Celebrating the great Age of Discovery in the late 15th century, Peter Firstbrook called upon his knowledge of the sea and his love of sailing to reproduce Englishman John Cabot's 1497 landing on the North American continent--even down to the boat itself. His six-week voyage and the years of research, building, and practice leading up to it are chronicled in this book as well as in a six-part BBC/PBS series. 192 photos, 96 in color.
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Editorial Reviews
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With this year marking the five-hundredth anniversary of the voyage of explorer John Cabot to North America, signaling post-medieval Europe's discovery of the continent [see page 16], the author here uses maps, period artwork, and modern photography to recount not only what is known about the original 1497 voyage, but also the efforts to reconstruct Cabot's vessel the Matthew and to recreate authentically his Atlantic crossing. When Cabot stepped ashore on North American soil, the author states, he laid the foundation stone of English exploration and colonization. It is ironic that it should be an Italian who bears ultimate responsibility for North America becoming part of the English-speaking world, but, as a result of Cabot's endeavours, the Matthew can claim to be the most important ship in the English language. --History.net
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
From the Inside Flap
On 24 June 1497, the Genoese adventurer John Cabot, bearing letters patent from King Henry VII, became the first European known to have set foot in North America. (Cabot?s contemporary, Christopher Columbus, never actually landed in North America. To his dying day he thought it was the Orient.) Cabot?s triumphant appropriation of the ?New Founde Land? for England capped one of the great maritime adventures of the late fifteenth century.
Five hundred years later, the Matthew, a painstakingly constructed replica of Cabot?s three-masted caravel, sailed from Bristol, England, to Bonavista, Newfoundland. Her arrival marked the culmination of a maritime adventure as daring in its way as the voyage it commemorates. This time, however, the trials of the captain and sailors on board were recorded on camera and in reporters' notebooks for armchair onlookers to enjoy.
Peter Firstbrook has been intimately involved in the recreation of Cabot?s voyage, from the laying down of the modern-day Matthew?s keel in 1993 to its sea trials in 1996 and the voyage itself in 1997. In these pages he relates all that is known about the fifteenth-century adventurer and describes the many challenges that confronted the team that set out to replicate his voyage. The book concludes, like Cabot?s own life, with a mystery: there is no record of how the great seafarer ended his days. He may have simply retired. He may have been lost in a storm on his last attempted voyage to America. Or he may, in fact, have returned to the newly discovered continent only to be murdered by a notorious Spanish buccaneer.
This is a finely wrought story of adventure and discovery that will delight and entertain readers on both sides of the Atlantic. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Five hundred years later, the Matthew, a painstakingly constructed replica of Cabot?s three-masted caravel, sailed from Bristol, England, to Bonavista, Newfoundland. Her arrival marked the culmination of a maritime adventure as daring in its way as the voyage it commemorates. This time, however, the trials of the captain and sailors on board were recorded on camera and in reporters' notebooks for armchair onlookers to enjoy.
Peter Firstbrook has been intimately involved in the recreation of Cabot?s voyage, from the laying down of the modern-day Matthew?s keel in 1993 to its sea trials in 1996 and the voyage itself in 1997. In these pages he relates all that is known about the fifteenth-century adventurer and describes the many challenges that confronted the team that set out to replicate his voyage. The book concludes, like Cabot?s own life, with a mystery: there is no record of how the great seafarer ended his days. He may have simply retired. He may have been lost in a storm on his last attempted voyage to America. Or he may, in fact, have returned to the newly discovered continent only to be murdered by a notorious Spanish buccaneer.
This is a finely wrought story of adventure and discovery that will delight and entertain readers on both sides of the Atlantic. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Entertaining, Informative and Enlightening,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Voyage of the Matthew: John Cabot and the Discovery of North America (Hardcover)
John Cabot and the Matthew are to Newfoundlanders and Canadians what Christopher Columbus and the Santa Maria are to Americans. When the modern replica of Giovanni Caboto's (Cabot's Italian name) caravel Matthew visited our shores in 1997 to celebrate the 500th Anniversary of the originals voyage, I was smitten! The fact that it was the 20th Century, and not the 15th, didn't detract from the realism of the reinactment of John Cabot's transatlantic crossing of 1497. The modern crew battled north atlantic gales, encountered icebergs and vast fogbanks, much as had Cabot's crew of 500 years previous. On June 24th, 1997 amidst freezing temperatures and a howling gale, 500 years to the day after the original Matthew landed in Bonavista, the modern replica sailed out of a fog bank at landed at the very spot where Cabot reportedly first sighted land! After 53 days at sea in oftentimes trying conditions, the mostly novice crew, ranging in age from 20 years to 77, managed to sail their tiny replica ship from Bristol, England to Newfoundland and into the hearts of all Newfoundlanders. Fisrstbrook's book chronicles the birth of the idea for the recreation of Cabot's historic voyage through to the ships design and construction and her sea trials in 1996/97. Also, the book deals with the medeival world of late 15th century Europe that spawned such explorers as Columbus, Cabot and Corte Real as well as the historical facts surrounding Cabot's three voyages. Firstbrook also entertains the various theories dealing with Cabot's subsequent disappearance during his mysterious and ill-fated third voyage of 1498. For anyone interested in sailing ships, or history, or just an interesting read, this is an excellent book. The book is a companion to a BBC TV documentary which coincided with the Matthew replica's voyage in May/June of 1997. I haven't had the opportunity to see this series, as it has yet to be carried by local television unfortunately. For those who may tend towards the actual adventure of sailing a replica of a 15th century caravel across the stormy North Atlantic during one of the worst times of the year, I recommend "Bound Down for Newfoundland; the Diary of a Young Seaman Aboard the Matthew" by crewman Chris Legrow. You'll feel the stiff salt breeze reading this one!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
excellent,
This review is from: The Voyage of the Matthew: John Cabot and the Discovery of America (Paperback)
The book was in excellent condition. My daughter and I used it for a report in school. It served our purpose well.
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