Whale Cove (Oregon)
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Whale Cove is a small cove, approximately one-third of a mile (0.5 km) in diameter, located on the Pacific Coast of Oregon in the United States, approximately 1.4 mi (2.3 km) south of the city of Depoe Bay.[1] The cove is located at approximately 44 deg 44 min N latitude.
The ocean portion of the cove is protected as a marine reserve,[2] and land portions of the cove are protected as parts of Rocky Creek State Scenic Viewpoint and Oregon Islands National Wildlife Refuge.[3]
Central Oregon Drake landing theory
[edit]British amateur historian Bob Ward first proposed in 1998 that Whale Cove was the location where Francis Drake spent portion of the summer of 1579 careening his boat during his circumnavigation undertaking. The location of Drake's landing, at which he claimed a portion of the west coast of North America as "New Albion", has gained the most support over the years among more than twenty other alternative sites compiled in Fringe theories on the location of New Albion. The Drake northern California landing theory careening site was officially recognized in 2012 and is located at the Drakes Bay Historic and Archaeological District National Landmark on the coast of Marin County. Canadian Sam Bawlf added his support for Whale Cove careening site in his 2003 book "The Secret Voyage". Archeologist/historian Melissa Darby did similar in her 2019 book "Thunder Go North".
Ward proposed Whale Cove as the actual spot of Drake's landing based on its similarity to a 16th-century map made by Jodocus Hondius. Ward theorized that Drake may have conspired with Queen Elizabeth I to mislead the Spanish about the true location of the cove to keep the Spanish from discovering Puget Sound, which Ward believes that Drake thought was the Northwest Passage. By 1998, Drake biographer Harry Kelsey[4] warned about the integrity of the final Hakluyt narrative hindered by the well established fact that the "English authorities had determined to keep details of the voyage secret after Drake returned. []To accomplish their goal, English authorities gave out a series of changing and conflicting accounts".[5]
One longstanding puzzling feature of the Hondius map is the small island on the peninsula protecting the cove. According to Ward, a narrow strip of the peninsula protecting Whale Cove "has a strip through which water flows at high tide" turning 80% of the peninsula into an island.[6] Melissa Darby was adding much later on: "The water is shallow over the reef. Over the last 430 years the direct force of the prevailing ocean waves and possible subduction from the 1700 earthquake has reduced this reef, but whether it was a rocky inlet just above sea level in Drake's day and drawn on the Portus illustration can only be conjectured."[7]
Navigation
[edit]Whale Cove remains an unnavigable bay in a dangerous part of the Oregon coast: mariners are advised to stay at least 600 yards (550 m) offshore for the distance one mile north of Whale Cove to one mile south of Whale Cove. Whale Cove is not considered a usable bay by any size of vessel.[8][9] Alternatively, Whale Cove was once known as Bootlegger Bay for being "small and dangerous for mariners", therefore "perfect for rumrunners smuggling Canadian whiskey into the Northwest".[10]
References
[edit]- ^ 1.8 mi (2.9 km) from Depoe Bay to Whale Cove Inn at the south end of Whale Cove by road
- ^ "Whale Cove Protected as part of Oregon Islands National Wildlife Refuge thanks to a diverse partnership". HMSC Currents, OSU Hatfield Marine Science Center Staff Newsletter. Oregon State University. 2015-01-26. Retrieved 2015-01-26.
- ^ Urness, Zach (2015-01-22). "Oregon's 'last virgin cove' protected in wildlife refuge". (Salem, Oregon) Statesman-Journal. Retrieved 2015-01-26.
- ^ https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/kelsey-harry-1929
- ^ Kelsey, Harry (1998). Sir Francis Drake: The Queen's Pirate. Yale. p. 177.
- ^ "Drake and the Oregon Coast". Geographical Magazine. Vol. VIII. Royal Geographical Society. July 1981. p. 647.
- ^ Darby, Melissa (2019). Thunder Go North, the Hunt for Sir Francis Drake's Fair & Good Bay. University of Utah Press. p. 78.
- ^ Cape Foulweather is 1 NM south of Whale Cove. "Dangers extend for nearly 2 miles N of the N point of Cape Foulweather and about 600 yards offshore." Whale Cove is not even mentioned as a place to be considered by mariners of any size of vessel.United States Coast Pilot 7: Pacific Coast: California, Oregon, Washington, and Hawaii (Twenty-fifth ed.). U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Ocean Service. 1989. p. 219.
- ^ While Depoe Bay, one NM north of Whale Cove, "has a well-deserved reputation for having one of the most intimidating entrances of any west coast harbor," the area of Whale Cove is a more-dangerous "stay clear" area for boaters and is marked "Foul." Wood, Charles; Wood, Margo (1995). Charlie's Charts of the U.S. Pacific Coast: Seattle, Washington to San Diego, California including the Channel Islands (second ed.). Charlie's Charts. p. 53.
- ^ https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/whale-cove
Further reading
[edit]- Samuel Bawlf, The Secret Voyage of Sir Francis Drake, Penguin Books, 2003, chapter 26: A Sorrowful Farewell, ISBN 1-55054-977-4
- Melissa Darby, Thunder Go North, the Hunt for Sir Francis Drake's Fair & Good Bay, University of Utah Press, 2019, chapter 6: Either Here or There, ISBN 9781607817260