Verrazano
GIOVANNI DA, an Italian navigator; born near Florence presumably about 1480; joined the French maritime service in 1505 and soon became an experienced navigator.
In 1512 he was employed by France as a privateer against Spanish merchantmen and made many captures. In 1523 he took the treasure ship sent by Cortés to Charles V., which contained plunder from Montezuma estimated at $1,500,000 in value. In January, 1524, he made an exploring expedition to North America, and after discovering land near Cape Fear sailed N. and entered either New York or Narragansett Bay. He then sailed 450 miles N. E. and returned to France. On July 8, 1524, he sent a letter to King Francis I., in which he claimed to have discovered 700 leagues of coast. Little is known of his subsequent history. It is supposed that he was taken prisoner off the S. coast of Spain and executed as a pirate in Pico, New Castile, in November, 1527.