Her course was as far north as
latitude 42 deg. on June 3rd. Owing, however, to the cold weather Drake
returned southward to find a "convenient and fit harbour" for rest and
refitting of the vessel; and, as one of the narrators of the voyage
writes, "It pleased God to send us into a fair and good bay, with a
good wind to enter the same." Was this what is known as Drake's Bay or
popularly as Jack's Bay, southeast of Point los Reyes, or was it the
Bay of San Francisco? Justin Winsor, in his Narrative and Critical
History of America, and Hubert Howe Bancroft, in his History of
California, discuss this matter in an exhaustive manner; and the
reader after sifting all the evidence afforded, will still be free to
form his own judgment. Some writers, wishing to give the glory to the
Spaniards, arrive at conclusions hastily, though of course a name like
that of Bancroft carries great weight and his arguments deserve the
highest consideration. The question then is, Was the _Golden Hind_ the
first ship to cross the bar and pass through the Golden Gate, in the
name of Queen Elizabeth of England? Or was it Juan Bautista de Ayala's
ship, _San Carlos_, in August, 1775, in the name of Charles III.
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