by Edward Von der Porten amous firsts are magnets for histo rians, biographers, poets, nationalists and romantics. If mys tery can be connected to a famous event, untold legions of amateur detectives come forward claiming they have solved controversies th at have confounded academics for generations. Perhaps there m ay be no m ys tery in the first place. In their research, they disregard or warp evidence to fit the desired conclusion. The results invariably co nAict with each other, ye t nothing deters them from their paths toward page-o ne headlines. Witness the ancient astronauts who inAuenced civilizations around th e world, the Chinese admiral who vis ited every coastline of the Americas, and the Vikings who explored half of Ameri ca five centuries before Columbus. All are passionately believed . All widely published. Al l fantasy. Francis Drake was one of the great sailors in exploration history. Inevitably, his memory attracts scholars, hopeful dreamers, and outright cranks. Once again, anaspecrofDrake'scircumnavigation (1577 to 1580) is tlle subject of an elaborate nationalistic romance. Samuel Bawlf, a former minister of me British Col umbia government, is fascinated by Drake and old maps. He devised a legend which credits Drake wim discovering Bawlf's home province in the spring and summer ofl 579. knot speed the Golden Hind could maintain close-hauled on a long H ow Bawlf succeeded in having his srory published on born sides of offshore voyage. the Atlantic should be a cautionary tale for all who prefer accurate Once Bawlf placed Drake well north on the coast, he used a row histories of mariners and me sea. of four tiny islands shown on two contemporary, small-scale world Bawlfbased his hypothesis on limited facts and many supposi- m aps to identi fy the places Drake visited. H e alleged that these tions. From them he constructed a conspiracy theory which allowed islands were placed on the maps as a result of Drake's explorations him ro disrort evidence, ignore inform ation char does not fit his and identifi ed chem as Prince of Wales Island, the Queen C harlotte theory, and report hererofore unknown events whose narratives, Islands, Vancouver Island, and the Olympic Peninsula. Bawlf ache says, were suppressed in Drake's day. counted for the 600-nautical-mile discrepancy by explaining that Bawlf starts his tale in southern Mexico, where Drake's raid on he uncovered a conspiracy by the government of Drake's monarch, Spain's New World towns and shipping ended in April 1579. With Queen Elizabeth, to disguise information about the voyage after his a long voyage still ahead, Drake needed a safe place to repair and return. T his purported conspiracy, according to Bawlf, created a plot resupply his treasure-laden Golden Hind. H e also sought a northwes t to move Drake's published latitudes so uthward by ten degrees. That passage that might rake him eastward through northern North he has no evidence for either the conspiracy or his "ten-degree rule" America to the Atlantic and home. Drake's ships sailed westward apparently posed no problem for Bawlf. Nonetheless, the islands first from the port of Guarulco appeared on the 1564 Ortelto find the northeast trade Golden Hind rounds Point Reyes and enters Drakes Bay, Latitude 38° N ius world map-fifteen years winds, then northwes t until before Drake's visit. Later, they reached th e wes tercartographers simply copied f them and then added a rough lies, after whi ch they sailed approximation of Drake's north-northeast until they track. T hus, these islands, came upon the coast. Bawlf which are the foundation of ass umes the approximately 1,400 leagues (4,200 miles) Bawlf's cartographic theories, could not have derived from Drake sailed were modern leagues of 18 ,228 feet, which Drake's voyage. he used to place Drake's landH avi ng estab lished the region Drake visited to his fall on Vancouver Island's west coast. D rake, however, satisfaction, Bawlf examined many o th er contempo rary used the Elizabethan league maps and co rrelated place ofl5,000 feet, whi ch wo uld names on them with locaplace his landfall more than tions on modern maps of the 300 nauti cal miles to the northwest coast. He altered so uth , in southern Oregon, la ti tu des and ignored the fact consistent with the threeDRAWING BY RAYMON D AKER, COU RTESY DO ROTH Y AKE R
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SEA HISTORY 106, WINTER 2004