Sir Francis Drake's Chaplain and The Prayer Book Cross

Prayer Book Cross, Golden Gate Park

Did you know that the first English worship service in America was conducted back in 1579 on the West Coast by Sir Francis Drake's Chaplain? 

Yep, it's true.  The first English service in America was on the West Coast, (what is now the San Francisco Bay Area) and conducted by a Chaplain!

Today in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, California there is a giant sixty foot Celtic cross, "The Prayer Book Cross".  

The Prayer Book Cross was a gift from the Church of England back in 1894, to commemorate the first English worship service in America!  

Worship using the Book of Common Prayer, of course! 

And yes, this occurred even before all the European activity and colonization on the American east coast!  

Prayer Book Cross, early photo

Now surrounded and obscured by trees, the cross was easily seen from the ocean when it was first installed back in 1894.  

No wonder I have never seen this cross!

And just who was the mystery chaplain back in 1579 who led that "first ever" English worship service on the West Coast of the Americas?  

His name was Sir Francis Fletcher.    

Another fellow chaplain, doing ministry at the edge of the earth!