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Beryl Shinn (right) nolds Drake’s
brass plate, while A. L. Chickering,
president ot the California Historical
Society, points to a photo of the spot
where Shinn found it.
ECAUSE an Oakland department
store clerk stopped to change a
tire on a rocky hill overlooking
San Francisco Bay, and amused
B
himself by tumbling rocks down the
hillside after the job was done. Cali
fornia historians have come into pos
session of a long-lost memento of great
importance—and the clerk has come
into possession of $3500.
And, by the same token, there is a
certain Oakland chauffeur who is kick
ing himself very earnestly these days.
For he let the memento slip through
his fingers, and thereby lost his chance
When SIP FPANCIS DPAKES lonW-lost
"CALLING CAPD^ ivasdiscovered
to get the tidy sum which finally went
to the clerk.
The memento is a brass plate, meas
uring some five by eight inches and
inscribed with rudely engraved letters.
It is California’s lone reminder of the
visit of one of the greatest sailors of
all time —Sir Francis Drake, doughty
sea rover of Queen Elizabeth’s day, who
sailed up the coast three and one-half
centuries ago, careened his ship in a
little harbor some 30 or 40 miles from
San Francisco Bay, put the brass plate
up on a pole to announce that he had
been there and had claimed the country
for Queen Elizabeth, and then sailed on
across the Pacific for home.
The clerk who found the plate was
Beryle Shinn, who had stopped to fix
a tire on a rocky little hillock outside
the town of San Rafael, overlooking
San Francisco Bay. Relaxing after his
job was done, he got to prying up loose
rocks and rolling them down the slope;
under one of them he found the long
lost plate.
Mildly curious, he put it in his car
and took it home. When he washed
it he discovered printing on it; so, even
tually, he took it to the University of
California, where he submitted it to Dr.
Herbert E. Bolton, professor of Ameri
can history, for inspection.
r\R. BOLTON examined it, cleaned it
some more, examined it still fur
ther—and suddenly realized that Cali
fornia’s greatest lost historical treasure
had come to light.
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For the ancient plate bore these words
—which aren’t so hard to read if you
bear in mind the old Elizabethan habit
of using “I” in place of “J” and “V”
in place of “U”:
“Bee it knowne vnto all men by these
presents
“Ivne 17, 1579
“By the grace of God and in the
name of herr maiesty Qveen Elizabeth
of England and her svccessors forever
I take possession of this kingdome
whose king and people freely resigne
their right and title in the whole land
vnto herr maiesties keepeing now
named by me and to bee knowne vnto
all men as nova albion
“Francis Drake.”
Back of this plate there lies one of
the grandest buccaneering stories of all
time—the story of Drake’s great voyage
around the globe.
Drake had set out from England on
Dec. 13, 1577, with five small ships and
166 men, to “singe the beard'’ of the
King of Spain.
By the summer of the next year he
had reached the southern coast of what
is now The Argentine. There he aban
doned two of his ships, which had be
come unseaworthy, hanged a mutinous
subordinate, and set out for the tor
tuous Straits of Magellan. Two other
ships went astray there, concluded that
Drake had been lost, and went back to
England. In his now famous ship, the
Golden Hind, Drake pushed on and
entered the Pacific.
Up he went, past Mexico and along
what is now the California coast. He
sailed, apparently, as far as the present
boundary between California and Ore
gon, found no passage, and concluded
that he would have to cross the Pacific
and go home around Africa. But first
he must find some safe harbor.
'T'HIS is where the brass plate comes
A in. When it was first identified, peo
ple assumed that it proved Drake had
really gone into San Francisco Bay.
But after the papers had been full of
this news for some days, William Cal
deria, chauffeur for an Oakland banker,
came forward and said that he had
originally found the plate—on the
shores of Bodega Bay, after all. He had
carried it around in his car for several
days, but at last had got tired of it and
had thrown it away.
This was Calderia’s hard luck; for the
California Historical Society thought so
much of the find that it gave Shinn
$3500 for the plate.
After Drake had got back to Eng
land his chaplain, one Fletcher, wrote
an account of the voyage under the
title, “The World Encompassed.” His
account of the landing in the bay and
the erection of the plate follow^:
“Before we went from thence, our
generall caused to be set vp a monu
ment of our being there; as also of her
maiesties and successors right and title
to that kingdome, namely, a plate of
When the Golden Hind anchored
~v 4 in the bay. the frightened In
—j dians sent out a lone envoy in
f' a canoe to appease the sup
posed wrath of the god-like
visitors. . . . Above, Sir Fran
cis Drake, by a contemporary.
brasse, fast nailed to a great and firme
post; whereotie is engrauen her graces
name, and the day and yeare of our
arriual there, and of the free gluing vp
of the prouince and kingdome both by
the king and people into her maiesties
hands; together with her highnesse pic
ture and armes in a piece of sixpence
currant English monie shewing it selfe
by a hole made of purpose through the
plate; vnderneath was likewise en
grauen the name of our generall, etc.”
In Chaplain Fletcher’s quaint docu
ment, mention is made of “the free glu
ing vp” of the land by “the king and
people.” Reference apparently is had
to some sort of deal with the local In
dians and their chief.
IT is related that the natives, attracted
1 to the scene by the firing of a gun
on the Golden Hind, were filled with
terror and assumed that the gods had
come to earth to punish them for their
sins. So before going out to visit the
ship they held a prayer-dance to ap
pease whatever powers they had of
fended.
This accomplished, they sent a mes
senger to the ship, bearing a basket of
vegetables and fruits as a peace offer
ing.
The next day he came again with an
other offering. After this sort of thing
had gone on for a couple of days, both
sides were satisfied that the other fel
low had no evil designs. The English
men went ashore and the Indians all
came ddwn to the beach; and after sev
eral days of powwowing—in which
neither side could understand a word
that the other was saying—the Indians
finally comprehended that their visitors
were out to take possession of their
country. Happy to get off with their
lives, they were agreeable to this, and
their chief at length formally surren
dered to Drake a big black stick which
seems to have been his badge of office.