Historic Landmarks of San Francisco

The San Carlos was the first ship to enter San Francisco Bay. Also called the Toison de Oro, or Golden Fleece, she was small, awkward, and slow. A square-rigged packetship of 193 tons, she was only 58 feet long and 17 feet at the beam. The master was 31-year-old Juan de Ayala, Lieutenant of Frigrate. The San Carlos left San Blas, Mexico, in March 1775, anchoring off the Monterey Presidio on June 27. On August 5, 1775, the San Carlos passed through the Golden Gate and, at 10:30 PM, anchored for the first time inside San Francisco Bay.

The actual anchorage site was off Sausalito, not near the San Francisco shore. Eight days later the vessel reanchored in what is now Ayala Cove, Angel Island. The little ship remained in the Bay a total of 44 days. Parties led by the pilot, Cannizares, explored and charted the great estuary. They traversed San Francisco and San Pablo Bays, passed through Carquinez Strait and reached the mouths of the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers. Angel, Alcatraz, and Yerba Buena Islands were named. Ayala found the local Indians to be friendly, and declared that the Bay was the best port on the western coast of America north of Cape Horn.

A bronze state marker, mounted on a boulder, memorializing the entrance of the San Carlos into San Francisco Bay, stands in Aquatic Park across Beach Street from Ghirardelli Square. While no mention of the first anchorage site is made, it can be seen accross the Golden Gate off Sausalito in Marin County. The plaque was dedicated August 9, 1975, by the California State Department of Parks and Recreation and San Francisco Twin Bicentennial, Inc.