Dan's Outside

2003.08.09

***Drake’s Secret Trip Up the West Coast.
Using old maps, a scholar says he may have solved a long-time mystery surrounding the 16-century voyages of Francis Drake. By Dinitia Smith. [New York Times: Arts]

Now an independent Canadian scholar, Samuel Bawlf, says he thinks he has solved the mystery. Mr. Bawlf, the author of “The Secret Voyage of Sir Francis Drake,” newly published by Walker & Company, says Drake had actually been on a secret mission for Elizabeth to find the Pacific entrance to the Northwest Passage, the coveted trade route that would link Europe to the treasures of the Orient. And in doing so, Mr. Bawlf says, he had sailed much farther north than anyone had ever dreamed, to Alaska, 200 years before the first recorded European explorers, including Capt. James Cook.

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August 9, 2003 - Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary