n March 5th, 1496, Henry VII.
granted a charter in the following terms:

"Be it known to all that we have given and granted to our well-beloved
John Cabot, citizen of Venice, and to Lewis, Sebastian, and Sanctus,
sons of the said John, and to their heirs and deputies ... authority
to sail to all parts, countries, and seas of the East, of the West,
and of the North, under our banner and ensigns, with five ships, and
to set up our banner on any new found land, as our vassals and
lieutenants, upon their own proper costs and charges to seek out and
discover whatsoever isles ... of the heathen and infidels, which
before the time have been unknown to all Christians...."

No sooner was the patent granted than the vigilant Spanish ambassador
in London wrote to his master King Ferdinand, that a second Columbus
was about to achieve for the English sovereign what Columbus had
achieved for the Spanish, but "without prejudice to Spain or
Portugal." In reply to this communication Ferdinand directed his
informer to warn King Henry that the project was a snare laid by the
King of France to divest him from greater and more profitable
enterprises, and that in any case the rights of the signatory parties
under the Treaty of Tordesillas would thereby be invaded. However, the
voyage contemplated in the charter was begun in 1497, in defiance of
the Spanish warning and arrogant pretensions. It will be noticed that
the charter extends its privileges to the sons of John Cabot. It is
better, with Mr Justice Prowse, to see in this circumstance a proof of
the prudence of the adventurer, who prolonged the duration of his
charter by the inclusion of his infant sons, than to infer in the
absence of evidence that any of them was his companion. According to
one often quoted authority, Sebastian Cabot claimed in later life not
merely to have taken part in the expedition, but to have been its
commander,[5] and placed it after his father's death. Against this
claim, if it was ever made, we must notice that in the Royal licence
for the second voyage the newly found land is said to have been
discovered by John Cabotto. It is impossible to say with certainty how
many ships took part in Cabot's voyage. An old tradition, depending
upon an unreliable manuscript,[6] says that Cabot's own ship was
called the _Matthew_, a vessel of about fifty tons burden, and manned
by sixteen Bristol seamen and one Burgundian. It is probable that the
voyage began early in May,