John Jay

John Jay was a merchant of Bristol who participated in North American ventures between 1480 and 1505.

Bristol was an important town at that time which expended as a trade center because of its location between Iceland and the Mediterranean. It was a leading port for dried cod from Iceland and wine, especially sherry, from Spain.

Being a skillful merchant and ship-owner, Jay was involved in trade with Spain, Portugal, Norway and other places. There are some assumptions that he was one of the Bristol merchants associated with John Cabot’s voyages of discovery in 1497-98 from Bristol to North America. He was also linked with the Company Adventurers into the New Found Lands, which sent out expeditions to America between 1501 and 1505.

When in 1475 the Hanseatic League cut off Bristol merchants from buying Icelandic cod, Jay formed the partnership with Thomas Croft in an effort to find a new source of cod. In 1480-1481 they outfitted three ships in search of the mythical island Hy-Brasil in Atlantic hoping it would provide a new fishing base for cod. The voyages were failure, but they did succeed to find enough cod.

As the prominent businessman Jay participated in the public life of his community. He held the office of bailiff of the city, 1486–87, and sheriff, 1498–99. In 1518 Jay was appointed mayor of Bristol, which was a prestigious public office.

He died ten years later, in 1528.