take Venetian citizenship in 1476. From a young age, he made sea voyages, visited Mecca, the holy city of the Arabs. In parallel with him, the idea came about the possibility of getting to India from the West. But he did not have enough money to organize the expedition.

Expeditions

Travel to Asia

Giovanni entered the service of a Venetian trading company. On the ships that were provided by her, Caboto went for Indian goods to the Middle East. When in Mecca, communicate with Arab merchants, spice merchants. Cabot asked them where the merchants brought their goods from. From what he heard, he was able to get the idea that outlandish spices come from lands located somewhere far from India, in the northeast side of it.

The navigator was a supporter of the progressive and still unproven idea of ​​the spherical shape of our planet at that time. He realized that what for India is the far northeast, for Italy is the relatively near northwest. The thought of approaching the cherished lands, going west, did not leave him.

Preparing for the expedition

1494 - Giovanni Caboto moved to live in England, where he accepted British citizenship. In Britain, his name began to sound like John Cabot. He settled in the westernmost port of the country - Bristol. At that time, the idea of ​​reaching new lands in a different, western way was literally in the air. The first successes made by Christopher Columbus (the discovery of new lands in the western part of the Atlantic Ocean) prompted Bristol merchants to equip the expedition.

They were able to obtain written permission from, who gave the go-ahead for research expeditions in order to annex new lands to England. The merchants used their own money to equip one ship, which was supposed to go on reconnaissance. John Cabot, already an experienced and eminent navigator, was entrusted to lead the expedition. The ship was named "Matthew".

First expedition (1497). Discovery of Newfoundland

1497 - The first expedition of John Cabot, which took place, was successful. On May 20, the traveler sailed west from Bristol, and all the time kept a little north of 52 ° north latitude. On June 24, he reached the northern tip of the island, later named Newfoundland. The navigator went ashore in one of the ports and proclaimed the island a possession of the British crown. Departing from the island, the ship went along its coast, to the southeast. Soon the traveler discovered a vast shelf shoal, very rich in fish (later this area was called the Great Newfoundland Bank and for a long time was considered one of the largest fishing areas in the world). With the news of his discovery, John Cabot returned to Bristol.

Second expedition (1498)

Bristol merchants were inspired by the results of the first expedition. They did not hesitate, and equipped a second, this time more impressive expedition - it already included 5 ships. The expedition was undertaken in 1498, and John's eldest son, Sebastian, took part in it. The discovery of North America this time nevertheless took place. Although the information that has come down to us is very scarce, it is known that the expedition managed to reach the mainland.

During the trip, the eastern and western coasts of Greenland were explored, visited Baffin Island, Labrador and Newfoundland. Having passed along the coast to the south to 38 ° north latitude, they did not find any traces of eastern civilizations. Due to lack of supplies, it was decided to return to England, where the ships arrived in the same 1498.

This time, expectations were not met. Only 4 ships returned from the expedition, Sebastian Cabot led the flotilla. The fifth ship, on which John himself was, disappeared under unclear circumstances.

Such incidents at that time could hardly surprise anyone. The ship could get into a storm and crash, could get a hole and sink, the crew could be knocked down by some deadly disease caught on a journey. Many dangers lie in wait for sailors who are left face to face with the formidable elements. Which of them caused the famous traveler John Cabot to disappear without a trace remains a mystery.

The British, however, as well as the sponsors of the expedition, decided that the expedition was unsuccessful, because a lot of money was spent on it, and as a result, the travelers did not bring anything of value. The British hoped to find a direct sea route to Cathay or India, but received only new, practically uninhabited lands. Because of what, in the coming decades, the British did not make new attempts to find a shortcut to East Asia.

The son of a famous traveler, Sebastian Cabot, continued his father's work. They left a bright mark in the history of the era of the great geographical discoveries. He made expeditions under both the British and Spanish flags, exploring North and South America.

ENGLISH OCEANIC EXPEDITIONS OF JOHN CABOTT
(1497-1498)

The Genoese Giovanni Cabota was a sailor and a merchant, went to the Middle East for Indian goods, even visited Mecca, asking Arab merchants where they get spices from. From the vague answers, Cabota concluded that the spices were "born" in some countries located far to the northeast of "India". And since Cabota considered the Earth to be a ball, he made a logical conclusion that the northeast, far for the Indians - the birthplace of spices, is the northwest close to the Italians.

In 1494, Cabot moved to live in England, where he began to be called in the English manner John Cabot. Bristol merchants, having received news of the discoveries of Columbus, equipped an expedition and put D. Cabot at its head. The English King Henry UP gave permission in writing to Cabot and his three sons “to sail all over the places, regions and shores of the East, West and North Seas...” to search, discover, explore all sorts of islands, lands, and states.

Cautious Bristol merchants equipped only one small ship "Matthew" with 18 people. May 20, 1497 D. Cabot sailed from Bristol to the west, just north of 52 north latitude. In the morning, Cabot reached the northern tip of about. Newfoundland. In one of the harbors, he landed and declared the country the possession of the English king. Then Cabot moved to the southeast, reaching approximately 46 30 N. latitude. and 55 W In the sea, he saw large schools of herring and cod. This is how the Great Newfoundland Bank (more than 300 thousand sq. km) was discovered - one of the richest fishing areas in the world. And Cabot headed for England.
Cabot correctly assessed his "fish" find, announcing in Bristol that now the British did not have to go to Iceland for fish, and in England they decided that Cabot had discovered the "kingdom of the great khan", i.e. China.
At the beginning of May 1498, the second expedition under the command of Cabot left Bristol - a flotilla of 5 ships. It is believed that D. Cabot died on the way and the leadership passed to his son Sebastian Cabot.
Even less information has come down to us about the second expedition than about the first. What is certain is that the English ships in 1498 reached the North American mainland and passed along its eastern coast far to the southwest. S. Cabot turned back and returned to England in the same 1498.

We know about the great geographical achievements of Cabot's second expedition not from English, but from Spanish sources. Juan La Cosa's map shows, far to the north and northeast of Hispaniola and Cuba, a long coastline with rivers and a number of place names, with a bay marked "sea discovered by the English" and with several English flags.