• 1497 May 2: John Cabot embarked on his ship, the Matthew, to explore the lands across the Atlantic, hoping to find a sea route, a north west passage to the Indies and China
• John Cabot and the crew of the Matthew sailed for fifty days
• 1497 June 9: John Cabot reached the New World
  • The landing spot is disputed as either being Cape Breton Island or Labrador
• 26 June Cabot began his return voyage
• 1497 August - John Cabot and his crew of the Matthew landed the ship in Bristol, England to great acclaim

Facts, Information and History about the John Cabot Ship the Matthew
A list of facts providing the description and the history of John Cabot Ship, the Matthew:

• The name of the John Cabot Ship was the Matthew
• March 5 1496 - John Cabot received a patent from King Henry VII of England granting John Cabot the right to 'seek islands and countries of the heathen towards the West, East, and North'
• The name of the John Cabot ship, the Matthew was possibly a derivation of his wife's name - Mattea
• Preparations for the voyage and the John Cabot ship, the Matthew, were made between March 1496 and May 1497
• The voyage of John Cabot was largely financed by the merchants of Bristol
• The Matthew sailed under the flag of England May 1497
• The John Cabot ship, the Matthew, had a crew of just 19
• The crew of the Matthew included seamen from England, France and Italy
• There was a ship's doctor on board the ship who came from Genoa, Italy
• Sebastian Cabot, one of John's sons, claimed that he had accompanied his father on the Matthew
• John Cabot was the Captain of the Matthew
• The second-in-command to John Cabot, the Master, was believed to be Lancelot Thirkill
• The overall length of the ship was about 80 feet
• The sail area of the Matthew was about 2500 square feet
• The Matthew was 50 tons

Facts and Information about the Navigational Aids on the Matthew, the John Cabot Ship
Various aids to navigation were available on ships during the Renaissance. The Navigational aids that John Cabot would have used on John Cabot ship, the Matthew would have included:

• Astrolabes - calculating latitudes
• Charts and Maps - Cartography or map making was an important Renaissance skill
• Compasses - Enabled Renaissance sea men to find their bearing in the fog
• Cross-staffs - Used to measure the angle of the Sun or a star above the horizon
• Nocturnals - Measuring and timekeeping instrument
• Quadrants - Measuring and timekeeping instrument
• Traverse boards - Navigation instrument - older version of Astrolabe
• The Hour-glass, Minute-glass and Sun-dial - timekeeping instruments
• Almanacs - which forecast precisely where the the sun, moon, planets and selected navigational stars, are going to be, hour by hour, years into the future

All of the navigational aids used on John Cabot Ship, the Matthew were used to measure the angle between objects above the ocean, such as the stars or the sun, with the horizon. This would have enabled John Cabot to calculate Matthews's position at sea.

Facts and Information about the Living Conditions on the John Cabot Ship, the Matthew

• Conditions on the John Cabot ship would have been very basic. Food provisions would have included bread, beer, hard biscuits, fish and salted meat. The Captain would have had some private stores which might include wine
• The Captain would have had some private stores which might include wine
• There was a lack of proper sanitation
• Large ships would have carried a surgeon or doctor
• One of the worst health problems on board the John Cabot Ship would have been scurvy
• Fresh livestock included pigs and chickens were part of John Cabot's provisions
• Meat would have been preserved by being salted
• Cooking was done in a fire box located on decks in the bow of the ship. Cooking pots or cauldrons would be suspended from a bar
• The seamen would sleep in cramped and damp conditions on the deck of the ship