Acapulco and Vancouver

In March of 1792 the schooners “Subtle” and “Mexicana” sailed from Acapulco, commanded by Dionisio Galiano and Cayetano Valdes, expert astronomers. This was, again, a singularly scientific expedition. These illustrations travellers examined the contours of the offshore island which had misled its discoverer, a Greek sailor in the service of New Spain, into thinking he had finally found the mouth of the much-sought Northern Passage: the Juan de Fuca Straits.

This island had first been called Bodega y Cuadra, after the Peruvian sailor Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Cuadra, author of a map of the coast from Callao to Acapulco and a chart of Acapulco Bay, who had also been commander of the port and shipyards at San Blas. Later this island was called Cuadra y Vancouver, after George Vancouver, an English navigator. The name eventually became the simplified “Vancouver”.

As a matter of fact, farther north, near Nutka, the Alaskan Island held by New Spain that had been discovered by De la Bodega y Cuadra, Galiano and Valdes happened to stumble on Vancouver and his companion Broughton, then devoted to similar scientific research. They were able to exchange a great deal of useful information in the ideal climate of inves-tigational harmony, as true colleagues devoted to impartial survey.
Many Spanish discoveries, however, including the most important of all, the discovery of America, were later exploited by the English and turned to British advantage.