Exhibit Recognizes Francis Drake, First Englishman to See California
- By Michael Stillman
Sir Francis Drake
By Mike Stillman
His name may not be quite as familiar as that of other notable voyagers and explorers, such as Magellan or Cook, but Francis Drake was one of the great navigators of that era when much of the world was unknown to the West. That's Sir Francis Drake, to be exact, for he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth in honor of his achievements. However, there was a less seemly side to those achievements. It has perhaps kept Drake from sharing quite the honor that other explorers reached. However, an exhibition recently posted online by the U.S. Library of Congress should afford Drake a little of the recognition he has missed. We'll provide a link to that exhibition at the end of this article.
The problem is that Drake wasn't a pure explorer, nor even a trader, as were many others who helped "discover" the world Europeans did not know. Drake was a privateer. For those unfamiliar with the profession, a "privateer" is someone who operates on the borderline between a respected government agent and a pirate. A pirate who operates with the acquiescence of his crown, and shares his loot with his monarch, gets to rise from the status of mere pirate to that of privateer. To others, he doesn't look much different from an ordinary pirate, but to his rulers, he is a useful participant in government policy, though one likely to be dumped overboard at the first moment his behavior brings embarrassment to those rulers. That fate befell others, such as Captain Kidd, but not Drake. Queen Elizabeth appreciated Drake's work, which brought much gold and silver to the British treasury. In return, she also allowed Drake to share in and reap the benefits of the wealth he procured. Nevertheless, she repressed most information about his work, as she did not want to offend Spain, with which she was at peace, too much. That left Drake without quite the recognition he might otherwise have received.
Drake first commanded a ship on behalf of his cousin, John Hawkins, who was engaged in the slave trade. That's another blot on his resume. It was on such a journey that Hawkins and Drake and their six ships pulled into a harbor near Veracruz, Mexico, for repairs, under a mutual nonaggression pact with some Spanish vessels. It didn't last. The Spanish did not appreciate English competition in the slave trade. They attacked. Only two of the ships, those commanded by Hawkins and Drake, escaped. It left Drake with a lifelong hatred for the Spanish, and he would get his revenge many times over during the three decades which followed.
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Exhibit Recognizes Francis Drake, First Englishman to See California
- By Michael Stillman
The fake brass plate supposedly left by Drake
In 1573, he raided Spanish interests in Panama, capturing a huge load of silver. However, for Drake this was the start of even bigger ambitions. From the mountains of Panama (supposedly perched in a tree) Drake saw the Pacific, and determined to be the first Englishman to sail its waters. He later put together a plan, and Elizabeth financed him, providing five ships.
Drake and his fleet set sail from Plymouth, England in 1577. After various stops and minor plunders, Drake, with a reduced fleet of three ships, crossed the Straits of Magellan in early September of 1578. They were welcomed to the Pacific by terrible storms. One ship was lost, and another returned to England. Drake was left with just his own ship. No matter. He proceeded up the coast of South America, surprising numerous Spanish vessels, and making off with enormous quantities of gold, silver, and other riches. But this is not what we would like Drake to be remembered for. What comes next is more worthy of recognition.
Drake continued up the Pacific coast, but as to whether he had ulterior motives besides escaping the Spanish, and where exactly he landed remain a mystery. He is clearly the first Englishman to visit the west coast of what is now America. Somewhere along the coast, he pulled into an inlet where he stayed about a month to repair his ship. He named the land "Nova Albion," or New England, and claimed it for the Crown. Yes, the original New England was on the west coast, not the east. The big question, and topic of longstanding dispute, is just where is that cove. It is debated to this day.
Drake recorded the location where he stopped as latitude 38 degrees 30 minutes. An illustration of this bay shows up in a corner of a map of Drake's journey by Jodocus Hondius in 1596. Here are the problems. Drake's measurements of location were good, but not always perfect. There could be discrepancies. Nothing in the area looks quite like the bay shown on the Hondius map, but no one knows whether Hondius' representation was meant to be perfectly accurate or just a general idea. And then there is the question of subterfuge. Drake may have been looking for a northwest passage back to England, and if so, he may have deliberately faked the location of his stay to throw off the Spanish. Some people think he may have stopped much farther north than he claimed.
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Exhibit Recognizes Francis Drake, First Englishman to See California
- By Michael Stillman
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If his calculation was meant to be accurate, he probably stayed in one of a couple of bays a bit north of San Francisco. He left a plaque where he stopped, claiming the land for the Crown, and such a plaque was discovered in the San Francisco area in the 1930s. For years it was believed to be genuine, but updated testing in the 1970s proved it to be a fake (see the end of this article for more on this elaborate hoax). Among those who believe Drake faked his location, there is a place in Oregon frequently sited as Drake's bay, with possibilities as far north as Vancouver Island, Canada. The problem is that most of Drake's records were kept secret by Queen Elizabeth, who, as we noted, did not wish to antagonize the Spanish more than necessary. Those records were later lost or destroyed. We may never know for certain where Drake stayed, unless that elusive plaque truly is found one day.
Naturally, Drake did not find a northwest passage, and he had no desire to sail back along the west coast of South America where vengeful Spaniards might be waiting. Instead, Drake headed west, through Indonesia, around Africa and back home. In so doing, he became the first Englishman, and only the second navigator after Magellan, to circumnavigate the globe. He returned a hero, and though the details of his exploits were kept quiet, Queen Elizabeth knighted him. Drake would go on to serve as Mayor of Plymouth and as a Member of Parliament. However, as relations with Spain deteriorated, Drake would head back to sea to attack Spanish shipping. Then, in 1588, he led an expedition to the Spanish port of Cadiz. He would seriously damage the Spanish Armada, disrupting a planned invasion of England. Drake's legend was sealed.
Drake continued his activities into the 1590s, but his successes were now limited. The Spanish were better prepared for him. In 1596 Drake and his cousin John Hawkins would lead another venture to the Americas, but this one was a disaster. Neither would make it back alive. Drake contracted dysentery, would die, and be buried at sea. He was buried in a lead coffin, and there are regularly recurring plans to search for that coffin and someday bring Drake back home to England.
The collection of material pertaining to Drake now on exhibition by the Library of Congress is titled "The Kraus Collection of Sir Francis Drake." The collection was given to the Library by legendary bookseller H.P. Kraus and his wife, Hanni, in 1970. The late Hans Kraus had become fascinated with Drake and set about building a collection of contemporary items relating to his career. Here is the link to the Sir Francis Drake exhibition: http://international.loc.gov/intdl/drakehtml/.
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Exhibit Recognizes Francis Drake, First Englishman to See California
- By Michael Stillman
none
Note on Drake's brass plate: It has been described as a joke that "got out of hand." Evidently a small band of eminent historians and practical jokers in the San Francisco area in the 1930s hatched a plan to create a fake of the plaque Sir Francis Drake said he left behind while conducting repairs on his ship somewhere along the Pacific coast. They fashioned the plate from brass, carved in words they imagined Drake might have written, dug out a hole where Drake said he inserted a coin, used fire and dirt to "age" it, and left it in the San Francisco hills. It would be found by a local resident who would bring it to Professor Herbert Bolton, who was then Director of the Bancroft Library. Bolton, perhaps wanting too much to believe it was real (he had long been on the lookout for this plate), fell completely for the ruse. He would pronounce it authentic, and raise $3,500 to buy the plate. By this point, the ruse was clearly out of hand. Its perpetrators would throw hints of the fakery out along the way, but Bolton and others who wanted to believe would ignore them. Too much was now invested in the "authenticity" for any of the conspirators to dare come forward and publicly acknowledge what they had done.
Ironically, the mystery behind the plate would also surround those who created it. It would be forty years after the plate's discovery that Bolton's successors at the Bancroft would have the plate re-examined using the latest metallurgical techniques. It was confirmed that the plate was, indeed, a fake. By then, all in the small group of middle-aged pranksters from the 1930s would be long gone. For years, it was generally believed that a historical fraternity known as E Clampus Vitus had perpetrated the fraud. Fluorescent paint on the back with the initials ECV pointed a long finger toward this group (did people once believe that Drake had used fluorescent paint?). However, a more recent investigation has named four specific long deceased individuals, only one a "Clamper," as those responsible. Still, not even this is absolutely certain, so the definitive explanation of who faked the plate, like the whereabouts of the real plate and Drake's bay, may still be uncertain. Here is a link to the University of California Berkeley website with a 2003 article on the latest explanation as to who was responsible for the fake plate: www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2003/02/18_drake.html
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