This Marin hoax fooled the world, plus find $100

Sir Francis Drake is a controversial historical figure (see this article renaming the high school). But he wasn’t directly involved in this hoax.

His ship landed in Point Reyes in 1579 and was the first European contact in present-day Northern California. (Shockingly, the first European to sail into San Francisco Bay wouldn’t happen for another 190 years.) Part of the lore of Drake’s landing: according to crew accounts, he left behind an inscribed brass plate to mark England’s claim to the area.

This brass plate led to quite the hoax in the 20th century!

On a fog-shrouded morning in 1936, Beyrle Shinn paused for a stroll along a dirt road near San Rafael. There he discovered a half-buried brass plate. Intrigued by the faint letters spelling “Francis Drake,” Shinn delivered his find to a historian at UC Berkeley who had long dreamed of proving Drake’s landing. Bolton was pumped and announced the artifact as genuine within months.

Yet almost from the moment of its unveiling, whispers of doubt emerged. Linguists noted that some spellings and word choices on the plate were oddly modern. Private lab tests hinted that the brass alloy (rich in zinc and too uniform in purity) did not match Elizabethan metallurgy. Still, for four decades, UC Berkeley proudly displayed the plate as authentic.

In 1977, to mark the 400th anniversary of Drake’s voyage, the university commissioned a fresh analysis. Scientists applied state-of-the-art metallurgical testing. Their verdict was unambiguous: the alloy composition, microscopic tool marks, and the brass’s modern saw-cut edges proved the plate was not from the 16th century.

Who had perpetrated this elaborate ruse? In the early 2000s, researchers revealed the pranksters: a secretive cadre of E Clampus Vitus members. Knowing Bolton’s obsession with finding the plate, they secretly cut a brass slab, inscribed it with language lifted from 1628 voyage accounts, and aged it with dirt, ash, and heat. As a private signature, they painted “ECV” in fluorescent paint on the back. In August 1933, they planted the plate on a Marin hillside and waited for Bolton to discover it.

But first, someone else picked it up, discarded it by the roadside, and it lay hidden until Shinn found it. The pranksters were worried about humiliating their friend and colleague, so they remained silent. Bolton died in 1953 still confident in the plate’s authenticity, while everyone carried their secret to the grave.

Today, “Drake’s Plate of Brass” resides in the UC Berkeley Bancroft Library as a monument to historical mischief.

And the real plate may still be out there, undiscovered…

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What a view!

This small home (1,180 sq ft) sits on top of the Bolinas bluff. Look down on Stinson Beach and the Bolinas Lagoon. Can you imagine the sunsets?

You can improve the interior (do you like wood paneling?), but you can’t take another home and give it this view.

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Thanks for reading. We will be back with the regular events and activities email Wednesday morning!

— Allison + Brian