Leaves for South America, April 1526, in command of an expedition to the Brazils.
A mutiny and its suppression.
As Portugal had hitherto monopolised the lucrative commerce of that new-found region, the utmost alarm was excited when it became known that a Spanish expedition was preparing to sail under the charge of so daring and intrepid a mariner as Sebastian Cabot. Remonstrances in every conceivable form were addressed to the government of Spain; threats and entreaties were alternately used to terrify or to soothe the navigator himself, and even assassination was openly spoken of as not an unmerited punishment to defeat “so nefarious a project.” The king of Portugal himself had, more than once, in the most public manner, asserted that it would be “the utter destruction of his poor kingdom” if he was deprived of the monopoly of the trade with the Moluccas.[73] Although the opposition did not prevail, the influence which had been used delayed the departure of the expedition until April 1526, and the seeds of discontent had been so extensively sown among the fleet, that a mutiny on the coast of Brazil, not unlike what Columbus had encountered on his first great voyage of discovery, threatened the annihilation of the Spanish fleet. Cabot, like Columbus, when similarly situated, saw that his only safety lay in extreme boldness, for, like him, he belonged to that rare class of men whose powers unfold at trying moments. He knew that by a daring exercise of that rightful authority, to which the habit of command on the ocean lends a moral influence, men ready to commit murder may be awed into passive instruments. He therefore seized the three leaders of the mutiny, though they were his confidential officers, and the men next to himself in authority, and placing them in a boat, ordered them to be pulled on shore and there left. The effect throughout the fleet of these bold and summary proceedings was instantaneous. Discord disappeared with the chief conspirators, and, during the five years of service through which the expedition passed, full as they were of toil, peril, and privation, the voice of discontent was never afterwards heard.
Explores the river La Plata while waiting instructions from Spain.
Having expelled the only individuals who, in the event of his death, had been named in succession to the command of the expedition, Cabot felt that he would not have been justified in proceeding with the squadron on the long and perilous voyage originally contemplated. He therefore put into the La Plata, and sent advice to the king of what had occurred, by John Barlow, one of the Englishmen who had accompanied him; resolving in the meantime to explore that great river, in attempting which his predecessor in the office of pilot-major, Diego de Solis, had not long before been slain.[74]
Sanguinary encounter with the natives.
Running boldly up the river, which, until very recently, was the dread of navigators, Cabot reached a small island about half a league from the northern shore, and nearly opposite to the present Buenos Ayres. Here the natives made a very formidable show of resistance, but were repulsed. Proceeding seven leagues farther up the river, he erected a fort. Having completed this work, and taken every precaution for the safety of the ships, he commenced the exploration of the Parana, taking care, as he proceeded, to build small forts, on which he could fall back with his boats and caravels in case of disaster, until he reached its junction with the Paraguay, which he ascended thirty-four leagues. Here everything presented a new aspect, with indications of a comparatively higher state of civilisation; but the natives engaged in the cultivation of the soil, being jealous of the strangers, and under the impression that they had come to take away their produce, seized three of Cabot’s men, who had incautiously strayed from the main body, and a sanguinary conflict ensued, in which three hundred of them were killed, and twenty-five of the Spaniards.
When Cabot returned to his ships, he made arrangements to convey to the king intelligence of his discoveries, and entered more fully into detail of the incidents which had occurred since he left, especially of those which had compelled him to abandon the voyage originally contemplated. The prospects were so promising that Charles V. resolved to fit out a fresh expedition to aid Cabot in the prosecution of further discoveries; means were, however, wanting to furnish the promised aid, the Cortes having, in the same year, refused a grant of money solicited by the king for pressing necessities of State. It was therefore hopeless to expect that they would vote fresh supplies for remote and hazardous expeditions. But though Cabot’s residence in the La Plata was measured tediously by hope deferred, and finally blasted, it was not passed in inactivity, his researches while there having ultimately proved of great value to the commerce of Spain.
Returns to Spain, 1531, and remains there till 1549, when he settles finally in Bristol.
Edward VI., A.D. 1547-1553.