Galleon San Francisco Xavier

[Cablava]

This is one I have never looked at, could be interesting if anyone has the time. This all I got first time at it.

The Manila Galleons and California:
The Search for Good Galleon Ports in Baja California
by
Rodrigue L?vesque
(L?vesque Publications)

The search of good ports along the west coast of California, suitable for the layover of the Manila galleons, which were on their way every year during the winter months, was made necessary by the obvious need for refreshing their crews. The existence of potable water was a major concern. Galleons relied mainly on rain during their long crossings of the northern Pacific?

The history of land-based exploration to find and map such ports is intimately linked with the history of the Jesuit missions, and was the result of a standing order from the King of Spain.

? Father Ugarte was the first one to go looking for such a port, in 1706, unsuccessfully.
? The next expedition, in 1716, led to the discovery of Magdalena Bay, but no potable water.
? Fr. Guill?n re-visited the same bay in 1719, but he found no water source either.
? In 1721, Fr. Sistiaga discovered a large bay in lat. 28? (Vizcaino Bay), but no watering place.
? The expedition led by Fr. Taraval in 1732 discovered some islands, including Cedros Island, but his main concern was the conversion of Indians.
? The expedition of 1751 was led by Fr. Consag, who carried an astrolabe, and explored a short stretch of coast, between 28? and 30?; again, no suitable port was found.

There were no more such expeditions after that. In 1767, the Jesuits were expelled from all Spanish colonies and their missions transferred to the Franciscans, who later extended them to Upper California.

This paper will explore the problems encountered by the early missionary explorers, the need for military escorts, lack of proper equipment and knowledge of cartography, etc. Today, there would still not be any good ports between San Diego and Cabo San Lucas, were it not for water that comes from deep wells (fossil water) in the middle of the deserts of Baja California. History shows that no galleon ever stopped (willingly) anywhere between San Francisco and the Capes; however, the author has uncovered a mystery: That of the galleon San Francisco Xavier, which approached this coast in December 1704, or January 1705, and was wrecked; there were no known survivors.

 

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[mariner]

The Beeswax wreck at Nehalem,on the Oregon coast, is thought by many to be the wreck of the SFX, but I know Rod Levesque and he believes this is not the case. He believes he has found the wreck site of the SFX somewhere else, though I do not believe that it is appropriate for me to say any more than that at this stage. Rod is an excellent researcher, and has published a series of books about early voyages to Micronesia, and it was Rod who provided substantial documentation about the loss of the San Felipe, the Manila Galleon whose wreck site was recently identified by Ed Von der Porten and his team on Baja California.

Mariner

 

[Cablava]

Thanks Mariner, I will leave this one for the guys already in front and wait to read the reports when it is found.

 

[Sherlock]

Mariner, it is interesting that Rod has couagously left Nehalem Oregon in the sand. I came to this conclusion too in the 1980s. But I am not an archeologist and I realize these people function much differently that I do. But the important thing is they can prove a site better then I can.

Yet, I do have evidence that they don't have just the same whether I'm an archeologist or not by my search technique. I posted this on the Drake's brass plate to Bonnie. If you didn't read this I will repeat this again-----.

When NERS studies lead me to the San Francisco Xavier site, I stood there with wide eyes looking at the Spanish monuments left there for posterity to see. It was an eery site to see, for me, I think because it was such a stark site to see. I felt as if these people would come back any time for dinner.

Everything since the wreck event was geared to this monument center, as it appeared to me, because it was so laboriously made to alert authorized Spanish recovery people where the ships cargo was cached. For a while, these survivors lived on the beach in home made cave shelters until they got there strength back. Then they moved inland to the Monument center where they planned and executed their cargo burial plan which they left permanently for us to see today.

However with the usage of the lands over the years, I found this quite an honor to be able to view this slice of time still intact.

I have found so much history destroyed in the spirit of making huge bucks building houses. It?s so easy it tare out a host of historical evidence with a D-9 cat.

At the San Francisco Xavier site the Spanish used wooden tree ?A? frames and two inch diameter drill hole symbols in solid rock. The ?A? frame assisted in interpreting the permanent drill hole boulders. Though the trees were long ago dead, the trees were still standing as they were formed still in their original roots. Using live trees helped to have the evidence last longer.

There wasn?t any greedy thirsty contractor itching to come in there and bulldoze the place to oblivion as yet.
-----------------------------
Mariner, I know that Van de Parton has done some fine work too in the Archeological world. My purpose for giving this information to you is that I have had this site for 20 years and I have protected it as much as I could.

Not knowing what to do with it foolishly I trusted in people that said they could do something with this site. I am afraid that they have violated the site. To what degree they damaged it I can't say? It's been three years since I swung by the area.

Not knowing who to speak with on issues like this leaves me frustrated. I am not equipt to deal with city hall, I tried this on Drake's Nova Albion site. Usually in a difficult hot spot with no view in site for Excavation licenses, I just leave and pick up on another challenge.

I completely realize that any nut swinging from a vine could make rash unproven statements like this to the professional world. I am only doing this now because other plans failed to manifest.

I suggest that you mention this sharing of mine with you to with these people that you know after they have failed to generate the results that they thought they had. Probably by this time they will be willing to view or listen to another perspective that is not on their historical agenda?

I have photos of the area, but in the wild country photos are disappointing, yet photos are revealing to a degree.

The wreck itself may have valuable cargo still on it. I could say as I am not a diver. I examined the land survivor site only, and I believe that they unloaded the ship before the seas reclaimed the wrecked galleon. I don't know how many of the crew survived. But I do know that those that did survived performed a laborious job here protecting what they were able to salvage. And they left this monument center I guess for people from New Spain to see to reclaim the lost cargo that was saved and protected.

Apparently there were no survivors OR I wouldn't have thisstory to tell? Then again maybe there were survivors that made it back to New Spain that Rod has a line on? Who knows. One of the things I could never learn over the years is what was on the Ships manifest the year this galleon vanished from history? Perhaps you have this information Mariner?
Sherlock

 

[mariner]

Sherlock,

I did not mention it in my last note, but Ed and I have decided that we will try to locate and finally identify the Beeswax ship at Nehalem. As you are aware, lots of evidence of this ship has been found at Nehalem over the last 150 years or more, including many tons of beeswax, lots of Chinese ceramics and some of the teak timbers from the wreck. It is practically certain that at least two major pieces of wreckage are on the spit, buried under many feet of sand, but there are some records about where these major pieces were seen. There are samples of the wood in various museums, which have been tested for both age and species over the years. Nobody, as far as I know, has ever found evidence of the many guns (50-60) that a Manila Galleon of this era would have been carrying. I suspect that a substantial part of the wreck still lies in the sand/mud offshore where it would have foundered before actually reaching land. There were almost certainly survivors. Some of the beeswax blocks that were found in the early days had been stacked, and it is unlikely that the local Indians would have done this. A Spanish-type halberd was found in the 1960s off the spit, and for a time was on display in a restaurant in Nehalem. I have not got round to trying to locate this yet, because I don't think it adds too much to what we already know. I know people who have a copy of the manifest of the St, Francis Xavier, though I do not have a copy myself, as yet. It was carrying about 75 tons of beeswax, as I recall. I am not sure what evidence we will need to prove the identity of the wreck. I suspect that the guns will help greatly in this respect, as well as other defiing artifacts if any can be found. Just finding remains of the hull will not particularly add much to the existing knowledge. One other possibility is that the wreck was the missing Santo Cristo de Burgos from 1696. Interestingly, the loss of the SFX and of the SCdeB were separated by the year 1700, in which a major earthquake off the Oregon coast created a great tsunami and caused almost the entire coast to sink 6 to 10 feet into the ocean. This caused sea caves that were previously accessible to become inaccessible. That was why I was very interested when Bonnie suggested that the skeletons found in the sea cave just south of Nehkhanie were wearing armor. This would suggest that the skeletons pre-dated 1700, but so far I can find no confirmation of this. (The armor, that is)

I suspect that some of the rock markings on Neahkahnie are associated with this wreck, and the Indian legends of men burying a chest and then going inland are probably part of it as well, though there may be more than one early wreck there, and the stories may have become mixed up.

Wayne Jensen, who died recently, thought that the small cove where Bonnie is looking was where Drake had careened the Golden Hind, and sent me aerial photographs of it a long time ago. I have been in correspondence with Bonnie for some time before she appeared on the treasurenet scene, and have encouraged her to pursue her ideas, though I think she is off-beam in relating the location to Drake, and then trying to establish a connection between both Drake and Neahkahnie and Oak Island.

I have contacted the Oregon State archaeologist, the Government of Spain, the University of Oregon and some of the people I know with an interest and background in the subject, to let them know that we will be organising an attempt to finally identify the beeswax wreck, and have had encouraging initial responses. Initially, we do not need any permits or permission, because the first phases will be to gather together all the research and then carry out remote sensing surveys both on land and offshore. If and when we manage to locate parts of the wreck, we will bring appropriate archaeologists on board, if they are not already part of the team.

I have a feeling that I read some of your ideas about this ship on another forum several years ago. If you have anything to contribute to this project in the way of interest and information, I would be very pleased to hear more from you. It does not matter whether Nehalem is the site of the SFX, the SCdeB, or some other early ship. The large amounts of beeswax suggests that it was a Manila Galleon, and it would be nice to know which one. If you think the SFX wrecked somewhere else, I would also be interested to know that. Your comments about the use of trees was intriguing. As for what appears to be drill holes in the rocks, I have puzzled about lots of these at a site further down the Oregon coast, but have come to the conclusion that they must be natural,because there are so many of them.

You never did tell me where your inverted Hondius inset led you.

Best wishes,

Mariner

 

[Sherlock]

Mariner what you are doing sounds fascinating! I wish you great fortune in your work on Nehalem. I enjoyed communicating with Bonnie because she has an inquisitive mind like I do. I saw a spark of creativity on her part putting possibilities together. She shared some of the things she experienced on Oak Island that sounded very interesting. She hinted that Drake was in on the Oak island capper. Of course, this interested me because I have successfully cracked two of Drakes codes. One being Nova Albion and the other being Neahnahnie beach.

It's been years since I worked on Drake or had anything to do with the California Historical society or the Drake Navigation Guild. It was fascinating working with brilliant and witty creative codes designed to protect something. This protection has lasted over 400 years. I think Drake would have been floored if he realized in 1579 that his codes would baffle people for 400 years.

Bonnie stopped sharing suddenly. I hope she is alright?

About Nova Albion the mystery location I promised to share. As I stated before, I discovered reversals on the Hondius Broadside map. The map I used was on the inside flap of Warren Hanna's book Lost Harbor. I blew up this map so that I could see more detail to work with.

Since Warren's efforts was about where Drake landed in California for 36 days, I knew that he would enjoy the solution recorded right there on the Hondius Broadside map. He agreed to see me and I gave the secret to him to look at before he died. It was nice to see a smile on his face. He told me he had suspected something like this but he could never prove it.

This discovery has been nothing less then a classic pain in my flank, because of the two governments that are in control of Nova Albion. The Federal Government and the California state park system.

But as usual I have gone too fast Mariner. I'll back up a bit. The inset lines up with belvedere Island to the left of the finger of Tiburon. This is your line up point on the 38th parallel. The inset contains all code information plus the land shape in more then one applications use as you will see.

Partially I think this was done as an added protection not to make the code too simple. Because once the reversal concepts was realized this would put the cached silver in jeopardy. Drake had plenty of time to work out the rest of the code. He was very good at creating codes.

Now, if you don't know what to do next, you would spend the rest of your life looking around Tiburon for Drake's silver. And today this would be impossible because of the housing developments there.

At the line up point we instructed are to reverse the inset as Drake's clue suggests to us by seing the flaw reversalon the Hondius Broadside map. This time we will use the bay portion of the inset. Where do we apply this reversal?

This is a little tricky because I thought the Drake Brass Plate was real. IT was placed perfectly and I figured Drake left an escape clause in his code by leaving the Brass Plate where it was found on the top of the finger of Tiburon. All one had to do was look down the finger of Tiburon and you have the harbor that the inset pretains to on the 38th parallel.

That's right, the bay of the inset with the sharp pointed finger is Ayala Cove on Angel Island. This is Drake's Nova Albion!

Drake probably chose this Island because (1) the friendy Indians were tripping in his riggings and making it impossible to do what he needed to do else where. And (2) any Spanish eyes that happened to go into San Francisco Bay couldn't see Drake's operation there unless they went between the narrow water way between Angel Island and Tiburon.

He chose a safe harbor and here is where I suspect he careened the ship. The Spanish later liked it to because this was their point of operations surveying for the San Francisco Persidio.
If you look at a topographical map or a view of the Island from an airplane you will see exactly a duplicate of the inset reversed of the Inset Drake had on the Hondius Broadside map.

That is, except the Army Corp of Engineers did cut out a big chunk of that bay to the north so that large military ships could anchor there when Angel Island was a military post. This distorted the original shape of Ayala Cove to a certain extent.

Ok, this has been Drake's point of the inset alignment Drake gave us on his inset plus the correct bay where Nova Albion is located that has been a mystery for 400 years or so.

Now the rest of the code deals with (1) what the buried commodity consists of at Nova Albion? (2) how high the commodity is located on Nova Albion? (3) What physical dimensions the buried commodity occupies in Nova Albion.(4) What direction is the commodity buried on Ayala Cove? (5) What tonnage weight is the buried commodity secreted on Nova Albion? (6) And finally how deep is the buried commodity secreted in Nova Albion? I believe this is all that any one could possibly ask about a missing legacy. And all of this information was cleverly included in Drake's own personal navigation chart.

And this information is as accurate or more so then a hand written directive. And it protected this legacy for over 400 years. It was always before the eyes of anyone that studied the Hondius Broad Side map. I believe the tell tail flaw was just over looked as being good enough for renaissance art work limitations in map making.

I'll speak of some other issues you mentioned later Mariner.

Respectfully,
Sherlock

 

[mariner]

Sherlock,

Thanks for the information. I follow your logic, contorted though it is, and I am glad you were able to give Warren Hanna a smile before he died. I don't agree with your conclusion, of course, but we are all entitled to our opinion. Because you do not seem to place any value on conventional research, I will refrain from going through the reasoning to show that Drake's New Albion was not in California at all, but up on the Oregon Coast. However, I will ask you one further question: Why on earth would Drake have left any treasure buried at New Albion, a place that was half way round the world, had been difficult enough to reach the first time, and which (as proved to be the case) he might never see again?

I look forward to hearing your ideas about where the SFX wrecked.

Mariner

 

[Sherlock]

Mariner, thank you for the response.
Sherlock