John and Sebastian Cabot

Cabot, John (d. 1498) and Sebastian (1474-1557). Much obscurity surrounds the lives of the Cabots, father and son. But they discovered and defined the north-east American coast as part of a continent and Sebastian set the British on the fruitless search for polar passages to the Orient. Genoese-born, but working for Venice and Spain, John came to Bristol in 1493 and was inspired by Columbus to try to cross the Atlantic. After one failure, he reached Cape Breton and Newfoundland in the Matthew in 1497, thinking initially that he had reached Cathay. He died on an attempted repeat voyage. Sebastian certainly attempted the North-West Passage to the Orient in 1508. Possibly he reached the entrance to Hudson's Bay before navigating southwards along the North American coast.