American Unearthed, Season 4, Episode 8, Sir Francis Drake

The Sir Francis Drake episode was especially interesting in part because I knew almost nothing about the British explorer prior to filming it.  Well I know a lot about him now and many of the details of his incredibly successful circumnavigation of the world.  It seems the world is fascinated with treasure and he certainly collected more than his share by plundering Spanish ships and villages along the west coast of  South and Central America during his famous voyage.  With his loaded ship leaking as it approached what is now San Francisco Bay, he landed somewhere on the west coast for repairs.  The big question and persistent legend is whether he buried some of the booty he plundered, to be collected later, after his return to England.  For me, this seems highly unlikely.  Why leave valuable treasure so far from your home base?  It seems it would be that last place to hide it if you truly intended to recover it later.  I'd leave it a closer to home if I had bothered at all.  I think the more important treasure is the one artifact we know he left on the west coast of North America; the brass plaque date June 17, 1579.

When we visited the Bancroft Library on the campus of Berkeley University, we had already secured permission to test the plaque using an X-Ray Florescence gun to determine the exact chemical composition of the brass, and of the secondary patina that had developed on the surface.  Presumably, the plaque was originally discovered in 1933, and then again in 1936, when it was brought to the attention of authorities who at first proclaimed it genuine.  Later, in the 1970's it was tested and became the scourge of competing institutions who believed it was a hoax perpetrated by a high society club of pranksters.  This reeks of the same rumor mill behavior that dogged the Kensington Rune Stone for a century before proper scientific inquiry definitively proved it was genuine.  We were hoping to possibly do the same type of scientific testing during our visit.  However, the permission we had been given prior to our visit was rescinded.  You can imagine how I felt about that.  Curious to hear your thoughts about the episode?     

Through the slats on the bow of Sir Francis Drake's ship, the Golden Hinde, is where the crew would take care of their 'daily duties' while on the open ocean.

Robert Stupack stands next to a 3-inch diameter hole in a boulder along the shore of San Francisco Bay where he believes Sir Francis Drake landed and tied up his ship.

The Committee Films Crew shoots the plate some believe was left by Sir Francis Drake as a land claim for England in 1579.

The front side of the brass plate date June 17, 1579, that many believe is authentic.  We may have been able to date it had we been allowed to perform that testing the library had originally given us permission to do.

Robert Stupack and I had a playful sword fight using stakes we had just disagreed on about their age and use while filming.  In the end, we agreed to disagree and all was good.

Field director, Sergio Rapu, poses next to some circular concretions weathering out of the fine sandstone at Whale Cove along the southwestern coast of Oregon. 

Archaeologist, Melissa Darby, and I pose between takes at Whale Cove where many believe Sir Francis Drake landed on the west coast before heading west back to England in 1579.

Branden Boulay shoots me examining the monument to explorers Lewis and Clark at the point where they reached the Pacific Ocean in November of 1805.