In 1577, Francis Drake, already notorious for his marauding on the Spanish Main, set out on a secret mission for Queen Elizabeth I to explore and claim the western coast of North America. On his way, he raided Spanish settlements and ships, taking a large quantity of gold and silver as well as other riches. But by the summer of 1579 his sole remaining ship, the Golden Hind, was leaking badly and in desperate need of a safe harbor to make repairs. They found a “fair and good bay” somewhere north of San Francisco Bay, beached the ship, unloaded 23,000 pounds of silver, and made the repairs. They stayed from five to ten weeks interacting with local Natives before departing to circumnavigate the earth, returning to England in 1580.
Historians and archaeologists have been looking for this bay for more than a century. By the 1930s, a consensus developed that it was Drake’s Bay near San Francisco. A bronze plaque was discovered in Marin County in 1936 that matches the one Drake left, and California historians and archaeologists laid claim to the Drake landing.
Archaeologist Melissa Darby of Portland State University, uses modern historical research, ethnographic descriptions, and other evidence to dispute the Drake’s Bay location. The brass plaque turns out to be a fraud, and Drake’s descriptions of the Natives don’t fit. Instead, she makes a compelling case that the bay is in central Oregon. The story of Drake’s voyage is enmeshed in intrigue from its beginning until today. Elizabeth secreted all of his records and a modern historian apparently faked the plaque. Thanks to Darby’s thorough research, we are close to a definitive answer to a 400-year-old mystery.
