Spanish expeditions to the Pacific Northwest

Spanish claims to Alaska and the West Coast of North America date to the papal bull of 1493, and the Treaty of Tordesillas. In 1513, this claim was reinforced by Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa, the first European to sight the Pacific Ocean, when he claimed all lands adjoining this ocean for the Spanish Crown. Spain only started to colonize the claimed territory north of present-day Mexico in the 18th century, when it settled the northern coast of Las Californias (California).

Starting in the mid-18th century, Spain's rights began to be challenged by British and Russian fur traders and colonizers. King Charles III of Spain and his successors sent a number of expeditions from New Spain to present-day Canada and Alaska between 1774 and 1793, to counter this threat and to defend Spanish territorial rights. During this period in history, a nation's claims or rights to a certain territory were legitimized by exploration and "prior to Spanish discovery".

The first voyage was that of Juan José Pérez Hernández of the frigate Santiago (alias Nueva Galicia). Although intending to reach Alaska, the expedition turned back at Haida Gwaii.

In 1775 a second voyage of ninety men led by Lieutenant Bruno de Heceta aboard the Santiago, set sail from San Blas, Nayarit on March 16, 1775 with orders to make clear Spanish claims for the entire Northwestern Pacific Coast. Accompanying Heceta was the schooner Sonora, alias Felicidad, (also known as the Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe), initially under the command of Juan Manuel de Ayala. The 36-foot (11 m) longSonora and its crew complement of 16 were to perform coastal reconnaissance and mapping, and could make landfall in places the larger Santiago was unable to approach on its previous voyage; in this way, the expedition could officially reassert Spanish claims to the lands north of New Spain it visited. Ayala took command of the packet boat San Carlos, alias Toysón de Oro, also sailing with the expedition, after its initial commander, Miguel Manrique, took ill soon after leaving San Blas. Heceta than gave Bogeda y Quadra command of the Sonora. Francisco Antonio Mourelle served as Bodega y Quadra's pilot and the two forged a strong and enduring friendship.

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