Point Reyes Light - June 28, 2001

Drake’s landing site now almost certain

By Gregory Foley

In an exciting discovery that confirms that Sir Francis Drake landed in Drake’s Estero on Point Reyes in the summer of 1579, a trio of historians on Monday revealed that the configuration of sand spits at the mouth of the estuary have completed a miraculous 54-year cycle.

They now appear just as they were depicted in one of the explorer’s maps.

Raymond Aker, Bob Allen, and Ed Von der Porten, members of the Palo Alto-based Drake Navigators Guild, claimed that the finding corroborates over five decades of research to prove that Drake sailed the 80-foot craft Golden Hind into a protected cove within the estuary to carry out repairs before he continued on his successful circumnavigation of the globe.

"I saw it in 1956, and we’re very lucky to be able to see it again," Aker said while overlooking the site on Monday.

Discovery predicted

Aker made the discovery in April, after predicting some three decades ago that the forces of winds, waves, and currents would eventually reestablish the sand formations at the mouth of Drake’s Estero where there is deepwater access to Drake’s Cove.

US Navy Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz named the cove, which on Drake’s maps was called Portus Novae Albionis – the Port of New England. The name was first used by the crew of the of the Golden Hind, who used the cove for a place protected from high seas to turn the ship on its side and caulk the wood-beam hull.

"It was a real thrill to see," Aker said after seeing his prediction come true. The historian had originally predicted that the estuary sand formations and channels would return to the same configurations as in the Drake artist’s map as part of a 53-year cycle, but fell short by a year. The formation had been in place from 1947 to 1956, before storms in the winter of 1957 altered the formations and initiated a new cycle.

2nd circumnavigation of globe

The finding adds more credence to the evidence compiled by the Drake Navigators Guild that the Golden Hind used Drake’s Cove as a port in June and July of 1579 during his round-the-world voyage that lasted from 1577 to 1580. It was only the second circumnavigation of the planet and was the first in which the ship’s captain survived.

A dispute over Drake’s landing spot has been the source of debate in recent years, with some historians claiming that the explorer landed close to Bolinas, while others have suggested his 36-day West Coast anchorage was offshore of a proposed subdivision in Oregon or was in British Columbia.

Guild member Allen on April 18 walked with Aker at low tide to a vantage point high above the mouth of Drake’s Estero to take note of changes caused by winter storms, and the pair discovered that a distinctive sandspit and an adjacent sand island closely matched the same prominent features in the Drake map of Portus Novae Albionis.

Standing where Drake stood

Reevaluating the site on Monday, Allen said, "It’s just very exciting to be standing in the same place where Drake was. We’re seeing it just as he did. It’s wonderful."

Aker explained that he was able to predict that the short sandspit and island would reform based on research using charts from the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries supplemented by aerial photographs of the site taken since 1943.

"The key is the deepwater channel," Von der Porten said. During the cycle, the sandspit grows until it spans almost the entire mouth of the channel. It then is eroded by the elements to where a small "rump spit" protects a small cove at the west side.

A channel through the center of the estuary curves into the cove until several years of storms and high tides destroy the spit. As the channels shift and new sand is deposited, a new spit reforms and grows.

Von der Porten said that the discovery makes all but certain his group’s long-held theory that Drake’s West Coast anchorage was at Point Reyes, despite the fact that the cove has now filled in with sediment and vegetation.

Farallon Islands

Written accounts of Drake’s voyage note that while the captain was searching for a harbor to do the careen and gather supplies for his subsequent cross-Pacific voyage, he noted a "faire and good Baye" at the 38th parallel, the exact latitude of the Point Reyes peninsula. Written accounts of animals also match those of the West Marin coast. In addition, descriptions of offshore islands seem to describe the Farallones. The Guild also points to physical evidence that proves their theory, particularly sharp-edged pieces of Chinese pottery. While shards of porcelain from the ship of Portuguese explorer Sebastian Cermeno – which sank off the coast in 1595 – have also been discovered, they can be distinguished from Drake’s pottery because they have rounded edges from tumbling in the surf.

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