Italian navigator and explorer, born at Florence, Italy, about 1486. In 1522 he is said to have captured the rich treasure-ship in which Cortes was sending to Charles V. of Spain the spoils of Mexico, valued at $1,500,000. With a ship belonging to Francis I, king of France, he started from the island of Madeira westward in 1524, in order to reach “Cathay.” He landed near Cape Fear, in North Carolina, and followed the shore to New York Bay; thence he sailed to Newport, RI, and Portsmouth, NH. After his return to France he made a second voyage to America, but was captured by Spaniards, and hanged as a pirate at Colmenar, Spain, in 1527.
