Francis Drake sails the Golden Hind somewhere…

1579 CE

Francis Drake sails the Golden Hind somewhere north of Spain's northernmost claim at Point Loma on June 17, 1579.

Later claiming to have sailed to the north as far as 48° N, on a parallel with Vancouver [Canada], to seek the Northwest Passage back into the Atlantic, he finds an excellent port, land, repairs and restocks his vessel, then stays for a time, keeping friendly relations with the natives.

When he lands, his chaplain holds Holy Communion; this is one of the first Protestant church services in the New World.

Bitterly cold weather defeats him, and he coasts southward to anchor near what is now San Francisco.

Drake claims the surrounding country in the name of the Holy Trinity for the English Crown as called Nova Albion—Latin for "New England."

(It is said that he left behind many of his men as a small colony, but his planned return voyages to the colony were never realized.)

The precise location of the port is carefully guarded to keep it secret from the Spaniards, and several of Drake's maps may even have been altered to this end.

(The relevant records, including logs, paintings and charts, will be lost when London’s Whitehall Palace burns in 1698.)

A point often claimed to be Nova Albion is Whale Cove (Oregon), although to date there is no evidence to suggest this, other than a general resemblance to a single map penned a decade after the landing.

There is also evidence that "Nova Albion" was at Comox on Vancouver Island.

This evidence is presented in Samuel Bawlf's The Secret Voyage of Sir Francis Drake.

It is known that Drake and his men sailed north from Nova Albion in search of a western opening to the Northwest Passage, a potentially valuable asset to the English at the time.

During this venture, the sailors accurately mapped the westward trend of the northwestern corner of the North American continent, present-day British Columbia and Alaska.

They had a rough voyage among the islands of the Alaskan panhandle, and were forced to turn back due to freezing weather.

(Bawlf argues that the furthest north that Drake's ship reached was 56°N, much higher than was originally recorded.

The reason for this false record, Bawlf writes, was for political reasons: competition with the Spanish in the Americas.

Queen Elizabeth wanted to keep any information on the Northwest Passage secret: unfortunately, she did such a good job on the cover-up that the location of Nova Albion and the highest latitude the expedition reached is still a source of controversy today, giving Drake and his men less credit for their great accomplishments than they probably deserve.)