SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 12 (UPI) -- A research group landed at Point Reyes National Seashore in California, asserting a claim that Drakes Bay is, in fact, the landing place of Sir Francis Drake.
The vessel that approached the coast Friday was not a square-rigged galleon named the Golden Hind but a modern catamaran named the Kitty Kat, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. What those on board wanted to see is the view they believe Drake got as he made the first English landing in North America in 1579.
Edward von der Porten, president of the Drake Navigators Guild, says archaeological evidence and Drake's own description show Drakes Bay near Point Reyes is the "fair and good Baye" where the buccaneer found refuge. Drake said he headed south after running into bad weather while searching for the Northwest Passage.
There are at least 17 claimants for Drake's landing place, some as far north as Alaska.
Von der Porten points to the fragments of 16th-century china found at a Miwok Indian village at Point Reyes and to Drake's own description of high cliffs that reminded him of the south coast of England.
