One of them is as early as 1494, but this is generally rejected.

It is more probable that the king's letters patent, authorizing John Cabot and his three sons to go, with five vessels, under the English flag, for the discovery of islands and countries yet unknown, was dated the fifth of March, 1496.

Whether, however, they sailed in that year or in the next year is a question.

The first record of a discovery is in the account-book of the privy purse of Henry VII, in the words, "August 10th, 1497.

To him who discovered the new island, ten pounds." This is clearly not a claim on which the discovery of the mainland can be based.
A manuscript known as the Cotton Manuscript says that John Cabot had sailed, but had not returned, at the moment when the manuscript was written.