History of Benton County, Oregon, Part 7

Author: David D. Fagan
Publication date: 1885
Publisher:
Number of Pages:

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From being the most energetic in searching for the Straits of Anian, the Span- iards suddenly became extremely apathetic to outward appearance, but were by no means so actually. Their interest in that supposititious passage was as lively as ever, and they were now even more anxious that it should not be discovered at all than they had formerly been to find it. The reason for this change of ideas is very simple.

Spain was now the complete master of Central America, Mexico and the West India islands, which formed an important and almost vitally necessary intermediate station between Europe and the Indies, a point of advantage which no other nation possessed. While she was securing this important foothold in the New World, Portugal had bent her energies upon opening a trade with the Indies by way of the Cape of Good Hope, and had succeeded in establishing a most valuable commerce with that rich and populous region, which Spain viewed with envious eyes. She turned her attention from the coast of America, and dispatched several armed fleets across the Pa- cific to obtain lodgment in the Indies. After several unsuccessful attempts the Phil- ippine islands were subjugated in 1564, and the practicability of crossing the Pacific in both directions, which had at first been doubted because all efforts to return had been made in the region of the trade winds, established beyond cavil. In a few years Spain's commerce on the Pacific became extremely important. Annually large vessels sailed from Central America with gold and merchandise, which were bartered for spices, silks and porcelain in the Philippine islands and China. These were landed at the Isthmus of Panama and transported across to vessels in waiting to convey them to Spain. A large trade was also carried on along the coast to Peru and Chili.

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Exemption from interference by rival nations was the secret of the immense growth of this India trade. The annual galleon from India was loaded with a cargo of immense value, and yet the ship bore no armament for defense. No flag but that of Spain fluttered over Pacific waters, and there was no need of cannons. It was in expectation of this condition of affairs that Spain ceased her efforts to find the Straits of Anian. The discovery of such a passage would be most calamitous. Through it could come hostile ships of war and the freebooters who were wont in those days to roam the high seas in search of plunder, and prey upon the defenseless commerce of the Pacific. The length and precarious nature of the voyage into the Pacific through the Straits of Magellan, served to keep that ocean for many years free from hostile ships.

This exemption from outside interference could not last forever. Spain arro- gantly claimed dominion over and the exclusive right of trade with all regions that had been even technically discovered by Spanish navigators, even if no settlement of any kind had been attempted. Foreigners of all nations were prohibited under pain of death, from having any intercourse whatever with the territories claimed by the Castilian monarch, or from navigating the waters adjacent to them. To such pre- sumptuous conduct as this neither England nor France would submit. They willingly respected all rights of dominion acquired by actual settlement, but this sweeping claim to exclusive control of almost the entire New World they would not countenance for an instant. The result was that English, French and Dutch "free traders" made sad havoc with the Spanish shipping on the Atlantic coast of America; and though the nations were at peace, these plundering expeditions were winked at by the sovereigns, who often directly and always indirectly received their share of the booty.

These roving marauders made great exertions to discover a northern passage into the Pacific, urged on by the reports constantly received of the wonderful richness of the East Indian commerce of Spain. These reports at last overcame the fears of English seamen, and they invaded the Pacific by the passage of Magellan's tempestu- ous straits.

There was one bolder and more reckless, more ambitious and successful than the others, who won the reputation of being the "King of the Sea." In 1578, he thus passed into the Pacific with three vessels, and scattered terror and devastation among the Spanish shipping along the coast. He captured the East Indian galleon, on her way home loaded with wealth, levied contributions in the ports of Mexico, and, finally, with his one remaining vessel freighted with captured treasures, sailed north to search for the Straits of Anian. Through it he proposed passing home to England, and thus avoid a combat with the fleets of Spain, that lay in wait for him off the Straits of Magellan. His name was Captain Francis Drake; but afterwards the English mon- arch knighted him for becoming the most successful robber on the high seas, and now the historian records the name as Sir Francis Drake. When near the mouth of Ump- qua river, in Oregon, he ran his vessel into a "poor harbor," put his Spanish pilot, Morera, ashore, and left him to find his way back, thirty-five hundred miles, through an unknown country thickly populated with savages, to his home in Mexico. This feat must have been accomplished, as the only account existing of the fact comes through Spanish records, showing that he survived the expedition to have told the

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result. Drake then continued his voyage until he had reached about latitude 43°, when the cold weather, although it was after the fifth of June, forced him to abandon the hope of discovering the mythical straits. The chaplain who accompanied the expedition, being the historian of the voyage, says of the cold, that their hands were numbed, and meat would feeze when taken from the fire, and when they were lying-to in the harbor at Drake's bay, a few miles up the coast from San Fran- cisco, the snow covered the low hills. He then evaded the Spanish fleet by crossing the Pacific and returning to England by the Cape of Good Hope. For a long time it was believed that Sir Francis Drake discovered the bay of San Francisco; that it was in its waters he cast anchor for thirty-six days, after having been forced back along the coast by adverse winds; but now it is generally conceded that he is not entitled to that distinction. Who discovered that harbor, or when the discovery was made, will probably never be known. What clothes it in mystery is, that the oldest chart or map of the Pacific coast known, on which a bay resembling in any way that of San Francisco at or near the proper point, was a sailing-chart found in the East Indian galleon captured in 1742, by Anson, an English commodore, with all her treasure, amounting to one and a half million dollars. Upon this chart there appeared seven little dots, marked "Los Farallones," and opposite these was a land-locked bay that resembled San Francisco harbor, but on the chart it bore no name. This is the oldest existing evidence of the discovery of the finest harbor in the world, and it proves two things : first, that its existence was known previous to that date, second, that the knowledge was possessed by the Spanish Manilla merchants to whom the chart and galleon belonged. Their vessels had been not unfrequently wrecked upon our coasts as far north as Cape Mendocino; and as Venegas, writing sixteen years later, says nothing of such a harbor, we are led to believe that its existence was possibly only known to those East India merchants, and was kept a secret by them for fear that its favorable location and adaptation would render it a resort for pirates and war-ships of rival nations to prey upon their commerce.

With Sir Francis Drake, unquestionably, lies the honor of having been the first European to actually land upon the coast of California. The account of that event, given by Rev. Fletcher, the chaplain of the expedition, states that the natives, having mistaken them for gods, offered sacrifices to them, and that, to dispel the illusion, they proceeded to offer up their own devotions to a Supreme Being. The narrative goes on to relate that-

Our necessarie business being ended, our General, with his companie, travailed up into the countrey to their villiages, where we found heardes of deere by 1,000 in a companie, being most large and fat of bodie. We found the whole countrey to be a warren of strange kinde of connies; their bodies in bigness as be the Barbarie connies, their heads as the heads of ours, the feet of a Want [mole] and the taile of a rat, being of great length ; under her chinne on either side a bagge, into which she gathered her meate, when she hath filled her bellie, abroad. The people do eat their bodies, and make accompt for their skinnes, for their King's coat was made out of them. [The farmer will readily recognize the little burrowing squirrel that ruins his fields of alfalfa, where the ground cannot be overflowed to drown them. ] Our General called this countrey Nova Albion, and that for two causes: the one in respect to the white bankes and cliffes which lie toward the sea; and the other because it might have some affinitie with our countrey in name, which some- times was so called.

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There is no part of earth here to be taken up, wherein there is not a reasonable quantitie of gold or silver. Before sailing away, our General set up a monument of our being there, as also of her majestie's right and title to the same, viz: a plate nailed upon a faire great poste, whereupon was engraved her majestie's name, the day and yeare of our arrival there, with the free giving up of the province and people into her majestie's hands, together with her highness' picture and arms, in a piece of five pence of current English money under the plate, whereunder was also written the name of our General.

It is claimed by some English historians that Drake proceeded as far north as latitude 48°; but as the claim is founded simply upon the word of this lying chaplain and is utterly inconsistent with other statements in the same narrative and is entirely at variance with an account of the voyage written by Francis Pretty, one of the crew, and published within a few years after his return, it is worthy of but little considera- tion. Fletcher's account was published by a second party in 1652, seventy years later and long after the death of every man who could personally dispute its assertions, and bears no marks of authenticity. Many passages are taken bodily from Pretty's narrative, which seems to have been the foundation upon which a tissue of falsehood and absurdities was erected. The assertion that snow covered the hills about San Francisco in the month of June and that meat froze upon being taken from the fire, is enough to condemn it all in the mind of anyone familiar with the fact that snow seldom falls there even in winter, and that meat never freezes at any season of the year. These facts are important ; for if Drake went to the 48th degree, he must have coasted along Oregon and Washington nearly to the Straits of Fuca; but if not, then his furthest point northward was off the mouth of the Umpqua, no further than Ferrelo had gone in 1543. To the latter opinion the best authorities hold.

Other English freebooters, encouraged by the dazzling success of Drake, followed his example, and for years Spain's commerce in the Pacific suffered many ravages at their hands. Meanwhile the English and Dutch navigators continued their efforts to discover the northwest passage, while the Spanish government was constantly excited and alarmed for fear these indefatigable searchers would be rewarded with success. Rumors that the Straits of Anian had been discovered were spread from time to time, creating great consternation in Spain, Spanish America and the Philippine islands. Several navigators pretended to have passed through these mythical straits, either to give themselves importance in the nautical world, or to secure some employment in their profession or emolument for the valuable services they thus claimed to have rendered. The narrative of this character which attracted the most universal atten- tion, was one of a voyage which was no doubt entirely fictitious, claimed to have been made by Captain Lorenzo Ferrer de Maldonado, a Portuguese, and related by him in a memorial to the Spanish Council of the Indies, wherein he petitioned for a remuner- ation for his valuable services and a commission to occupy and defend the passage against the ships of other nations.

In his narrative, which was precise and careful in its details, were given all the geographical ideas of the time in regard to the regions that would naturally be visited during the voyage described, nearly all of which have since been proved to be erron- eous. This fact is conclusive evidence that the narrative was a manufactured one and the voyage a myth. In it the Straits of Anian are described as follows :

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The Strait of Anian is fiften degrees in length, and can easily be passed with a tide lasting six hours; for those tides are very rapid. There are, in this length, six turns and two entrances, which lie north and south; that is, bear from each other north and south. The entrance on the north side (through which we passed) is less than half a quarter of a league in width, and on each side are ridges of high rocks; but the rock on the side of Asia is higher and steeper than the other, and hangs over, so that nothing falling from the top can reach its base. [The reader must bear in mind that this narrator claims the previous course of the vessel to have been through the long and tor- tuous channel of the Straits of Labrador in latitude 75°, from which it sailed southwest 790 leagues to the entrance of these straits in the 60th parallel of latitude; also that the straits were supposed to be a passage between Asia on the west, and America on the east, leading from this great North sea into the great South sea. ] The entrance into the South sea, near the harbor, is more than a quarter of a league in width, and thence the passage runs in an oblique direction, increasing the distance between the two coasts. In the middle of the strait, at the termination of the third turn, is a great rock, and an islet, formed by a rugged rock, three estadias (11,000 feet) in height, more or less; its form is round and its diameter may be two hundred paces; its distance from the land of Asia is very little; but the sea on that side is full of shoals and reefs, and can only be navigated by boats. The distance between this islet and the continent of America is less than a quarter of a league in width; and, although its channel is so deep that two and even three ships might sail almost through it, two bastions might be built on the banks with little trouble, which would con- tract the channel to within the reach of a musket shot.

Such is the only detailed description of the Straits of Anian, and it is thus given in full because of the effect it had upon maritime explorations for two centuries there- after. The author was evidently well posted on the maps and geographical theories of the day, and prepared his narrative with careful consideration of them ; but he failed in his cunning scheme, as the Council of the Indies not only denied his petition for a reward, but also declined to entrust him with the fortification and defense of the valu- able passage he claimed to have discovered. That to this story there was a foundation of fact is within the limits of possibility. There may have been made prior to the time the memorial was presented, some voyage to the extreme northern Atlantic coast of America, of which no record has been preserved. To have made the voyage claimed as high as the 75th parallel and passed through long straits into an open sea, traversing this southwest 790 leagues (about 3,000 miles) is plainly impossible. That, like Cortereal nearly a century before, he may have passed around the coast of Labra- dor and through the straits, which are near the 60th parallel, into Hudson's bay, is possible; and, like his great predecessor, he may have assumed that this sea could be followed until the supposed strait leading into the South sea was found. Believing thoroughly in this theory, Maldonado may have written this fictitious narrative with the hope that it would gain for him the command of an expedition to go in search of the straits and take possession of them. One thing is noticeable, and that is that in Behring's straits we find the old theory that but a short and narrow passage separated Asia and America was a correct one.

The next supposed discovery of the Straits of Anian which attracted much atten- tion, was that claimed to have been made by Juan de Fuca while in the Spanish ser- vice in the Pacific in 1592. The only account or record of this voyage was published in 1625 in the celebrated historical and geographical volume called "The Pilgrims," edited by Samuel Purchas, being "A note made by Michael Lock, the elder, touching the Strait of Sea commonly called Fretum Anian, in the South Sea, through the Northwest Passage of Meta Incognita," Since this reputed voyage entered largely

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into the discussion and settlement of "The Oregon question," the main portion of Mr. Lock's document is given, without attempting to preserve the Old English orthography. It says :

When I was in Venice, in April, 1596, haply arrived there an old man, about sixty years of age, called, commonly, Juan de Fuca, but named properly Apostolas Valerianus, of nation a Greek, born in Cephalonia, of profession a mariner, and an ancient pilot of ships. This man, being come lately out of Spain, arrived first at Leghorn, and went thence to Florence, where he found one John Douglas, an Englishman, a famous mariner, ready coming for Venice, to be pilot of a Venetian ship for England, in whose company they came both together to Venice. And John Douglas being acquainted with me before, he gave me knowledge of this Greek pilot, and brought him to my speech ; and, in long talks and conference between us, in presence of John Douglas, this Greek pilot declared, in the Italian and Spanish languages, this much in effect as followeth :

First, he said he had been in the West Indies of Spain forty years, and had sailed to and from mary places thereof, in the service of the Spaniards.

Also, he said that he was in the Spanish ship which, in returning from the Islands Philip- pines, towards Nova Spania, was robbed and taken at the Cape California by Captain Candish, Englishman, whereby he lost sixty thousand ducats of his goods.

Also, he said that he was pilot of three small ships which the Viceroy of Mexico sent from Mexico, armed with one hundred men, under a captain, Spaniards, to discover the Straits of Anian, along the coast of the South Sea, and to fortify in that strait, to resist the passage and proceedings of the English nation, which were forced to pass through those straits into the South Sea ; and that, by reason of a mutiny which happened among the soldiers for the misconduct of their cap- tain, that voyage was overthrown, and the ship returned from California to Nova Spania, without anything done in that voyage ; and that, after their return, the captain was at Mexico punished by justice.

Also, he said that, shortly after the said voyage was so ill ended, the said Viceroy of Mexico sent him out again, in 1592, with a small caravel and a pinnace, armed with mariners only, to fol- low the said voyage for the discovery of the Straits of Anian, and the passage thereof into the sea, which they call the North Sea, which is our northwest sea ; and that he followed his course, in that voyage, west and northwest in the South Sea, all along the coast of Nova Spania, and California, and the Indies, now called North America, (all which voyage he signified to me in a great map, and a sea-card of my own, which I laid before him), until he came to the latitude of 47 degrees, and that, there finding that the land trended north and northwest, with a broad inlet of sea, between 47 and 48 degrees of latitude, he entered thereinto, sailing therein more than twenty days, and found that land trending still sometime northwest, and northeast, and north, and also east and southeastward, and very much broader sea than was at the said entrance, and that he passed by divers islands in that sailing ; and that, at the entrance of this said strait, there is, on the northwest coast thereof, a great headland or island, with an exceeding high pinnacle, or spired rock, like a pillar, thereupon.

Also, he said that he went on land in divers places, and that he saw some people on land clad in beasts' skins ; and that the land is very fruitful, and rich of gold, silver, pearls, and other things, like Nova Spania.

Also, he said that he being entered thus far into the said strait, and being come into the North Sea already, and finding the sea wide enough everywhere, and to be about thirty or forty leagues wide in the mouth of the straits where he entered, he thought he had now well discharged his office ; and that, not being armed to resist the force of the savage people that might happen, he therefore set sail, and returned homewards again towards Nova Spania, where he arrived at Aca- pulco, Anno 1592, hoping to be rewarded by the Viceroy for this service done in the said voyage.

* * * [Here follows an account of his vain endeavors for three years to secure a proper recognition of his services by the Viceroy or the Spanish monarch, and his resolution to return to his native land to die among his countrymen.] * * *

Also, he said he thought the cause of his ill-reward had of the Spaniards, to be for that they did understand very well that the English nation had now given over all their voyages for discovery

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A. G. Walling, Lith. Portland, Or.

Corvallis, Benton County, Oregon.

RESIDENCE OF HON. JOHN BURNETT,

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of the northwest passage ; wherefore they need not fear them any more to come that way into the South Sea, and therefore they needed not his service therein any more.

Also, he said that, understanding the noble mind of the Queen of England, and of her wars against the Spaniards, and hoping that her majesty would do him justice for his goods lost by Cap- tain Candish, he would be content to go into England, and serve her majesty in that voyage for the discovery perfectly of the northwest passage into the South Sea, if she would furnish him with only one ship of forty tons' burden, and a pinnace, and that he would perform it in thirty days' time, from one end to the other of the strait, and he willed me so to write to England.

And, from conference had twice with the said Greek pilot, I did write thereof, accordingly, to England, unto the right honorable the old Lord Treasurer Cecil, and to Sir Walter Raleigh, and to Master Richard Hakluyt, that famous cosmographer, certifying them hereof. And I prayed them to disburse one hundred pounds, to bring the said Greek pilot into England, with myself, for that my own purse would not stretch so wide at that time. And I had answer that this action was well liked and greatly desired in England ; but the money was not ready, and therefore this action died at that time, though the said Greek pilot, perchance, liveth still in his own country, in Cephalonia, towards which place he went within a fortnight after this conference had at Venice.

The remainder of the long document gives the details of correspondence held by Lock with Juan de Fuca during the next few years, showing that up to 1598 the pilot was still willing to go with him to England, but that in 1602, when Lock had finally finished his business in Venice and prepared to return to England, a letter to the Greek failed to elicit a response, and the writer heard a little later that the old navigator was dead.

Much controversy has been and is still being carried on among historians as to whether such a person as Juan de Fuca ever lived, or such a voyage as Lock described was ever made. Mexican and Spanish records of the period have been carefully searched by those eager to prove the truth of this narrative, without revealing any confirmatory evidence whatever. The negative the records, of course, could not estab- lish. The voyage must stand or fall by the manner in which the narrator's geograph- ical descriptions bear the light of modern investigation. One thing is clearly notice- able; its geographical descriptions of regions claimed to have been visited are far more accurate than those of any navigator of the preceding or subsequent century in any quarter of the globe; and the narrative is entirely free from those extravagant asser- tions in regard to the wonderful wealth of the people or magnificence of their cities, contained in the accounts of voyages whose authenticity can not be questioned, which assertions were always found to have been grossly exaggerated and often wholly the creatures of imagination. Prima facie, then, it is more authentic than accounts of nearly contemporaneous voyages of which undisputable records exist. Now to examine its statements by the clear light of facts. Juan de Fuca locates his passage between 47° and 48° of latitude, while the fact is that between the 48th and 49th, just such a passage as he describes exists. This is the entrance to Puget sound and is still known as the Straits of Fuca. His account of the passage, its leading off in all directions and its many islands, is substantially correct, and his error in locating the entrance a few miles to the south is a far less grievous one than those made in every account handed down to us of those times. The advanced age, length of time elapsed and annoyances of his long efforts to secure his just reward, could easily account for so slight an error when detailing the circumstances from memory alone; and it must be remembered that the account was written by Lock, a second party, and is liable to 4

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History of Benton County, Oregon, Part 7

Author: David D. Fagan Publication date: 1885 Publisher: Number of Pages:

Author: David D. Fagan
Publication date: 1885
Publisher:
Number of Pages: