Sebastian, the celebrated navigator, and first discoverer of the American continent, was the son of John Cabot, a Venetian merchant, resident in England. Although the subject of much dispute for a long time, it is now placed beyond a doubt that England may confidently claim the honour of his birth. In an ancient collection of voyages and travels by Richard Eden, a learned writer and contemporary of Sebastian, the author, in a marginal note, says, "Sebastian Cabote told me, that he was borne in Brystowe (Bristol), and that at iii yeare old he was carried with his father to Venice, and so returned agayne into England with his father after certayne years, whereby he was thought to have been born in Venice." (Decades of the New World, fol. 255.) It also appears that he returned, while still young (pene infans), to England, and remained there till he grew up to manhood.

From an unaccountable laxity in the scrutiny of writers, considerable misrepresentations relating to this extraordinary man have hitherto prevailed, and obtained general credence. These hypothetical statements, so long maintained, must now give place to facts, which the research of a modern writer has recently brought to light, and placed upon a basis of irrefragable veracity. The brilliant discoveries of Columbus, towards the close of the fourteenth century, awakened a spirit of enterprise throughout the enlightened nations of Europe; and England was not inattentive to movements, from which great and important advantages might result to her dominions. Her monarch, Henry VII., however avariciously inclined, evinced great readiness to facilitate and promote adventure in the novel career opened up to human ambition. The all-important and engrossing object was to discover a route to India; and an expedition in a north-westerly direction, ostensibly to reach what was called Cathay, or the Land of Spice, was speedily, after the discoveries of Columbus, projected by Sebastian Cabot, and fitted out under the auspices of the English government. The first patent, which bears date the 5th of March 1496 (Rymer, Feadera, vol. xii. p. 595), was given to John Cabot, and his three sons, Lewis, Sebastian, and Saucius, and authorizes them "to seek out, discover, and find whatsoever isles, countries, regions, or provinces of the heathen and infidels, whatsoever they be, and in what part of the world soever they be, which before this time have been unknown to all Christians." The patentees were further empowered to set up the royal banner, and occupy and possess all the "newly found" lands in the name of the king, who reserved a fifth of the profits. It was also stipulated that the vessels should return to Bristol, and that the privilege of exclusive resort and traffic belonged to the patentees.

Although the patent was conferred on John Cabot and his three sons, there can be no doubt, even if the father did accompany the expedition, that its success was entirely owing to the genius of Sebastian. The inaccuracies which have arisen from the loose investigation and immature consideration of several ancient and modern writers, are now satisfactorily traced to certain perverted statements of Hakluyts; and their exposition, which we owe to the industry and acumen of the author of the Memoir alluded to, is worthy of attentive examination. Suffice it here to remark, that from a singular misinterpretation of some documents, and the omission of others, John Cabot, who was not the discoverer, but only a part owner of an expedition to discover new lands, erroneously got the credit, not only of his son Sebastian's discovery of the American continent, but also of possessing powers of mind and scientific knowledge which were scarcely inferior to those possessed by Columbus himself.

To Sebastian Cabot, therefore, belongs the undoubted glory of the first discovery of the terra firma of the Western World. The expedition, consisting of the ship commanded by Sebastian, and three or four smaller vessels, sailed from Bristol in the beginning of May 1497; and an ancient Bristol manuscript records the fact, that, "in the year 1497, the 24th June, on St John's day, was Newfoundland found, by Bristol men, in a ship called the Matthew." On the authority of Peter Martyr, we learn, that after quitting the north, where he reached latitude sixty-seven and a half, Cabot proceeded along the coast of the continent, to a latitude corresponding probably with that of the Straits of Gibraltar. Indeed he is said to have gone so far southward, "ut Cubani insulam a iava longitudine gradum pene parente haberit." A failure of provisions at this point compelled him to desist from further pursuit, and the expedition returned to England.

The second patent, which for the first time has been published in the Memoir referred to, is dated 3d February 1498, and gives authority to "John Kabotto or his deputies," to take at pleasure six English ships, and "there convey and lede to the lande and isles of late found." Shortly after the date of this patent John Cabot died; and it is said that his sons Lewis and Saucius went to settle in Italy. Sebastian, however, did not abandon an enterprise in which he had embarked; and a second voyage was zealously undertaken under his superintendence. A ship equipped at the king's expense, along with four small vessels, sailed from Bristol in the spring of the year 1498. It is curious, that although, both from the language of the patent, and the circumstance of three hundred men embarking, colonization seems to have been contemplated, the leading object of the voyage was to effect the discovery of a north-west passage. The result is unfortunately wrapt in much obscurity. Gomara alone furnishes us with what may be a correct account. According to this author, Cabot "directed his course by the tracte of islande, upon the Cape of Labrador, at xviii. degrees; affirmynge that, in the monethe of July, there was such could, and heapes of ise, that he durst passe no further; also, that the dayes were very longe, and in maner without nyght, and the nyghtes very clear. Certayne it is, that at the lx. degrees, the longest day is of xviii. houres. But considerynge the coulde, and the straungenesse of the unknowen lande, he turned his course from thense to the west, folowynge the coast of the lande of Baccalao unto the xxxviii. degrees, from whence he returned to Englannde." (Eden's Decades, fol. 318.)

The results of this second voyage were not sufficiently important to induce Henry to equip another expedition. We have good authority for believing, however, that Cabot, in 1499, "with no extraordinary preparations sett forth from Bristol, and made greate discoveries." (Seyer's Memoirs of Bristol.) This is confirmed by the navigator Hojeda having, in his first voyage, found "certain Englishmen" in the neighbourhood of Caquibacoa. It is highly probable, from the unlikelihood of any other English seamen pursuing such a route, that these were Cabot and his companions. But the narrative of Cabot's life for the fifteen years subsequent to the departure of his second expedition is meagre and unsatisfactory. One circumstance deserves notice, that during that period Amerigo Vespucci, in company with Hojeda, crossed the Atlantic for the first time, whilst Sebastian was prosecuting his third voyage; yet, as the author of his memoirs says, "while the name of the one overspreads the new world, no bay, cape, or headland, recalls the memory of the other."

After the death of Henry VII., upon the invitation of Ferdinand, Sebastian Cabot went to Spain; and Vespucci, who held the office of pilot-major, having died, he was appointed his successor. He was soon employed in a general revision of maps and charts; and his public and private character endeared him to most of the learned and good men in Spain. He had, however, like Columbus, many enemies; and the death of Ferdinand put an end to an expedition then in contemplation. The ignoble commencement of the reign of Charles V., frustrated all further hopes of its prosecution; and Cabot in disgust returned to England, where, under Henry VIII., he got honourable employment, and performed another westwardly voyage in 1517, which, however, from various causes, proved unsuccessful.

In 1518 we find our navigator in Spain, and again reinstated in the appointment of pilot-major. The dispute between Spain and Portugal in regard to their respective rights to the Moluccas having been decided at the congress of Badajos in 1524 in favour of Spain, a company was formed at Seville to open a commercial intercourse with these islands; and Cabot, with the title of Captain-general, set sail, after many delays, with a fleet in April 1526. The squadron was ill assorted, and a mutiny broke out, the consequences of which diverted his course from the Moluccas to the mouth of the Rio de la Plata, up which he penetrated about three hundred and fifty leagues. He erected a fort at St Salvador; and afterwards sailing up the Parana, he built other two forts. He subsequently entered the Paraguay, where he was drawn into a sanguinary contest with the natives. From the report then made by him to Charles V, it is probable, had he been supplied with means and ammunition, he would have made the conquest of Peru, which Pizarro afterwards accomplished with his own private resources. After tarrying in the hopes of receiving supplies, Cabot was forced to return to Spain, where he resumed his functions of pilot-major.

He finally settled in England, where he appears to have exercised a general supervision over the maritime concerns of the country, and enjoyed a pension of two hundred and fifty marks. It was then that he disclosed to Edward VI. his discovery of the phenomenon of the variation of the needle—a discovery for which alone his name deserves to be immortalized. It was also at his instigation that the important expedition was undertaken which resulted in the opening of the trade with Russia; and in the charter of the company of merchant adventurers he was nominated governor for life, as "the chiefest settler forth" of the enterprise. Cabot lived to a very advanced age, and died probably in London; but neither the date of his death nor the place of his interment is properly authenticated.

Sebastian Cabot may be justly regarded as one of the most illustrious navigators the world has ever seen. His life exhibits one continued devotion to the mighty impulses of his genius. England owes him a debt of imperishable gratitude. "He ended," says the author of the Memoir which has rescued so much of his life from obscurity, "he ended, as he had begun, his career in the service of his native country, infusing into her marine a spirit of lofty enterprise, a high moral tone, a system of mild but inflexible discipline, of which the results were not long after so conspicuously displayed. Finally, he is seen to open new sources of commerce, of which the influence may be distinctly traced on her present greatness and prosperity."