Meet Our Oregon and California Team

         Garry D. Gitzen

President SFDA - Garry as been called "The leading authority of Drake on the Pacific coast."  He is the author of: Francis Drake in Nehalem Bay 1579, Setting the Historical Record Straight (2008/r2011); Treasure Rocks of Neahkahnie Mountain (2012); "Edward Wright's World Chart 1599", Terrae Incognitae, The Journal of the Society for the History of Discoveries, Vol. 46.1, p. 3-15, 2014 and Oregon's Stolen History, How California pasted together their Drake story., MS, M. Jensen Library, (2012).  He has spoken at the Oregon Archaeological Society, Columbia River Maritime Museum and California Map Society.

           Phil Costaggini, MSCE

VP  - Phil is the author of SIR  FRANCIS DRAKE'S NORTHWEST EXPLORATION: 
AN HISTORICAL DISCUSSION AND SURVEY OF ARTIFACTS AT NEAHKAHNIE MOUNTAIN, OREGON 
Oregon state University, Corvallis, Oregon (1982).  Without his 3-year field study and remarkable 184 page report that documents the Drake survey and navigation markers, the "most important Elizabethan artifacts in North America" of Oregon's history would have been lost to future generations.

 Tom Mock

VP - Tom is a trained anthropologist with an enthusiastic interest in local history.  He has served as the   president of the Nehalem Valley Historical Society and has been involved in many of the societies programs.

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      California Sir Francis Drake Association
  •  Commander, Richard W. Buchanan Navy Cross, 2005-06 National Commander Legion of Valor of the USA.- President California SFDA.  Rich has sailed both the Atlantic and Pacific, attended Saint Mary's College of California Business School and received his teaching credential from the University of California at Berkeley. He's an avid sailing enthusiast of early exploration, whaling and navigation. (photo Sargasso Sea 1985. It's a very exotic area that sir Francis Drake would've had to sail though and the source of thousands of Sea tales including the Flying Dutchman.)