New Albion

Sir Francis Drake's the Golden Hinde as imagined by an artist. Sir Christopher Hatton was Drake's patron and one of the sponsers of the voyage that began in 1577. By sponsor I assume he put up some of the money needed to get the ships out of port. So was the Queen and her share of the profits was fifty percent. 

The ship was originally named the Pelican. Drake renamed the ship midvoyage in honor of Hatton. A hinde is a red deer doe and was part of Hatton's family crest. There is a full scale, sea worthy replica of the ship moored in Soutwark, London. Built in 1973, the vessel spent the next twentry years or so making good will tours, circumnavigating the globe, used in the miniseries Shogun (as the Portuguese Man of War I assume). Since 1996 the Golden Hinde II has hosted tours and edcational programs. 

OooooKaaaay. Mild case of where in the heck are all the puzzle pieces or where is the end of this ball of string. I've finally realized that I have this weird brain. The world is either a giant puzzle box and I'm trying to fit the pieces together or the world is a giant ball of string and I'm searching for the end of the string. 

I am assuming that some of the folks who drop by to visit this blog don't know much about Oregon. That's fine by me. Most of what I know about say, Wisconsin is they make cheese and my grandfather was born there. What is really kind of embarassing is that I was born in Oregon and I really don't know a heck of a lot about my home state. The Willamette Valley, a section of the coast, and some driveby's through the Gorge ending in Hermiaton. So I'm going exploring (gotta love the inernet) and you folks are welcome to come along. 

1577. English sea captain and privateer (the Spanish called him a pirate) Sir Francis Drake, was commissioned by Queen Elizabeth to sail into the Pacific and raid the Spanish settlements on the west coast of New Spain. The raiding expedtion was successful. He sacked Valpaariaso and captured two Spanish treasure ships. Very profitable the reuslts were too.

Now Drake was down to one ship renamed the Golden Hind. There is some evidence that Drake had another mission. To search for the semi mythical Northwest Passage. A sea route in the north that would allow the English to sail into the Pacific bypasing the Spanish ships and settlements. And here we enter into the realms of the "maybes." And there is a whole list of possible landing sites from Drake's Bay north of San Francisco, California to Vancouver Island in British Columbis. 

Map of Drake's three years voyage around the world

Possible Oregon sites in Oregon include Nehalem Bay, Whale Cove, South Cove, and Port Orford. The arguments are mostly polite. Drake landed somewhere north of the territory claimed by Spain. He drew a map that resembles several possibilities and called the site New Albion, New England. His log goes on to state that he erected a post claiming the territory for England in the name of Elizabeth. The first English to set foot on the western coast of the so called New World predating Jamestown by twentynine years. The first English to circumnavigate the world. 

I would love to see his log books for this section of the voyage. How did he resupply for the voyage across the Pacific? They spent five weeks hauling the ship on to the beach to clean and repair her hull. Did put the crew to boiling sea water for salt? Send out hunting expeditions for meat or fish to salt or smoke? Make contact with local Native Americans to discover what local vegetables or nuts that would could be salted or dried.? I'm a long term friend of jars and pressure cookers and that crew had to eat until the Golden Hind made it to the Spice Islands, the Cape of Good Hope, west Africa and home. The second ship to sail around the world and the first captain to complete the voyage. 

The Golden Hind made port on September 26, 1580. Half the cargo was claimed by the Queen, the logs and other records were basically classified top secret, Drake and his crew sworn to secrecy.