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The March of Portola and the Discovery of the Bay of San Francisco
by
Zoeth S. Eldredge
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The Log of the San Carlos
and
Original Documents Translated and Annotated
by
E. J. Molera
Published by the Reception Committee of The California Promotion
Committee
This Book is published with the approval and endorsement of the
Executive Committee of the Portola Festival.
The March of Portola
and
The Log of the San Carlos
San Francisco
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"Serene, indifferent of fate,
Thou sittest at the Western Gate;
Upon thy heights so lately won,
Still slant the banners of the sun;
Thou seest the white seas strike their tents,
O warder of two continents,
And scornful of the peace that flies,
Thy angry winds and sullen skies,
Thou drawest all things, small or great,
To thee beside the Western Gate."
Table of Contents
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Introduction
The March of Portola and Discovery of the Bay of San Francisco
Data regarding Portola after he left California
Letter of the Viceroy of New Spain to Don Julian de Arriaga
Causes that led to the Expedition of the San Carlos
Log of the San Carlos
Report of the Commander of the San Carlos
Description of the Bay of San Francisco
Report of the Pilot of the San Carlos
Illustrations
The March to Monterey (Frontispiece)
Carrying the Sick
Discovery of the Bay of San Francisco
Departure of the San Carlos from La Paz
Facsimile of signature of Governor Portola
First Survey and Map of the Bay of San Francisco
Introduction
In the annals of adventure, there are no more thrilling narratives of
heroic perseverance in the performance of duty than the record of
Spanish exploration in America. To those of us who have come into
possession of the fair land opened up by them, the story of their
travels and adventures have the most profound interest. The account of
the expedition of Portola has never been properly presented. Many
writers have touched on it, and H. H. Bancroft, in his History of
California, gives a brief digest of Crespi's diary. Most writers on
California history have drawn on Palou's Vida del V. P. F. Junipero
Serra and Noticias de la Nueva California, and without looking further,
have accepted the ecclesiastical narrative. We have endeavored in this
sketch to give, in a clear and concise form, the conditions which
preceded and led up to the occupation of California.
The importance of California in relation to the control of the Pacific
was early recognized by the great European powers, some of whom had but
small respect for the Bull of Pope Alexander VI dividing the New World
between Spain and Portugal. England, France, and Russia sent repeated
expeditions into the Pacific. In 1646 the British Admiralty sent two
ships to look in Hudson's Bay for a northwest passage to the South Sea,
one of which bore the significant name of California. The voyage of
Francis Drake, 1577-1580, was a private venture, but at Drake's Bay he
proclaimed the sovereignty of Elizabeth, and named the country New
Albion. Two hundred years later (1792-1793) Captain George Vancouver
explored the coast of California down to thirty degrees of north
latitude (Ensenada de Todos Santos), which, he says, "is the
southernmost limit of New Albion, as discovered by Sir Francis Drake, or
New California, as the Spaniards frequently call it." Even after the
occupation and settlement by the Spaniards, so feeble were their
establishments that, as Vancouver reports to the Admiralty, it would
take but a small force to wrest from Spain this most valuable
possession. But though the growing feebleness of Spain presaged the time
when her hold upon America would be loosened, the standard of individual
heroism was not lowered, and the achievements of Portola and of Anza
rank with those of De Soto and Coronado. The California explorer did
not, it is true, have to fight his way through hordes of fierce natives.
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