The "Prayer Book Cross" In
Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, Commemorates The Event.
Drake remained in this bay thirty-seven days, refitted his ship,
supplied himself with wood and water, and sailed
On July 23d to the
Southeast Farallones, where he laid in a store of seal meat, and on the
25th sailed across the Pacific for England by way of the Cape of Good
Hope.
In 1585, Captain Francisco de Gali, sailing for the Philippines, was
directed to sail, on the return voyage, as far north as the weather
would permit, and on reaching the coast of California, examine the land
and the harbors on his way homeward, make maps of all, and report all
that he accomplished. It does not appear from Gali's report that he
accomplished anything in particular. He reached the coast in latitude
37deg. 30' (Pillar Point), and noted that the land was high and fair; that
the mountains[1] were without snow, and that there were many indications
of rivers, bays, and havens along the coast.
In 1594, Captain Sebastian Cermenon, a Portuguese sailor in the service
of Spain, sailed for the Philippines with orders similar to those of
Gali. In an attempt to survey the coast, he lost his ship, the San
Agustin. It is supposed she struck on one of the Farallones and was
beached in Drake's Bay. From the trunk of a tree they constructed a
boat, called a viroco, and in this the ship's company of more than
seventy persons continued the homeward voyage. The little vessel reached
Puerto de Navidad in safety, and here the commander and part of the
company left it in charge of the pilot, Juan de Morgana, with a crew of
ten men, who brought it into Acapulco on the 31st of January, 1596; a
most remarkable voyage of nearly twenty-five hundred miles by
shipwrecked, sick, and hungry men, crowded into an open boat. With the
loss of the San Agustin, explorations of the California coast by laden
ships from the Philippines came to an end.
Sometime prior to the summer of 1595, the viceroy of New Spain, Don Luis
de Velasco, entered into an agreement with certain persons looking to
the exploration of the coasts of the Californias and the settlement of
the land. The consideration for this undertaking, which was to be at the
expense of the adventurers, was the privilege of pearl fishing and
trade, together with all the honors, favors, and exemptions usually
given to the pacifiers and settlers of new provinces. Preparations for
the expedition were under way, when a dispute arose between the leader
and his partners in the enterprise, and the matter was carried into the
courts. Before a decision was reached, the leader died, and the judge
ordered the other partners, among whom was one Sebastian Vizcaino, to
begin the voyage to the Californias within three months. Under this
order, Vizcaino applied to Viceroy Velasco, and received his permission
to make the journey. This was the condition of affairs when, on October
5, 1596, Velasco was relieved and a new viceroy, Don Gaspar de Zuniga y
Azevedo, Count of Monterey, took command.
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