200 EtDORADO 



niand devolved upon one Ferrelo, who proceeded to 

 sail north, and in Febniary reached a promontory or 

 head land which he named Stormy Cape. This prom- 

 ontory was the most northern portion of California 

 visited by that navigator, and it is probabl}' the same 

 now called Cape Mendocino. 



The Spaniards ceased to explore the northwest coast 

 for some time after the return of Ferrelo to Mexico in 



1543- 



The first English navigator who visited California 

 was Sir Francis Drake, in the Spring of 1579, and he 

 landed on the shores of a bay, supposed to be that of 

 San Francisco, the first vessel that ever passed through 

 the Golden Gate. He formally took possession of the 

 country in the name of Queen Elizabeth and called 

 it New Albion. He left California on the 22d of July. 



1579- 



Drake sailed from England in the year 1577, with 

 a fleet of small vessels to cruise against the Spaniards 

 in the South Seas, as the Pacific Ocean was then called. 

 His own flagship, the PELICAN— afterwards known 

 as the GOLDEN HINEL — a small ship of one hun- 

 dred tons, was the only one of his scjuadron that en- 

 tered the Bay of San Francisco, the others having been 

 abandoned, lost or turned back, unable to endure the 

 storms encountered in the passage. The year follow- 

 ing his departure from England found him in the vi- 

 cinity of Panama, freighted with plunder taken from 

 the Spanish, and anxious to find his way home with his 

 treasure. He feared to return by the route he came, 

 lest he should be waylaid in the Straits of Magellan 

 bv his enemies, or fall a victim to the storms that had 



