After
a struggle with northwest winds, on November 10, 1602, the fleet
entered the harbor of San Diego* and, having spent a few days there,
the expedition again sailed north. December 16, 1602, anchor was cast
in Monterey Bay, which was named in honor of the viceroy. January 3,
1603, the fleet weighed anchor, and a period oi one hundred and
sixty-six years elapsed before this bay was revisited. January 12 the
fleet passed the bay of San Francisco and anchored behind a point of
land called "La Punta de los Reyes," but did not enter San Francisco
harbor. The voyage was subsequently continued as far as lat. 430 N., from which point the fleet returned to Acapulco.
First Mission established in Lower California. —In
1697 the first permanent mission was established by the Jesuits at
Loreto, Lower California. " These people," says the historian, " with
patient art and devoted zeal, accomplished that which had defied the
energy of Cortez and baffled the efforts of the Spanish monarchy for
generations afterwards."
First Mission in Upper California.—In
1769 the Jesuits were banished from Lower California. On the 9th day of
January, 1769, an expedition set sail from La Paz, in Lower California,
to rediscover San Diego and Monterey. The vessels stopped at Cape St.
Lucas, and left that point February 15 of the same year. On the 1st of
July, 1769, a land expedition which had started shortly after the
vessels had set sail from Cape St. Lucas, under the immediate charge of
Padre Junipero Serra, reached San Diego and established the first
Franciscan mission in Upper California.
Notwithstanding
the facts revealed by the many expeditions, the geographers of that
day still persisted in describing California as an island extending
from Cape St. Lucas, at the tropic of Cancer, to lat. 450
* An interesting account of this voyage is given by E. Randolph, Esq., " Memoirs of the Society of California Pioneers."
