Matthew of Bristol

The April monthly meeting was a bit of a change, we had a presentation at our normal meeting place on a famous Bristol ship - Matthew.

The Matthew is a replica of the ship sailed by John Cabot in 1497 from Bristol to North America. The replica was built between 1994 and 1996, and in 1997 at the 500th year anniversary, the new Matthew followed the same course as John Cabot's ship did in 1497, and sailed across to Newfoundland. The crew consisted in each era of only 18 people.

Navigation on the original trip was by very ingenious wooden gadgets to fix their position and speed that even preceded clocks and sextants, and they were expertly explained and demonstrated by the very knowledgeable presenters from The Matthew project.

Navigation on the recent trip took advantage of radar and GPS, and avoided mistaking Brittany for Britain on the return journey as they had 500 years before!

A very enjoyable night, and we are now planning a trip on her one evening in the summer.