1.
Maritime pilot
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A pilot, also referred to as a marine pilot, maritime pilot, or harbor pilot is a mariner who manoeuvres ships through dangerous or congested waters, such as harbors or river mouths. Since the pilot is on board the ship, he controls the tugs and linesmen through a radio, the ships captain ensures his crew carry out the pilots orders. Even if a ship Captain is a visitor to a certain Port, he can not match the expertise. In an unfortunate case of an accident, high pollution is a risk as the ships carry thousands of tonnes of fuel for her own consumption. Also if a ship is wrecked in the channel, the channel, legally, the master has full responsibility for safe navigation of his vessel, even if a pilot is on board. Only in transit of the Panama Canal and in Canada does the pilot have the responsibility for the navigation of the vessel. In English law, Section 742 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1894 defines a pilot as any person not belonging to a ship who has the conduct thereof. In other words, someone other than a member of the crew who has control over the speed, direction, the current United Kingdom legislation governing pilotage is the Pilotage Act 1987. Pilotage is one of the oldest professions, as old as sea travel, the oldest recorded history dates back to about the 7th century BC. The economic and environmental risk from large cargo ships makes the role of the pilot essential. Eventually, because the act of pilotage needed to be regulated and to ensure pilots had adequate insurance. The California Board of Pilot Commissioners was the first government agency created by Californias legislature, before harbour boards were established, pilots known as hobblers would compete with one another. The first to reach a ship would navigate it to the docks. In Dún Laoghaire, Ireland, there is a monument to the hobblers who lost their lives, in Kent they were known as hovellers and worked alongside and in competition with the licensed pilots, but were sometimes blamed as wreckers. George Byng Gattie defends the hovellers or hobilers as lifesavers in his 1890 book about the Goodwin Sands, although licensed by the harbour to operate within their jurisdiction, pilots were generally self-employed, and so had to have quick transport to get from the port to the incoming ships. As pilots were often still dual-employed, they used their own fishing boats to reach the incoming vessels, but fishing boats were heavy working boats, and filled with fishing equipment, hence a new type of boat was required. Early boats were developed from single-masted cutters and twin-masted yawls, and these were effectively light-weight and over-powered single masted boats with large steeply angled keels, making them deep draft under power and shallow draft in lighter sail. Joseph Henderson was an early American harbor pilot and he is well known for being a Sandy Hook Pilot for the New York harbor and along the Atlantic Coast during the Civil War
2.
Cutter (boat)
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A cutter is typically a small, but in some cases a medium-sized, watercraft designed for speed rather than for capacity. Traditionally a cutter sailing vessel is a small single-masted boat, fore-and-aft rigged, the cutters mast may be set farther back than on a sloop. In modern usage, a cutter can be either a small- or medium-sized vessel whose occupants exercise official authority, examples are harbor pilots cutters and cutters of the U. S. Coast Guard or UK Border Force. Cutters can also be a small boat serving a one to ferry passengers or light stores between larger boats and the shore. This type of cutter may be powered by oars, sails or a motor, the cutter is one of several types of sailboats. Traditionally the sloop rig was a rig with a single mast located forward of 70% of the length of the sailplan, in this traditional definition a sloop could have multiple jibs on a fixed bowsprit. Cutters had a rig with a single mast more centrally located, which could vary from 50% to 70% of the length of the sailplan, with multiple headsails, a mast located aft of 50% would be considered a mast aft rig. Somewhere in the 1950s or 1960s there was a shift in these definitions such that a sloop only flew one headsail, in this modern idiom, a cutter is a sailing vessel with more than one head sail and one mast. Cutters carry a staysail directly in front of the mast, set from the forestay, a traditional vessel would also normally have a bowsprit to carry one or more jibs from its end via jibstay on travelers. In modern vessels the jib may be set from a permanent stay fixed to the end of a fixed bowsprit, or directly to the stem fitting of the bow itself. In these cases, that may be referred to as the forestay, and the inner one, a sloop carries only one head sail, called either the foresail or jib. These could be managed without the need for crews, winches, or complex tackles, making the cutter especially suitable for pilot, customs. For example, a pilot cutter may only have two people on board for its outward trip—the pilot to be delivered to a ship and an assistant who had to sail the cutter back to port single-handed. The cutter sailing rig became so ubiquitous for these tasks that the modern-day motorised vessels now engaged in these duties are known as cutters, the open cutter carried aboard naval vessels in the 18th Century was rowed by pairs of men sitting side-by-side on benches. The cutter, with its transom, was broader in proportion compared to the longboat, the Watermen of London used similar boats in the 18th Century often decorated as depicted in historical prints and pictures of the River Thames in the 17th & 18th Centuries. The modern Waterman’s Cutter is based on drawings of these boats and they are 34 feet long with a beam of 4 ft 6 in They can have up to six oarsmen either rowing or sculling and can carry a cox and passengers. The organisers of the Great River Race developed the modern version in the 1980s, watermen’s Cutters also compete annually in the Port of London Challenge, and the Port Admirals’ Challenge. Cutter races are also to be found at various town rowing and skiffing regattas, in addition the cutters perform the role of ceremonial Livery Barges with the canopies and armorial flags flying on special occasions
3.
Brest, France
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Brest is a city in the Finistère département in Brittany in northwestern France. The city is located on the edge of continental Europe. Although Brest is by far the largest city in Finistère, the préfecture of the department is the much smaller Quimper, during the Middle Ages, the history of Brest was the history of its castle. Then Richelieu made it a military harbour, Brest grew around its arsenal, until the second part of the 20th century. Heavily damaged by the Allies bombing raids during World War II, at the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century, the deindustrialization of the city was followed by the development of the service sector. Nowadays, Brest is an important university town with 23,000 students, Brest is also an important research centre, mainly focused on the sea, with among others the largest Ifremer centre, le Cedre and the French Polar Institute. Brest’s history has always been linked to the sea, the Académie de Marine was founded in 1752 in this city, the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle was built there. Every four years, Brest hosts the festival of the sea, boats and sailors. Nothing definite is known of Brest before about 1240, when a count of Léon ceded it to John I, in 1342, John IV, Duke of Brittany, surrendered Brest to the English, in whose possession it was to remain until 1397. The importance of Brest in medieval times was great enough to rise to the saying. With the marriage of Francis I of France to Claude, the daughter of Anne of Brittany, the advantages of Brests situation as a seaport town were first recognized by Cardinal Richelieu, who in 1631 constructed a harbor with wooden wharves. This soon became a base for the French Navy, jean-Baptiste Colbert, finance minister under Louis XIV, rebuilt the wharves in masonry and otherwise improved the harbour. Fortifications by Vauban followed in 1680–1688 and these fortifications, and with them the naval importance of the town, were to continue to develop throughout the 18th century. In 1694, an English squadron under Lord Berkeley, was defeated in its attack on Brest. In 1917, during the First World War, Brest was used as the port for many of the troops coming from the United States. Thousands of such men came through the port on their way to the front lines, the United States Navy established a naval air station on 13 February 1918 to operate seaplanes. The base closed shortly after the Armistice of 11 November 1918, in the Second World War, the Germans maintained a large U-boat submarine base at Brest. In 1944, after the Allied invasion of Normandy, the city was almost totally destroyed during the Battle for Brest, with only a tiny number of buildings left standing
4.
Sandy Hook
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Sandy Hook is a barrier spit in Middletown Township, Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. The barrier spit, approximately 6 miles in length and varying from 0.1 to 1.0 mile wide, is located at the end of the Jersey Shore. It encloses the southern entrance of Lower New York Bay south of New York City, the Dutch called the area Sant Hoek, with the English Hook deriving from the Dutch Hoek, meaning spit of land. Most of Sandy Hook is currently owned and managed by the National Park Service as the Sandy Hook Unit of Gateway National Recreation Area. Geologically, Sandy Hook is a sand spit or barrier spit. On its western side, the peninsula encloses Sandy Hook Bay, the 2, 044-acre peninsula was discovered by Henry Hudson, and, historically, Sandy Hook has been a convenient anchorage for ships before proceeding into Upper New York Harbor. Sandy Hook is part of Middletown Township, although not contiguous with the rest of the Township, because the peninsula is a federal reservation, this technicality is essentially moot. The community of Highlands overlooks the part of the hook. Sandy Hook is owned by the federal government, most of it is managed by the National Park Service as the Sandy Hook Unit of Gateway National Recreation Area. The eastern shoreline consists of beaches, North Beach, Gunnison Beach. The southern part of the consists of public beaches, fishing areas, and the SeaGulls Nest. The peninsulas ocean-facing beaches are considered among the finest in New Jersey and are a destination for recreation in summer when seasonal ferries bring beachgoers. Gunnison Beach is one of the largest clothing optional beaches on the East Coast, there is a vocational school that was located at the tip of Sandy Hook called M. A. S. T. or The Marine Academy of Science and Technology. The school was destroyed by Hurricane Sandy in 2012, and rebuilt the subsequent year, Sandy Hook Lighthouse is located within the fort grounds, as is the Marine Academy of Science and Technology, a magnet high school, part of the Monmouth County Vocational School District. At the entrance to Fort Hancock is Guardian Park, a plaza dominated by two Nike missiles, some of the buildings of Fort Hancock are off-limits because their structural integrity is dubious. A controversial proposal was accepted to allow adaptive reuse of some of the buildings in Fort Hancock for private profit. The defunct U. S. Army post Fort Hancock at the end of the peninsula is open to the public. The Sandy Hook Nike station is one of a few stations that are still intact
5.
Late Latin
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Late Latin is the scholarly name for the written Latin of Late Antiquity. The English dictionary definition of Late Latin dates this period from the 3rd to the 6th centuries AD and this somewhat ambiguously defined period fits between Classical Latin and Medieval Latin. Although there is no consensus about exactly when Classical Latin should end, nor exactly when Medieval Latin should begin. Being a written language, Late Latin is not identical with Vulgar Latin, the latter during those centuries served as proto-Romance, a reconstructed ancestor of the Romance languages. Although Late Latin reflects an upsurge of the use of Vulgar Latin vocabulary and constructs, it remains to a large extent classical in overall features, some are more literary and classical, some more inclined to the vernacular. Nor is Late Latin identical to Christian or patristic Latin, the writings of the early Christian fathers. While Christian writings are considered a subset of Late Latin, pagans wrote much Late Latin, serving as some sort of lingua franca to a large empire, Latin tended to become simpler, to keep above all what it had of the ordinary. Neither Late Latin nor Late Antiquity are modern terms or concepts, instances of English vernacular use of the term may also be found from the 18th century. The term Late Antiquity meaning post-classical and pre-medieval had currency in English well before then, Imperial Latin went on into English literature, Fowlers History of Roman Literature mentions it in 1903. There are, however, insoluble problems with the beginning and end of Imperial Latin, politically the excluded Augustan Period is the paradigm of imperiality, and yet the style cannot be bundled with either the Silver Age or with Late Latin. Moreover, in 6th century Italy, the Roman Empire no longer existed, subsequently the term Imperial Latin was dropped by historians of Latin literature, although it may be seen in marginal works. The Silver Age was extended a century and the four centuries represent Late Latin. Low Latin is a vague and often pejorative term that might refer to any post-classical Latin from Late Latin through Renaissance Latin depending on the author. Its origins are obscure but the Latin expression media et infima Latinitas sprang into public notice in 1678 in the title of a Glossary by Charles du Fresne, the multi-volume set had many editions and expansions by other authors subsequently. The title varies somewhat, most commonly used was Glossarium Mediae et Infimae Latinitatis and it has been translated by expressions of widely different meanings. The uncertainty is understanding what media, middle, and infima, low, the media is securely connected to Medieval Latin by Canges own terminology expounded in the Praefatio, such as scriptores mediae aetatis, writers of the middle age. Canges Glossary takes words from authors ranging from the Christian period to the Renaissance, in the former case the infimae appears extraneous, it recognizes the corruptio of the corrupta Latinitas Cange said his Glossary covered. The two-period case postulates a second unity of style, infima Latinitas, Cange in the glossarial part of his Glossary identifies some words as being used by purioris Latinitatis scriptores, such as Cicero
6.
Ancient Greece
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Ancient Greece was a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th-9th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and this was followed by the period of Classical Greece, an era that began with the Greco-Persian Wars, lasting from the 5th to 4th centuries BC. Due to the conquests by Alexander the Great of Macedonia, Hellenistic civilization flourished from Central Asia to the end of the Mediterranean Sea. Classical Greek culture, especially philosophy, had a influence on ancient Rome. For this reason Classical Greece is generally considered to be the culture which provided the foundation of modern Western culture and is considered the cradle of Western civilization. Classical Antiquity in the Mediterranean region is considered to have begun in the 8th century BC. Classical Antiquity in Greece is preceded by the Greek Dark Ages and this period is succeeded, around the 8th century BC, by the Orientalizing Period during which a strong influence of Syro-Hittite, Jewish, Assyrian, Phoenician and Egyptian cultures becomes apparent. The end of the Dark Ages is also dated to 776 BC. The Archaic period gives way to the Classical period around 500 BC, Ancient Periods Astronomical year numbering Dates are approximate, consult particular article for details The history of Greece during Classical Antiquity may be subdivided into five major periods. The earliest of these is the Archaic period, in which artists made larger free-standing sculptures in stiff, the Archaic period is often taken to end with the overthrow of the last tyrant of Athens and the start of Athenian Democracy in 508 BC. It was followed by the Classical period, characterized by a style which was considered by observers to be exemplary, i. e. classical, as shown in the Parthenon. This period saw the Greco-Persian Wars and the Rise of Macedon, following the Classical period was the Hellenistic period, during which Greek culture and power expanded into the Near and Middle East. This period begins with the death of Alexander and ends with the Roman conquest, Herodotus is widely known as the father of history, his Histories are eponymous of the entire field. Herodotus was succeeded by authors such as Thucydides, Xenophon, Demosthenes, Plato, most of these authors were either Athenian or pro-Athenian, which is why far more is known about the history and politics of Athens than those of many other cities. Their scope is limited by a focus on political, military and diplomatic history, ignoring economic. In the 8th century BC, Greece began to emerge from the Dark Ages which followed the fall of the Mycenaean civilization, literacy had been lost and Mycenaean script forgotten, but the Greeks adopted the Phoenician alphabet, modifying it to create the Greek alphabet. The Lelantine War is the earliest documented war of the ancient Greek period and it was fought between the important poleis of Chalcis and Eretria over the fertile Lelantine plain of Euboea. Both cities seem to have suffered a decline as result of the long war, a mercantile class arose in the first half of the 7th century BC, shown by the introduction of coinage in about 680 BC
7.
Ancient Rome
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In its many centuries of existence, the Roman state evolved from a monarchy to a classical republic and then to an increasingly autocratic empire. Through conquest and assimilation, it came to dominate the Mediterranean region and then Western Europe, Asia Minor, North Africa and it is often grouped into classical antiquity together with ancient Greece, and their similar cultures and societies are known as the Greco-Roman world. Ancient Roman civilisation has contributed to modern government, law, politics, engineering, art, literature, architecture, technology, warfare, religion, language and society. Rome professionalised and expanded its military and created a system of government called res publica, the inspiration for modern republics such as the United States and France. By the end of the Republic, Rome had conquered the lands around the Mediterranean and beyond, its domain extended from the Atlantic to Arabia, the Roman Empire emerged with the end of the Republic and the dictatorship of Augustus Caesar. 721 years of Roman-Persian Wars started in 92 BC with their first war against Parthia and it would become the longest conflict in human history, and have major lasting effects and consequences for both empires. Under Trajan, the Empire reached its territorial peak, Republican mores and traditions started to decline during the imperial period, with civil wars becoming a prelude common to the rise of a new emperor. Splinter states, such as the Palmyrene Empire, would divide the Empire during the crisis of the 3rd century. Plagued by internal instability and attacked by various migrating peoples, the part of the empire broke up into independent kingdoms in the 5th century. This splintering is a landmark historians use to divide the ancient period of history from the pre-medieval Dark Ages of Europe. King Numitor was deposed from his throne by his brother, Amulius, while Numitors daughter, Rhea Silvia, because Rhea Silvia was raped and impregnated by Mars, the Roman god of war, the twins were considered half-divine. The new king, Amulius, feared Romulus and Remus would take back the throne, a she-wolf saved and raised them, and when they were old enough, they returned the throne of Alba Longa to Numitor. Romulus became the source of the citys name, in order to attract people to the city, Rome became a sanctuary for the indigent, exiled, and unwanted. This caused a problem for Rome, which had a large workforce but was bereft of women, Romulus traveled to the neighboring towns and tribes and attempted to secure marriage rights, but as Rome was so full of undesirables they all refused. Legend says that the Latins invited the Sabines to a festival and stole their unmarried maidens, leading to the integration of the Latins, after a long time in rough seas, they landed at the banks of the Tiber River. Not long after they landed, the men wanted to take to the sea again, one woman, named Roma, suggested that the women burn the ships out at sea to prevent them from leaving. At first, the men were angry with Roma, but they realized that they were in the ideal place to settle. They named the settlement after the woman who torched their ships, the Roman poet Virgil recounted this legend in his classical epic poem the Aeneid
8.
Harbor
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A harbor or harbour, or haven, is a body of water where ships, boats and barges seek shelter from stormy weather, or are stored for future use. Ports are often located in harbors, harbors can be natural or artificial. An artificial harbor can have deliberately constructed breakwaters, sea walls, or jettys, or they can be constructed by dredging, in contrast, a natural harbor is surrounded on several sides by prominences of land. Examples of natural harbors include Sydney Harbour, Australia and Trincomalee Harbour in Sri Lanka, artificial harbors are frequently built for use as ports. The oldest artificial harbor known is the Ancient Egyptian site at Wadi al-Jarf, on the Red Sea coast, the largest artificially created harbor is Jebel Ali in Dubai. The Ancient Carthaginians constructed fortified, artificial harbors called cothons, a natural harbor is a landform where a part of a body of water is protected and deep enough to furnish anchorage. Natural harbors have long been of great strategic naval and economic importance, having a protected harbor reduces or eliminates the need for breakwaters as it will result in calmer waves inside the harbor. For harbors near the North and South Poles, being ice-free is an important advantage, the worlds southmost harbor, located at Antarcticas Winter Quarters Bay, is potentially ice-free, depending on the summertime pack ice conditions. Although the worlds busiest port is a hotly contested title, in 2006 the worlds busiest harbor by cargo tonnage was the Port of Shanghai
9.
Fisherman
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A fisherman or fisher is someone who captures fish and other animals from a body of water, or gathers shellfish. Worldwide, there are about 38 million commercial and subsistence fishermen, the term can also be applied to recreational fishermen and may be used to describe both men and women. Fishing has existed as a means of obtaining food since the Mesolithic period, fishing has existed as a means of obtaining food since the Mesolithic period. During the time of the Ancient Egyptians, fishermen provided the majority of food for Egyptians, fishing had become a major means of survival as well as a business venture. Fishing and the fisherman have also influenced Ancient Egyptian religion, mullets were worshiped as a sign of the flood season. Bastet was often manifested in the form of a catfish, in ancient Egyptian literature, the method that Amun used to create the world is associated with the tilapias method of mouth-brooding. According to the FAO, there were about 39 million fishers in countries producing more than 200,000 tonnes in 2012, the total fishery production of 66 million tonnes equated to an average productivity of 3.5 tonnes per person. Most of this took place in Asian countries, where four-fifths of world fishers. Most fishermen are men involved in offshore and deep-sea fisheries, women fish in some regions inshore from small boats or collect shellfish and seaweed. In many artisanal fishing communities, women are responsible for making and repairing nets, recreational fishing is fishing for pleasure or competition. It can be contrasted with fishing, which is fishing for economic profit, or subsistence fishing. The most common form of fishing is done with a rod, reel, line, hooks. Lures are frequently used in place of bait, some people make handmade lures, including plastic lures and artificial flies. The practice of catching or attempting to catch fish with a hook is called angling, when angling, it is sometimes expected or required that the fish be caught and released. Big-game fishing is fishing from boats to catch large species such as tuna, sharks. Noodling and trout tickling are also recreational activities, for some communities, fishing provides not only a source of food and work but also community and cultural identity. The fishing industry is hazardous for fishermen, between 1992 and 1999, US commercial fishing vessels averaged 78 deaths per year. The main contributors to fatalities are, inadequate preparation for emergencies poor vessel maintenance, many fishermen, while accepting that fishing is dangerous, staunchly defend their independence
10.
Fishing vessel
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A fishing vessel is a boat or ship used to catch fish in the sea, or on a lake or river. Many different kinds of vessels are used in commercial, artisanal and recreational fishing, according to the FAO, there are currently four million commercial fishing vessels. About 1.3 million of these are decked vessels with enclosed areas, nearly all of these decked vessels are mechanised, and 40,000 of them are over 100 tons. At the other extreme, two-thirds of the boats are traditional craft of various types, powered only by sail. These boats are used by artisan fishers and it is difficult to estimate the number of recreational fishing boats. They range in size from small dinghies to large charter cruisers, prior to the 1950s there was little standardisation of fishing boats. Designs could vary between ports and boatyards, traditionally boats were built of wood, but wood is not often used now because it has higher maintenance costs and lower durability. Fibreglass is used increasingly in smaller fishing vessels up to 25 metres, early fishing vessels included rafts, dugout canoes, and boats constructed from a frame covered with hide or tree bark, along the lines of a coracle. The oldest boats found by excavation are dugout canoes dating back to the Neolithic Period around 7. These canoes were often cut from coniferous tree logs, using stone tools. A 7000-year-old seagoing boat made from reeds and tar has been found in Kuwait and these early vessels had limited capability, they could float and move on water, but were not suitable for use any great distance from the shoreline. They were used mainly for fishing and hunting, the development of fishing boats took place in parallel with the development of boats built for trade and war. Early navigators began to use skins or woven fabrics for sails. Affixed to a pole set upright in the boat, these sails gave early boats more range, Egyptians were building long narrow boats powered by many oarsmen. Over the next 1,000 years, they made a series of advances in boat design. They developed cotton-made sails to help their boats go faster with less work, then they built boats large enough to cross the oceans. These boats had sails and oarsmen, and were used for travel, by 3000 BC, the Egyptians knew how to assemble planks of wood into a ship hull. They used woven straps to lash planks together, and reeds or grass stuffed between the planks to seal the seams
11.
John Cabot
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To mark the celebration of the 500th anniversary of Cabots expedition, both the Canadian and British governments elected Cape Bonavista, Newfoundland, as Cabots first landing site. However, alternative theories have also been proposed, Giovanni Caboto was born in Italy, the son of Giulio Caboto and his wife, he had a brother Piero. He is known today as Giovanni Caboto in Italy, in English as John Cabot, in French as Jean Cabot, the non-Italian forms are derived from how his name was recorded in related 15th-century documents. In Venice he signed his names as Zuan Chabotto, Zuan being a form of John typical to Venice and he continued to use this form in England, at least among Italians. He was referred to by his Italian banker in London as Giovanni Chabbote, Gaeta and Castiglione Chiavarese have both been proposed as birthplaces. The main evidence for Gaeta are records of a Caboto family residing there until the mid-15th century, pedro de Ayala, the Spanish envoy and Cabots contemporary in London, described him in a letter to the Spanish Crown in 1498 as another Genoese like Columbus. John Cabots son, Sebastian, said his father came from Genoa. In 1476 Cabot was made a citizen of the Republic of Venice and he may have been born slightly earlier than 1450, which is the approximate date most commonly given for his birth. In 1471 Caboto was accepted into the confraternity of St John the Evangelist. Since this was one of the citys prestigious confraternities, his acceptance suggests that he was already a member of the community. He presumably entered this trade shortly thereafter, a 1483 document refers to his selling a slave in Crete whom he had acquired while in the territories of the Sultan of Egypt, which then comprised most of what is now Israel, Syria and Lebanon. This is not sufficient to prove Cabots later assertion that he had visited Mecca, in this Mediterranean trade, he may have acquired better knowledge of the origins of the oriental merchandise he would have been dealing in than most Europeans at that time. Zuan Cabotto is mentioned in a variety of Venetian records of the 1480s and these indicate that by 1484 he was married to Mattea and already had at least two sons. Cabots sons are Ludovico, Sebastian, and Sancto, the Venetian sources contain references to Cabots being involved in house building in the city. He may have relied on this experience when seeking work later in Spain as a civil engineer, Cabot appears to have got into financial trouble in the late 1480s and left Venice as an insolvent debtor by 5 November 1488. He moved to Valencia, Spain, where his creditors attempted to have him arrested by sending a lettera di raccomandazione a giustizia to the authorities, while in Valencia, John Cabot Montecalunya proposed plans for improvements to the harbour. Early in 1494 he moved on to Seville, where he proposed, was contracted to build and, for five months and this project was abandoned following a decision of the City Council on 24 December 1494. After this Cabot appears to have support in Seville and Lisbon for an Atlantic expedition, before moving to London to seek funding
12.
Bristol Harbour
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Bristol Harbour is the harbour in the city of Bristol, England. The harbour covers an area of 70 acres and it is often called the Floating Harbour as the water level remains constant and it is not affected by the state of the tide on the river. Netham Lock in east Bristol is the limit of the harbour. Beyond the lock is a junction, on one arm the navigable River Avon continues upstream to Bath, and on the other arm is the tidal River Avon. The first 1 mile of the harbour, downstream from Netham Lock to Totterdown Basin, is an artificial canal known as the Feeder Canal. Downstream of Totterdown Basin, the floating harbour occupies the natural course of the River Avon. This separation of the harbour and the tidal River Avon allows boats in the harbour to remain floating at low tide, reduces currents and silting. Between Bristol Temple Meads railway station and Hotwells, the harbour, downstream of Bristol Temple Meads railway station, the floating harbour meanders through Bristol city centre, Canons Marsh and Hotwells. At Hotwells, the floating harbour rejoins the tidal River Avon, via a series of locks, Bristol Harbour was the original Port of Bristol, but as ships and their cargo have increased in size, it has now largely been replaced by docks at Avonmouth and Portbury. These are located 7 miles downstream at the mouth of the River Avon, the harbour is now a tourist attraction with museums, galleries, exhibitions, bars and nightclubs. The Bristol Harbour Railway, operated by M Shed, runs between the museum and the Create Centre on some weekends and bank holidays, historic boats are permanently berthed in the harbour. The historic vessels of M Shed museum, which include the steam tug Mayflower, firefloat Pyronaut, a separate cross-harbour ferry carries pedestrians from the ferry landing at the Great Britain to the new harbour inlet opposite. Bristol Packet Boat Trips offer regular tours with commentaries and river cruises on the Tower Belle up the River Avon to Conham, Hanham and Bath. In late July each year, the Bristol Harbour Festival is held, resulting in an influx of boats, including ships, Royal Navy vessels. Bristol grew up on the banks of the Rivers Avon and Frome, saint Augustines Reach became the heart of Bristols docks with its quays and wharfs. The River Avon within the gorge, and the River Severn into which it flows, has tides which fluctuate about 30 feet between high and low water. This means that the river is navigable at high-tide but reduced to a muddy channel at low tide in which ships would often run aground. As early as 1420, vessels from Bristol were regularly travelling to Iceland, after Cabot arrived in Bristol, he proposed a scheme to the king, Henry VII, in which he proposed to reach Asia by sailing west across the north Atlantic
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