Late Middle Ages · North America · Exploration

1498

Cabot's Second Voyage Lost

1498

John Cabot sailed from Bristol with five ships on a second North Atlantic voyage and was never reliably heard from again. Fragmentary reports suggest one ship returned; the others and Cabot himself likely perished. England's first attempted follow-up to Columbus ended in open-ocean silence. The disappearance ended England's first transatlantic exploration attempt and left the coast to Iberian claimants for another century.