I believe Drake landed in the Richardson Bay, inside the San Francisco Bay, by San Quentin, where the Shinn Plate was found. With my documented proof I believe I can show the Shinn Plate is genuine. I have been researching the Shinn Plate for 12 years.

The widely accepted landing site is Drake's Cove in Drakes Bay.

People interested in this subject should check the sources.

ALL of the evidence points to Drakes Bay. 21 different pieces of evidence have been examined in reaching the conclusion.

There are 21 sites (coincidental "21") alternate proposed for the landing site up and down the California coast. Five of these are inside San Francisco Bay.

To accept any of the south of Drakes Bay theories, one has to argue that Drake saw the white cliffs at Drakes Bay and kept going (despite already searching for a harbor for hundreds of miles).

The difficulty of finding San Francisco Bay from the Pacific and the extreme danger of entering the bay (especially on an unknown basis) make Drake's entering the Bay something that a mariner thousands of miles from home wouldn't do.

If a mariner got into San Francisco Bay, he would have spent weeks exploring the "Strait of Anion" which, we now know, only lead into the Central Valley. One of the most fantastic bays in the world would have been described and scores of individual harbors would have been noted. Fine, warm afternoons would be in the descriptions, not week-long periods of fog. Upon exiting San Francisco Bay, he would have sailed west (not southwest as recorded) to get to the Farallon Islands. None of these expected records exist.

If you want to see Drake's landing site, head west to Point Reyes National Seashore.