On the swell of the morning tide, with all sails full, the Juno ran before the wind into San Francisco Bay. As the ship approached the Golden Gate, Fort San Joaquin—so unimposing that at first it seemed merely a group ol rocks, rather than the main defense of the harbor—was sighted on the southern point. A great commotion” within the fort, plainly visible from the ship, revealed the garrison’s alarm at the unannounced arrival of a strange vessel. A soldier with a speaking trumpet hailed her in Spanish: ”What ship is that?” For nearly half a century the Californium had been expecting the reply that now—at nine o’clock in the morning on April 8, 1806—they heard for the first time: “Russian.”

The Juno was instructed immediately tu cast anchor near the Tort, under the guns of the battery. “Si señor; si, señor,” answered the Russians, but they only simulated efforts to comply with the order. The ship continued swiftly into the deserted bay until she was out of range of the fort’s battery. Then, prudently covering the beach with her own small cannon, she finally let go the anchor.

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