Oregon
Sir Francis Drake’s ‘Fair and Good Bay’ was long thought to be in California. Now some experts point to Oregon
English explorer Sir Francis Drake sailed the Pacific in 1579, sacking Spanish galleons and stealing treasure, at least until his boat sprang a leak.
That’s when he found what he called a “Fair and Good Bay” in which to make repairs.
For years, Californians have claimed he landed on their shores. But a scholar at Portland State University says documents in the British Museum show the bay might well have been somewhere along the Oregon coast instead.
Whale Cove, near Depoe Bay, offers a protected beach on which to careen an old wooden ship. Oregon, Jan. 9, 2025. Courtesy of Rick Beasley
Whale Cove near Depoe Bay is a natural harbor with a protected little beach where a ship could be careened — that is, emptied and tipped sideways to expose the hull so sailors can pack gaps in the wooden planks with cotton and tar to stop leaks.
For decades there have been whispers that that’s exactly what Drake did in 1579.
“There are just these little pieces that seem like very tenuous threads,” said retired publisher Rick Beasley, who has heard all the tales.
“There’s a skiff or small boat that is buried in the sediment on the Salmon River,” he said. “There are ballast stones that are out there that divers have found.”
Retired publisher Rick Beasley in Depoe Bay, Ore., on Jan. 14, 2025. Beasley said there are indications that Francis Drake could have landed at Whale Cove: “There are just these little pieces that seem like very tenuous threads.”
Kristian Foden-Vencil / OPB
A boy is said to have found an old Spanish coin in his mum’s garden in Newport in 1948. But it was dated after Drake’s landing. Beeswax keeps washing up in the area too. But that’s from a Spanish galleon wrecked off Nehalem.
Exactly where Drake landed on the West Coast in 1579 has been hotly debated for decades. A Wikipedia page lists more than 40 possible locations, from Alaska to Mexico.
California has perhaps the biggest claim, based on findings of old pottery and other artifacts at Point Reyes. The National Park Service even named one area Drakes Bay.
But Melissa Darby, a research scholar in the anthropology department of Portland State University, says her reading of an old document in the British Museum indicates Drake likely landed in Oregon, not California.
The manuscript, from a collection known as the “Hakluyt manuscripts,” was written shortly after the voyage by Richard Hakluyt, one of the queen’s scribes.
“Scholars have been looking at it since the 1850s,” Darby said. “But they’ve been looking at a printed version that was published in 1855. And I went to England and looked at the manuscript itself.”
In her book “Thunder Go North,” Darby says the manuscript indicates Drake sailed as far as 48 degrees north latitude, then landed at 44 degrees for repairs. That puts him somewhere like Whale Cove, near Depoe Bay, instead of Point Reyes, California.
“Thunder Go North,” by Melissa Darby.
Kristian Foden-Vencil / OPB
Marco Meniketti, a professor of archeology at San José State University, said people get quite animated about this issue.
“A lot of it has to do with bragging rights, ‘We were the first!’” Meniketti said.
Personally, Meniketti thinks Drake’s descriptions of local tribes match the coastal Miwok tribe in Point Reyes, but there’s room for debate.
“[The debate] is still alive because the evidence is not 100% bulletproof,” Meniketti said.
Drake Navigators Guild points out there are about 30 websites offering what it calls fringe and conspiracy theories on the location of the bay.
Claiming land around ‘Fair and Good Bay’
Back in 16th century England, one way to make a fortune was to gather a few friends together, build a ship and send it out to privateer — that is, steal from Spanish or French ships then divide the spoils with the English crown.
So it was in 1577 that a handful of the most powerful people in England sent Francis Drake out in the Golden Hind and four other ships to sail around South America into the Pacific Ocean.
The voyages proved unbelievably successful, mainly because the Spanish were not expecting English privateers in the Pacific.
“[The Spanish] were caught unawares and unguarded. They had no cannon pointing towards the ocean,” Darby explained. Drake “just went from treasure house to treasure house along the coast. And harried all the shipping.”
Drake’s biggest haul came from a ship called the Cacafuego.
“It took a day and a half just to download all the silver bars and chests of gold,” Darby said.
But Drake couldn’t simply head home with his spoils. In addition to being a privateer, he was a spy. Queen Elizabeth I had charged him with finding the Northwest Passage, a sea route explorers hoped would connect the Atlantic and the Pacific.
Drake headed north. But the Golden Hind was full of plunder and sprung a leak. He had to find a protected bay to careen the ship.
Historical maps left by Drake do bear similarities to Whale Cove, Ore. But they look like several other natural bays too. Here, a print of a historic map is compared to a new online depiction, Jan. 21, 2025.
Kristian Foden-Vencil / OPB
In the official record of voyage, Drake landed at a “Fair and Good Bay” where the crew remained for six to 10 weeks, trading with locals and claiming the land.
Europeans had four requirements for a land claim back then. A flag or plaque had to be placed; a religious ceremony held; the claim had to be published; and the explorer had to have an official discussion with the Indigenous leader explaining the claim.
Darby thinks Drake misread the traditional tribal offering to important visitors.
“They gave Drake this feathered headdress and he said: ‘Oh, well they’re giving me the crown of the country.’ Well, that was a total misconception,” Darby said.
Melissa Darby at her home office in Northeast Portland, Ore., Dec. 23, 2024. In her book “Thunder Go North,” Darby puts forth the case that Francis Drake may have come ashore in Oregon — not California — in 1579.
Kristian Foden-Vencil / OPB
When Drake returned to England, he proved to be both a hero and a problem. His haul provided enough money for Queen Elizabeth to build a fleet of warships. On the other hand, England wasn’t at war with Spain, so the queen had to distance herself.
“The queen said, ‘Oh no. I didn’t send Drake out. He’s a pirate and we’re going to return the treasure to you [Spain].’ That was a ruse,” Darby said.
“The treasure never got returned.”
Most importantly for this story, Drake gave the queen the logs of his voyage, including how far north he’d travelled. The official account places the Golden Hind at 42-43 degrees north latitude. But Darby and others think the real latitude was kept secret because the country that found a Northwest Passage would make millions on a cheaper trade route to Asia.
Darby also thinks England placed the official latitude lower because it was trying to grab land.
The path to Whale Cove, just south of Depoe Bay, Ore., on Jan. 9, 2025. Some evidence suggests Sir Francis Drake careened his ship here in 1579.
Kristian Foden-Vencil / OPB
“The boundary of New Spain was right around San Francisco. So I’m sure they looked at a map and said, ‘This is unclaimed land.’ Drake didn’t see this land because he was looking for the Northwest Passage. ‘Well, we can’t leave this open so let’s just say he was down there.’”
Debate about where he landed may be heated, but some wonder whether it matters in the current era, when colonialism is largely condemned.
Many people think so, because Drake was the first British explorer to contact Native Americans on the West Coast. Also, crew member Diego was possibly among the first Black people to set foot in the West Coast.
Why people believe Drake landed in California
Darby also thinks history gives insight to the present. For example, one of the reasons the California bay has the momentum as Drake’s landing spot is that a brass plaque was found there in 1937. It was dated 1579 and said in part: “I [Drake] take possession of this Kingdom whose king and people freely resign their right and title.”
Herbert Bolton, a University of California, Berkeley, professor at the time, proclaimed it to be authentic. But a metallurgy test in the 1970s showed the plaque was probably a hoax.
Darby thinks racism was at work.
“[Californians] didn’t like the fact that Spain was claiming a lot of the history of California. And so they wanted to make the history of California a sparkling white history and so Drake was their hero,” she said.
Archeology professor Marco Meniketti also thinks Drake’s landing spot is important, because it spurred the Spanish to push their interest farther up the California coast.
“That created an impetus for Spain to start moving the Mission system further north,” Meniketti said.
The oral histories of some Native American tribes in Oregon do refer to visiting ships and wrecks. But not 400 years ago.
Finding a protective bay on which to careen a ship was problematic for explorers sailing in uncharted waters in 1579. Much of the coastline was rocky, like this site near Oregon’s Depoe Bay, photographed on Jan. 9, 2025. But nearby Whale Cove offered more promising protected beaches.
Kristian Foden-Vencil / OPB
Robert Kentta with the Siletz Tribe said Drake’s sailors probably did trade during the weeks they were fixing their ship, and there are stories of swords and coins being found in Oregon — but nothing decisive. And, Kentta said, the descriptions of some Indigenous artifacts in voyage accounts give him cause for doubt.
“Drake’s journals even talked about the basketry being decorated with feathers, which is a very Central Californian coastal tradition, which has never been practiced here as far as I know,” he said.
The actual location of Drake’s “Fair and Good Bay” may never be decisively confirmed. There is a rumor that the original voyage logs still exist somewhere among the British crown’s private papers. But the truth is probably that they were incinerated in 1698, when Whitehall Palace in London burned to the ground.
FILE – A replica of Golden Hind in London on Dec. 26, 2005.
courtesy Pikelet68 via Flickr / Flickr
PORTLAND, Ore. (KATU) — Crude oil prices surged after U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran and stalled tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, pushing gas prices sharply higher across the country, though Oregon and Washington are seeing smaller increases than many other states.
The national average price for regular gasoline jumped 43 cents over the past week to $3.54 a gallon.
Oregon’s average rose 31 cents to $4.26 a gallon, the 42nd-largest week-over-week increase among states.
Washington also increased 31 cents, ranking 44th-largest.
READ ALSO | Oil prices spike amid Iran war; Oregon gas remains above national average
The current national average is at its highest price since July 2024. Oregon’s average is at its highest since Sept. 2025.
“When crude oil prices shoot up, pump prices follow suit because crude oil is the basic ingredient in gasoline and diesel. It’s impossible to predict how high prices might go, but expect elevated oil and gas prices as long as the conflict in Iran continues and tankers are stalled in the Strait of Hormuz,” said Marie Dodds, public affairs director for AAA Oregon/Idaho.
AAA notes that, in general, every $1 increase in the price of crude oil leads to a 2.4- to 2.5-cent increase in the price of gasoline.
Crude oil typically accounts for about 47% of the cost of a gallon of gasoline, with refining at 16%, distribution and marketing at 20%, and taxes at 17%, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
About 20% of the world’s oil and refined products flow through the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow passageway of the Persian Gulf bordered by Iran.
Tankers traveling through the strait carry oil from major producers including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, the UAE, Qatar, Iraq and Iran. Any disruption can affect global oil supplies. While the U.S. does not rely on Iranian oil, China and India do.
Seasonal factors are also adding upward pressure. Gas prices typically rise starting in mid-to-late winter and early spring as refineries undergo maintenance ahead of the switch to summer-blend fuel, which is more expensive to produce and less likely to evaporate in warmer temperatures.
National gas price comparison/AAA chart
Most areas have a May 1 compliance date for refiners and terminals, while most gas stations have a June 1 deadline to switch to selling summer-blend. Some refineries begin maintenance and the switchover in February.
In Oregon, the average price for regular gas began 2026 at $3.42 a gallon. The highest price of the year so far is today’s $4.26, and the lowest was $3.33 on Jan. 20. Nationally, the average began 2026 at $2.83 a gallon. The highest price of the year so far is today’s $3.54, and the lowest was $2.795 on Jan. 11.
AAA reported that U.S. gasoline demand decreased from 8.73 million barrels per day to 8.29 million for the week ending Feb. 27, compared with 8.88 million a year ago.
Total domestic gasoline supply decreased from 254.8 million barrels to 253.1 million. Gasoline production increased last week, averaging 9.3 million barrels per day compared with 9.2 million barrels per day the previous week.
Crude oil prices have been volatile. West Texas Intermediate surged to near four-year highs around $95 per barrel this week but fell to the $80s today as President Trump signaled the conflict with Iran may end soon.
On the West Coast, all seven states remain in the top 10 for the most expensive pump prices nationally.
California has the highest average for the fifth week in a row at $5.29 a gallon and is the only state at or above $5.
Washington is second at $4.69, Hawaii third at $4.59, Nevada fourth at $4.30 and Oregon fifth at $4.26. Arizona averages $3.97 and Alaska $3.95.
All 50 states and the District of Columbia saw week-over-week increases. California had the largest jump at 62 cents, while Hawaii had the smallest at 19 cents. AAA said Oregon and Washington prices also rose last month after an outage of the Olympic pipeline.
The cheapest gas in the nation is in Kansas at $2.96 a gallon and Oklahoma at $3.01. Kansas is the only state with an average in the $2 range this week. The gap between the most expensive and least expensive states is $2.33 this week, up from $2.05 a week ago.
Compared with a month ago, prices are higher everywhere: the national average is up 62 cents and Oregon’s average is up 68 cents.
Compared with a year ago, the national average is up 45 cents and Oregon’s average is up 53 cents.
Diesel prices also spiked. The national average for diesel rose 89 cents over the week to $4.78 a gallon, while Oregon’s average jumped 72 cents to $5.02.
A year ago, the national average for diesel was $3.63 and Oregon’s average was $3.86.
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A federal judge in Oregon on Monday restricted federal officers from using tear gas at protests at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in Portland, in response to a lawsuit filed by the ACLU of Oregon on behalf of protesters and freelance journalists.
U.S. District Judge Michael Simon issued the preliminary injunction after a three-day hearing in which the plaintiffs — including a demonstrator known for wearing a chicken costume, a married couple in their 80s and two freelance journalists — testified about having chemical or projectile munitions used against them.
The lawsuit, whose defendants include the Department of Homeland Security, argues that federal officers’ use of such munitions is a retaliation against protesters that chills their First Amendment rights.
“Plaintiffs provided numerous videos, which were received in evidence and unambiguously show DHS officers spraying OC Spray directly into the faces of peaceful and nonviolent protesters engaged in, at most, passive resistance and discharging tear gas and firing pepper-ball munitions into crowds of peaceful and nonviolent protestors,” Simon wrote, using the term OC Spray to refer to pepper spray.
“Defendants’ conduct — physically harming protestors and journalists without prior dispersal warnings — is objectively chilling.”
DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In previous statements, it said federal officers followed their training and used the minimum amount of force necessary.
Simon had previously issued a temporary restraining order similarly limiting federal agents from using chemical munitions during protests at the ICE building. His preliminary injunction is the second in recent days restricting agents’ tear gas use at the facility, following that of a federal judge overseeing a separate case brought by the residents of an adjacent affordable housing complex.
Federal officers’ aggressive crowd-control tactics are causing concern as demonstrators in cities across the country have protested the immigration enforcement surge spearheaded by President Donald Trump’s administration.
In his Monday order, Simon limited federal agents from using chemical or projectile munitions such as pepper balls and tear gas unless someone poses an imminent threat of physical harm. He also ordered agents not to fire munitions at the head, neck or torso “unless the officer is legally justified in using deadly force against that person.”
Additionally, officers cannot use pepper spray against a group in an indiscriminate way that would affect bystanders; they must only target people who are engaging in violent unlawful conduct or actively resisting arrest, or use it “as reasonably necessary in a defensive capacity,” Simon wrote. He specified that trespassing, refusing to move and refusing to obey an order to disperse are acts of passive, not active, resistance.
Simon also granted provisional class certification, which means his order covers a broader group of all those who have peacefully protested or reported on demonstrations at the ICE building in recent months.
The preliminary injunction will remain in effect while the lawsuit proceeds.
PORTLAND, Ore. (KATU) — Oil prices continue to soar Monday as the war in Iran shows no signs of slowing down. Oregon’s gas prices are above the national average.
Production and shipping in the Middle East have been jeopardized by the conflict, pummeling financial markets.
The Associated Press reported that the price for a barrel of Brent crude surged to $119 on Monday. That’s the highest level it’s been since the summer after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. Brent crude is the international standard.
RELATED| High oil prices won’t limit Trump’s actions in Iran war: Hegseth
The prices fell to just under $100 later Monday, but barrels are still 36% more expensive than they were before Israel and the United States attacked Iran on Feb. 28.
Today’s AAA national average is $3.478, whereas Oregon’s current average across the state is $4.205.
SEE ALSO | New video shows US Tomahawk hit Iranian Naval Base near school
The average in Oregon just a year ago was 3.730, demonstrating a 12% increase since then.
Still, Washington State’s current average remains higher than Oregon’s, at $4.630.
Malheur County in Oregon currently has the cheapest gas price at $3.499, while Josephine has the more expensive at $4.447.
AAA suggests maintaining cars to the manufacturer’s recommendations can help save fuel. The agency also recommends slowing down and driving the speed limit, avoiding “jackrabbit” starts and hard accelerations and avoiding extended idling to warm up the engine, in winter and even prolonged idling in general.
Research by AAA has shown that premium fuel provides no added benefit unless it is recommended or required by the car’s manufacturer.
Vice President and Global Head of crude oil research at at S&P Global Energy Jim Burkhard said in an analysis on Monday that, at first, the crisis was a transportation issue, “which could conceivably be resolved quickly.”
However, he explained that production and storage concerns are increasingly piling up and restoration “will be a massive technical exercise that could last weeks or more.”
Energy experts’ opinions are clashing, as some warn the war could contribute to even higher oil prices in the near future. In particular, if the Strait of Hormuz remains closed for only a few weeks, oil and gas strategists at Macquarie Research said the price of crude could push to a $150 per barrel or higher. Such prices would top previous peaks of nearly $147, which were reached just before the 2008 financial crisis.
Others, however, don’t expect the disruptions to last much longer. Oxford Economics researchers predict prices will soon fall to an average of $80 a barrel for the quarter, but noted today that the “risk of a more prolonged crisis has clearly increased.”
Iran exports roughly 1.6 million barrels of oil a day, mostly to China, which has called for an immediate end to the fighting.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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