CABOT, the name of two Venetians, father aml son, both celebrated as navigators and discoverers. -GIOVANNI CABOT, or CABorro, the father, whose business compelled him to reside much in Bristol, was appointed by Henry VII., 3lar. 5, 1496, to the command of a squadron of five vessels on a voyage of discovery in the Atlantic ocean. In this expedition he was accompanied by his sons Ludovico, Sebastiano (born at Bristol, 1477), and Sanzio. On the 24th of June, 1497, the coast of Labrador, North America, was sighted. The merit of this discovery has been generally ascrjbed to the navigator's second son, Sebastian C., the most scientific of the family; but an extract from a chart preserved by Hakluyt mentions the father before the son. The expedition returned in Aug., 1497. In 1498, a second was made, with what results we do not know; and in 1499, a third to the gulf of Mexico. About this time, Giovanni, the father, appears to have died, and we hear no more of Sebastian till 1512, when he entered the service of Ferdinand, king of Spaiu. During the year 1515, he was engaged in revising maps and charts in connection with his profession, and in planning an exploration of the n.w. passage to Asia, which, however, was laid aside ou account of the death of Ferdinand in 1516. C., who seems to have been no favorite with the Spanish courtiers, was now subjected to a series of contemptible insults. This usage induced him to return to Eng
land, and in 1517, he was appointed by Henry VIII. to the command of an expedition to Labrador. He reached lat. 67-i° n., and entered Hudson's bay, where he gave names to several places; but the expedition proved on the whole a failure, on account of the cowardice or malice of his vice-commandant, sir Thomas Perte. C. now entered again into the Spanish service, was made pilot-major of the kingdom by Charles V., and com manded au expedition which examined the coast of Brazil and La Plata, which he attempted to colonize. In 1531, he returned to Spain, and resumed his old situation; but in 1548, he once more betook himself to England, where he was well received by king Edward VI., who made him inspector of the navy, and gave him a pension. To this monarch he seems to have explained the variation of the magnetic needle in several places, which he was among the first, if not the very first, to notice particularly. In 1553, C. was the prime Mover and director of the expedition of merchant adventurers which opened to England an important commerce with Russia. It is not known exactly when C. died.—..lientoir of Sebastian Cabot (Loud. 1831).