Part 6 (1/2)
”Francis Drake.”
How to get home was the problem which this daring man had now to solve.
There was no possibility of returning by the way he had come. He well knew that the news of his departure had reached Spain, and that her war s.h.i.+ps would be waiting for him, not only at the eastern entrance of the Strait of Magellan, but at the Isthmus and in the Caribbean Sea.
If by sailing northward he could find the Strait of Anian, then his homeward journey would be safe and short; but if he could not find that illusive body of water, then there was left to him but the Pacific for a highway. However, this did not daunt him, as he felt that what the Portuguese Magellan had done, Drake the Englishman could do.
Keeping well out from sh.o.r.e, the Golden Hind now sailed northward for nearly two months. Drake pa.s.sed just west of the Farallon Islands, never dreaming of the great harbor which lay so short a distance on the other side. He traveled as far north as lat.i.tude 42 or possibly 43, and perhaps he even landed at one point, but he failed to find the strait.
According to Fletcher, the priest of the Church of England who kept a journal of the expedition, they were finally forced by the extreme cold to turn southward. ”Here,” says Fletcher, ”it pleased G.o.d on this 17th day of June, 1579, to send us, in lat.i.tude 38, a convenient fit harbor.” This is now supposed to be Drakes Bay, which lies thirty miles northwest of San Francisco, in Marin county.
”In this bay we anch.o.r.ed, and the people of the country having their houses close to the waterside showed themselves unto us and sent presents to our general. He, in return, courteously treated them and liberally bestowed upon them things necessary to cover their nakedness.
”Their houses are digged around about with earth and have for the brim of that circle, clefts of wood set upon the ground and joined closely together at the top like the spire of a steeple, which by reason of this closeness are very warm. The men go naked, but the women make themselves loose garments knit about the middle, while over their shoulders they wear the skin of a deer.”
These people brought presents and seemed to want to offer sacrifices to the strangers as G.o.ds, but Drake, hastily calling his men together, held divine services, ”To which, especially the prayers and music,” says Fletcher, ”they were most attentive and seemed to be greatly affected.”
The Bible used by Drake in this service is still to be seen in Nut Hall House, Devons.h.i.+re, England.
Presently a messenger came, saying that the king wished to visit them if they would a.s.sure him of their peaceful intentions. Drake sent him presents, then marched his force into a kind of fort he had had made in which to place such parts of the cargo as it was necessary to remove in order to careen the s.h.i.+p for repairing. The coming of the chief is thus described:--
”He came in princely majesty. In the fore-front was a man of goodly personage who bore the scepter whereon was hung two crowns with chains of marvelous length. The crowns were made of knit-work wrought with feathers of divers colors, the chains being made of bony substances.
”Next came the king with his guard, all well clothed in connie skins, then the naked common people with faces painted, each bearing some presents. After ceremonies consisting of speeches and dances, they offered one of the crowns to Drake, who, accepting in the name of Elizabeth, allowed it to be placed on his head.”
While the men were busy cleaning and repairing the s.h.i.+p, the commander and his officers made excursions into the interior, visiting many Indian towns and pa.s.sing through wide plains where vast herds of deer, often one thousand or more, all large and fat, were feeding on the rich gra.s.ses. They also saw great numbers of what they called connies, which, from their description, must have been ground squirrels, or else some variety of animal now extinct. The country Drake named New Albion, partly from its white cliffs, which resembled those of his native land, and partly in belief that it would be easier to lay claim to the country if it bore one of the names applied to England.
”When the time came for our departure,” continued Fletcher in his journal, ”our general set up a monument of our being here, so also, of her majesty's right and t.i.tle to the land: namely a plate nailed upon a fair great post, whereon was engraved her majesty's name, the day and year of our arrival, with the giving up of the province and people into her majesty's hands, together with her highness' picture and arms in a sixpence under the plate, whereunder was also written the name of our general.”
Fletcher seemed not to know of Cabrillo's voyage, for he claimed that no one had ever discovered land in this region, or for many degrees to the south; while in fact Ferrelo with Cabrillo's s.h.i.+ps had sailed as far north as lat.i.tude 42, although we have no reason to think that he landed in a higher lat.i.tude than that of Point Conception and San Miguel Island.
Once again solemn religious services were held by the Englishmen on the hospitable soil that had been their home for over a month. Then they went on board the s.h.i.+p, accompanied to the sh.o.r.e by the grieving Indians, who would not be comforted when they saw their new friends forsaking them. It was near the last of July in 1579 that Captain Drake with his brave men began his wonderful homeward voyage.
It was a triumphant return they made in September, a year later. Crowds flocked to see the famous s.h.i.+p and its gallant commander.
Some of the queen's statesmen strongly disapproved of Drake's attack upon Spanish towns and vessels, and felt he should be arrested and tried for piracy; but the common people cheered him wherever he went, and as a crowning honor, in the luxurious cabin of his good s.h.i.+p Golden Hind, he was visited by the great Elizabeth herself. When the banquet was over, at the queen's command, he bent his knee before her, and this sovereign, who, though a woman, dearly loved such courage and daring as he had displayed, tapped him on the shoulder and bade him arise ”Sir Francis Drake.”
Galli and Carmenon
In 1584 Francisco Galli, commanding a Philippine s.h.i.+p, returning to Mexico by way of j.a.pan, sighted the coast of California in lat.i.tude 37 30'. He saw, as he reported, ”a high and fair land with no snow and many trees, and in the sea, drifts of roots, reeds, and leaves.” Some of the latter he gathered and cooked with meat for his men, who were no doubt suffering from scurvy.
Galli wrote of the point where he first saw the coast as Cape Mendocino, which would seem to imply that the point had been discovered and named at some previous time, of which, however, there is no record.
In 1595 Sebastian Carmenon, commanding the s.h.i.+p San Agustin, coming from the Philippines, was given royal orders to make some explorations on the coast of California, probably to find a suitable harbor for Manila vessels. In doing so he was so unfortunate as to run his vessel ash.o.r.e behind Point Reyes, and to lighten her was obliged to leave behind a portion of his cargo, consisting of wax and silks in boxes. There is only the briefest record of this voyage, and no report of any discoveries.
Vizcaino
Almost sixty years after the voyage of Cabrillo, came a royal order from the king of Spain to the viceroy of Mexico which, translated from the Spanish, ran something like this:--
”Go, search the northern coast of the Californias, until you find a good and sufficient harbor wherein my Manila galleons may anchor safe and protected, and where may be founded a town that my scurvy-stricken sailors may find the fresh food necessary for their relief. Furthermore, spare no expense.”