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Bronze on Green Marble
31 inches by 31 inches 2007 Artist Proof
Contact : Darcy Gould at drcgld2@gmail.com
"Nova Albion" was inspired by Samuel Bawlf's book, The Secret Voyage of Sir Francis Drake. Drake sailed around the world from 1577 to 1580. After he had stolen 40 tonnes of gold and silver from the Spanish off the west coast of South America ( which they used to replace the ballast in Drake's ship the Golden Hinde) he said he went north to the area where San Francisco is now. Here he said he founded the first English Colony called "Nova Albion" ( meaning New England).
Because there was so little documentation about this part of the journey compared to the rest of the voyage, which was well documented, Samuel became suspicious. He did a lot of research and uncovered a 400 year old state secret. He came to the conclusion that Drake had lied about where he'd really been to hide what he'd actually been up to, which was searching for the western entrance to the Northwest Passage.The year before Drake left, Frobisher thought he'd found the eastern entrance. If they could find the Northwest Passage it would be a quick route to the riches of the Orient. But it had to be kept secret from the Spanish, ( this was nine years before the Spanish Armada).
Both Frobisher and Drake thought they'd found the entrances to the fabled Passage. Frobisher thought Frobisher Bay on Baffin Island was the eastern entrance and Drake thought Chatham Strait in the Alaska panhandle was the western entrance. They were both quite wrong. Nova Albion would have been a halfway stop over between the Orient and England for the ships to resupply and repair. Nova Albion was actually Vancouver Island.
Queen Elizabeth 1 , was Drakes patron. her secret orders were for Drake to search for the western entrance to Frobisher's supposed passage. Amongst other things she made a 4000% return on the money she invested in Drake to make the voyage.
Here she points to Vancouver Island with one finger and gives the shush sign with her other hand.The eyes and ears on her arms are 16th century symbols for fame . The heart in the snakes mouth is symbolic for Elizabeth guarding her heart with wisdom. Elizabeth would have been the most eligible bachelorette in Europe, but her many suitors were not after her for love, they wanted her power. If she married, her power would have gone to her husband , the "King". This is the main reason she never married.
While crossing the doldrums in the South Atlantic, (farther than any English ship had ever gone before ), not one of Drakes crew doubted that these waters and beyond were the haunts and habitats of demons and sea monsters. Under the surface a giant Octopus has already snagged a ship and one tentacle reaches in vain for the Golden Hinde.
