r^- CC
Question
Did
Sit Francis Drake
Land on
Any Part of
the
Oregon
Coast
QUESTION
Did Sir Francis Drake land
on any part of the
Oregon Coast?
R. M. BRERETON, C. E.
PUBLISHED BY
THE J. K. GILL COMPANY
PORTLAND, OREGON
ElVb
INTRODUCTION
The old and new settlers in rich and beautiful Oregon may
like to learn the facts as known about Sir Francis Drake's famous
voyage off the coasts of California and Oregon in 1579. The
popular idea has prevailed among many Oregonians that Drake
was the first to make a landing on the coast of Oregon, and to
see and note its natural resources, between the parallels of
North Latitudes 42 deg. and 48 deg. Some of them think he
made his landing either at the mouth of the Chetco River, in
Curry County, or at Port Orford, in Coos County. In this little
tract will be found extracts made from all the oldest and best
authorities on the subject: these I have collected from the orig-
inal documents existing in the archives of the British Museum
in London ; and the three maps given are facsimiles of those
most ancient ones found therein. I have also given extracts
from the latest modern writers on the subject.
J^Brake died in January, 1596 (old style), so that his co-tem-
porary recorders of his expedition to the Pacific Coast in 1579
were his cousin John and his nephew Francis Drake ; his chap-
lain, Francis Fletcher, who accompanied him thioughout the
voyage ; Richard Hakluyt, the great historian of English travels
by sea and land ; Francis Pretty ; Admiral Robert Dudley, son
of Queen Elizabeth's favorite Earl of Leicester, who in his
Arcano del Mare (1647) says ne nad his data for his map from
Drake himself; Jodocus Hondius, the great engraver of that
period ; William Camden, the noted and most reliable historian
and antiquary ; Theodore de Bry, the famous engraver and
printer of Frankfort-on-the-Main ; Captain John Davis (1550-
1605), the great navigator of the North Atlantic in search of a
northwest passage to India; Admiral Sir William Monson
(1569-1643), the author of several naval tracts of that period;
but which were not published till 1702; Peter Heylin (1600-
3
260143
1662), in his Cosmography; Johannes de Laet (died 1649), tne
noted Dutch writer, in his general history of America ; and
John Ogilby (1600-1676), the celebrated Scotch compiler of
Atlasses.
Among later writers of Drake's voyage in the Pacific Ocean
were Captain James Burney (1750-1821), who sailed with Cap-
tain James Cook in the Resolution in 1776; and John Barrow,
who in 1765 wrote his History of Discoveries, which is con-
sidered the standard work on Drake's voyages.
Drake's own vessel of 100 tons, in which he completed his
famous voyage around the world, which made him the first ad-
miral of any nation to accomplish in his own ship that notable
achievement, was called the Pelican when he sailed from Ply-
mouth, the I3th of December, 1577: this name he changed to
that of the Golden Hind when he entered the Straits of Magellan
on the 2oth of August, 1578: this he did in honor of his patron
and friend, Sir Christopher Hatton, then Lord Chancellor of
England, whose family crest was a Golden Hind. Queen Eliz-
abeth nicknamed her Chancellor, "the dancing Chancellor," be-
cause he was such a graceful performer in that line.
Some California and Oregon authorities have surmised that
the name Pelican given to the bay at the mouth of the Chetco
River was derived from that of Drake's vessel ; but she was
known as the Golden Hind at that period.
From a careful study of the extracts herein given I have
been unable to find any reliable evidence to show that Drake ever
landed anywhere on the Oregon coast. The only landing place
mentioned was in latitude 38 deg. or thereabouts, the exact spot
is still a matter in dispute by various modern writers. In fact,
the principal narrative of the voyage by Francis Pretty, pub-
lished in Hakluyt's Voyages, 1589, (upon which most of the
later accounts are based) says distinctly "we drew back again
without landing, till we came within 38 degrees towards the
line." The accompanying Silver Map (1581) shows that Drake
coasted to a higher latitude, but did not land anywhere. Francis
Drake, Drake's nephew, makes no mention of any landing on
the Oregon coast. Camden, one of the most reliable historians,
does not mention it, nor does De Bry, the best engraver and
historian in Europe of that period. Monsieur Duflot de Mofras
4
varies slightly in the latitudes reached, but agrees in other re-
spects. Among quite modern students, Greenhow states that no
information concerning the northwest coast of America has de-
scended from the great navigator himself.
My agent in London, Mr. T. Chubb, of the Map Depart-
ment of the British Museum, writes me that he has come across
in the MSS. Department of the British Museum, a letter from
De Mendoza, the Spanish Ambassador in London, to King
Philip of Spain, dated i6th October, 1580, in which it states
"Drake has given the Queen (Elizabeth) a diary of every thing
that happened during the three years he waiT~a"way."
Mr. Chubb informs me he has endeavored to trace the where- \
abouts of this diary; he wrote to the Librarian at Windsor
Castle about it; who in reply states that it is not in the Royal
Collection, and he does not know where it can be found. He
has also applied to the Public Record Office, but there is no
record of it there. He has also written to the editor of "Notes
and Queries," and if any information comes from that source
about it he will let me know.
The maps (3) are facsimiles of the early maps now in the
British Museum, which I have had reproduced for this tract
by Hicks-Chatten & Co., of Portland.
No. i is a portion of Hondius map, showing Drake's route,
the latitude reached, and the bay in which he refitted his ship.
No. 2 shows that Drake reached 42 deg., but does not denote
a landing place.
No. 3 indicates the bays where Drake tried to find a landing
spot.
In Professor George Davidson's paper on Drake's landing
point there is a note that Drake gave the Indians an English
dog, some pigs and seeds of several kinds of grain, which they
planted. If this is correct, the first English grain was sown in
North America in 1579; now behold the enormous tonnage Cali-
fornia and Oregon are yearly sending to the mother country.
Captain Bartholomew Gosnold's expedition to New England
in 1602 (23 years later) planted English grain seed on Cutty-
hunk Island, off the New Bedford Coast, Mass. This fact is
reported by my kinsman, John Brereton, the historian of this
5
expedition, to Sir Walter Raleigh in 1602. I have presented a
facsimile, in black letter, of this report to the Portland Public
Library.
I trust this brief collection of facts in regard to Drake's
voyage along the coasts of California and Oregon, and the only
one landing made by him, may prove interesting and instructive
to all Oregonians who are, or may become, desirous of such
reliable information. Though Oregonians may not claim Drake
as the first discoverer of Oregon, they may appreciate the epitaph
on his ocean-grave, which was written by a poet of the seven-
teenth century :
"The waves became his winding sheet ; the waters were his tomb ;
But for his fame, the ocean sea was not sufficient room."
ROBERT MAITLAND BRERETON, C. E.
Woodstock, Oregon, June, 1907.
5*
Cartd particokrc dello stretto di
lezo fta lAmenca el'Isok lezo
Coniiic
XXXI/I
om DeH'Awflno dif /law ai
Dudleo Dwca di Norfwmlri'a e Confe A
Warvicfi Ulri Sti. 1646-1647.
The Famous Voyage of Sir Francis Drake
in the South Sea, and There Hence
About the Whole Globe of the Earth,
Begun in the Yeere of Our Lord, 1577.
From "The Principal! Navigations of the English Nation, by
Richard Hakluyt. (page 643) London,,
"The 5th day of June, being in 42 degrees towards the pole
Arctike, we founde the aire so colde, that our men being gree-
vously pinched with the same, complained of the extremitie
thereof, and the further we went, the more the colde increased
upon us. Whereupon we thought it best for that time to seeke
the land, and did so, finding it not mountainous but lowe plaine
land, clad and covered over with snowe, so that we drewe back
againe uithout landing, till we came within 38 degrees towards
the line. In which height it pleased God to send us into a faire
and good baye, with a good wind to enter the same."
(Page 440) "In this bay wee ankered the seventeenth of
June, and the people of the countery, having their houses close
by the waters side, shewed themselves unto us, and sent a present
to our Generall."
(Note. At page 737 of the same Vol. 3 is another account
from which the above seems to have been taken. A similar ac-
count to the above occurs in "Hakluytus Posthumus, or Purchas
his Pilgrimes," chap, iii, p. 135.)
10
THE SILVER MAP OF THE WORLD (1581?).
A contemporary medallion commemorative of Drake's Great
Voyage, 1577-80.
By Miller Christy, London, 1900.
(This map is 70 millimetres (about 2 4-5ths of an inch) in diam-
eter. A dotted line, against which ships in full sail and several
legends are placed, indicates the route followed by Drake. The
author of the book assumes the map to have been produced in 1581,
the year following that of Drake's return. Only three copies are
known to exist, two of them being in the British Museum.)
" — Drake continued sailing northward — until contrary winds
and severe cold — decided him — to return home round the world
by way of the Moluccas and the Cape of Good Hope. The dotted
line on the map makes it appear that he had reached the latitude
of about 48 deg. N. before thus turning back — coasting next
southward, in order to find a harbor in which to refit his ship
for the voyage across the Pacific, Drake, in June, 1579, entered
what is now the Bay of San Francisco. There he remained sev-
eral weeks, taking possession, in the Queen's name, of the adja-
cent country, which he called Nova Albion — on July 23 (1579)
Drake left the Bay of San Francisco."
Narrative Drawn From Declarations which John
Drake, Englishman, Being a Prisoner in Lima,
Gave of the Voyage Which his Cousin, Francis
Drake, Made to the South Sea, Through the
Straights of Magellan in the Year 1580 (?),
Till his Return to England, Etc., Before the
Inquisitor at Lima, 1581.
" — They then shaped their course by northeast and north
northeast and proceeded 1000 leagues as far as latitude 44
deg., always on the bowling. Afterwards they tacked about
and went to California and discovered land in 48 deg.( ?), where
they landed in order to take up their quarters, and remained
there a month and a half repairing their ship and taking in her sea
provisions which were mareleones (seals?) and wolves." (From
translated narrative in "The Western Antiquary," Plymouth,
November, 1888, p. 83.)
DAVIS (JOHN).
WORLD'S HYDROGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION. 1595.
(The celebrated Navigator John Davis, born at Sandridge, Dev-
onshire, in 1550, in his World's Hydrographical Description, pub-
lished in 1595, asserts that):
"And after Syr Fraunces was entred into the South Seas he
coasted all the westerne shores of America, until he came into
the septentrionall latitude of forty-eight degrees; being on the
backe side of Newfoundland, and from thence shaping his course
towards Asia, etc."
THE WORLD ENCOMPASSED BY SIR FRANCIS
DRAKE.
Carefully collected out of the Notes of Master Francis Fletcher,
Preacher in his (Drake's) employment, and divers others his follow-
ers in the same, &c. (By Francis Drake, Junior). London, 1628.
"From Guatulco we departed the day following, viz., Aprill
1 6, setting our course directly into the sea, whereon we say led
12
500 leagues in longitude, to get a winde : and between that and
June 3 ; 1400 leagues in all, till we came into 42 deg. of north
latitude, where in the night following we found such alteration
of heat, into extreame and nipping cold, that our men in gen-
erall did grievously complaine thereof — it came to that extremity
in sayling but 2 deg. farther to the northward in our course;
though sea-men lack not good stomaches, yet it seemed a ques-
tion to many amongst us, whether their hands should feed their
mouthes, or rather keep themselves within their couverts from
the pinching cold that did benumme them. The land in that
part of America, bearing farther out into the West, than we
before imagined, we were neerer on it than we were aware, and
yet the neerer still we came unto it, the more extremity of cold
did seaze upon us. The 5th day of June, we were forced by
contrary winds to rune in with the shore, which we then first
described ; and to cast anchor in a bad bay, the best roade we
could for the present meete with. In this place was no abiding
for us ; and to go further north, the extremity of the cold (which
had now utterly discouraged our men) would not permit us;
and the winds directly bent against us, having once gotten us
under sayl againe, commanded to the southward whether we
would or no. From the height of 48 deg., in which now we
were, to 38, we found the land, by coasting alongst it, to bee but
low and reasonable plaine; every hill (whereof we saw many,
but none verie high), though it were in June, and the sunne in
its neerest approach unto them, being covered with snow. In
38 deg. 30 min. we fell with a convenient and fit harborough
(sic) and June 17 came to anchor therein, where we continued
till the 23d day of July following — though we searched the
coast diligently, even unto the 48 deg. yet found we not the
land to trend so much as one point in any place towards the
east, but rather running on continually northwest, as if it went
directly to meet Asia — After that our necessary businesses were
well dispatched, our Generall, with his gentlemen and many of
his company, made a journey up into the land, to see the manner
of their (Indians) dwelling — This country our Generall named
Albion, and that for two causes ; the one in respect of the white
bancks and cliffs, which lie towards the sea ; the other that it
might have some affinity, even in name also, with our own
country, which was sometime so called — Before we went from
13
thence, our Generall caused to be set up a monument of our
being there, as also of her maiesties and successors right and title
to that kingdome ; namely a plate of brasse, fast nailed to a
great and firme poste ; whereon is engraven her graces name, and
the day and yeare of our arrivall there — together with her high-
nesse picture and armes, in a piece of six-pence currant English
monie — The 23 of July they (the Indians) tooke a sorrowfull
farewell of us — Not far without this harborough (sic) did lie
certaine Hands (we called them the Islands of Saint James) —
We departed again the day next following, viz., July 25 — and
our Generall now — bent his course directly runne with the Hands
of the Moluccas."
WILLIAM CAMDEN'S ANNALES RERUM ANGLICA-
RUM ET HIBERNICARUM REGNANTE
ELIZABETHA, 1615. (pp. 424, 425.)
-"Drake then tooke his way toward the north, at the lati-
tude of 42 degrees, to discover in that part if there were any
straight, by which he might find a neerer way to returne ; but
discerning nothing but darke and thicke cloudes, extremity of
cold and open cliffes covered thicke with snow, he landed at
the 38 degree, and having found a commodious Rode, remained
there a certaine time."
THEODORE DE BRY'S
HISTORIA ANTIPODUM ODER NEWE WELT.
p. 348 "Dariiber schiffete er von dem 16 Aprilis an, biss auff den 3'
Junii. Befand aber den 5 Juni, unter dem 42 grad, nach dem Polo Arctico
ein solche Kalte, dass sein Volck dieselbige nicht mehr vertragen kunt,
ward derhalben benotiget ein Land zu suchen, und fand ein eben Land,
aber weil es gantz mit schnee bedeckt, landete er daselbst nicht an, sondern
schiffte weiter unter den 38. grad der lini, allda er ein schonen Meerbusen
fand, und warff sein ancker aus. ' '
p. 442. "Den 17 Februarii 1579 befunden sie sich vor Acapulco, in New
Hispanien, von dannen als sie abgesegelt, kamen sie iiber etliche Zeit unter
den 43. Grad der Hohe, da sie denn eine so grosse Kalte der Lufft be-
funden, dass sie sich kaum und mit grosser Miihe wiederumb zu erwarmen
vermocht. Darnach kamen sie in einen schonen Meer Hafen von America,
New Albion genannt, unter dem 38. Grad."
14
DUFLOT DE MOFRAS'S
EXPLORATION DU TERRITORIE DE L'OREGON.
"En 1579, apparut sur les bords occidentaux de la Nouvelle Espagne, Sir
Francis Drake, qui, apres avoir deVaste" la cote de Guatemala, courut droit
au nord jusqu'au 45e ou 46e de"gre".
Sa rapprochant de terre, il mouilla dans un petite baie qu'il ne de"signe
pas, et ou il lui fut impossible de se maintenir. II se vit alors contraint de
redescendre jusqu'au J?8e degre" ou il jeta 1'ancre dans le port de los Reyes,
situe" entre ceux de San Francisco et de la^Bodega.
Drake n'eut pas connaissance de ces deux derniers, et bien qu'il soit
arrive" en California t4ente-sept ans apr£s Cabrillo. Les Anglais n'ont pas
craint de donner a tout le pays le nom de Nouvelle-Albion, cherchant
ainsi a s'attribuer 1'honneur de la de"couverte."
VOYAGE AUTOUR DU MONDE PAR MARCHANT.
" atte"rit a la Cote Nord-Ouest de 1'Ame'rique a la hauteur de
48 de"gre"s, a laquelle aucun Navigateur €spagnol n'e"tait encore par-
venu; cotoya la terre en redescent, jnsqu'a 37 d Ogre's, a 38 de'gre's % de
latitude, de"couerit le Port, ou il se*journa, et qui a conserve* son nom,
imposa celui de New Albion a tout le contre"e dont il pris possession
solennellement au nom d' Elizabeth, etc."
THE HISTORY OF OREGON AND CALIFORNIA.
By Robert Greenhow. 1845.
(Pp. 74, etc.) With regard to the harbor on the North Pacific
side of America, in which Drake repaired his vessel, nothing
can be learned from the accounts of his expedition which have
been published, except that it was situated about the 38th degree
of latitude, and that a cluster of small islets lay in the ocean, at
a short distance from its mouth, which description will apply
equally to the Bay of San Francisco, and to the Bay of Bodega,
a few leagues farther north.
As to the extent of the portion of the northwest coast of
America seen by Drake, the accounts differ. Before examining
them, it should be first observed, that, from the great navigator
himself nothing whatsoever has descended to us, either as writ-
ten by him, or as reported by others on his authority, respecting
his voyage in the North Pacific, on the circumstances of which,
15
all the information is derived from two narratives — the one pro-
ceeding entirely from a person who had accompanied Drake in
his expedition, and published in 1589, during the life of the
hero, the other compiled from various accounts, and not given
to the world until the middle of the following century.
In the first mentioned of those narratives, called the famous
voyage from which the preceding quotations are made, the
vessel is represented as being in the forty-third degree of latitude
on the fifth of June, when it was determined to seek the land;
but on what day, or in what latitude, the coast was discovered,
is not stated.
In the other narrative called the "World Encompassed," it
is declared that the vessel was in latitude 42 degrees on the
third of June, and that, on the fifth of the same month, she
anchored near the land of America, in a "bad bay," in latitude
of forty-eight degrees, from which being soon driven by the
violence of the winds, she ran along the coast, southward, to
the harbor where she was refitted.
Thus the two accounts differ as to the vessel's position on
the fifth of June, on which day it is rendered probable, from
both, that the land was first seen. Hakluyt, whc took great
interest in all that related to the west coast of North America, as
well as to Drake, gives the 43d parallel, in many places in his
works, the northern limit of his countrymen's discoveries ; and
the same opinion is maintained by Camden, Purchas, De Laet,
Ogilby, Heylin, Locke, Dr. Johnson, and every other author who
wrote on the subject before the middle of the last century —
except the two following: The celebrated navigator John Davis,
in his "World's Hydrographical Discovery," published in 1595,
asserts that, "after Sir Francis Drake was entered into the
South Sea, he coasted all the western shores of America, until
he came to the septentrional latitude of 48 degrees" ; this asser-
tion, however, carries with it its own refutation, as it is nowhere
else pretended that Drake saw any part of the west coast of
Amrica between the I7th degree of latitude and the 38th. Sir
William Monson, another great naval authority of that age, de-
clares in his Tracts, first printed in 1702, that, "from the i6th
of April to the I5th of June, Drake sailed without seeing land,
16
and arrived in 48 degree, thinking to find a passage into our
seas" ; but, unfortunately for Sir William's consistency he main-
tained, in many other parts of his Tracts, that "Cape Mendocino
(near the 4Oth parallel) is the farthest land discovered," and
"the farthermost known land."
In the Life of Sir Francis Drake, published in 1750, in
the Biographia Britannica, the opinion that he discovered the
American coast to the 48th degree was again brought forward,
and it has been since admitted generally by British writers.
Burvey, who has examined the question at length in his History
of Voyages in the South Sea, published in 1803, pronounces that
"the part of the coast discovered by Drake is to be reckoned as
beginning immediately to the north of Cape Mendocino, and
extending to 48 degrees of north latitude," on the authority of
the "World Encompassed," especialy of the assertion in that
narrative that the "English searched the coast diligently even
unto the 48th degree, yet they found not the land to trend so
much as one point, in any place, towards the east." Burney,
however, with his usual want of candor, omits to quote the
remainder of the sentence — "but rather running on continually
northwest, as if it went directly to meet with Asia," Hell know-
ing that it destroyed the value of the evidence in the first part,
for the west coast of America nowhere, between ihe 4Oth and
the 48th degrees of latitude, runs northwest, its course being
nearly due north. Lastly, Barrow, in his Life and Times of Sir
Francis Drake, which appeared in 1843, presents his hero as
the discoverer of the west coast of America from the 38th to
the 48th parallels, without giving the slightest intimation that
any doubt on the subject had ever existed or could exist.
To conclude, the "World Encompassed" is the only direct
authority for the belief that Drake, in 1579, discovered the west
coast of America as far north as the 48th degree of latitude.
In examining the particulars of that account, we find that, be-
tween the ist and the 5th of June, in two days, the English
vessel sailed through six degrees of latitude, northward, with
the wind blowing constantly and violently from that very quarter
— a rate of sailing which could scarcely be obtained at the pres-
ent time under similar circumstances. We, moreover, learn,
17
that, during the whole period in which the latitudes are given
thus positively, the heavens were obscured by thick fogs, and
the vessel constantly agitated by storms, in either of which cases
alone, no observations worthy of reliance could have been made
with the instruments then in use. When we also take into con-
sideration the direct falsehoods, in the same narrative, respect-
ing the cold in that part of the Pacific, which is represented as
so intense, during the months of June and July, that meat was
frozen as soon as taken from the fire, and ropes and sails were
stiffened by ice, we may safely conclude that further evidence is
requisite to establish the certainty that Drake, in 1579, saw any
part of the west coast of North America which had not been
seen by the Spaniards in 1543.
U. S. COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY OF PACIFIC
COAST.— COAST PILOT OF OREGON, CALI-
FORNIA, ETC., 4TH EDITION, 1889.
By George Davidson, pp. 194, 195.
DRAKE'S BAY.
"The bay was formerly known as Sir Francis Drake's Bay.
This is the Puerto de San Francisco of the Spaniards as far
back as 1595. It has been a question whether Sir Francis Drake
anchored and "trimmed" his ship in this bay or in San Francisco
Bay ; a careful weighing of evidence is clearly adverse to its
being in the latter. (See remarks on San Francisco and also see
"Early voyages of discovery and exploration on the northwest
coast of America from 1539 to 1603"; Superintendent's Annual
Report, Appendix No. 7, 1886.)
The Nicasio Indians are said to have a tradition that Drake
landed at Drake's Bay. He left a dog, some pigs, seeds of sev-
eral kinds of grain, and some biscuits, which the natives planted !
Some of his men deserted, and mixed with the tribes adjacent.
On an old Spanish chart there is a little indentation of the
coast-line about the latitude of Point Reyes which is designated
"Bahia de S. Francisco Drak."
18
CHETCO RIVER AND ANCHORAGE.
(Page 363.)
"Sir Francis Drake approached the coast of California on
the 3d of June, 1579, about latitude 42 deg. and sailed — two
( /^Joagu'cs farther ( ?in the same latitude) until June 5th, when the
winds drove the vessel towards the shore which thev first de-
scribed, and anchored in a bay much exposed to the winds and
flaws, and when they ceased there instantly followed thick,
stinking fogs, which nothing but the wind could remove, and
that was always violent." Of course it may be questioned
whether the bay was in the vicinity of Chetco or as far north
as Port Orford. Nevertheless, an examination of the narrative
and of the Hondius map of 1595, leave little or no doubt in the
matter, especially as the map has the Saint George's Reef laid
down just under the latitude where he anchored. The geograph-
ical position of the extremity of Chetco Point is Lat. 42 deg. 02
min. 34 sec.
DRAKE AND THE TUDOR NAVY.
By J. S. Corbett, 1898, Vol. i, p. 306, note.
"The authorized narrative, Molyneux, and John Drake all
give 48 deg. as the highest latitude reached. Molyneux, how-
ever, is not a high authority. Though he professes to mark-
Drake's course on his globe, it is very inaccurately done and he
did not even know how to spell Drake's name. He writes it
Draek in the Dutch fashion, although it was after his knighthood.
Pretty gives 43 deg. As we have seen, he also is a bad authority,
but Professor Davidson, of the United States Coast and Geodetic
Survey and author of the Coast Pilot for California, etc., the
most learned authority on the point, inclines to believe he is
right (see report, 1886, app. No. 7, and his Identification of
Sir Francis Drake's Anchorage, etc.). He grounds his opinion,
as he kindly informs me, on the fact that Drake on June 3
reached 42 deg., and that when he struck the cold nor 'wester
he could not have beaten up against it to 48 deg. "in two days
19
from June 3 to 5." But here there seems a misapprehension.
The cold did not come on till the "night following" their reach-
ing 42 deg., and was not unendurable till they had sailed two
degrees higher (authorized narrative). Drake after this encour-
aged them to proceed, and it was not till the 5th that the wind
came northwest and they gave it up. As they had sailed on an
average thirty leagues a day since leaving Guatulco (i. e. 1400
leagues from April 16 to June 3), there is no reason why they
should not sail with a fair wind six degrees, i. e. 120 leagues,
from June 3 to 5 inclusive. Professor Davidson also relies on
Hondius' map. Off California Hondius places an asterisk with
this note: "Hie prae injenti frigore in Austrum reverti coactus.
Lat. 42 die 5 Junii." The asterisk, writes the professor, is
marked "at the northwest terminus of a reef, the "Dragon Rocks"
of Vancouver, in lat. 42 deg. 49 min. This, again, seems to be
a mistake. The asterisk is placed not at the end of a reef (the
map is much too small to show one), but well out to sea at
the end of a row of dots that represent Drake's course. "This,"
the professor continues, "confirms the several assertions that he
reached 43 deg. and that he found his anchorage in 42 deg."
But Hondius expressly says he was turned back in 42 deg., not
in 43 deg. The only original authority for the 43 deg. is Pretty.
Dudley, who professes to have had it from Drake, in his Arcano
del Mare, 1647, places the anchorage in 43 deg. 30 min. There
seems then to be no authority whatever, not even Hondius, for
the professor's identification of the anchorage, as at Chetco Bay
under Cape Ferrels in 42 deg. 01 min.
ORIGINAL NARRATIVES OF EARLY AMERICAN HIS-
TORY.—EARLY ENGLISH AND FRENCH
VOYAGES.
By H. S. Burrage, New York, 1906.
Note on page 155. "Professor George Davidson, of the
United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, after a careful study
of the narrative and the coast (voyages of discovery and ex-
ploration on the northwest coast of America from 1539 to
20
1603, Washington, Government Printing Office, 1887, pp. 214-
218), identifies the harbor entered by Drake with Drake's Bay.
under Point Reyes, about thirty miles north of San Francisco.
''Drake's Bay," he says, "is a capital harbor in northwest winds,
such as Drake encountered. It is easily entered, sheltered bv
high lands, and a vessel may anchor in three fathoms, close
under the shore in good holding ground — If he had been in-
side the Estero Limantour, of which he could not have detected
the entrance from his vessel, he would necessarily have been
very close to either shore. And had he seen it, he would not
have dared to enter it without sounding it out. It has only
thirteen feet of water on the bar at the highest tides, and he
would not have hazarded his vessel in entering such a doubtful
anchorage. Nor would he have risked the possibility of attack
from the Indians in such a contracted place. He doubtless
anchored in Drake's Bay, and the reef in his plan represents
in a crude manner the reef of the eastermost point of Point
Reyes Head. In a rough sketch of his anchorage it is called
Portus Novae Albionis.
On the other hand Edward Everett Hale, in his Citical Essay
on Drake's Bay, in Winsor's Narrative and Critical History of
America, Vol. iii., p. 74-78, identifies the "convenient and fit
harbor," which Drake entered, with San Francisco Bay. The
consensus of opinion among scholars on the Pacific Coast at
the present time, however, is said to be in favor of Drake's Bay,
and such is also the view expressed by Mr. Corbett in his
"Drake and the Tudor Navy."
FINIS.
21
TRANSLATION OF FOREGOING GERMAN AND
FRENCH EXTRACTS.
Mr. William Friedlander, jeweler and occulist, of Portland,
Oregon, has kindly furnished me with the following English
of De Bry's German, and of Duflot de Mofras's French:
(Page 348.) "After this they sailed from the i6th of April
to the 3d of June. On the 5th of June they found themselves
under the 42 degree northern latitude, in such a cold temperature
that his people could not stand it, and so they found themselves
obliged to find land. They found a level land, but as it was en-
tirely covered with snow, they did not land there, but sailed down
to the 38 degree, where they found a nice bay, and they cast
anchor."
(Page 442.) "On the iyth of February, 1579, they found
themselves before Acapulco — in New Spain — from there after
sailing a long time they came to the 43 degree N. L., where
they met such severe cold weather that they could keep warm
only with great effort. After that they came to a very nice bay
of America (called New Albion) under the 38 degree."
FROM THE FRENCH.
"In 1579 Sir Francis Drake appeared on the coast of 'New
Spain' and after having devastated the coast of Guatemala he
sailed straight north up to the 45 or 46 degree. Nearing land
he landed in a small bay which he does not describe further and
where it was impossible for him to stay. He found himself
compelled to go back to Port Reyes, situated between the ports
of San Francisco and Bodega. Drake did not know anything
about the last two, although he arrived there 37 years later than
'Cabrillo.' The English were not afraid to name this whole
country 'New Albion,' trying by this to claim the honor of its
discovery."
"He reached the N. W. coast of America and sailed up to
the 48 degree N. up to where no Spanish navigator had reached,
and sailed near the coast, and sailing down again to the 37th
degree, at 3814 degree he discovered a port where he remained
22
some time and which has retained his name. He named the
whole country 'New Albion' and took possession of it in the
name of 'Elizabeth'."
Notes by R. M. B. Juan Rodrigues Cabrillo sailed from the
Port de Navidad (modern Port au Prince) of the Island of
Haiti, on the 27th of June, 1543, and reached the coast of Cali-
fornia and Oregon in March, 1544: he was really the first dis-
coverer of that coast. He coasted it as far north as Lat. 44 deg.
He gave the name Mendocino to the cape in honor of his patron
who sent him, Mendosa, the first Viceroy of New Spain. He
described the mountains around the cape as covered with snow :
he placed it in Lat. 40 deg. N., which is very near what it is.
He missed finding San Francisco Bay on his first voyage in 1544
and again in his second voyage in 1545. Near the parallel of
San Francisco Bay he saw some hills covered with trees, which
he called Port of San Martin.
In Lat. 40 deg. N. he met with such extreme cold in March
that he had to return south. This was 35 years before Drake's
voyage through the same latitudes ; so that though Drake found
the cold so severe in the beginning of June between 43 deg. and
48 deg. latitude, it may be that Greenhow's criticism about the
cold experienced is not a just one. It may be that a much
colder cycle prevailed in those latitudes in the sixteenth century
than what has been known by white men since. It may be that
the Japan gulf stream had a more western direction in the six-
teenth century, which would have made the coast climate of
Oregon and Northern California colder. Earthquakes and alter-
ations therefrom in the level of the ocean bed would probably
cause diversions in the general course of this stream.
San Francisco Bay was not discovered by the Spaniards until
1769, when an exploring party (probably originating from Cibola,
now located in Western New Mexico) travelling overland, dis-
covered the southern and eastern shores of this Bay. But it was
not until 1776 (195 years after Drake's visit) that the Spaniards
discovered the connexion of the Bay, at the Golden Gate, with
the Pacific Ocean.
The description given in Hakluyt of Drake's landing in Cali-
23
fornia, and of his friendly relations with the Indians forms one
of the most pleasing episodes in the historical records of Anglo-
American relations.
It describes the then habitations of the Indians ; as being round
holes or dug-outs covered with earth, rushes (tules) and grass ;
the entrance to which was made "slopous like the skuttle to a
ship." It tells about the thousands of deer he saw ; the vast num-
bers of "coneys" or pouched rats (gophers and ground squirrels),
the whole country being "a warren of them." It relates his won-
der at seeing so many wild horses, because he had heard that the
Spaniards had found no native horses in America ; save those of
the Arab breed which they had introduced.
At the time of Drake's visit, the farthest points north on land
that the Spaniards had reached were Cibola in New Mexico and
the Sonora region of Mexico. These regions had been explored
by Juan Vasques de Coronado with a small cavalry troop in
IS41 5 38 years prior to Drake's landing in 1579.
The late greatly esteemed Oregonian, Thomas Condon, Ph.
D. of the State University at Eugene, has furnished us a most
interesting description of the very ancient progenitors of the
present native Oregon horse — the cayuse — in his charming book,
"The Two Islands and What Came of Them," (printed by the
Irwin-Hodson Co. and published by the J. K. Gill Co., of Port-
land), which seems fully to explain why Drake found native
horses in California.
24
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