Drake in California

Like most early explorations, mainly by Spaniards, Drake's harbor was not marked by a large, permanent marker that could be found by future visitors. Instead, smaller pieces of physical and documentary evidence lead to the identity of Drake's landing site.Aker, Raymond, and Edward Von der Porten, Discovering Francis Drake's California Harbor, Drake Navigators Guild, Palo Alto, CA, 2000 Scholars find uncertainty over Drake's landing site "a little strange since most of the voyage and layovers are described in such satisfying detail by Francis Fletcher."{{Cite book|title=Point Reyes, The Solemn Land | last=Mason | first=Jack | publisher=DeWolfe Printing | year=1970}} The pieces of evidence include

1. The bay is within one-half degree (thirty nautical miles) of 38 degrees or 38 degrees, 30 minutes north latitude.{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BDwFAAAAMAAJ&q=the+world+encompassed | page=64 | title=The World Encompassed | year=1628 | first=Francis | last=Drake}}

2. The bay is in Coast Miwok territory.{{cite journal | title=Francis Drake's California Anchorage in the Light of the Indian Language Spoken There | journal=The Pacific Historical Review | first1=Robert F. | last1=Heizer | first2=William W. | last2=Elmendorf | volume=11 | number=2 | pages=212–217 | publisher=University of California Press |date=June 1942| doi=10.2307/3633770 | jstor=3633770 }}

3. Islands of Saint James are not far without the bay.

4. There is no strait leading into the continent, nor currents at sea

suggesting one.

5. White banks and cliffs resemble counterparts along the English

Channel.

6. The climate was cold, very foggy and windy from 27 June through 2

August (new style dates).

7. The bay is the second in a charted sequence of two bays when

traveling south.

8. Drake found the bay unexpectedly, as by godsend and "fell with"

a harbor within the bay.

9. The bay faces south, with depths from six to eight fathoms

within a prominent point, diminishing gradually to three fathoms

on a course leading northeasterly into the bay toward an anchorage

off a river or estuary in the north end.

10. A fertile and hospitable inland region contrasts sharply with

the barren, cold and foggy haven at the shore.

11. Artifacts attributable to the Drake expedition are in Native-

American village sites.

Drake's Cove in Drakes Bay fits these criteria.

Robert Allen recognizes three of these items as the keys that

identify the location of Drake's landing site:

1. "A latitude of 38 degrees was given six times in contemporary

accounts as the latitude where Drake came ashore." Allen, Robert,

monograph, 2007

2. "Not farre without this harborough did lye certain lands (we

called them the Islands of Saint James)"{{Cite book | last = Drake | first = Sir Francis | title=The World Encompassed | year = 1628}} The only islands in the vicinity of

38 degrees north latitude are the Farallon Islands. They are visible only as far north as Point Reyes.

Upon leaving his landing site, Drake was reported "from thence setting

his course southwest."Stow, John, The Chronicles of England, 1592

Working backwards, from the Farallon Islands, heading northeast, takes

one directly into Drakes Bay.

3. "White bancks and cliffes, which lie toward the sea" {{Cite book | title=The World Encompassed | last=Drake | first=Sir Francis | year=1628}} are prominent features of Drakes Bay. The cliffs

face both south and west, "toward the sea." These are similar to the white

cliffs of Dover along the English Channel, hence the name "Nova Albion."

Raymond Aker recognizes ten specific additional keys beyond the eleven, above:{{Cite book | title=SIR FRANCIS DRAKE AT DRAKE'S BAY | last=Aker | first=Raymond | publisher=Drake Navigators Guild | year=1978}}

12. Agreement with the Dudley Charts

13. A Fair and Good Bay

14. Indian Houses Close by the Waterside

15. No Choice of Havens

16. Flora and Fauna

17. Agreement with the Hondius Portus Novae Albionis Inset

18. Indian Village Three Quarters of a Mile from Encampment

19. Hills in Relation to Encampment

20. The Nature of the Fort

21. Relation of the Montanus Engraving.

22. Further exploration of the area was a hike inland.John Sugden notes that the contemporary records show that "so uninteresting were the waters around Drake's anchorage in 1579 that when he did explore he marched inland."{{cite book |title=Sir Francis Drake |first=John |last=Sugden | publisher=Pimlico |year=2006 |page=135}}

23. The area is suitable to the requirements of careening and ship repair.{{cite book |title=A Review of the Findings of Dr. Adan E. Treganza Relative to the Site of Drake's Landing in California |first1=Matthew |last1=Dillingham |first2=Raymond |last2=Aker |date=1960 |page=13}}This publication lists 22 points of evidence. Points not listed above are included here and below.

24. There is abundant supply of stone for the fort's "bulwarks".{{cite book |title=A Review of the Findings of Dr. Adan E. Treganza Relative to the Site of Drake's Landing in California |first1=Matthew |last1=Dillingham |first2=Raymond |last2=Aker |date=1960 |page=13}}

25. The site is in the area of the first finding of the Plate of Brass.{{cite book |title=A Review of the Findings of Dr. Adan E. Treganza Relative to the Site of Drake's Landing in California |first1=Matthew |last1=Dillingham |first2=Raymond |last2=Aker |date=1960 |page=13}}The Plate of Brass delivered to Herbert Bolton in 1937 has since been determined to be a fraud. This key would now apply to the finding of the real plate.

26. The area abounds in foods of the types mentioned in the contemporary accounts and offers an adequate supply of water and food.{{cite book |title=A Review of the Findings of Dr. Adan E. Treganza Relative to the Site of Drake's Landing in California |first1=Matthew |last1=Dillingham |first2=Raymond |last2=Aker |date=1960 |page=13}}

27. The cove area is sufficiently extensive to accommodate the expedition.{{cite book |title=A Review of the Findings of Dr. Adan E. Treganza Relative to the Site of Drake's Landing in California |first1=Matthew |last1=Dillingham |first2=Raymond |last2=Aker |date=1960 |page=13}}

29. The water visibility enabled the Indians, when they "chanced to see a fish so see a fish so neare the shoare that they might reach the place without swimming, they would never or very seldom miss to take it."{{cite book |title=A Review of the Findings of Dr. Adan E. Treganza Relative to the Site of Drake's Landing in California |first1=Matthew |last1=Dillingham |first2=Raymond |last2=Aker |date=1960 |page=13}}

Many things in Marin County, California are named after Sir Francis Drake. These include Sir Francis Drake Boulevard, Drakes Bay, Drakes Estero, and Drakes Beach.

• Fringe theories on the location of New Albion
• Drake's Plate of Brass, a forgery of a plate purported to have been posted by Drake in California
• New Albion
• Drake Navigators Guild

{{Reflist}}

• Drake Navigators Guild [http://www.drakenavigatorsguild.org/]
• Drake's latitude determinations in California [http://www.longcamp.com/portus.html] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081225071422/http://www.longcamp.com/portus.html |date=2008-12-25 }}

{{Francis Drake}}

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Category:Pre-statehood history of California

Category:Explorers of California

Category:Exploration of North America

Category:Francis Drake

Category:1579 in North America

Category:1579 in England

Category:Expeditions from the Kingdom of England