 8 The Manila Galleon In the same year that Juan Rodriguez was ordered to the north on the voyage that resulted in the discovery of Alta California, the viceroy Mendoza sent via Loos with a fleet across the Pacific to the San Lazaro Islands, where Magellan and other Spanish navigators had touched before. Arrived at these islands in 1542, Villalobos rechristened them Filipinas in honor of the Prince of Asturias, the later second of Spain. Thus did the Philippines, as we call them, acquire their name. These islands, many thousand miles across the sea, were destined to be during some two centuries more closely attached to the history of Alta California than almost any other land on earth. This was due to the sailings of the Manila Galleon, which for 250 years went annually down the coast on its long voyage from Manila and the Philippines to Acapulco in New Spain. The history of this service dates from the year 1565. Magellan, Loiasa, Saavedra, Villalobos had previously headed expeditions which crossed the Pacific from east to west, but no ship had yet succeeded in the attempt to make a return voyage. In 1559 Philip II gave orders that a fleet should be sent to effect a conquest of the Philippines and to find a sailing route across the Pacific from Asia to the Americas. He also commanded a certain Father Andres de Urdoneta to accompany the expeditions, ostensibly as chaplain, but really in order to have full charge of the sailing. Strange as it may seem that he gave such a post to a man of the religious profession, the science of navigation was perhaps much more within Urdoneta's can than the tenets of his faith. Born in 1498 he had for many years been a sailor of experience, had voyaged around the world, and was better acquainted with the Pacific waters than any of the king's subjects. Late in life he had taken religious vows, but he was too valuable a sailor to be spared. Four ships, ranging in size from five hundred to forty tons, and about four hundred men were gathered together for the voyage and instructions were given. Go to the Philippines and the adjacent islands, discover the return route to New Spain with all possible speed, and bring back spices and other valuable commodities. Thus ran the instructions. Furthermore, a portion of this meager force, under Miguel Gomez de Legaspi, was ordered to effect the conquest of a group of islands containing millions of natives. The start was made from Navidad in New Spain on November 21st, 1564, Urdoneta ran south to about ten degrees north of the equator, and then sailed due west to Guam over which today the American flag is raised. On February 13th, 1565 the expedition reached the Philippines after a voyage of less than three months. In quicker time than Juan Rodriguez had taken to go from the same port of Navidad to San Diego in Alta California. Indeed the route westward across the Pacific offered comparatively few problems to the navigator. An establishment was made on the island of Cebu, whence the Spaniards proceeded to the conquest of the group. It was from Cebu that Urdoneta started back, and indeed it was not until 1571 that the Philippine galleon sailed from Manila, for it was in that year that the conquest reached the site which thenceforth served as the capital and metropolis of Spain's trans-Pacific possessions. The currents and seasonal storms would not permit of a return along the route whence they had come. So Urdoneta, who left Cebu on June 1st, 1565 on his five hundred ton ship, went north to about thirty-nine degrees thirty minutes, and then crossed over, reaching Baja California coast in about twenty-seven degrees twelve minutes. On October 8th he arrived at Acapulco after a voyage of 129 days, in the course of which sixteen men had died. He was somewhat chagrined, no doubt, to find that another ship of his original fleet had preceded him across the Pacific. This was the forty-ton tender commanded by one Ariano. Nine days out from Navidad on the westward voyage Ariano had deserted, eager to find rich islands for his own advantage. On one occasion in the Philippines, where he too went, he was nearly discovered by Urdoneta's fleet. Only the small size of his ship saved him, for from the top of his mast he was able to see the ships of Urdoneta just above the horizon. Ariano had started the return voyage on April 22. He ran most of the time between forty degrees and forty-three degrees, and is said to have reached the American shore about at Cape Mendocino, being possibly the discoverer of that point. On August 9th he came to anchor at Navidad, having thus completed the eastward voyage two months earlier and in twenty days less time than Urdoneta. Nevertheless, Urdoneta got the credit. As commander of the expedition and sponsor for the ideas which the deserter Ariano followed, Urdoneta was clearly entitled to the honor. In 1566 the first trading voyage of the Galleon was made, but the account reads more like a romance of Treasure Island than it does of a commercial venture. One more Ghera preached mutiny among the men and got a majority of them to turn pirate. The plan was to get rich quickly in Chinese waters and then return to Europe for a life of ease and plenty. The men rose and murdered their officers, but Morgheta himself was soon put to death and another succeeded to the command. At one of the Caroline Islands the majority disembarked to make it a suitable piratical base, leaving only a few men on board. Two of them, however, were the chaplain and the master's mate, who had not sympathized with the plot. They persuaded the others to help them get up the anchor and sail away, and twenty-eight would-be pirates were left marooned on the island. In the early years the Trans-Pacific trade two or three ships crossed the ocean annually, but they were very small. Down to 1571 they ranged from forty to eighty tons. Later only one ship of five hundred tons or more made the yearly voyage, though the law restricted their size to three hundred tons for a number of years, afterward raising the limit to five hundred. The galleon seems to have been a picturesque craft. According to one writer the galleons were, quote, huge, round-stemmed, clumsy vessels with bulwarks three or four feet thick and built up at stem and stern like a castle, end quote. Drake's vice-admiral defined them as ships with a keel three times its width in the middle and with a depth in the hold of two-fifths of the width, in other words, in a ratio of fifteen, five, and two. In footnote it was both merchant ship and war vessel, though the armament would not now seem very terrifying. Ordinarily there were three small cannon, four catapults to hurl stones with, and some fifty muskets. Down to 1593 there was little interference with the trade of the galleon whose goods were sold at a remarkable profit in both New Spain and Peru. Gradually the merchants of Seville, who enjoyed a favored position in the trade with Spain's colonies, gained an impression that the commerce of the Manila ship was cutting into their profits, and in 1593 succeeded in introducing a policy of restriction of the trade. According to them, the sale of Chinese silks had ruined the silk industry in Spain, and pre-19th century economic views never for a moment considered the welfare of the colonies if it clashed with the interests of the homeland. In addition to fixing the tonnage of the ships and the limitation of the number to one a year, many other obstructive measures were taken. Only citizens of Manila could own or ship goods. The value at Manila was limited to $250,000 with the right of sale at Acapulco for $500,000. The trade was restricted to New Spain and the merchants of Peru were excluded. The Philippines were forbidden to trade with China where silks were made. At times even the carrying of silk on the galleon was forbidden, and because it was regarded as bad economics to let specie get out of the country, the amount of silver that could be taken on the westward voyage was reduced to small proportions. In practice every one of these restrictions was evaded, but there were periods of spasmodic enforcement of the law, and the evasion was only such as could be affected through the medium of a single ship. Thus the Philippines were held so much in check that they never became as truly Spanish as the other dominions of the empire. Probably to the limitation of the trade, thus reducing the demand for a port of refuge on the North Pacific coast, prevented an earlier occupation of Alta California, a matter of great consequence in the light of the sequel. After 1734 some of the restrictions were removed, but the galleon remained an annual ship. The westward cargo of the galleon was light and of slight consequence, consisting mainly of small quantities of silver and articles of luxury. The eastward cargo, on the contrary, was remarkable alike in variety and in value. The boat was a veritable treasure house as it left Manila for the voyage to Acapulco. The following is a list of the number of products from the different lands of the Far East. China 135, the Philippines 39, India 17, Siam 7, Japan 7, Borneo 6, Macau 6, Goa 5, Java 4, including edible birds' nests, the Malocas 4, including the much-valued spices, Persia 4, Salon 3, Sulu Archipelago 2, and Cambodia 1, gum. From America and Europe came a total of 44 different things. In footnote. My far the most important source of this cargo was China, which also furnished the most prized item, silk. Lands as far away as India and Persia contributed something to the store of the galleon. Chinese junks brought over the goods, and their cargoes were bought wholesale for the merchants of Manila. Usually a year's credit was granted, and the Philippine government gave its bond as security. The goods were distributed to residents of the Philippines, according as they held boletas, or tickets, for space on the galleon. Many of the boleta holders were in fact operating on behalf of merchants in New Spain, despite the provisions of the law to the contrary. The cargoes went as a whole, all profits and losses being shared according to the number of boletas. Though papal bulls had been secured forbidding religious associations to engage in trade, this order was evaded in the Philippines as elsewhere, and the trustees of the Pius Fund made themselves a veritable banking society. The operations of this institution helped to give some idea of the enormous profits of the trade. For example, a man with $10,000 could procure a loan of $40,000, thus getting $50,000 worth of space on the galleon. A successful voyage would, however, bring him in from $100,000 to $200,000, giving a fine return on his investment after paying his debt. Meanwhile, he would be paying interest at the rate of, perhaps, 50%. If the ship was lost, he could borrow another $50,000 without additional security, and if the second voyage were a success, he would still be able to repay his loans and have a profit of at least 100%. It is no wonder that the zeal for trade not infrequently outran due precaution. The galleon was often short of armament in order to make room for a few more bales of silk, and it was nearly always overladen. Consequently there were many wrecks. At best the voyage was extremely dangerous. Not only did the merchants of Manila or their principals in New Spain engage in trade, but also every man aboard ship had a financial stake in the voyage. Thus salaries ranged from $4,125 for the Commander, or General, as he was called, down to $25 for a deckhand. But the Commander might make as much as $40,000 from a single trip, and the other officers would profit to the extent of $20,000 or $30,000, while the lowliest sailor would multiply his wage earnings many times over. Though every voyage meant imminent risk of death, men faced wreck or scurvy exposure or capture and paid a good figure for the privilege of a position on the galleon. Arrived at Acapulco, the cargo was inspected and officially valued at its $500,000 limit, though it might reach many thousands beyond that. The duties were collected and a great fair was held. This was exceeded in size by the fairs of Veracruz and Halapa, but the profits at Acapulco were richer. The law allowed a profit of 100%, but usually the actual gains may have reached from 150% to 200%. The profit on silk was as high as 400%. An interesting phase of the history of the galleon was the passenger service. Missionaries were sent over from New Spain and returned to that kingdom when relieved from duty. Their life aboard ship was not always happy, for the officers of the galleon reflected a feeling which many in the Philippines had that soldiers and merchants were more needed there than missionaries. Then, too, on the return voyage they occupied valuable space which otherwise might serve for cargo. Troops to guard the ship and to supply the needs of the Philippine garrison were also carried. The service in the Philippines was so distasteful, however, that ingenious methods were often resorted to to get volunteers. When capital out of the universal vice of gambling in New Spain, recruiting officers would go about playing $5 against a man's enlistment and sooner or later they would get their man. Philippine government officials traveled on the galleon and stowaways were often found on the voyage from the Philippines, but rarely if ever to there. Passengers proper consisted mainly of Mexican and at times Peruvian merchants. A paternalistic law required them to take their wives lest they commit bigamy or else promised to return home within a stipulated time. Since bachelors could only take $150 in private property with them, while married men might take $300 worth, there was a certain financial advantage in being accompanied by one's help-meet, though it is doubtful if the limitation was very strictly enforced. The fair seems often to have been a private venture of the officers who took the passage money for themselves and provided for the maintenance of the passengers out of their own stock of supplies. There was a great difference in the nature of the voyage itself by the westward and eastward routes. The westward voyage was comparatively easy, requiring from two to three months, according to the amount of delay necessitated by threading through the difficult Philippines group itself. Having found a satisfactory route, the Spaniards followed it steadily for 250 years. Passing through a veritable ocean of islands, the Hawaiian among others, they did not sight land until they reached the Carolines or the Ladrones and never discovered the other groups along the way. The eastward voyage was one of the most perilous that the world knew. In the voyage of 1697, 1698, Gemelli Carrari, an Italian traveler, was a passenger from Manila to Acapulco, and, fortunately for posterity, wrote a full account of his journey across the Pacific. According to the translation in Churchill's collections of voyages and travels, this is what the experienced globetrotter had to say. The voyage from the Philippine islands to America may be called the longest and most dreadful of any in the world, as well because of the vast ocean to be crossed, being almost one half of the Terracquious Globe, and with wind always ahead, and for the terrible tempest that happened there, one upon the back of another, and for the desperate diseases that seize people in seven or eight months lying at sea, sometimes near the lines, sometimes cold, sometimes temperate, and sometimes hot, which is enough to destroy a man of steel much more flesh and blood, which at sea had but indifferent food. In the first place a departure from Manila had to be made before the end of June, for a later sailing meant that they would be caught in the terrific typhoons which occurred shortly afterwards. Getting out of the Philippine islands was one of the most dangerous tasks, and it often took as much as six weeks to do that alone. Between the Ladrones and Northern Japan incessant storms were encountered, and not a few vessels were wrecked. If they went ashore in Japan they were in danger of being plundered. It was largely on this account that the Spaniards were for a while so eager to find two imaginary islands which they called Ricca de Oro and Ricca de Plata as a way station in which to refit without being under the necessity of touching in Japan. Turning eastward they ran with the Japan current along the 40th parallel, though at times they got as far north as 47 degrees, until they saw signs indicating that they were approaching the North American coast. Then they turned gradually toward the south. Sometimes they sighted the coast as far north as Cape Mendocino, while at others Baja California was the first land they saw. Usually, however, they first approached the shore in the vicinity of Monterey. As they neared the coast there was a time of great hazards on account of the bad weather, cold fog, and the variety of currents. The voyage of Gimeli Carreira took 204 days and five hours, or almost seven months, about the usual time. For over five months of this time the galleon was on the high seas without making a single stop or coming to anchor. Naturally there were many unpleasant incidents aside from the dangers of the storms in such a long voyage. It may be presumed that sea sickness gave some the same sort of a disagreeable sensation that it does to many today. Furthermore there was no opportunity to promenade as on a present day ocean liner. Space was far too valuable to be wasted on any such luxury. Indeed there was often not enough room below decks to sleep. Cramped quarters rarely improved dispositions and the Manila galleon witnessed its share of quarreling. On one occasion said Gimeli, quote, the pilot's mate had some words with a passenger he carried over on his own account, who, complaining that his table was too poor, the other struck him on the face and then run after him with a knife, end quote. For punishment both men were obliged to stand some hours in the Bilboas, but there is no record of any further protest by this particular passenger. Gimeli confided to his journal, however, his own distaste for the food and for the hardships of the voyage in general, quote. The poor people stowed in the cabins of the galleon bound toward the land of promise of New Spain endure no less hardships than the children of Israel did when they first went from Egypt toward Palestine. There is hunger, thirst, sickness, cold, continual watching, or wakefulness, and other sufferings, besides the terrible shocks from side to side caused by the furious beating of the waves. I may further say they endure all the plagues God sent upon Pharaoh to soften his hard heart, for if he was infected with leprosy the galleon is never clear of a universal raging itch as in addition to all other miseries. If the air then was filled with gnats the ship swarms with the little vermin the Spaniards called Gorgos, bread in the biscuit, so swift that they in short time not only run over cabins, beds, and the very dishes the men eat on, but insensibly fastened upon the body. Instead of the locusts there are several other sorts of vermin of sundry colors that suck the blood. Abundance of flies fall into the dishes of broth, in which there also swim worms of several sorts. In short, if Moses miraculously converted his rod into a serpent, aboard the galleon a piece of flesh without any miracle is converted into wood and in the shape of a serpent. I had a good share in these misfortunes for the boatswain, with whom I had agreed for my diet as he had fouls for his table the first days, so when we were out at sea he made me fast after the Armenian manner, having banished from his table all wine, oil, and vinegar, dressing his fish with fair water and salt. Upon flesh days he gave me a tasahos fritos, that is, steaks of beef or buffalo dried in the sun or wind, which are so hard that it is impossible to eat them without they are first well beaten like stockfish. Nor is there any digesting them without the help of a purge. At dinner another piece of that same sticky flesh was boiled without any other sauce but its own hardness in fair water. At last he deprived me of the satisfaction of gnawing a good biscuit because he would spend no more of his own but laid the king's allowance on the table in every mouthful whereof there went down abundance of maggots and gargoyles chewed and bruised. On fish days the common diet was old rank fish boiled in fair water and salt. At noon we had mongols, something like kidney beans in which there were so many maggots that they swam at the top of the broth and the quantity was so great that besides the loathing they caused I doubted whether the dinner was fish or flesh. This bitter fare was sweetened after dinner with a little water and sugar, yet the allowance was but a small cocoa shell full which rather increased than quenched rot. Providence relieved us for a month with sharks and cacheretas the seamen caught, which either boiled or broiled were some comfort. Yet he is to be pitied who has another at the table for the tediousness of the voyage is the cause of all these hardships. Tis certain that they take this upon them, lay out thousands of pieces of eight in making the necessary provision of flesh, fowl, fish, biscuit, rice, sweetmeats, chocolate, and other things. And the quantity is so great that during the whole voyage they never fail of sweetmeats at table and chocolate twice a day, of which last the sailors and grumits make as great a consumption as the richest. Yet at last the tediousness of the voyage makes an end of all, and the more because in short time all the provisions grew not except the sweetmeats and chocolate, which are the only comfort of passengers." This statement was not overdrawn. The food was bad primarily because the tediousness or length of the voyage, but there was also scant variety and vegetables and fruits were little or not at all in evidence. The water, too, was not always good. Sometimes it ran low, for only enough was carried to last until the next expected rain, so as to yield more space for cargo. For the same reason the water barrels were often hung in the rigging at the mercy of wind and storm, wherefore it was likely to get salt. Under all these circumstances the galleons soon became a floating hospital, with the men in various stages of sickness from the scurvy and kindred hills. The death rate was incredibly high. As the galleons neared the California coast, one after another would give in to the disease and be cast overboard when he died. There were some amenities, however. Now and then they danced, for Spanish dances can be danced in one place without the need of a smooth floor. Hence this interfered in no way with the cargo. Frequently there were impromptu plays and charades, and always they gambled. Cockfights furnished a great medium for gambling in the early stages of the voyage, and at such times there were chicken dinners. The men caught sharks and cacheretas while a vessel was in full flight by hanging out a rag flying fish for them to jump at. When they had their fill of eating these monsters of the sea they would have cruel sport with them. Thus says Gimelli. One great one was thrown into the sea again with a board tied to his tail, and it was pleasant to see him swim about without being able to dive down. Two others were tied together by the tails, one of them being first blinded and then being cast into the sea, the blind one opposed to the other that would have drawn him down, thinking himself taken. As soon as the señales or signs of land were noticed, as they approached the California coast, the sailors held a mock trial in which they brought humorous charges against the officers and passengers. All were sentenced to death, but were permitted to buy themselves off with money, sweetmeats, wine, or the like. According to Gimelli, quote, he who did not pay immediately or give good security was laid on with a rope's end at the least sign given by the President Tarpaulin. I was told a passenger was once killed aboard a galleon by Keel Hollingham, end quote. At length the galleon pulled into Acapulco, where it anchored under the fort and, at least in the case of the voyage, which has so often been referred to in the present account, made fast to the shore by means of a rope which was tied around a tree. After 1734, with a gradual removal of restrictions on commerce, the importance of the galleon diminished. Foreign ships began to trade at Manila, though until 1789 this was against the law. In 1763 direct trade between Spain and the Philippines around the Cape of Good Hope was instituted. In 1785 the Philippine company was established and was granted the privilege of trading with Manila from Spain and of carrying goods directly between the Philippines and South America. The islands gained as a result, but not so the galleon. Finally the merchants of Manila themselves asked for the abolition of the galleon service and for permission in its place for private-owned ships, as well as those of the company to trade with Spain or the colonies. The request was granted and in 1815, after a quarter of a thousand years, the sailings of the galleon were abandoned. The relation of California to the galleon is almost as long a story as is that of the galleon itself. Many allusions will hereafter be made, but the gist of the tale may be given here. Except for a few outstanding voyages, the only ships which visited Alta California prior to 1769 were those from Manila and they came every year. Yet precise information of their voyages is lacking. Indeed, after Urdoneta, only Gali in 1584, Rodriguez Cermanjo in 1595, and Gameli Carrari in 1697, have left any known records of visits to Alta California shores. Footnote. The Gali and Rodriguez Cermanjo voyages will be taken up in Chapter 10. Gameli first came to land at Catalina Island. In footnote. A work of navigation by Gonzales Cabrera Bueno, published in 1734, gives a fairly accurate description of the coast, except for the omission of San Francisco Bay, and tells how the galleon usually sighted the region of Monterey. The Vizcaino expedition of 1602, 1603, of which, more later, had one of its principal causes the discovery of a port which could serve as a suitable way station for the galleon, and this matter was agitated for the next 150 years, being one of the important motives for an advance of the Spanish conquest to Monterey. In 1734 the galleon stopped in Baja California, and thereafter did so occasionally at other times. In 1775 orders were given that the galleon must stop at Monterey, under penalty of a fine on the commander, but it would seem that it rarely did so. In any event it was forbidden to trade in Alta California. However little documentary evidence of actual voyages down the coast may ever be found the importance of the galleon in promoting Spanish conquest toward Alta California demands emphasis. A way station was desired, not merely to allow men to recover their health and repair the ship, but also to send word of their coming, and to receive it in turn of the presence of pirates or foreign enemies in those seas, if any there were. For at least in the 17th century this was one of the grave but altogether two customary perils of the last stages of the voyage. Footnote. The principal materials used in the preparation of this chapter were the following. 1. Carrari Giovanni Francesco Gammelli. A voyage around the world by Dr. John Francis Gammelli Carrari translated from the original Italian in a collection of voyages and travels edited by Arne Sean and John Churchill, London 1752. 2. Shirts William Lytle. A study in the beginnings of Trans-Pacific Trade, Berkeley, California 1912. Manuscript, PhD thesis in the Library of the University of California. End of footnote. End of chapter 8. Chapter 9 of a history of California, the Spanish period. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Chapter 9. Drake and New Albion. Californians have long known of and been interested in the visit to their shores in 1579 of the world famous navigator Drake. Afterward, Sir Francis Drake. Neither they nor others, however, have been want to realize the full significance of this event from the English standpoint on the one hand or the Spanish on the other. In truth, here was the first New England in North America, not alone in the name Nova or New Albion which Drake applied, but also in the deliberate intent then and thereafter to create a great English empire in the Americas around the nucleus of Drake's California discoveries. The plan failed to mature, but the achievements of Drake and later of his fellow countryman Thomas Cavendish stimulated the Spaniards to great efforts which materially furthered their program of an advance up the Pacific coast and into the California's. The story finds a logical place in the great world events of the 16th century, which can only be alluded to briefly here. Spain and England, even when not at war, were bitterly hostile to each other during most of that century and especially so in the reign of Queen Elizabeth of England, 1558-1603. Spain was the great power of Europe and the world, the uncompromising champion of Catholicism in an age of violent religious differences and the sole occupant of the treasure house of the Americas. England, though rising to a position of greatness, was scarcely to be considered as equal in strength to Spain. It was Protestant and anti-Catholic and was particularly displeased with Spain's pretensions not only to the sovereignty, but also to the exclusive trade of the New World. Thus English mariners, with the secret or even the open backing of the royal authorities, made voyages to the Americas to smuggle goods into Spanish colonies or capture Spanish ships and plunder their towns. There was what amounted to a perpetual warfare, though in Europe the two peoples were for the first 30 years of Elizabeth's reign outwardly at peace. Greatest of the earlier sailors of this period was John Hawkins, under whom Drake received his training. In 1568 the fleet of John Hawkins came to grief in the port of Verre Cruz when it was attacked by the Spaniards in contravention of what the survivors claimed was their plighted word. On this occasion, Drake and Dee escaped capture but lost some 7,000 ducats, all that he possessed which he had embarked in Hawkins' venture. Filled with hate for the enemy whom he regarded as having treacherously deprived him of his fortune, Drake swore an oath to be revenged. Never was an oath more faithfully and completely kept. During the remainder of his life he collected the debt many times over, and was a veritable scourge of Spain. In 1573 he made an inland journey nearly across the Isthmus of Panama with a view to capturing the Spanish treasure coming that way from Peru. Reaching the continental divide, he climbed a tree and saw before him for the first time the waters of the Pacific. As he told his old comrade John Oxenham, he besought Almighty God of his goodness to give him life and leave to sail once in an English ship in that sea. This wish developed into the proportions of a vow, for from that time forward Drake was resolved to find a way to accomplish his desire. Five years later the chance came. Meanwhile, in 1575 Oxenham had crossed Panama and built a penis which sailed in the Pacific, thus depriving Drake of the glory of being the first Englishman to navigate those seas. But Oxenham's party was captured by the Spaniards. It was in the years 1577 to 1580 that Drake made his famous voyage around the world, stopping in California in 1579 on the way. One of the moot points about this voyage has been the question whether Drake had the formal authorization of a sovereign for the undertaking or whether he was to be considered a pirate. No instructions of the royal government are extant, but there is such an overwhelming array of circumstantial evidence that there can no longer be a reasonable doubt but that he went forth in the royal service. Though Spain and England were not formally at war, the English queen had many scores against Spain which she was only too ready to pay off if opportunity should offer. To mention but a single thing, there were the constant plots against her life, and the queen well knew that Philip II of Spain was cognizant of them, if not indeed the directing hand. She therefore resolved to pay Spain back in her own coin by dealing a series of underhanded blows whereby she could get satisfaction and, at the same time, profit for the crown. The Earl of Essex recommended Drake to her as a man well fitted to serve her against Spain, and Drake was granted an interview with the queen. Elizabeth seemed desirous of some sort of dissent upon the Spanish peninsula itself, but Drake, quote, told her majesty of the small good that was to be done in Spain, but the only way was to annoy him by his indies, unquote. It would seem that Drake then proposed that he should make a voyage into the Pacific to plunder and destroy Spanish ships and cities there, thus to annoy the king of Spain, and to take possession for his queen of all lands not occupied already by a Christian prince. Then, if possible, he was to return to England by way of the strait through North America, if he could find it, or otherwise by sailing around the world. The evidence for this is not direct, but Drake often stated that he had sailed by the queen's commission. According to the testimony of a Portuguese pilot whom he took prisoner and later released, quote, he told all those whom he captured that he came in the service of his sovereign the queen, whose instructions he carried and obeyed, and that he had come more for another purpose than that of taking ships, end quote. Furthermore, his ship was fitted out in a way to make an impression beyond anything that was required of an ordinary buccaneering adventure. For, quote, neither did he admit to make provision also for ornament or delight, carrying to this purpose with him expert musicians, rich furniture, all the vessels for his table, yay, many belonging even to the cookroom being a pure silver, and diverse shows of all sorts of curious workmanship, whereby the civility and magnificence of his native country might, amongst the nations with or so ever he should come, be the more admired, end quote. Elizabeth herself seems to have given him some of the dainties and perfumed waters with which he was supplied. In keeping with all this magnificence, Drake had gorgeous uniforms, observed almost royal state on his ship, and was attended by a number of gentlemen of the best families in England. These matters have a bearing on the plans that occasioned and also grew out of Drake's visit to California. In November 1577 Drake left England at the head of a fleet of five ships. The largest was the Pelican, a vessel of only a hundred tons subsequently renamed the Golden Hind when Drake reached the Pacific. In all five ships there was a total of 164 men. Of the early hardships he encountered and of his experiences in South and Central America there is little need here to tell. He entered the Pacific in September 1578. Sailing northward with only his flagship left to him, he attacked Spanish towns and ships until he had a treasure that filled the vessel to its capacity. Proceeding to New Spain he stopped at Watulco in Oaxaca. Harry put ashore the last of the prisoners he had taken, except for three negroes, and procured supplies. He had sufficiently worried King Philip, but the principal business of the voyage remained to perform. He wished now to find suitable lands for British colonies and the way of escape from the Spaniards through the Strait, and the fewer witnesses he had with him the better. Leaving Watulco on April 16, 1579, Drake went well out to sea and headed toward the unknown waters of the North. There is a dispute as to the farthest North Drake reached, a dispute which was of international significance down to the Oregon Treaty of 1846 between Great Britain and the United States. The British claim was based largely on their contention that Drake had discovered the coast above 42 degrees, the present northern boundary of California, to 48 degrees. The international dispute, having long since been settled, it has been possible to investigate the matter objectively, and the consensus of opinion has been in favor of 42 degrees. George Davidson, who knew the Pacific coast as well as any man that ever lived, held at Drake, stopped between 42 and 43 degrees, at Chetco Cove, 42 degrees, 3 minutes, just over the California line in present-day Oregon. He was, therefore, the probable discoverer of that state, for it is unlikely that Farello saw the coast so far north. It is true that the claim for the higher latitude was based on accounts of those who made the voyage, together with their comments on the extraordinary cold they experienced, and the snow they saw on the mountains. But these very accounts are inconsistent in themselves, and the remarks about the cold were applied equally to what all recognized as the California coast and to the supposedly more northern climates. Thus, John Drake, a cousin of the commander, who was on the Golden Hind, had this to say in 1854 when questioned by Spanish officials of the Rio de la Plata. They sailed out at sea until they reached 48 degrees north. Captain Francis gave the land that is situated at 48 degrees the name of New England. They were there a month and a half taking in water and wood and repairing their ship. In 1587 the same John Drake made the following declaration before the inquisition of Lima. Then they left Watulco and sailed until they reached 44 degrees. When the wind changed and he, Drake, the commander, went to the California, where he discovered land in 48 degrees. There he landed and built huts and remained for a month and a half. Another account, presumably by a sailor on the voyage, made 48 degrees the farthest north and spoke of landing in 44 degrees. The chaplain of the Golden Hind, Francis Fletcher, whose narrative is a principal account to the voyage that has survived, said that they were in 42 degrees on June 3. Two days later the contrary winds forced them to shore, where they cast anchor in a bad bay, which Davidson identifies as Chet Coco. This was their farthest north and according to Fletcher they were in 48 degrees. Thus, in two days, against contrary winds in the Japan current, they must have sailed over 400 miles. If that rate had been maintained since leaving Watulco, they would have gone 10,000 miles. It would seem, therefore, that the latitudes given were all too high. Richard Hackloot, the immortal collector of all narratives on voyages and a contemporary of Drake, gave 42 degrees as the northerly limit, changing into later date to 43 degrees. Davidson's views, already referred to, may be accepted for the present as most likely to have represented the truth. Footnote. The most extravagant view is that taken recently by Mrs. Nuttall. According to her, quote, Drake ventured so far north that even he dared go no further and was forced to turn back on account of the intense cold and icy encountered, earning, however, the credit, according to him by contemporary poets, notably by the Spaniard Lopa de Vega, of having sighted the north as well as the south pole. End quote. In the absence of Mrs. Nuttall's proofs, it is impossible as yet to accept her conclusions. End to footnote. Incidentally, it was to Drake's interest to state the latitude as high as he could, not only for the glory that would accrue to him as the discoverer, but also, and perhaps more especially, to excuse his failure to continue the search for the strait. According to the testimony of the Portuguese pilot whom he put ashore at Watulco, Drake had told him that he was under orders to go as far north as 66 degrees before abandoning the attempt to discover the strait. Chaplain Fletcher, whom Drake once described as ye falsest knave that libeth, seems to have justified his commander's reflections on his veracity in his comments about the cold off the California coast. According to Fletcher, quote, the very ropes of our ship were stiff, and the rain which fell was an unnatural congealed and frozen substance. Though seamen lack not good stomachs, yet it seemed to question to many amongst us whether their hands should feed their mouths or rather keep themselves within their cupboards from the pinching cold which did benumb them. Our meat, as soon as it was removed from the fire, would presently in a manner be frozen up. Every hill whereof we saw many, but none very high, though it were in June, and the sun in its nearest approach unto them being covered with snow, end quote. Referring to their disagreeable position in the bad bay, Chaplain Fletcher says, quote, We were not without some danger by reason of the many extreme gusts and flaws that beat upon us, which, if they ceased and were still at any time, immediately upon their intermission there followed most vile, thick, and stinking fogs, end quote. One might indeed have wondered if they had not touched the Arctic Zone. Were it not that the Chaplain used the same extreme language in describing the cold at Drake's landing-place and thirty-eight degrees, clearly within Alta California? Suffice to say that the natives, the birds, and the very land itself shivered with the cold, and there is more about thick mists and most stinking fogs and the nipping cold of a California in June and July. It is, of course, clear to Californians how these statements came to be made. The fogs of the summer along the northern coast do indeed seem cold to one who has not acclimated. Many a man from the east of the United States will shiver through his first summer, but rarely afterward. It may well have seemed worse to Drake and his men, who had for a long time been in the tropics. John Drake says nothing of the cold and gives no hint that they had reached a far northern climb. At any rate, Drake turns south soon after he first sighted land, being forced back by the contrary winds according to Fletcher. Perhaps the principal reason for his return, or at least for his failure to resume the northward voyage, was that the coast ran so continuously to the northwest that he and his men began to believe that North America was joined to Asia or very near it, and therefore there was scant probability of a straight. So the ship went south along the California coast, and as Fletcher puts it, in 38 degrees, 31 minutes, we fell within a convenient and fit harbor, and on June 17th came to anchor therein, where we continued till the 23rd day of July following. It is now generally agreed that this was Drake's Bay, but for a long time many held that the stop was made in San Francisco Bay a little further south, while others contended in favor of Bodega Bay a few miles to the north. The Spaniards always said that Drake stopped in the Bay of San Francisco, but this was the only possible argument for that port, as the description of Drake's stopping place in no way tallied with that of San Francisco Bay. When it developed that the Bay of San Francisco was for nearly two centuries the Spanish name for Drake's Bay, while the Bay now so-called was unknown to them, the argument for San Francisco Bay was dropped. Bodega Bay is not a convenient and fit harbor, for it is open to the westerly winds, and no ship like Drake's could have stayed there thirty-six days. Drake's Bay is small, but it might have been deemed a good port, and besides it has the white banks and cliffs which lie toward the sea referred to in the description given by Fletcher. On the day following their arrival they were harangued three times by an Indian in a canoe who made a great show of reverence and submission. The Indians, in general, seemed to be in a state of wonderment about the ship, which was the first, so far as is known, that had ever stopped there, though Ferello's expedition and no doubt a number of the Gallians had in previous years passed within sight of the shore. Three days later Drake moved his ship farther in that he might repair a leak, and he landed his men but took the precaution of making a rough fort for their protection and set up tents to sleep in. The Indians, however, were very submissive and showed plainly that they looked upon Drake and his men as gods, despite the attempts of the latter to persuade them that they were not. The Englishmen, on their part, were interested in the customs of the Indians, their wigwam homes, their dress or lack of it, and the rude presence that they brought. During two days the Indians stayed away, but then they came with a great concourse from neighboring towns and with gifts, or, as they seemed to Drake's men, sacrifices upon this persuasion that we were gods. Quote, When they came to the top of the hill, at the bottom, whereof we had built our fort, they made a stand, where one, appointed as their chief speaker, worried both us as hearers and himself, too, with a long and tedious oration, delivered with strange and violent gestures, his voice being extended to the utter most strength of nature, and his words following so thick on one on the neck of another that he could hardly fetch his breath again. As soon as he had concluded, all the rest, with a reverent bowing of their bodies in a dreaming matter and long producing of the same, cried, Oh, thereby giving their consents, that all was very true which he had spoken, and that they had uttered their mind by his mouth unto us. Which done, the men laying down their bows upon the hill, and leaving their women and children behind them, came down with their presence, in such sort as if they had appeared before a god indeed, thinking themselves happy that they might have access unto our general, but much more happy when they saw that he would receive at their hands those things which they so willingly had presented, and no doubt they thought themselves nearest unto God when they sat or stood next to him. In the meantime, the women, as if they had been desperate, used unnatural violence against themselves, crying and shrieking piteously, tearing their flesh with their nails from their cheeks in a monstrous manner, the blood streaming down along their breasts, besides despoiling the upper parts of their bodies of those single coverings they formerly had, and holding their hands above their heads that they might not rescue their breasts from harm, they would with fury cast themselves upon the ground, never respecting whether it were clean or soft, but dash themselves in this manner on hard stones, knobby hillocks, stocks of wood, and prickling bushes, or whatever else lay in their way, iterating the same course again and again. Yay, women great with childs some nine or ten times each, and others holding out till fifteen or sixteen times till their strengths failed them. They exercised this cruelty against themselves. A thing more grievous for us to see or suffer could we have helped it, than trouble to them as it seemed to do it. This bloody sacrifice against our wills, being thus performed, our general, with his company and the presence of those strangers fell to prayers, and by signs and lifting up our eyes and hands to heaven signified unto them that the God whom we did serve and whom they ought to worship was above. Beseaching God, if it were his good pleasure, to open by some means their blinded eyes that they might in due time be called to the knowledge of him, the true and ever-living God, and of Jesus Christ whom he had sent, the salutation of the Gentiles. In the time of which prayers, singing of songs, and the reading of certain chapters of the Bible, they sat very attentively, and observing the end at every pause, with one voice still cried, Hoah, greatly rejoicing in our exercises. Yay, they took such pleasure in our singing of Psalms that whenever they resorted to us their first request was commonly this, and ah, by which they entreated that we should sing. Our general, having now bestowed upon them diverse things at their departure, they restored them all again, none carrying with him anything of whatsoever he had received, thinking themselves sufficiently enriched and happy that they had found so free access to see us. End quote. Three days later the hill, or as Drake's man understood it, the king of all that country came to visit them. On this occasion there were a number of long, unintelligible speeches and religious songs and dances by the Indians, after which, as Fletcher asserts, they offered Drake the scepter and the crown, even the hill joining in, quote, making signs that they would resign unto him their right and title in the whole land, and become his vassals in themselves and their posterities. Wherefore, in the name and to the use of her most excellent majesty, he took the scepter, crown, and dignity of the said country unto his hand, unquote. The ceremony was described at great length and was relied upon by the English government nearly three centuries later in part substantiation of its claim to the northwest coast. It is now generally held that the Indians, who had not the faintest conception of the meaning of sovereignty, were going through the ceremony of the peace-pipe, admitting Drake to membership in the tribe. After this was over, quote, the common sort, both of men and women, leaving the king and his guard about him with our general, dispersed themselves among our people, taking a diligent view or survey of every man and finding such as pleased their fancies, which commonly were the youngest of us, they presently enclosing them about offered their sacrifices unto them, crying out with lamentable shrieks and moans, weeping and scratching and tearing their very flesh off their faces with their nails. Neither were it the women alone which did this, but even old men, roaring and crying out, were as violent as the women were, end quote. In the course of the long stay at this port, Drake and some of his company made an inland journey, but whether for several days or only for a few hours the record of the days or only for a few hours the record does not say. They found it to be, quote, far different from the shore, a goodly country and fruitful soil, stored with many blessings fit for the use of man, end quote. Among other things they saw very large and fat deer by thousands and a multitude of strange kind of conies. They seemed not to have set eyes upon San Francisco Bay, for there is no reference to such a body of water in the records of their sojourn. Drake called the country Nova Albion, induced to this course by the white banks and cliffs which lie toward the sea, but more particularly it may be imagined, quote, that it might have some affinity even in name also with our own country, England, which was sometimes so-called, end quote. Drake also took good care to set up a monument claiming title to that kingdom for Queen Elizabeth and her successors. At length the time for departure was at hand, and when the Indians perceived that the Englishmen were going they were filled with grief and renewed their sacrifices. They made signs indicating that they hoped to be remembered and wished that the Englishmen would return some day. As the golden hind went out of the port, July 23, 1579, they lighted beacon fires on the hills. The next day, Drake was at the Fallarone Islands, unaware how near he was to that great port of the west. Here is the narrative of that day, quote, not far without this harbour, Drake's Bay, did lie certain islands, we call them the Islands of St. James, having on them plentiful and a great store of seals and birds, with one of which we felt July 24, whereon we found such provision as might competently serve our turn for a while. We departed again the next day following, vis July 25. Drake's further adventures may be rapidly passed over. He steered across the Pacific, and for sixty-eight days was out of sight of the land. At length he reached the Philippines and the Malocas, and then sailed on around a cape of good hope to England. On one occasion an event happened which is at once illustrative of Drake's luck and of the perils of the sea. While under full sail in an open sea at night the golden hind ran aground and stuck fast. Yet, all around when soundings were taken they could not find bottom. When day came it proved that the ship had run upon a shelving bit of rock, possibly the peak of a prehistoric mountain. They had come upon it at high tide, and now that the tide had fallen their chance of getting off seemed worse than ever. The ship fell over on its side, and then, when death was all but upon them, the keel was loosed and the vessel rolled off into deep water. On September 26, 1580, with one ship out of the five that he had started with, and about fifty men out of an original 164, Drake sailed into Plymouth, England. He had taken two years and nearly ten months for the voyage, in the course of which he had circumnavigated the globe. The golden hind was the second ship which had achieved this distinction, and Drake was the first individual who had made the entire voyage as commander of the ship. These, then, are the facts concerning Drake's visit to California, but the story does not end here. As has already been intimated, Drake and the Queen seemed definitely to have planned the establishment of a colonial empire in the Americas, in rivalry to that of Spain. Drake believed that, in New Albion, he had found a satisfactory nucleus for the attempt, thinking, though, of course, mistakenly that, quote, the Spaniards never had any dealing or so much as set afoot in this country, the utmost of their discoveries reaching only to many degrees southward of this place, end quote. His treatment of the Indians, too, seems to have been founded on a deliberate intention of attracting them to English rule in the Protestant faith, in contrast to the virtual enslavement which the Spaniards and Portuguese had subjected the natives. Drake dreamed of an English New Spain or Peru in California, and surely the equivalent was there, holding that, quote, there is no part of the earth here to be taken up wherein there is not some special likelihood of gold or silver, end quote. Queen Elizabeth herself joined him in this speculation, and a project was drawn up in exact imitation of the practices of Spain. This document, which was headed, quote, a project of a corporation of such a self-venture into such dominions and countries situate beyond the equinoctal line, unquote, merits insertion here. It reads as follows, quote, imprimise that it may please her majesty to grant like privileges, as have been granted by herself and her progenitors unto her subjects, trading into the dominions of the emperor of Russia. Item, that in consideration of the late notable discovery made by Francis Drake of such dominions as are situated beyond the said equinoctal line, it may please her majesty that he made during his natural life supply the place of the governor of the said company, and in consideration of his great travail and hazard of his person in the said discovery, to have, during his said life, a tenth part of the profits of such commodities shall be brought into this realm from the parts above remembered. Item, that there shall be reserved unto her majesty a fifth part of the profit of such mines of gold and silver as shall be found in these countries that are hereafter to be discovered and are not lawfully possessed by any other Christian prince. Item, that it may please her majesty to erect a house of contritez with such orders as were granted by the king of Spain. Thus, Drake was to be the governor of the new company, or at least to appoint that officer, and was to receive a large share of the profits, while Elizabeth was to get the royal fifth and to establish an English Casa de Contraxión or House of Trade. The seat of the company's activities was referred to only as beyond the equinoctal line, but there can be no doubt from other evidence that California was to be the head and center of the plan. This becomes more clear in light of a sixteenth-century French map of Drake's voyage inscribed as seen and corrected by Drake himself. In this map, the crown and arms of the Queen of England were placed on the islands south of the Strait of Magellan and on California. The name Nova Albio appears, but it runs nearly halfway across the continent. Most significant of all is a boundary line, beginning at the head of the Gulf of California and running east through what is now the United States to appoint in the Gulf of Mexico where the peninsula of Florida breaks off to the south. Below this line is the caption Nova Hispani or New Spain. A small section on the south Atlantic coast beginning in northeastern Florida is marked off as Nova France or New France in deference to the French Huguenot colonies of the middle and later sixteenth century. All the rest, including the narrow wedge of the Florida Peninsula between New France and New Spain, was apparently to be part of Drake's New England or Albion, proceeding not out of Plymouth Rock or Boston Harbor, but from the far away western port at Drake's Bay. The project was something more than a wild dream. According to the testimony of one of Drake's prisoners captured by him while off the northwestern coast of South America and released the next day, the English navigator had said, quote, that if God spared his life he would return here from his country within two years with six or seven galleons, end quote. Steps were taken immediately after Drake's return to England to make good this assertion. In January 1581 the Spanish ambassador to England wrote that Queen Elizabeth had agreed that Drake was to start with 10 ships for the Malocas, he understood, and that six more were to go to Brazil and join Drake later in the Pacific. Political complications in Europe, however, especially the danger of a conflict with Spain, caused the plan to be abandoned. Another expedition was organized, presumably to go to the Malocas, but it was fitted out with the elements necessary to the founding of a colony and was ordered to find a northern route to New Albion. The sequel, as told by Mrs. Nuttall, was as follows, quote. By some intrigue the command was finally given to Edward Fenton, whom Drake and his men suspected of having dealings with the Spanish ambassador. It certainly came to pass that orders were disregarded, the fleet was taken to the coast of Brazil where it was met and attacked by Spanish ships. Suspecting treachery, John Drake and a small party separated themselves from the expedition, which was then abandoned. Thus the attempt to colonize New Albion and establish trade relations with the East Indies was frustrated. End quote. Drake's first visit to California was, therefore, his last, and it was two centuries more before his countrymen again appeared off that coast. His achievement, however, was not without result, though Spain originally and the United States ultimately were to profit by it instead of England. As will be pointed out in the next chapter, he stimulated the Spaniards to efforts which were later to bear fruit in the occupation of the Californians precisely against such a peril as Drake's plan represented. It is therefore fitting, not only in honor of the English navigator's great feat in itself, but also in testimony of the importance of his work as affecting the future of California, that a stone cross should have been raised to his memory on one of the hills of San Francisco overlooking the Golden Gate and San Francisco Bay. Footnote The literature on Drake's voyage in the Pacific is of vast proportions, but though much contemporary material has been discovered, many of the facts concerning this celebrated expedition are still veiled in mystery. This is due mainly to the disappearance of Drake's own journal and the necessity for reliance upon inconclusive evidences, particularly noteworthy among the works employed in preparing this chapter, are the following. 1. Drake, Sir Francis The world encompassed by Sir Francis Drake collated with an unpublished manuscript of Francis Fletcher, chaplain of the expedition. London, 1854. Original edition, London, 1628. In Acclute Society, works First Series, Volume 16. The author was a nephew of the admiral. The remarks cited to Fletcher in this chapter are from this volume. 2. New Light on Drake, a collection of documents relating to his voyage of circumnavigation, 1577 to 1580. Translated and edited by Mrs. Zillian Nuttall, London, 1914. In Acclute Society, works Second Series, Volume 34. End of Chapter 9. Chapter 10 of A History of California, the Spanish Period. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Chapter 10. Gali and Rodriguez Seremeno Drake's voyage to the Pacific awakened Spain to a realization of the danger she ran of losing large portions of her empire. Never before had she encountered competition along the western shores of the Americas, and her only thought there had been to extend her dominion in the direction of lands that promised quick returns and wealth. To be sure, Rodriguez Cabrillo and other leaders had sought the mysterious Northern Strait in order to forestall foreign occupation. But the principal idea during most of the first century after the discovery of America had been that of remunerative conquest rather than defense. The expedition of Drake may fairly be said to have caused a change in Spanish colonial policy and the introduction of a new spirit which was to be the dominant note for another 200 years. Henceforth Spain indeed sought rich lands, though more and more inclined to insist on proof before undergoing the expanse of conquest. But fear of foreign danger began to take the principal place in her calculations for an extension of the sphere under her control. Expansion in order to ensure the safety of her already occupied dominions, the policy of what may be termed aggressive defensive, became the key note in Spain's activities along her colonial borders. No region that she then possessed was so valuable to her as the Kingdom of New Spain, and none of the mainland colonies was so exposed to European attack. Spain learned, thus early in her career, that the California's extending down through 800 miles of peninsula to Cape San Lucas constituted a grave danger if they should fall into the hands of an enemy, for they lay conveniently near a great part of the west coast of New Spain. It was natural, therefore, that she should wish to occupy the Californias even though the effort should occasion considerable expense and though the expected riches should not develop. Footnote. It is to be regretted that no very thorough survey of the period embraced by this chapter, and the three which follow it, has yet been made from the standpoint of governmental materials, wherefore clear proofs of official intention are not always at hand. The events themselves are fairly well known, though even they come mainly through the reports of one element, the religious, but their setting in the larger sphere of Spanish imperial design has still to be treated authoritatively by the historian. In footnote. Illusion has already been made to the reports of the Spanish Ambassador in England about Drake's project for a second voyage to the Pacific. What action the Spanish government took has not yet been revealed, but it is clear that the viceroys of this period displayed an unusually great interest in the Californias, with a view to making Spanish establishments there. This interest was heightened by rumors that Drake had discovered the strait and sailed through it. Indeed, the story of the pilot Morena, already referred to in Chapter 7, was current in New Spain for many years, being advanced at least as late as 1626. On top of all this came a report from Francisco de Galli, commander of the Manila galleon in 1584, that he had encountered evidences of the strait in his voyage of that year. According to the account of this voyage by Fernandez de Navaret, footnote. In 1802, in his introduction to the narrative of the voyage of the Sutil and Mexicana, which went north in 1792 to prove, once and for all, the truth or falsity of the reports about that strait. In footnote. Galli sailed 300 leagues east and northeast of Japan, and found open sea with currents from the north and northwest, which were not diverted by the wind, whatever its violence or direction, until, having sailed 700 leagues, he reached the coast of New Spain, where he no longer observed the currents or the depths of sea previously met with. This gave Galli the idea that the strait between Tartary, or northern Asia, and New Spain was in the region of the currents. He also encountered on all his 700 league voyage a great number of whales, tonyfish, albacore, and bonitos, which are fish usually found in channels where there are currents. These circumstances confirmed him the more in his belief that the much talked of strait was in that vicinity. On this occasion, too, Galli passed along the Alta California coast. The narrative of the voyage, as translated in Mankroft, after telling what had happened in the earlier stages of its sailing, went on to say that, quote, being by the same course upon the coast of New Spain under 37 degrees 30 minutes, we passed by a very high and fair land with many trees, holy without snow, and four leagues from the land you find thereabouts many drifts of roots, leaves of trees, reeds, and other leaves like fig leaves, the like whereof we found in great abundance in the country of Japan which they eat. And some of those that we found I caused to be sodden with flesh, and, being sodden, they eat like coal warts. There, likewise, we found great store of seals, whereby it is to be presumed, and certainly to be believed, that there are many rivers, bays, and havens along by those coasts to the haven of Acapulco. From thence we ran south-east, south-east and by south, and south-east and by east, as we found the wind, to the point called Cabura San Lucas, which is the beginning of the land of California on the northwest side, lying under 22 degrees, being 500 leagues distant from Cape Mendocino, end quote. This account is an interesting indication that other Spanish ships had passed along Alta California coast, as far north as Cape Mendocino, between the time of Ferello in 1543 and Galle in 1584, though no record as yet come down to us. Ferello did not apply the name in 1543, and yet it is mentioned casually in 1584 by Galle, who did not see it on his voyage, and who refers to it as one would to a place long since known and named. Of more immediate consequence, however, is the interest that the viceroy of New Spain displayed in Galle's story. Galle himself was a man of more than ordinary attainments, and therefore his views were regarded as worthy of credence. The Archbishop viceroy Pedro de Moa said of him, quote, that he was the best trained and most distinguished man in Mexico, and that in regard to cosmography and the art of navigation he could compete with the most select minds of Spain, end quote. Galle was asked about the advisability of establishing a settlement in some California port, which might serve both as a way station for the Gallean and as a base for obtaining further information of northern lands. There can be little doubt, too, that the element of foreign danger, of which Drake's voyage had been a forcible reminder, was influential in the viceroy's plans. Moa wrote to the King, strongly urging the need of discovering and occupying a port on the Alta California coast, and intimated that he was about to send Galle again to the Philippines with orders to explore and make maps of the coasts of Japan, the islands of the Armenian, as the islands later styled Rico de Oro and Rico de Plata were sometimes called, and the Californias. It seems probable that the voyage was not made as no evidence of it has come to light. At any rate, Moa's successor, the Marquis de Villamonrique, was clearly out of sympathy with the project. In May 1585, five months before he reached New Spain to take over the government of the viceroyalty, Villamonrique expressed his opinion that, though no settlements had been made in the Californias, the ships from the Philippines had not suffered any inconvenience for the lack of them. He seems not to have considered the matter from the standpoint of foreign endanger. Upon his arrival in New Spain, it is likely that the plan was dropped. If the new viceroy felt that there was no reason for anxiety over foreign incursions into the Pacific, he was soon rudely disillusioned. In 1586, Thomas Cavendish had set sail from England with three ships of, respectively, 120, 60 and 40 tons, and with 123 men. Entering the Pacific in 1587, he sailed north, ravaging the coasts of Peru and New Spain and capturing many ships. Learning that the galleon was soon expected, the richest prize of all, he betook himself with his two remaining ships to the bay of San Bernabe at Cape San Lucas in the California. On November 4, 1587, the galleon of that year, the Santa Ana, a 700 ton ship laden with rich silks and other cargo, besides 122,000 pesos and gold, hove into sight. Cavendish gave battle and, after a desperate fight, took the prize. He thereupon transferred to his own ships what he wanted of her cargo, burned the galleon, and set sail for England. With one of his ships, he got across the Pacific and eventually around the world to England. The survivors of the Santa Ana found that enough remained at the Hulk for them to make their way in it to Acapulco. Now, more than ever, it seemed clear that something must be done about occupying the Californias, for it was there that the foreign ships had the best opportunity to lie and wait for the galleon, which was such an important element in the economic life of New Spain. More than likely, the achievements of Drake and Cavendish would serve as an alluring inducement to others. The worst of it was that a mere handful of men seemed capable of upsetting Spain's security in the Pacific. Steps were taken, therefore, to discover a northern port along the California coast where the galleon might receive notice whether the seas were clear and perhaps the escort of a well-armed vessel. In 1591, Luis de Velazco, who had succeeded via Monrique as viceroy in 1590, wrote to the king that it was necessary to discover and survey the ports of the Californias if the Philippine ships were to be adequately protected. Orders were therefore sent from Spain in 1593 for such a survey to be made in the course of a voyage of the galleon. The difficulty was to find the money since a careful exploration would entail considerable additional expense. It was arranged, however, with the consent of the government in Spain that a private individual should supply the funds in return for which he was to receive concessions enabling him to make a profit on his venture. Accordingly, in 1594, Sebastián Rodríguez Setermanejo, a Portuguese, was selected to command the Manila ship. Footnote. The mother's name, Setermanejo, by which he is more often called, is usually written in the Spanish form as Sermenio. Sermenion and Sermenio are also of occasional use. In the footnote. According to Velazco, he was, quote, a man of experience in his calling, one who can be depended upon and who has means of his own. Apparently, he was well acquainted with the galleon route, for he seems to have been pilot of the ill-fated Santa Anya when Cavaniers took it. Rodríguez was given permission to ship a number of tons of cloth at Manila on the galleon, thus receiving the benefit of the space and freight money. The wisdom of the decision to know and perhaps occupy the California's seemed clear when news came to New Spain late in 1594 that Richard Hawkins in an English ship had broken into the Pacific some time before and ravaged the South American coast, though he was captured by the Spaniards in the month of June, not far from Panama. On July 5, 1595, Rodríguez Sermenio left Manila in the San Agustín for the voyage to the California San Acapulco and, on November 4, first sighted the coast in about 42 degrees according to his own account, but in fact farther south, probably a little north of Eureka, above 41 degrees. He now proceeded along the coast, taking soundings and looking for a suitable port except at night when he deemed it wise to run to sea. On the 5th he passed Cape Mendocino. That day at night he experienced a terrific storm which left the San Agustín in such bad shape that several of the officers petitioned him to veer away from the coast and head at once for Acapulco, giving up the plan for the discoveries. Rodríguez would not hear of it, however, and turned the vessel toward the shore. About noon of the same day, the sailors at the masthead caught sight of Drake's Bay behind Point Reyes, whereupon the ship was steered in that direction and came to anchor in the bay. Rodríguez named this port the Bay of San Francisco, although he and his men also called it Bahía Grande or Great Bay. The narrative of Rodríguez's sojourn at Drake's Bay from November 6th to December 8th compares an interest with that of Drake, and indeed, much more precise information was given about the country for some three or four leagues into the interior from the place where the Spaniards landed. The Indians were almost equally as friendly as in the time of Drake, and the country impressed the various witnesses who expressed themselves about it as very much like Castile. The Spanish accounts also tell of the great number of deer, which seem to them of unusually large size, and partridges, probably the conies of Drake's narrative that they saw. Rodríguez's long stay was occasioned by his plan to explore the shore in a smaller vessel, which he built there, leaving the galleon to keep farther off the coast in the safer waters of the deep sea. In the light of what happened, it was fortunate that he had decided upon this course, for on November 30th the sun Augustine was driven on shore and wrecked. Only two men seemed to have met death, but most of the cargo and all of the provisions were lost. It would be interesting to have more details of this disaster, but the narratives of the voyage which have thus far been found are singularly recited on this score. The launch or open sailboat which they were building was nearly completed, so they were saved in delay in their departure which otherwise would have cost them their lives. It was pressingly urgent, however, that they should procure supplies, for there were seventy mouths to feed. Rodríguez therefore made two expeditions inland and obtained provisions from the Indians, mostly acorns which, though bitter to the taste, kept them from starving. On one occasion Rodríguez went to a village to recover some timbers which the natives had procured from the wreck of the ship. The Indians showed fight, sending a shower of arrows against the Spaniards which wounded one man. Then they fled and Rodríguez and his men plundered the village, getting a great booty and acorns. Later the Indians repented and made a gift of further supplies. On December 8, 1595, Rodríguez left Drake's Bay on the sand Buena Ventura the launch he had constructed. Seventy men and a store of clothes and stuff he saved from the galleon, to use in barter with the Indians, were crowded into the tiny ship. He headed south for some small barren islands, the phalerons, that he had seen before, and, quote, passed near the said barren islands on the landside about a league or more from shore, in, quote, footnote. In his report of April 24, 1596, Rodríguez puts it this way, I passed near the said barren islands and near the land about a league away more or less, in, quote. Yet he saw nothing of San Francisco Bay. On the 10th he passed Monterey Bay, which he called the Bay of San Pedro. In the afternoon of the 12th the son Buena Ventura came upon a village along the Santa Barbara Channel. The men called to the natives on shore that they were Cristianos Christians, whereby one native caught up the cry, shouting in a loud voice, Cristianos, Cristianos, and straight away came out to them on a raft. Rodríguez gave him a woolen blanket and some taffeta. Soon a number of other Indians came. The Spaniards made signs that they were hungry, wherefore the Indians returned to shore and brought back some bitter acorns and a kind of acorn mush. This they offered in exchange for some of the goods in the San Buena Ventura store. Indeed, said Rodríguez, quote, this people seems to be somewhat avaricious, for after we had given them pieces of taffeta and satin and woolen blankets, they asked for more, in, quote. Thus early were the Santa Barbara Indians displaying those qualities, which in later years caused the Spaniards to call them the Chinaman of California because of their fondness for driving a good bargain. In course of the conversation with them, such as it was, for neither party understood the language of the other, some of the Indians said, Mexico, Mexico, it would be interesting to know whether their knowledge of that land had come down to them from the Rodríguez Cabrillo-Forello voyage of more than fifty years before, or from some overland communication, or indeed from some other crew of seamen whose visit to California is as yet unknown. Meanwhile, Rodríguez had been making careful surveys of the coast in accordance with his instructions. The sailors and passengers were now sick and weak from lack of food, for they had been subsisting on acorns only. So on the thirteenth they joined in asking Rodríguez to desist from making further discoveries and to sail with all possible speed for a land where they might procure food. But Rodríguez put them off with fair words and continued to run the coast in search of information. If the account is true, he must indeed have been a brave man of commanding personality to hold out against starving men in an age of violence. At any rate, he proceeded in ensuing days to make his observations as before. To satisfy their hunger the Spaniards killed a dog they had with them, cooked him and ate him even to the very skin. This was on the thirteenth. On the fourteenth they passed near Catalina Island where two Indians came aboard and gave them ten or twelve fish and a seal. Rodríguez made them a present of some silk and woolen blankets, intimating to them as best he could that they should bring more food in exchange for these goods. The Indians went away and returned again but brought nothing to eat. Nevertheless, the Spaniards were able this day to catch about thirty fish, all of which they ate. From there they sailed to San Clemente Island, which they reached that night. Going toward the mainland again, on the fifteenth, they came to point Loma and the San Diego Bay, which had been named, apparently on some previous voyage, the Bay of Pescadores or fishermen. They did not stop, however, making a two-day run down the coast. On the seventeenth they came to a large island, probably the one known today as San Martín Island, in thirty degrees twenty-nine minutes near the Baja California coast. Footnote. Rodríguez described this island as running from northwest to southeast, eight or nine leagues long by four wide, and in thirty-one degrees fifteen minutes at its northwestern point. The island seemed to have been known to Rodríguez before and is referred to by him as San Agustín. The Spaniards now had neither food nor drink, so a party was landed to see what they could find. They brought back some bread, which the Indians of that place had cooked, made out of a root resembling the sweet potato, but this made the Spaniards sick when they ate it. Driven from the southern part of the island by a strong wind, they went to the northern end for shelter. Here they made a discovery which very probably saved their lives. As Rodríguez puts it, quote, we went on shore and found many wild onions and prickly pear trees, and likewise God willed that we should find a dead fish among the rocks with two mortal wounds, and it was so large that the seventy of us sustained ourselves on it for more than a week, and if had not been so large we would have perished there of hunger. There was still no water, but here too the miracle occurred. God was pleased to send a wind that night which caused them to leave their anchorage and run down the island more than four leagues where they entered a small but safe bay. There they found a stream of good water which descended from the mountains of the island. It was two days more before the wind died down sufficiently for them to return to the northern end. There they picked up some thirty companions who had been left there to roast the big fish and guard it. On December 22nd, having taken on board plenty of water and the remainder of the big fish, Rodríguez set sail in search of Saros Island. The sailors and passengers with him were now so sick and weak, some of them at the point of death, that Rodríguez acceded to their requests that he should no longer stop to make observations at the coast, which from this point on was quite well known to Spanish navigators anyway. So he hastened on as fast as possible, and on January 7th, 1596, came to anchor in the port of Navidad, New Spain. Here most of the men, Rodríguez among them, disembarked in order to restore their shattered health. The launch was dispatched under Juan de Morgana, one of Rodríguez's officers, with a crew of ten men to Acapulco where it arrived on January 31st. Rodríguez made his way to Mexico City, at which place on April 24th, 1596 he penned his official report. Unfortunately for the reputation of this mariner there was an aftermath to the voyage. To the merchants of New Spain, and to a certain extent to the authorities, the outstanding fact was the loss of the San Agustín and its cargo, and proceedings were instituted to determine who was at fault. The officers endeavored to inculpate one another, and furthermore when Rodríguez and two others were questioned by the viceroy about the discoveries along the Alta California coast, they did not agree in all particulars. In a letter to the king, dated April 19th, 1596, the viceroy, the conde de Monterey, who had succeeded Velasco in 1595, expressed himself as follows, quote, To me there seems to be convincing proof, resting on clear inference, that some of the principal bays, where with greater reason it might be expected harbors would be found, they crossed from point to point and by night, while others they entered but a little way. For all this a strong incentive must have existed because of the hunger and illness they say they experienced, which would cause them to hasten on their voyage. Thus I take it, as to this exploration the intention of your majesty had not been carried into effect. It is the general opinion that this enterprise should not be attempted on the returned voyage from the islands and with a laden ship, but from this coast and by constantly following along it, end quote. Thus did Rodríguez Sermaino fail of the glory to which he was entitled, and he was saved from oblivion only through the notoriety of having lost his ship. Yet those who have read his report will recognize that he gave a very good description of the Alta California coast. It is almost always possible to tell just where he was from the account he gave, and this is something that cannot be said for some of the other more famous navigators. His voyage did have a real importance, however. As indicated in the Condé de Monterey's letter cited above, the opinion became general that it would be better to explore the Californias by a voyage direct from New Spain in boats of light draught instead of relying upon the galleon for this purpose. This new idea was very soon to be acted upon. Footnote. For the Rodríguez Sermaino voyage, transcripts in the Bancroft Library from the following documents of the Arquío General de Indias of Seville, Spain were used. 1. 1595, November 30, December 9, Greg's Bay, Pedro de Lugo. Información sobre la Calada de la Tierra que se vido en el Puerto que se tomó. Copy. Transcript 15 pages longhand Legajo 58312. Testimony taken by the notary Lugo of Rodríguez and others about the land at Greg's Bay and for three or four leagues inland. Dated, in Mexico, 1596. 2. 1596, January Navidad, Pedro de Lugo. Sworn testimony of Rodríguez before the notary Lugo of his discoveries in the Californias from the first day that he sighted the coast until his arrival at Cerro's Island. Original. Transcript 16 pages typed. Legajo 58312. 3. 1596, April 24, Mexico. Sebastián Rodríguez Sermaino. Derrotero y relación del descubrimiento que hizo el capitán y piloto mayor Sebastián Ruiz Sermaino por orden de su majestad hasta la isla de Cedros. Original. Transcript 21 pages longhand. Legajo 58316. These three documents tell much the same story, but they are not identical. Taken with other materials in the Bancroft Library, they should one day be the basis for a substantial thesis. Except for a brief and somewhat mistaken note in Richmond, they have never been utilized before. In addition, the documents and documentos cited in items 1 and 2 in the bibliographical note to the next chapter were used. End of footnote. End of chapter 10.