Narrative and Critical History of America, Vol. 3 (of 8): English Explorations and Settlements in North America 1497-1689
History
Narrative and Critical History of America, Vol. 3 (of 8): English Explorations and Settlements in North America 1497-1689
America -- Discovery and exploration; America -- History; United States -- History
The narrative of Fletcher, which has been followed in the text, gives
the latitude of this bay as 38° 30′ north. But the briefer narrative
in Hakluyt[153] says: “We came within thirty-eight degrees towardes
the line; in which height it pleased God to send us into a faire and
good bay, with a good wind to enter the same.” Here is a difference of
half a degree. But the text in Hakluyt is supported by a manuscript
marginal note on what seems to be the original drawing of Dudley’s
map, and which is preserved in Munich, where the language (Italian)
is: “This map begins with the port of New Albion, in longitude 237°
and latitude 38°, discovered by the Englishman Drake in 1579 or
thereabout, as above,—a convenient place to water and to collect
other refreshment.” The manuscript has a note, which the engraving has
not, “Porto bonissimo.” But on the coast farther north, where the same
author speaks of the cold, he says: “Drake returned to 38½ degrees, and
the weather was temperate, and he called it New Albion.” The _Arcano
del Mare_, in which these maps are printed, was not published till
1646. But Dudley, the author, was active in maritime affairs in England
in all the last ten years of the sixteenth century. He was the son of
Elizabeth’s Earl of Leicester; he was brother-in-law of Cavendish,
administered on his estate, and must have seen his chart.[154] Hakluyt
had wished to publish his narrative of Drake in his edition of 1589;
but this account by Pretty was not regularly embodied by Hakluyt in
his great work till 1600.[155] The _World Encompassed_ was not printed
until 1628, but is from Fletcher’s contemporary notes. Dudley himself
prepared an expedition to the South Seas. He may be spoken of as a
valuable contemporary authority. The English Government did not publish
such discoveries. But Cavendish would have had Drake’s charts.
[Illustration: MODERN MAP.
This sketch will indicate the relative positions of the several bays.]
Now the opening of the Golden Gate is in latitude 37° 46′: it exactly
corresponds with “within 38° N.” of one account, but it lacks 44′ of
the 38° 30′ of the other two. The discrepancy is not so important
when we find that in 38° 30′ there is no harbor and no bay, good or
bad. The voyager must come down the coast as far as 38° 15′ to find
Bodega Bay, which has, accordingly, been assigned by some conjectures
as Sir Francis’ resting-place. Just south of this, near the line of
38°, is an open roadstead which has some advocates in this discussion.
Between this bay and the Golden Gate, the point of Los Reyes runs out
southwest. East of this, and northwest of the Golden Gate, is another
open roadstead, facing the south, which for many years, long before the
discovery of Californian gold, had been known as Jack’s Bay, or Sir
Francis Drake’s Bay. One of these four bays is chosen by one or another
geographer as the fair and good harbor into which a special providence
drove Drake by a favorable wind.
[Illustration: VISCAINO’S MAP.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account