Drake's Bay

In the late sixteen century, Francis Drake and the crew of the Golden Hind discovered somewhere on the California coast, "a faire and good Baye," which he named New Albion. According to legend, it was here that he cached some forty tons of silver, gold and other treasures (perhaps some porcelain) while he beached the Golden Hind that was being repaired. It is recorded that an estimated twenty-nine tons of silver and gold arrived with Drake and crew when they arrived in England; September 26, 1580. - What happened to the remainder fourteen tons of silver and gold has been speculated since.

In the late twentieth century, an ill-assorted crew of fishermen notice what Coast Guard observers had also seen: an unidentifiable mobile light(s) on the beach and cliff area(s) that bear the Englishman/explorer's name. - During a raging summer windstorm and flooding tide, a group of men come upon at Point Reyes rotten timbers bound with cast-iron bands. - Could this be where the crew of the Golden Hind cached the remainder fourteen tons of silver and gold to be retrieved at a later date?

Sail with the crew of the Sea Swallow; its skipper the Colonel, the bard Bob Moore, the wayward Norwegian, Johannesen and his mongrel dog, and the naive Tod as their happenstance misadventures take them to the inconspicuous bay and cliffs of Northern California and in the middle of a mystery that spans over four hundred years.

-- Anthony Mills