SIR FRANCIS DRAKE VOYAGE TO CALIFORNIA IN 1579

Adam S. Eterovich

www.croatians.com

The Drake quadricentennial held in California contains four key essays by the finest British historical scholars in the fields of exploration, navigation, discovery, and cartography. David Waters, David B. Quinn, Kenneth Andrews, and Helen Wallis, concisely present a summary of their lifetime study into "The Age of Drake."

For instance, Helen Wallis of the British Library incorporated into her augmented essay information gained in California on the origins of the famous Drake Hondius Map. Of special importance was Wallis' acceptance of the California opinion that some of the verses in the 1582 poem De Navigatione by Stephen Parmenius referred to Drake's annexation of California in 1579.

Croatia in the Poem De Navigatione

An Embarkation Poem

for the voyage projected by the celebrated and noble

SIR HUMPHREY GILBERT

Golden Knight, to take a colony to the New World

BY STEPHEN PARMENIUS OF BUDA

LONDON

Thomas Purfoote

1582

De Navigatione

illusris et magnanimi equitis aurati

HUMFREDI GILBERTI

ad deducendarn in novun orbem coloniam suscepta,

Carmen

STEPHANI PARMENII BUDEII

In his native Hungary he was unknown until 1889. In that year was published evidence of his visit to England. It was stated his name was Paizs or Pajzs. Pajic, Paic, Peic, Pejic, and Pejcic are all Croatian names found in Slavonia near the present border of Hungary. This area, Slavonia, would have been in the Pashalik of Buda and individuals from Croatia at that time were identified as Hungarian.

Sir Humphrey was accompanied to Newfoundland by a young Hungarian friend, Stephanus Budaeus, said to be born in the Pashalik of Buda after 1541. In 1582 just prior to the voyage, Stephanus Budaeus published a poem in honor of Sir Humphrey Gilbert. One part of the Embarkation Poem is most interesting:

Also by citizens of Hungary

Who never yet subdued in war, now guard

Her narrow boundries against the threat

Of conquest, as within her ancient ground

CROATIA does.

Don Pedro Ohmucevich Chases Drake

One of the most famous admirals in Spanish service was Don Pedro Ivella or Petar Ohmucevich of Slano, Dubrovnik. Don Pedro chased and almost caught Sir Francis Drake in the Caribbean. A Croatian would have hung him from the yard arm and there would have been no Drake’s Bay in California.

Sea Captains Spain

Four members of the older branch of the Ohmuchievich family, sons of Iveglia, a trader and shipowner from Slano, Dalmatia, served in the Spanish navy under Philip II and Philip, III. One of them, Don Pedro d'Iveglia Ohmuchievich, obtained fame as a Spanish admiral. He was in command of the first Hispanic-Ragusan squadron, organized by him under Philip. II. His local biographers, Gelcich and others, tell us that the Hispanic-Ragusan squadron which operated in the Indies and the Atlantic in the service of the kings of Spain under the supreme command of Admiral Don Pedro d'Iveglia Ohmuchievich, had exactly 12 big galleons. The ships were heavily armed,'' built with three masts, and large enough to accommodate an imposing fighting force. To mark the significance assigned to the 12 ships of Don Pedro's squadron, Philip II called them "The 12 Apostles”. Six of the ships were owned by Don Pedro and six by other members of his family. The ships carried a complement of 3,200 men, from the territory of Ragusa. The names of the commanders show that they were Croatians. The capitana (flagship) of the squadron, called the S. Girolamo, was a large Ragusan carrack of 1,000 colli burden. In the course of ceaseless, voyages across the Atlantic over a period of twenty-six years Don Pedro gained for his original squadron and for all the other Hispanic-Ragusan squadrons which followed in its wake the widely recognized and still remembered title "Squadra dell' Indie " and "Squadra del Mar Oceano"

Illyrian Fleet

The 12 galleons which he himself commanded were known also under the equally meaningful title "classis illyrica” the Illyrian fleet, symbolizing the naval and maritime traditions of Dalmatia, ancient Illyria and the even more ancient Liburnia. Don Pedro died in 1599 as Capetano generale del Mar under Philip III. He died in Lisbon, Portugal, apparently a center for Spanish operations in Brazil. The succeeding generations of the same family followed in the footsteps of their well known predecessor. The most famous of this younger line was Admiral Andrea de Nicolo Ohmuchievich who served under Philip IV. Simeon Ohmuchievich was capellan with the rank of predicador in Don Pedro's squadron. The Maritime Museum in Dubrovnik has a highly decorative original canvas painted in oil by an unknown artist, entitled "Ohmuchievich of Slano, admiral in foreign navies, dressed in rich uniform, with family coat of arms, ship, globe, and compass." Gavrilovich.

San Blas Bay and Drake’s Bay

The Mathieu Pecci Map of California printed in 1604 at Florence, Italy indicates B. de S. Blas to be at 38 degrees latitude. Drake was in California in 1579. The Vizcaino Voyage of 1602 would have been the source of the 1604 Map of California.

San Francisco Bay was discovered in 1769. San Francisco Bay is at 38 degrees latitude and Drake’s Bay is almost at the same latitude. Was San Francisco Bay originally San Blas Bay or was Drake’s Bay originally San Blas Bay? Saint Blas is the Patron Saint of Dubrovnik. All galleons of Dubrovnik carried the flag of San Blas.

Manila Mariners and Galleons

Croatian ships, captains and mariners were in the Pacific Fleets of Spain in the 1500’s and participated in the colonization and discovery of the Philippines. Miguel de Aragoces or de Ragusa (Venecia) was a mariner in South America, 1535; New Spain in 1537; and in the Philippines in 1565; Lucas Aragoces was a Marine Guardian to the Capitana de Legazpi a Filipinas in 1565. Nicola Aragoces was a mariner with Villalobos a Filipinas in 1542. Andrea Veneciano was a mariner with Legazpi a Filipinas in 1565. Domingo Veneciano was a mariner in the Philippines in 1566. Ragusa means Dubrovnik or the Croatian Republic of Ragusa. Other Croatians were within the Republic of Venice. They were known as Aragoces, Schiavoni, Veneciano and other corruptions of their identity. The galleons were forbidden to carry foreigners as passengers, but the few who made the voyage were generally enrolled among the ship's officers, though without the corresponding salary.