The Tudors & the American West Coast
American History Hit
History Hit
4.3 • 1.7K Ratings
🗓️ 1 January 2024
⏱️ 39 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In the summer of 1579, Francis Drake had to land in a ‘fair and good bay’ on the western coast of the New World when his ship - The Golden Hind - needed repairs. A sign was put up, naming it Nova Albion (‘New England’) for Queen Elizabeth I. But the question of exactly where Drake landed has continued to vex historians to this day.
In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to Melissa Darby, whose meticulous and painstaking work has uncovered all manner of evidence to finally resolve the controversy.
This episode was edited by Joseph Knight and produced by Rob Weinberg.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The crew of the golden hind is spent, worn out, exhausted. |
| 0:08.0 | Two years ago in 1577, they set sail from Plymouth, a fleet of five ships ready to cross oceans. |
| 0:17.0 | In the Atlantic they endured an attempted mutiny, tense encounters with indigenous islanders, |
| 0:22.0 | and weeks of drought drought praying for rain to |
| 0:24.8 | slake an increasingly desperate thirst. Two of the smaller ships were broken up |
| 0:29.9 | within the first year to consolidate the fleet. |
| 0:32.8 | After navigating the fearsome straits at the tip of South America, |
| 0:36.4 | another is lost in a Pacific storm. |
| 0:38.6 | Its crew drowned. |
| 0:41.2 | A fourth ship went off course in a fog bank. |
| 0:45.0 | Unable to fight its partner, they've turned back for England, leaving the golden hind |
| 0:49.2 | alone, halfway through a circumnavigation of the globe. |
| 0:55.0 | Along the western coast of North America, |
| 0:58.0 | they plunder Spanish ships and raid their ports, rich with treasure. |
| 1:02.0 | But now the Golden Hines hull is leaking. They dearly |
| 1:07.7 | require safe harbor to make repairs and refresh supplies. For eight weeks they chart their course northward, laying claim to coastal lands in the name of Queen Elizabeth. |
| 1:19.0 | Only one question as they. In the Golden Hind, the Gallyon, |
| 1:34.0 | in the summer of 1579, |
| 1:40.0 | the Galleon, the Golden Hind, |
| 1:42.0 | formerly known as the Pelican, made landfall and what was noted as a fair and good bay. |
| 1:48.0 | But where exactly had Drake landed? |
| 1:52.0 | Believe it or not, this is a question that continues to vex historians, |
... |
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