CABOT, SEBASTIAN ( 1475-1557 ) . An English navigator, born in Venice. He was one of the three sons of 'John Cabot, his brothers being Lewis There is no contemporary evidenee that Sebastian accompanied his father on either of the two voyages to America. in 1497 or 1498. After his father's death, Sebastian took up the profession of navigation. Ile was also a cartographer of some repute. being employed to prepare the maps for an English military ex pedition to southwestern France (1512). lie accompanied the English forces, and while away was induced to enter the service of the King of spain. tle soon rose to an influential position the head of the Spanish navigation otli•e, with the title of pilot-major. a post he held for 30 There is some evidence, however, that in 1517 or 1518 he led an English expedition in search of a northwest passage to Cathay. In 1526 ha rles V. gave him the command of au expedition which was intended by its promoters to pass through the Strait of Magellan and trade in the --pice Islands. Acting probably under secret or ders from the King, Cabot entered the estuary of the river which lie afterwards named La Plata, in the hope of finding another passage through to the Pacific. Misled by the stories which he had heard from the Indians, who told him that silver and gold (really to be found in Peru) were to be had at the headwaters of this river. he spent three
years in trying to reach these sources of wealth. As a result the undertaking turned out a ruin ous failure, and Cabot, after his return to Spain in 1530. was tried and found legally culpable for the disaster. The King. however, pardoned him and restored him to his office as pilot-major. In 1548 Cabot went back to England, and accepted a pension from the Government of Edward I. for his services as Great Pilot. He became gov ernor of the Company of Merchant Adventurers. and was a prime mover in organizing and equip ping the expedition of Willoughby- and Chan cellor to Asia by the northeast sea route, in 55:f. and that of Stephen Burrough by the same route in 1556. lle died in the winter of 1557-58. The character of Sebastian Cabot has been vari ously estimated. English writers. supposing him to have been born in Bristol, eulogize his every trait and action. Consult Nicholls, Remarkable Life of Sebastian Cabot (London, 1S09). In re action against this view, consult Henry Harrisse, John Cabot and His on Sebastian (London, 1896), than whom there is no more learned au thority, and who describes him as a renegade and traitor, an unfilial boaster, without a single re deeming quality. The truth is presumably mid way between these two extremes. Consult Win ship. Cabot Bibliography (London. 1900).