14971776 Club
Cabot steps ashore on the North American coast; no soul is seen, but someone has been here
Sailing under Henry VII's commission, the Venetian-born captain ventures no farther than a crossbow's range from his ship; his crew finds a fire's remains, nets, and a trail.
Five hundred years would pass before historians debated exactly where he stepped ashore, but the date was certain enough: June 24, 1497. John Cabot — born Giovanni Caboto in Italy, a Venetian citizen, twice-failed civil engineer in Spain, and now sailing under the commission of England's Henry VII — made landfall somewhere on the coast of North America, the first known European to touch the continent since Norse sailors reached Vinland four centuries earlier. He reportedly went ashore only once, venturing no farther from the ship than a crossbow could shoot. His crew found a fire's remains, a human trail, fishing nets, and a wooden tool — and saw no one…
