Spanish passing by the Golden Gate for 200 years?

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It is told in most of the history books that the Spanish sailed by the Bay, without entering it, for over 200 years, despite a yearly sailing of the Manila Galleons from 1565 to 1815, which passed by in the vicinity, or between, of Point Reyes and the Farallons.

In a map captured by Commodore Anson in 1742, one can identify the circular shape of the Bay, opposite of "Los Farollones" whereas the first map showing San Francisco Bay is supposed to be Miguel Costano's map of 1771.

There was another account of a Spanish explorer who made it through the "Bocca del Puerto de San Francisco" much before that, but I have to dig out the name.

I would like to know where to find other stories, or sources, of possible Spanish entry into the Bay before Juan Manuel de Ayala in 1775.

-- Wolfgang Schubert (chouby@aol.com), December 05, 2000

Answers

Found the name of the Spanish explorer: Francisco Gali; possible sighting of S. F. Bay in *1584*

All input is appreciated!

-- Wolfgang Schubert (chouby@aol.com), December 07, 2000.


im interested in the life of francisco gali, i know he was an important spanish captain in the16 century, im also know he was the dicover of san francisco bay , but i would like to know more about him ,,, thank you------ francisco gali veracruz ver , mexico

-- francisco gali malpica (gali51@correoweb.com), June 21, 2001.

i change my e mail and now is franciscogali@hotmail.com , now im living in veracruz city , a port in the gulf of mexico , iam an artist , painter and i would like to know more about the life of francisco gali the captain of the 16 century , thanks

-- francisco gali malpica (franciscogali@hotmail.com), May 25, 2002.

Navigators of Spain's Manilla Galleons wrote guides that urged all sailing ships to put out to sea upon encountering Point Reyes so as to avoid the dangerous Farralon Islands. So if such advice was followed to stay West of the Farallon Islands, it would make it very difficult to encounter or see San Francisco Bay. Secondly, had such a Bay been entered by anyone, there is no way in hell that such a Bay could ever have been kept a secret. And nothing anywhere was ever mentioned about such a Bay until the Portola Expedition in 1769

-- Harry Murphy (harrymurphy@bigmailbox.net*), May 25, 2002.

It is very likely as some expeditions of the Manila Galeon had as a priority to find a harbour in the upper California. If you click on www.famousamericans.net/franciscogali/ you will find that he landed on latitude 37 30 north, just allmost identycal latitude as the SF bay on the 18th of october. His key job besides bringing precious items from Manila and China was to find a harbour and such a bay is quite evident. SF bay is at some 37 45 with todays measurements and SF city is at 37 50 latitude. It also mentions that on his crew it was Juan Jayme, an astronomer who developed an instrument to find the variations of the needle, and despite of the facts that some of his work was lost, his landing was just 2 weeks after the San Francisco de Assisi day, which was his first name. Previously than him, Drake sailed on the area but englishmen called it Drake's bay for over a century.

-- Ricardo Gali (ricardo.gali@srixoneurope.com), October 13, 2004.


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