118 DAHLGREN, THE DISCOVERY OF THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 



16 August, before they had reached the Embocadero, the General summoned a Junta of 

 the pilots and other officers of both vessels, to whom lie suggested the importance of 

 fixing upon a rendezvous in the event of the two vessels losing sight of each other during 

 the voyage. For this purpose he proposed that, after they had passed the island of 

 Guadalupe, they should put in at Puerto de Ilagdalena, situated on the coast of California, 

 in 25° N. lat. This harbour, discovered by Sebastian Vizcaino as long ago as 22 July 

 1602 and named by him after the saint of the day, had , not long before the time now in 

 question, been more closely surveyed: in 1719, under orders from the Viceroy of Mexico, 

 the Marquess de Valero, Father Clemente Guillen, accompanied by a small band of 

 soldiers under the command of Captain Estavan 'Rodriguez Lorenzo, had visited 

 these regions by land in order to search for some suitable port of call for the Manila 

 galleons. 1 The comparatively favourable description he had given of Magdalena Bay — 

 though fresh water had been searched for in vain — - had probably directed attention to 

 that place, and had led the authorities in Manila to recommend it in the instructions 

 issued to the commander of the galleon. When he now urged his officers to give their 

 opinion, his proposal was met by the most pronounced opposition. The officers declared 

 that the waters near the proposed rendezvous were exposed to severe storms, that some 

 of them could testify to this from the experience of the preceding year, and that 

 Magdalena Bay, situated near Cape San Lucas, where hostile attacks had several times 

 occurred, did not offer sufficient security. As an alternative to it the pilots proposed 

 San Diego Bay, in 34° to 35°: the entrance to it was easy; it was protected from all winds 

 ^and also from enemy attacks, "as they had no example of any such occurring in these 

 regions"; and moreover in San Diego Bay they could provide themselves with water and 

 wood, the most important requisites during the voyage. In accordance with the opinion 

 of the pilots, the Junta resolved that San Diego Bay should be fixed upon as the 

 rendezvous. 



On 31 August they cleared the Embocadero, and for the rest of the ocean-voyage 

 nötning worthy of note is mentioned, except that on 20 October at nightfall they took 

 a reef in the topsails and kept a sharp lookout, so as not to strike on Rica de Platå, whose 

 position, 32° 50' N. lat., and 41° 29' long., they thought they had reached. But no land 

 was seen, and they sailed onwards on the following day with a course SE by E. On 11 

 December in the morning they saw some high land in 36° 20' N. lat., probably some part 

 of Sierra de Santa Lucia; on 13 December they were again in sight of land and some 

 islands: the noon-observation gave 34° N. lat. precisely, and they thought they ought 

 to steer towards the east in order to seek the agreed rendezvous, San Diego. It is not 

 difficult to prove that they ran into Santa Barbara Channel and that, as they did not 

 venture to hold on their course after nightfall, the galleon steered towards the south 

 between the islands Santa Rosa and Santa Cruz. It is not wonderful that they could 

 not reach their goal in these regions, as San Diego lies about 1 Va degrees f urther to the 

 south. But the course could not be altered except by decision of a new Junta: and accord- 

 ingly this met on 13 December between 9 and 10 p. m., and the pilots and the other officers, 

 in reply to the question whether the galleon could lie to över the night so as to continue 



1 Miguel Venegas, Noticia de la California, T. II, Madrid 1757, pp. 339—342. 



