N. de Morena or N. de Morera, name given to him by his contemporary

Fray Juan de Torquemada Juan de Torquemada (c. 1562 – 1624) was a Franciscan friar, active as missionary in colonial Mexico and considered the "leading Franciscan chronicler of his generation." Administrator, engineer, architect and ethnographer, he is most fam ...

and by most authors,The Secret Voyage of Sir Francis Drake
/ref> was a European ship pilot in the 1577–1580 expedition of

Sir Francis Drake Sir Francis Drake ( – 28 January 1596) was an English explorer, sea captain, privateer, slave trader, naval officer, and politician. Drake is best known for his circumnavigation of the world in a single expedition, from 1577 to 1580 ( ...

. In ill health, he was reportedly left at

New Albion New Albion, also known as ''Nova Albion'' (in reference to an archaic name for Britain), was the name of the continental area north of Mexico claimed by Sir Francis Drake for England when he landed on the North American west coast in 1579. Thi ...

in 1579 and once he recovered he walked to

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

(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 California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

was an

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

. In only few and non-contemporaneous references, the name is given as "N. de Morena."

References

16th-century European people 16th-century explorers Explorers of California {{california-stub