The March of Portola and the Discovery of the Bay of San Francisco | Page 7

which Vizcaino named for San Diego de Alcal��, whose day, November 14th, they spent in the bay, ignoring the name, San Miguel, given it by Cabrillo sixty years before. Later in the month he entered and named San Pedro bay, for Saint Peter, bishop of Alexandria, whose day, November 26th, it was. He also named the islands still known as Santa Catalina and San Clemente. He next sailed through and named the Canal de Santa Barbara, which saint's day, December 4th, was observed while in the channel, and also named Isla de Santa Barbara and Isla de San Nicolas. Passing Punta de la Concepcion, which he named[5], Vizcaino sailed up the coast in a thick fog, which lifting on December 14th, revealed to the voyagers the lofty coast range usually sighted by the ships coming from the Philippines. Four leagues beyond they saw a river flowing from high hills through a beautiful valley to the sea. To the mountains he gave the name of Sierra de la Santa Lucia, in honor of the Saint whose day (December 13th) they had just celebrated, and the stream he named Rio del C��rmelo, in honor of the Carmelite friars. Rounding a high wooded point, which he named Punta de los Pinos, he dropped anchor in Monterey bay, December 16th, 1602. Here Vizcaino found the much desired harbor of refuge, and he named it for his patron, the Conde de Monterey. Vizcaino made the most of his discovery, and in a letter to the king, written in Monterey Bay, December 28, 1602[6], he gives a most glowing description of the bay, which is, at best, but an open roadstead. The Indians, as usual, told him of large cities in the interior, which they invited him to visit, but Vizcaino could not tarry. His provisions were almost gone, his men were sick with scurvy, of which many had died, and putting the most helpless on board the Santo Tomas, he sent her to Acapulco for aid, and sailed, January 3, 1603, with the flagship and fragata, for the north. A storm soon separated the vessels and they did not see each other again until they met in the harbor of Acapulco. Vizcaino was told by the pilot, Bola?os, that Cerme?on had left in Drake's Bay a large quantity of wax and several chests of silk, and he entered the bay on January 8th to see if any vestiges remained of ship or cargo. He did not land, but awaited the arrival of the fragata. As she did not appear, he became uneasy, and sailed the next morning in search of her. On the 13th, a violent gale from the southeast drove him northward. This was followed by a dense fog, and when it lifted, he found himself in latitude forty-two - the limit of his instructions - with Cape Blanco in sight, "and the trend of the coast line onward," he writes, "towards Japan and Great China, which are but a short run away." Only six of his men were now able to keep the deck, and he bore away for Acapulco, where he arrived March 21, 1603. Of the company that sailed with him, forty-two had died.
In 1606, Philip III, King of Spain, ordered that Monterey be occupied and provision made there to succor and refit the Philippine ships. He directed that to Vizcaino should be given the command of the expedition. His orders were not carried out and Vizcaino sailed instead for Japan, whence he returned in 1613, and died three years later.
For over one hundred and sixty years, no steps were taken for the pacification and settlement of Alta California. The galleons continued to make their yearly voyages to the Philippines, and returning, sail down the coast within sight of the fair land; but no harbor of refuge was established and no attempt was made to colonize the country.
At last the Spanish king began to realize that if he would retain his possessions in America, some action was necessary for their protection. Spanish sovereignty in the Pacific was threatened. The Russians had crossed Bering Sea, had established themselves on the coast of Alaska, and their hunters were extending their pursuit of the sea otter into more southern waters. England had wrested Canada from France and was ready to turn her attention to the American possessions of Spain. The Family Compact of the Bourbon princes of France, Spain, and Italy had aroused the ire of Pitt, then at the zenith of his fame, and he resolved to demand an explanation from Spain, and, failing to receive it, attack her at home and abroad before she was prepared, declaring that it was time for humbling the whole house of Bourbon. A check in the cabinet caused Pitt's resignation, but in 1766 he was again