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Sebastian Cabot: North America
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Sebastian Cabot was one of the most recognizable acting talents ever to come out of England, a familiar and popular supporting player in movies and a star of American television for much of the last two decades of his life. For an actor who specialized in elegant and upper-class, educated roles, he was, ironically, a Cockney, born Charles Sebastian Thomas Cabot in London in July 1918, within the sound of the bells of St. Mary Le Bow Church. What's more, he came to an acting career fairly late -- and by sheer chance.
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Cabot was the first to report on a part of America after Christopher Columbus (1492) but his explorations were in colder regions, on the shores of what is Canada today. His landfall remains unknown. Neither a ship's log nor any authentic account of this voyage has been preserved. It is only because of numerous references found here and there that historians have been able to piece together Cabot's exploration in North America. On the whole, it is agreed that the navigator visited somewhere between Labrador and Cape Breton, most likely the east coast of Newfoundland.
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In 1525, Cabot led to the Pacific a three-ship Spanish expedition intended to establish trade with the Orient. En route, while stopped on the shores of Brazil, Cabot heard tales of the riches to be had in the Rio de la Plata region of South America, and as a result he abandoned his original mission and headed to Rio de la Plata instead. Cabot failed to find this fabled region, and as a result... failed to complete his original mission. As a result, Sebastian Cabot was arrested upon his return to Spain on charges of mismanagement. After a period of banishment to Africa, however, he was once again restored to his posting of Pilot Major.
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The first thing Cabot noticed before even spotting land was the storm which engulfed him just before landfall. This was quite typical in the area around Nova Scotia, where northward-moving cyclonic storms originate in the summer. Concerning the weather nearer the land, Soncino reported it as temperate. Today the average July temperature in Nova Scotia is in the mid-sixties, Fahrenheit, and can get all the way up into the ninties; temperatures in Newfoundland average between fifty-five and sixty degrees. Cabots description of the weather, then, is consistent with a landing on either Nova Scotia or Newfoundland. It does not... argue strongly against landings as far north as Labrador.
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[A]round 1526, Cabot spent time exploring the Parana River but with angry natives and a lack of food, he was forced to return to Spain. Everyone called the voyage a huge failure and his sponsors were very displeased. With this, Cabot was banished from Spain to Africa for two years. However, in 1553, he was again able to work for the English and decided to search for a water passage that would go across the north of Asia. During this particular voyage, Cabot sailed as far away as the White Sea, which is in the northwest region of Russia. Even though he was not near his intended goal, this trip resulted in a trade agreement being established between England and Russia.
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For this reason, Williamsons hypothesis (admittedly one that he advances with great reserve), which proposes that Cabot turned northward after landing, is unlikely. Another perhaps even more important bit of evidence about the coasting voyage comes from Day, who stated in his letter that "most of the land was discovered after turning back."30 Any theory of Cabots coasting voyage must ... include a convincing reason why upon returning he would have run into land beyond that which he had just discovered when sailing south. Ignoring this, Morisons proposal of a landing on the east coast of Newfoundland is entirely inconsistent with Days statement, since only water is to be found after turning back toward England from this place. Jackson is simlarly vulnerable on this point. Furthermore, it is difficult to see why Cabot would have followed the coast on his east--that is, Newfoundland--rather than the mainland on his west. Sailing to find Asia, not an island, he surely must have regarded the landmass of Newfoundland as an island once he rounded it. Moreover, it is questionable whether Cabot could have undertaken this route even if he wanted to.
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