N. de Morena explained

N. de Morena or N. de Morera, name given to him by his contemporary Fray Juan de Torquemada^[1] and by most authors,^{[2] [3] [4] [5]} was a European ship pilot in the 1577–1580 expedition of Sir Francis Drake. In ill health, he was reportedly left at New Albion in 1579 and once he recovered he walked to Mexico (then New Spain). In doing so, he likely was the first European to see San Francisco Bay and likely established the incorrect idea that California was an island.^[6] In only few and non-contemporaneous references, the name is given as "N. de Morena."^[7]

Notes and References

1. Book: John Logan Allen. North American Exploration. 1997. U of Nebraska Press. 0-8032-1015-9. 433–.
2. Book: Dora Polk. The Island of California: A History of the Myth. January 1965. U of Nebraska Press. 0-8032-8741-0. 221–.
3. Book: Samuel Bawlf. The Secret Voyage of Sir Francis Drake. 1 September 2009. D&M Publishers Incorporated. 978-1-926706-24-5. 331–.
4. Book: Harry Kelsey. Sir Francis Drake: The Queen's Pirate. 2000. Yale University Press. 978-0-300-08463-4. 194–.
5. http://www.reformation.org/sir-francis-drake.html The Secret Voyage of Sir Francis Drake
6. News: The Land of Sunshine, the Magazine of California and the West . Narrative of the Pilot Morera, who passed through the North Sea to the South Sea through the Strait . 184–186 . February . 1900 . Charles F. Lumis.
7. Book: Aker, Raymond . REPORT OF FINDINGS RELATING TO THE IDENTIFICATION OF SIR FRANCIS DRAKE'S ENCAMPMENT AT POINT REYES NATIONAL SEASHORE . 1970 . 338–340.