He Discovered, Likewise, Cape Mendocino; And Ascertained, That From
This Place To The Harbour De La Nadividad, The Land Continued Without The
Intervention Of Any Strait.
In 1582, Gualle was directed by the king of
Spain to examine if there was a passage to the east and north-east of
Japan, that connected the sea of Asia with the South Sea.
He accordingly
steered from Japan to the E.N.E. about 300 leagues: here he found the
current setting from the north and north-west, till he had sailed above 700
leagues, when he reckoned he was only 200 leagues from the coast of
California. In this voyage he discovered those parts of the north-west
coast of America which are called New Georgia and New Cornwall. At the
beginning of the seventeenth century, the Spaniards, alarmed at the
achievements of Sir Francis Drake on this part of America, and still
anxious to discover, if possible, the Straits of Anian, sent out Sebastian
Viscaino from Acapulco: he examined the coasts as far as Cape Mendocino,
and discovered the harbour of Montery. One of his ships reached the
latitude of 43 degrees, where the mouth of a strait, or a large river, was
said to have been discovered.
The expedition of Sir Francis Drake, though expressly undertaken for the
purpose of distressing the Spaniards in their new settlements, must be
noticed here, on account of its having contributed also, in some degree, to
the geographical knowledge of the north-west coast of America. He sailed
from Plymouth on the 15th November, 1577, with five vessels, (the largest
only 100 tons, and the smallest 15,) and 164 men. On the 20th of August,
1578, he entered the Strait of Magellan, which he cleared on the 6th of
September: "a most extraordinary short passage," observes Captain Tuckey,
"for no navigator since, though aided by the immense improvements in
navigation, has been able to accomplish it in less than 36 days." After
coasting the whole of South America to the extremity of Mexico, he resolved
to seek a northern passage into the Atlantic. With this intention, he
sailed along the coast, to which, from its white cliffs, he gave the name
of New Albion. When he arrived, however, at Cape Blanco, the cold was so
intense, that he abandoned his intention of searching for a passage into
the Atlantic, and crossed the Pacific to the Molucca islands. In this long
passage he discovered only a few islands in 20 deg. north latitude: after an
absence of 1501 days, he arrived at Plymouth. The discoveries made by this
circumnavigator, will, however, be deemed much more important, if the
opinion of Fleurien, in his remarks on the austral lands of Drake, inserted
in the Voyage of Marchand, in which opinion he is followed by Malte Brun,
be correct; viz. that Drake discovered, under the name of the Isles of
Elizabeth, the western part of the archipelago of Terra del Fuego; and that
he reached even the southern extremity of America, which afterwards
received, from the Dutch navigators, the name of Cape Horn.
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