In 1497 John Cabot set sail in his ship, the Matthew, on a journey of discovery in which he reached the mainland America. King Henry V1 ordered the then Sherriff of Bristol, Richard Ameryck, to find funds for Cabot's journey. On his return, Cabot gave thanks for the voyage by presenting a whalebone to St Mary Redcliffe. Five hundred years later the crew of the second Matthew, a replica of the first, gathered in the north porch to pray for a safe voyage before embarking on the same route across the Atlantic as John Cabot. Earlier, at a service of dedication and blessing, they had presented the Church with a model of the ship which now rests above the north porch door. Like Cabot, they also returned with a gift of a whalebone for the church, a symbol of the wealth of the fishing grounds discovered around Newfoundland.

There is, however, a legend that the merchants of Bristol had been fishing off the coast of Newfoundland some years before Cabot set sail. John Jay, a merchant buried in the church, was charged with breaking the King's treaty with the King of Norway by fishing in disputed waters off Iceland. He claimed successfully at court that his ship was heading due west for the fabled land of Brasilia, a fishing ground well know to Bristolians.

 

 

John Cabot's gift of a whalebone rests near a model of his ship, the Matthew.