Sir Francis Drake
The English privateer Francis Drake sailed from England in December 1577, commissioned by Queen Elizabeth I to raid Spanish shipping and settlements in the Americas. Another incidental purpose of the voyage was to search for the Northwest Passage, known to the Spanish as the Strait of Anián.
For a year and a half, Drake had a field day loading some thirty tons of Spanish gold and silver aboard his ship the Golden Hind. But Drake's greed nearly did him in. By the time he reached the California coast in June 1579, his ship was bursting at the seams with its ill-gotten Spanish booty. Drake was forced to put in to shore and make emergency repairs.
The exact location of Francis Drake's landing spot on the California coast remains a mystery. Accounts of the voyage say only that on June 17, 1579, the Golden Hind entered "a faire and good Baye." Drake and his crew remained for thirty-six days, repairing their ship, building a small fortification, exploring the surrounding territory, interacting with the local Indians, and erecting a brass plate which claimed for England's Queen Elizabeth "this kingdome...to be knowne unto all men as Nova Albion."
Some scholars believe that Drake landed on the west shore of Bolinas Lagoon in Marin County. Archaeologists in 1973 unearthed there the remains of what they believed was Drake's long-lost fort. Other scholars maintain that Drake sailed into San Francisco Bay. They believe that Drake anchored and careened the Golden Hind in a cove at Point San Quentin near where Drake's plate of brass was found in 1936. Most scholars, however, agree that the weight of documentary and archaeological evidence points to Drake's Estero, an arm of Drake's Bay on the Point Reyes Peninsula. Members of the Drake's Navigators Guild discovered there in 1952 what they believed was Drake's encampment site.
A summary of the scholarly controversy over Drake's landing place was published in the California Historical Quarterly (Summer 1974).
Drake's Encounter with the Coast Miwok
The first recorded encounter between English-speaking people and the Indians of California occurred during the visit of Francis Drake in 1579. Accounts of Drake's visit contain detailed descriptions of the houses, feathered baskets, ceremonies and language of the local Indians. Based on these accounts, anthropologists have identified them as Coast Miwok, a people whose homeland included the Point Reyes Peninsula in present-day Marin County.
The English visitors misinterpreted the actions of the Coast Miwok. The English mistakenly believed that the Miwok were turning over sovereignty to their country by placing a feathered crown on Drake's head. The Miwok also wailed and scratched their cheeks. The English misinterpreted this response as an act of worship and concluded that the Indians believed them to be gods. We now know that that these were the mourning customs of the Coast Miwok. Most likely the Indians regarded the English visitors as relatives who had returned from the dead.