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Miguel Costanso (ND-ND) http://tinyurl.com/Constanso

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Lost Port

From Diary of Miguel Costanso, in the Portola Expedition of 1769-1770, ed. Frederick J. Teggart, 1911. Read Online Download PDF

Reader: Kevin Hearle

In 1769, when Gaspar de Portola set north from San Diego for the Bay of Monterey, he and his companions were looking forward to finding a superior location for establishing Spanish influence in Alta California. Unfortunately for them, they missed it the first time through.

One of the members of Portola's expedition was Miquel Costanso, official navigator. Here, he records his perplexed astonishment after turning back from San Francisco.

Tuesday, December 5.—We did not know what to think of the situation. A port so famous as that of Monterey, so celebrated, and so talked of in its time, by energetic, skillful, and intelligent men, expert sailors who came expressly to reconnoiter these coasts by order of the monarch who at that time governed the Spains—is it possible to say that it has not been found after the most careful and earnest efforts, carried out at the cost of much toil and fatigue? Or, is it admissable to think that it has been filled up, or destroyed in the course of time?

Portola's party eventually returned to San Diego, then set out once more for Monterey Bay, which they reached May 24, 1770.