![]() By 1818, the seals diminished rapidly until only about 500 could be taken annually and within the next few years, the fur seal was extirpated from the islands. In 1810, they met with two other American ships at the Farallon Islands, the Mercury and the Isabella, and at least 30,000 seal skins were taken. The Albatross, captained by Nathan Winship, and the O'Cain, captained by his brother Jonathan Winship, were the first American ships sent from Boston in 1809 to establish a settlement on the Columbia River. The Russians maintained a sealing station in the Farallones from 1812 to 1840, taking 1,200 to 1,500 fur seals annually, though American ships had already exploited the islands. In the years following the discovery of the islands, during the maritime fur trade era, the islands were exploited by seal hunters, first from New England and later from Russia. In 1769, the bay inlet was finally discovered soon after an overland sighting of the bay was made from what is now the Pacifica area. seven farallones close together." It is believed that probably for the next two centuries after their discovery, their rather ominous appearance, lying just off the entrance to San Francisco Bay, most likely caused the earlier mariners to prefer to skirt far to the west and offshore from the entrance to the bay, thus leading to the much later discovery of the San Francisco Bay by land over two centuries after the 1542 discovery of the islands. De la Ascension wrote in his diary, "Six leagues before reaching Punta de los Reyes ( Point Reyes) is a large island, two leagues from land and three leagues northwest of this are. The islands were apparently first given their names of the “Farallones” (literally, “cliffs”) by Friar Antonio de la Ascencion, aboard the Spanish explorer Sebastián Vizcaíno's 1603 expedition. The name of St James is now applied to only one of the rocky islets of the North Farallons. He named them the Islands of Saint James because the day after his arrival was the feast day of St James the Great. On that day, Drake landed on the islands to collect seal meat and bird eggs for his ship. The first European to create a record of the islands that has survived was the English privateer and explorer Sir Francis Drake, on July 24, 1579. The first Europeans to see these islands were most probably the members of the Juan Cabrillo expedition of 1542 which sailed as far north as Point Reyes, but no source record of the Cabrillo expedition's actual sighting of these islands has survived. The islands were long known by the name Islands of the Dead to the Native Americans who lived in the Bay Area prior to the arrival of Europeans, but they are not thought to have traveled to them, either for practical reasons (the voyage and landing would be difficult and dangerous) or because of spiritual beliefs (the islands were believed to be an abode of the spirits of the dead). Additionally, waters surrounding the islands are protected as part of the Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary.Īerial view of the Southeast Farallon Island from the south In 1974, the Farallon Wilderness was established ( Public Law 93-550) and includes all islands except the Southeast Island for a total of 141 acres (57 ha). The Farallon Islands National Wildlife Refuge is one of 63 national wildlife refuges that have congressionally designated wilderness status. ![]() The only inhabited portion of the islands is on Southeast Farallon Island (SEFI), where researchers from Point Blue Conservation Science and the U.S. The islands are part of the City and County of San Francisco. The islands lie 30 miles (48 km) outside the Golden Gate and 20 miles (32 km) south of Point Reyes, and are visible from the mainland on clear days. The islands are also sometimes referred to by mariners as the Devil's Teeth Islands, in reference to the many treacherous underwater shoals in their vicinity. The Farallon Islands, or Farallones (from the Spanish farallón meaning "pillar" or "sea cliff"), are a group of islands and sea stacks in the Gulf of the Farallones, off the coast of San Francisco, California, United States. A Fata Morgana mirage of the Farallon Islands, as viewed from San Francisco.
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