Matthew (ship)

A replica of the Matthew in Bristol Floating Harbour
Career (England)
Name:	Matthew
Builder:	Colin Mudie
Laid down:	1994
Launched:	1996
Homeport:	Bristol
General characteristics
Length:	78 ft (24 m)
Beam:	20 ft 6 in (6.25 m)

The Matthew was a caravel sailed by John Cabot in 1497 from Bristol to North America, presumably Newfoundland. After a voyage which had got no further than Iceland, Cabot left again with only one vessel, the Matthew, a small ship (50 tons), but fast and able. The crew consisted of only 18 people. The Matthew departed either 2 May or 20 May 1497. She sailed to Dursey Head (latitude 51°36N), Ireland, from where she sailed due west, expecting to reach Asia. However, landfall was reached in North America on 24 June 1497. His precise landing-place is a matter of much controversy, with Cape Bonavista or St. John's in Newfoundland the most likely sites.

Cabot went ashore to take possession of the land, and explored the coast for some time, probably departing on 20 July. On the homeward voyage his sailors incorrectly thought they were going too far north, so Cabot sailed a more southerly course, reaching Brittany instead of England. On 6 August he arrived back in Bristol.

History

Lack of clear documentation has been a problem in studying the history of the Matthew. Even its name has been questioned, with some authors suggesting that it was actually named Mattea after Cabot's wife.^[1] Until the 1950s, all that was known about its size is that it was a small ship carrying about 18 men, but the discovery of a letter from a Bristol merchant named John Day written in 1497 saying that "in his voyage he had only one ship of fifty 'toneles' and twenty men and food for seven or eight months" provided more certainty about its size.^[2] The age of the ship is also uncertain. The name Matthew does not appear in the 1492/3 customs accounts, so it was either fairly new or an older ship renamed or a foreign ship. It has been suggested that it probably was an ordinary Bristol merchant ship hired for the occasion. The name Matthew appears in documents in 1503/04 and 1510/11 but in a 1513 survey there is reference to a 'new Matthew' and references to this ship afterward leave out the 'new' suggesting that Cabot's Matthew no longer existed.^[2]

Replica

The Matthew replica moored in Bristol

To celebrate the 500th anniversary of Cabot's voyage, a replica of the Matthew was built in Bristol. She was dedicated in a ceremony during the first International Festival of the Sea, held in Bristol's Floating Harbour in 1996. The next year, she reconstructed Cabot's original journey on the 500th anniversary of the landmark voyage. On 24 June 1997 the replica of the Matthew was welcomed into port at Bonavista by Queen Elizabeth II.

The full-size replica^[3] is 78' (23.7m) long with a beam of 20'6" (6.3m) with a draft of 7' (2.1m) and 2,360 sq ft (219 m²). of sail. She now offers commercial harbour and offshore cruises from March to September each year from Bristol, where she is moored next to the SS Great Britain in the Floating Harbour.^[4]

See also

• Ship replica (including a list of replicas)
• Leif Ericson
• The Bristol Classic Boat Company (builder of the replica Matthew)

References

1. ^ Wilson, Ian John Cabot and the Matthew Breakwater Books 2001 ISBN 978-1550811315 p.22 [1]
2. ^ ^{a b} 'Jones, Evan "The Matthew of Bristol and the financiers of John Cabot’s 1497 Voyage to North America" English Historical Review Vol. CXXI No. 492 (2006)'
3. ^ "Building the Matthew". The Matthew of Bristol. http://www.matthew.co.uk/building.php. Retrieved 2008-10-26. 
4. ^ "The Matthew Statistics". The Matthew of Bristol. Archived from the original on 2006-01-12. http://web.archive.org/web/20060112195828/http://www.matthew.co.uk/ship_statistics/statistics.html. Retrieved 2006-08-20. 

External links

• Cabot's Voyage of 1497
• 'Jones, Evan "The Matthew of Bristol and the financiers of John Cabot’s 1497 Voyage to North America" English Historical Review Vol. CXXI No. 492 (2006)'. This academic article can be downloaded for free.
• 'Official site of the 'replica' of The Matthew of Bristol'
• 'The Matthew Project' - This project follow the process of the development and building of a scaled model of the Matthew built and moored in Bonavista, Newfoundland for Matthew Legacy Inc.
• "Ye Matthew Legacy" - Official site of The Matthew Legacy Inc.

Coordinates: 51°26′58″N 2°36′29″W / 51.4494°N 2.6080°W / 51.4494; -2.6080