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touron
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PostTue Mar 04, 2014 10:45 pm 
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The discovery of a rare 435-year-old Edward VI silver shilling buried in clay on the shores of Vancouver Island has rekindled the theory that Elizabethan explorer Sir Francis Drake landed in Canada two centuries before it was officially discovered by the Spanish. Article

Touron is a nougat of Arabic origin made with almonds and honey or sugar, without which it would just not be Christmas in Spain.
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hiker1
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PostTue Mar 04, 2014 11:27 pm 
Amazing, imagine finding a 435 year old coin on the beach. Or maybe that kind of thing happens all the time. I like the conspiracy theory about covering up Drake's possible visit to the West Coast.

falling leaves / hide the path / so quietly ~John Bailey, "Autumn," a haiku year, 2001, as posted on oldgreypoet.com
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Malachai Constant
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PostWed Mar 05, 2014 12:02 am 
Drake spent some time at Drakes Bay near Point Reyes north of San Francisco. It is widely believed that he visited Vancouver Island near Nootka and May have been first contact in the area. Coins are problematic as the circulated widely in the pacific (china, japan, se Asia, SA, and Mexico) as trade items and could have came from a number of sources.

"You do not laugh when you look at the mountains, or when you look at the sea." Lafcadio Hearn
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509
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PostWed Mar 05, 2014 10:31 am 
Did they EVER find anything that links him to Pt. Reyes?? I agree that he probably landed there, but it seems odd that no evidence has ever been found.

Retired Forester....rambling round www.usbackroads.blogspot.com
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hiker1
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PostWed Mar 05, 2014 3:35 pm 
Kevin wrote:
Or someone could have lost it last month.
Possible, but other very old European coins have been found on Vancouver Island and other nearby islands, as mentioned in the article.

falling leaves / hide the path / so quietly ~John Bailey, "Autumn," a haiku year, 2001, as posted on oldgreypoet.com
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meandering Wa
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PostWed Mar 05, 2014 6:06 pm 
what would Drake be doing with coins in pocket. If they used it as barter there is no way to say it came to the island directly with him and not via the west coast trading via Native peoples

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Malachai Constant
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PostWed Mar 05, 2014 7:06 pm 
509 wrote:
Did they EVER find anything that links him to Pt. Reyes?? I agree that he probably landed there, but it seems odd that no evidence has ever been found.
His log describes landing on the coast trading, with natives, and making repairs. The description matches Point Reyes although it is a bit vague. I read an article that claims he was following a rudder from a ship he captured. That indicates another point a bit north. His log describes nailing a brass plate to a tree with an inscription which has never been found. It seems to me such a plate would be a big find for natives that would disappear quickly. The area was not settled,all that much until the 19th century 300 years later iron rusts away and wood rots in that amount of time. Silver and gold last but I bet he was pretty carefulness with that. For what it is worth the US government recognizes that Drake landed at Point Reyes.

"You do not laugh when you look at the mountains, or when you look at the sea." Lafcadio Hearn
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cairn builder
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PostWed Mar 05, 2014 8:54 pm 
Kevin wrote:
Or someone could have lost it last month.
Do you think they would have noticed it went missing?

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touron
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PostWed Mar 05, 2014 10:39 pm 
Maybe they will find a 16th century vending machine buried nearby. drink.gif

Touron is a nougat of Arabic origin made with almonds and honey or sugar, without which it would just not be Christmas in Spain.
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Mike Collins
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PostFri Mar 07, 2014 3:49 pm 
With the springlike warmth I decided to bike to the UW campus and visit the Special Collections section of the Allen Library. I blew the dust off of volume 3 of British Columbia Historical Quarterly from 1939 to read an article entitled Drake's Course in the North Pacific by R.P. Bishop. Captain Bishop RN studied charts, journals, sailing directions, and atmospheric conditions to conclude that Drake reached Vancouver Island on June 10, 1579. Drake anchored in what the ship's reverend called a "bad bay". It remains a guess just where this was. We do not know the exact position of Drake's northernmost landfall. The sextant had not yet been invented so we can excuse this lapse. The astrolabe was available however which is accurate +/- 1 degree. Some documents related to the voyage speak of 48 degrees of latitude as being the northernmost landfall.

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mike
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PostFri Mar 07, 2014 4:14 pm 
Mike Collins wrote:
Drake anchored in what the ship's reverend called a "bad bay"....... Some documents related to the voyage speak of 48 degrees
So ± Port Renfrew??

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hiker1
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PostFri Mar 07, 2014 10:02 pm 
Would "bad bay" mean one that is not good for anchoring because not sheltered enough from the open sea? If so Port San Juan (the name of the bay where Port Renfrew is) would be that. So would several bays further south like Becher, Parry, Oak. But not Sooke Inlet and Basin, which would be safer. Further north Pachena Bay might be better, and Barkley Sound has plenty of safe havens. But then you're up almost to 49 degrees.

falling leaves / hide the path / so quietly ~John Bailey, "Autumn," a haiku year, 2001, as posted on oldgreypoet.com
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Mike Collins
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PostSat Mar 08, 2014 5:54 am 
The reverend Francis Fletcher kept his own log of the voyage. It has a lengthy title; The World Encompassed by Sir Francis Drake, Being His Next Voyage to that to Nombre de dios, Collated with an Unpublished Manuscript of Francis Fletcher, Chaplain to the Expedition. It was published by the Hakluyt Society of London in 1854. In the manuscript Fletcher writes that the ship sought shelter from contrary winds and the "stinking fogges". At that time Captain Bishop determined that Drake was at Vancouver Island. Page 34 via the link is where the date June 10 is mentioned and it is unclear to me how Captain Bishop determined that date for the landfall on Vancouver Island. You can read more about it on-line through this link http://www.wdl.org/en/item/624/zoom/#group=1&page=1&zoom=0.0646¢erX=0.5000¢erY=4.9559

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mike
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PostSat Mar 08, 2014 11:12 am 
Hakluyt Society published several volumes about Drake. Mostly First Series and so very costly. Even the Second Series is getting up there. I was a subscriber for many years but recently let my membership lapse.

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