BRISTOL, ENGLAND—Live Science reports that Evan Jones and Margaret Condon of the University of Bristol have found historic documentation of a trip to North America led by Bristol merchant William Weston in 1499. A letter from King Henry VII, published nine years ago, states that Weston was preparing for the voyage, but the completion of the first British-led trip to the New World had not been confirmed. The researchers used ultraviolet light to read official tax records on 500-year-old rolls of parchment, each measuring more than six feet long and made from the skins of more than 200 sheep. While reading a scroll dating to the year 1500, Condon found a record of a payment of the hefty sum of 30 British pounds sterling made to Weston, suggesting that the king was pleased with the results of his voyage. The scrolls also show that Weston and well-known Venetian explorer John Cabot received rewards from the king in 1498, while Weston was preparing for his journey. Cabot traveled to the New World in 1497 and 1498. To read about a settlement originally founded by representatives of Bristol merchants, go to “Off the Grid: Colonial Pemaquid State Historic Site, Maine.”
