Francisco de Eliza

Francisco de Eliza y Reventa (1759 – February 19, 1825) was a Spanish naval officer, navigator, and explorer. He is remembered mainly for his work in the Pacific Northwest. He was the commandant of the Spanish post in Nootka Sound on Vancouver Island, and led or dispatched several exploration voyages in the region, including the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Strait of Georgia.

Francisco de Eliza was born in El Puerto de Santa María, Spain, in 1759. He began his career with the Spanish Navy in 1773, graduating from the Real Colegio de Guardiamarinas in Cadiz. In 1775 he served in the Spanish expedition against Algiers. He was sent to America in 1780 and later took part in the siege of Pensacola, Florida, during the American Revolution.

In 1789 Eliza and several other officers were chosen by Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra to serve at San Blas, the naval station on the west coast of Mexico, then part of New Spain. Bodega y Quadra was the newly appointed commandant of San Blas. The San Blas naval department was responsible for supporting and exploring the coast north of Mexico, including Alta California and the Pacific Northwest to southern Alaska. The viceroy of New Spain, Juan Vicente de Güemes, Count of Revillagigedo, gave Eliza command of an expedition to reoccupy the Spanish establishment at Nootka Sound on Vancouver Island. The outpost, which the Spanish called Santa Cruz de Nuca, had been established by Esteban José Martínez in 1789 and then abandoned in October of the same year, after the "Nootka Incident", which triggered an international crisis between Spain and Great Britain known as the Nootka Crisis.

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