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Nicasio Historical Background |
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Page 2 of 6 Arrival of the Europeans: Those Passing Through
The first sign of European presence in the Americas may have been noticed by the Coast Miwok during the mid 1500’s in the form of Spanish galleons which passed these shores on their way back to Mexico from Asia. If they did notice these bizarre apparitions floating out of the fog over the ocean, the Coast Miwok probably thought they were their ancestors’ spirits, since they believed that spirits lived in the west.
In 1579 the vanguard of the European invasion arrived on the shores of Marin in the form of a courageous and cocky British privateer on a run of good luck. Drake had left England in December 1577 with a fleet of five ships and 160 men. The secret purpose of his voyage, commissioned by Queen Elizabeth herself, was to commit acts of piracy against Spanish ships and settlements. When one of his captains, the gentleman John Doughty, divulged to the crew the secret of their purpose (piracy against Spain) and destination (the Great South Sea - Pacific Ocean), panic gripped them. Drake dealt with the subsequent incipient mutiny by trying and beheading Doughty. It is said that as the head fell to the sand on that cold and desolate South American beach, with the blood dripping at the neck freezing into scarlet icicles, Drake lifted it high on his sword and said, “Loo, this be the end of traitors.” Needless to say there were no more traitors on that voyage.
In September 1578, Drake courageously navigated the Pelican, his one remaining ship (due to shipwrecks and desertions), through the Strait of Magellan and into the Pacific Ocean with no maps or charts, since the Portuguese and Spanish greedily guarded their secrets. Drake rechristened his ship the Golden Hind and continued to sail north along the west coast of South and Central America where he led a series of offenses against the Spanish that filled his ship with gold, silver, and other precious commodities.
While exploring the North American coast before crossing the Pacific to start home, Drake took refuge at Drake’s Cove in Drake’s Estero off the south end of Drakes Bay to repair his ship and replenish his supplies. The date was June 17, 1579. Along Drakes Bay some 800 chards of Chinese porcelain, which Drake and his men pillaged from a Spanish ship off Central America, have been found, attesting to the fact that Drake did in fact land there.
There are other theories on exactly where along the North California coast Drake’s ship landed. Dr. Robert C. Thomas, great great grandson of Camilo Ynitia, who was the last hoipu or headman of the Olompali tribe, makes the case for Drake’s final safe harbor being at Olompali near the mouth of the Petaluma River inside San Francisco Bay, based on Drake’s estimates of latitude at his various stops while seeking shelter, Chaplain Fletcher’s descriptions of the local Indians, their number, language and ceremonies and the descriptions of the local waterways and terrain. (Thomas, 1973)
The Golden Hind, captain and crew, spent 36 days ashore, during which time they had numerous interactions with the local Coast Miwoks. “Drake’s Cove was the scene of hard work interspersed with elaborate ceremonies and earnest attempts of two diverse people to understand each other, encounters recorded in detail by Drake’s chaplain, Francis Fletcher.” (Von der Porten, 2000) Fletcher wrote that the natives offered Drake divine honors and freely supplied all his wants.
The Miwok men assisted Drake’s crew in its efforts to repair and supply their ship with provisions. The women, who generously gifted the sailors with shell and feather work ornaments and pouches of herbs, also performed ritual ceremonies in which much wailing, gnashing of teeth and self-mutilation took place. Although Drake believed the Miwok thought he and his crew were gods, it is more likely that they thought them returned ancestral ghosts whom they mourned. In fact the “cry” was the traditional expression of mourning in Coast Miwok culture, both for individual deaths and for their tribal annual day of mourning.
During his visit, Drake ceremoniously annexed the entire Marin Peninsula and surrounding territory in the name of Queen Elizabeth, posting a commemorative brass plaque. The Golden Hind departed the shores of Marin on July 22, 1579 and arrived back at Plymouth, England on November 3, 1580, his entire voyage lasting a total of two years ten months.
Thus the parade of European explorers and adventurers began its procession to Marin. Drake’s visit was followed in 1595 by Cermeno, whose ship, returning from Manila to Acapulco, was wrecked in a sudden, violent storm while anchored in Drake’s Bay. With the help of the local Coast Miwoks, he rigged and supplied his long boat and then managed to continue his mission of exploration while successfully sailing his crew safely back to Mexico. Viscaino, in 1602, while exploring the coast of Alta California for King Philip III, saw Cermeno’s wreck while he was at anchor in Drake’s Bay.
During the two centuries following Drake’s landing, the Spanish and then the Russian navigators became well acquainted with this part of the California coast. Then, in the early years of the nineteenth century, Yankee trading ships joined the Spanish and Russian ships along the California coast. Although Spain prohibited her colony, California, to trade with foreign countries, it was unable to enforce this edict. The Yankees followed the Russian lead in the otter and seal pelt trade. They sailed to Alaska where the Russians had established a colony for their own fur gathering operations. From the Russians they got crews of enslaved Aleut hunters in return for trade goods and a percentage of their fur take. The enslaved Aleut hunters were deposited on islands and mainland coastlines to slaughter and skin as many fur bearing animals, largely seals and otter, as possible. This was contrary to their way, killing only for the necessities of life and using the entire animal. They left thousands of rotting carcasses littering the beaches. The fate of their Aleut families left in Alaska was as disastrous as that of the seals and otter. Without their hunters, the women and children, unable to adequately procure the necessities of life in a difficult climate, generally perished.
The Yankee merchants brought these Aleut hunters and their kayaks to the coastlines of Marin, the Farralone Islands and San Francisco Bay itself. The Yankee ship, the Albatross left Drake’s Bay in 1811 with exactly 73,402 seal furs in its hold. That cargo was valued then at more than $150,000. Realizing the value of this trade, the soon-to-increase Yankee competition and the weak grasp which Spain held on this remote colony, the Russians in 1812 established a foothold on the shores of California, just north of Marin, where they built Fort Ross.
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Last Updated ( Friday, 20 November 2009 )
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