[6] Andrés de Urdaneta was born in 1498, at Villafranca de Guipuzcoa. He received a liberal education, but, his parents dying, he chose a military career; and he won distinction in the wars of Germany and Italy, attaining the rank of captain. Returning to Spain, he devoted himself to the study of mathematics and astronomy, and became proficient in navigation. Joining Loaisa's expedition, he remained in the Moluccas, contending with the Portuguese there, until 1535, when he went back to Spain. Going thence to Mexico (about 1540), he was offered command of the expedition then fitting out for the Moluccas, "but on terms which he could not accept." Villalobos was given command of the fleet in his stead, and Urdaneta later (1552) became a friar, entering the Augustinian order, in which he made his profession on March 20, 1553, in the City of Mexico. There he remained until the fleet of Legazpi departed (November 21, 1564) from La Navidad, Mexico, for the Philippine Islands; Urdaneta accompanied this expedition, with four other friars of his order. He was appointed prelate of those new lands, with the title of "protector of the Indians;" he also acted as pilot of the fleet. In the following year he was despatched to Spain, to give an account to the government of what Legazpi had accomplished. This mission fulfilled, he desired to return to the Philippines, but was dissuaded from this step by his friends; he came back to Mexico, where he died (June 3, 1568), aged seventy years. Urdaneta was endowed with a keen intellect, and held to his opinions and convictions with great tenacity. To his abilities and sagacity are ascribed much of Legazpi's success in the conquest of the Philippines. For sketches of his life, see Retana's edition of Martínez de Zúñiga's Estadismo de las Islas Filipinas (Madrid, 1893), ii, appendix, pp. 621, 622; and Dic.-Encic. Hisp.-Amér.
[7] The "zebra" was the guanaco or South American camel (Auchenia). The feathers were those of the South American ostrich (Rhea rhea), also called "nandu" and "avestruz" by the natives, or possibly of the smaller species R. darwinii; both are found as far south as the Strait of Magellan.
[8] It was the custom of many of the writers of these early documents to give in dates only the last two or three figures of the year.
[9] His name was Alvaro de Loaisa.
[10] This was the flagship of Magalhães, which remained at Tidore after the departure of the "Victoria." The "Trinidad" set out for Panama on April 6, 1522, but was compelled by sickness and unfavorable winds to return to the islands. She was then captured by the Portuguese; the ship was wrecked in a heavy storm at Ternate, and her crew detained as prisoners by the Portuguese. Hardships, disease, and shipwreck carried away all of them except four, who did not reach Spain until 1526.
[11] Sebastian Cabot (Caboto) was born about 1473—probably at Venice, although some claim Bristol, England, as his birthplace; he was the son of the noted explorer John Cabot, whom he accompanied on the famous voyage (1494) in which they discovered and explored the eastern coasts of Canada. A second voyage thither (1498), in which Sebastian was commander, proved a failure; and no more is heard of him until 1512, when he entered the service of Fernando V of Spain, who paid him a liberal salary. In 1515 he was a member of a commission charged with revising and correcting all the maps and charts used in Spanish navigation. About this time, he was preparing to make a voyage of discovery; but the project was defeated by Fernando's death (January 23, 1516). In the same year Cabot led an English expedition which coasted. Labrador and entered Hudson Strait; he then returned to Spain, and was appointed (February 5, 1518) royal pilot-major, an office of great importance and authority. He was one of the Spanish commissioners at Badajoz in 1524; and in 1526 commanded a Spanish expedition to the Moluccas, which sailed from Spain on April 3 of that year. Arriving at the River de la Plata, Cabot decided to explore that region instead of proceeding to the Moluccas—induced to take this step by a mutiny among his officers, sickness among his crews, and the loss of his flag-ship. Misfortunes followed him, and he returned to Spain in 1530. Upon the accession of Edward VI to the English throne, Cabot was induced to reenter the English service, which he did in 1548, receiving from Edward promotion and rewards. Nothing is heard of him after 1557; and no work of his is known to be extant save a map of the world, made in 1544. and preserved in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris. Regarding his life and achievements, see Nicholls's Sebastian Cabot (London, 1869); Henry Stevens's Sebastian Cabot (Boston, 1870); Harrisse's Jean et Sebastian Cabot (Paris, 1882); F. Tarducci's John and Sebastian Cabot (Brownson's translation, Detroit, 1893); Dawson's "Voyages of the Cabots," in Canad. Roy. Soc. Trans., 1894, pp. 51-112, 1896, pp. 3-30, 1897, pp. 139-268; Dionne's John and Sebastian Cabot (Quebec, 1898); Winship's Cabot Bibliography (London, 1900).
[12] João Serrão, one of Magalhães's captains, was elected, after the latter's death, to the command of the fleet. On May 1, 1521, he was murdered by natives on the island of Cebú, having been treacherously abandoned there by his own companions.
[13] The "Santiago," in which was the priest Areizaga (see note 3).
[14] Saavedra died at sea in the month of December, 1529. See Navarrete's Col. de viages, v, p. 422.
[15] Lib. xx of Oviédo's Hist. de Indias is devoted to the relation of these early expeditions to the Philippines of Magalhães, Loaisa, and Saavedra.