Edward Wright’s World Chart of 1599

Abstract

Corroborating evidence is presented from Edward Wright’s 1599 World Chart to identify Nehalem Bay as the place where Sir Francis Drake’s landed on the North American west coast (Nova Albion) in order to repair his ship during his famous circumnavigation from 1577 to 1580. Evidence from Philip Costaggini’s Civil Engineering Master’s Thesis Survey of Artifacts at Neahkahnie Mountain, Oregon (1982) is also presented. The difficulties in identification are attributed to the confiscation of Drake’s logs and charts by Queen Elizabeth I and to her decree that releasing information about the voyage was punishable by death. Although there are approximately seventeen theorized landing sites, the case for Nehalem Bay is strong.