Cabot or Caboto? It's all in the rigging

John Cabot's ship, the Matthew, left Bristol on a voyage of discovery 500 years ago. Yesterday, a replica of the ship left Weymouth for Bristol before re-enacting the first recorded English expedition to reach North America, in 1497, which formed the basis for the later British claim to Canada.

Cabot, who commanded the ship and its 18-man crew with the authorisation of Henry VII, was an Italian from Genoa, Giovanni Caboto, born in 1450. When he landed in North America, he claimed it for the still precarious crown of England. There is some doubt whether he ever made it to Newfoundland.

Cabot mounted a second expedition in 1498, but there is evidence the expedition was lost at sea, and no more was heard of him.