Accuracy and Historical Truths
Dr. Samuel Spivack, Michael Von der Porten, and Steve Wright
Background
The United States Secretary of the Interior and the National Park Service guidelines for designating a National Historic Monument site include the following criteria:
1) sites where events of national historic significance have occurred
2) places associated with prominent historic personages or icons that have shaped our nation
3) places which characterize a place of indigenous peoples’ culture and/or archaeologic sites which
yield evidence pertaining to their way of life.
Over seventy-five years of ethnologic scholarship have associated native Coast Miwok culture and language with Francis Drake’s visit (as described in the detailed account of the expedition’s chaplain, Francis Fletcher). The Drake Navigators Guild (DNG) has correlated the Portus Novae Albionis inset of the Hondius Broadside map with the Drake’s Cove site. Numerous renowned mariners and nautical historians have confirmed the unique suitability of Drakes Bay, Drakes Estero, and Drake’s Cove for Drake’s maritime purpose and their perfect concord with period nautical descriptions. Analysis of the Ming porcelain sherds from Drakes Bay by the late Edward von der Porten and Clarence Shangraw, the recorded 38° north latitude, and the physical description of the white banks and cliffs at Drakes Bay have convinced an international body of eminent professional academic scholars and nautical historians that the weight of evidence indicates Drake’s Cove within Drakes Estero as the true site of the 1579 Golden Hind careenage by Francis Drake.
No other proposed landing site fulfills all these tangible scientific criteria; scrupulous historians have felt the obligation to strive for accuracy on behalf of present and future generations. A culmination of all this scholarship led to the October 2012 designation of the Drakes Bay Historic and Archaeological District as a National Historic Landmark. No Drake anchorage anywhere in the world has been as deeply researched as has Francis Drake’s anchorage at Drakes Bay. This accuracy matters.
Spiritual and Emotional Connections With the Landing Site
False attributions for other speculated sites are based upon poorly researched contentions of fringe speculators and conspiracy theorists that serve neither the public nor the truth. Only by having historic attributions as correct as possible can proper analysis and interpretation can occur. We of the Drake Navigators Guild, like most Americans, celebrate historic events most meaningfully at the site of their true location, places such as Jamestown Fort, Gettysburg battlefield, or the Twin Towers of September 11. We do so because there are deep emotional connections and spiritual associations with those sites. Moreover, these associations afford increased empathy with events which occurred at those sites like the Arizona in Pearl Harbor, Appomattox Courthouse, or President Kennedy’s assassination in Dallas. At Drakes Bay, the Anglican Episcopal Church has cared where it honors its first Protestant service in North America. Lacking truthful historical recognition, these emotional connections would merely be moods or spiritual associations reduced to empty sentiment.
Learning Opportunities at Historic Landmark Sites
Historic sites afford authentic learning opportunities. At Fort Ross, California visitors learn about the goals,
challenges, successes, and failures in the greatest extent of Russian expansion in the New World. They
information about Alaskan Native Americans and the California Pomo Indians. They experience why
agricultural efforts failed and how the Russians nearly wiped out the fur seals. At Lowell, Massachusetts,
people learn about the Industrial Revolution and its impact on Americans colonists. At Valley Forge they
discover the meaning of sacrifice and perseverance. At the Little Bighorn they walk among the results of
injustice, tragedy, and courage. Only with consistent striving for truth may accurate lessons be learned for
future.
Damage and Injury Through Inaccurate Historic Claims
Unfortunately, ill-researched and phony claims can truly do much harm. While fraudulent information about a historic site might not actually kill someone in the way that misinformation about vaccines might,
misinformation absolutely does allow for the destruction of a real site or create false historical myths. For
example, historic revisionists of genocide and Holocaust deniers really do encourage racial or ethnic hatred and promote fringe thinkers in their actions of violence against innocents in the cause of nativism and misplaced patriotism.
Fake news does not serve the public. Unfortunately provocative and imaginative naysayers get the attention
they seek through the media. And anyone with a computer may easily post anything he pleases—regardless of the content—and present quarrelsome, fictitious, and false research. Internet trolls exist even in the study of Sir Francis Drake. This presents a perfect opportunity to encourage anyone wanting to promulgate a conspiracy theory. Conspiratorial evidence is minimal—often nonexistent—and so cannot be well examined; conspiracies are comprised of secretive intrigues which then promote minimal evidence to the level of attributed fact. Mindless conspiracy has seductive power that stretches evidence by provoking enthusiastic speculation. Too often, unworthy theories persist despite their obvious flimsiness. Consider the numerous September 11 conspiracies, Obama birth-certificate claims, and faked Moon landing assertions. In all likelihood, each of these will always—unfortunately—have a certain number of adherents. They probably always will. And this regrettable reality is especially true regarding Sir Francis Drake scholarship: fringe and conspiracy theorists have promoted over two dozen New Albion landing site proposals on Wikipedia.
New Albion’s Significance as a National Historic Site
All in all, Sir Francis Drake’s landing site is a significant part of our local, state, and national heritage, and it is
now aptly preserved. It is part of his global circumnavigation and the site of the first Protestant religious service in the New World. It exemplifies Drake’s humane and caring treatment of his crew, and the gentle courtesy shown to his captives. His respect for indigenous peoples and cultures, so unlike that of European
conquistadores, and the care and concern for his sailors with prophylaxis against scurvy are all important factors for which we honor his persona. His moral qualities exemplify rectitude and were unusual among the 16th century explorers. All of these associations provide an honorable icon and example of association for which we are justly proud.
That’s why the Drake Navigators Guild cares and why historical accuracy matters.