in 1789, to fortify Nootka Sound and exclude all foreigners from that region, of which as we saw she claimed the exclusive sovereignty. Harsh treatment of British traders and the forcible seizure by Don Martinez, the Spanish commander, of several British owned vessels at Nootka precipitated the quarrel which at one time seemed to foreshadow war. Finally, the two nations reached an agreement called the Nootka Convention which records a complete triumph for Britain. In it Spain conceded the right of British subjects to trade and make settlements upon any part of the coast not already occupied. In other words, Spain gave up her exclusive claim so far as the coast above California was concerned.[1]
For carrying out the terms of the Nootka Convention it was necessary for both nations to send navigators to the Northwest Coast and Great Britain sent on that service Captain George Vancouver, who was destined to become pre-eminent as the geographer of the Northwest Coast.
Vancouver's Voyage. Vancouver spent portions of three summers in those waters and he gave to the world a great map of the west coast of North America from San Diego in California to Cook's River, or Cook's Inlet, in Alaska. He explored the inland sea into which De Fuca's Strait was found to lead and named it Puget's Sound for his friend Lieutenant Puget; he circumnavigated Vancouver Island; he ex-
- ↑ See Manning, William Ray. The Nootka Sound Controversy. Rept. of Am. Hist. Assn, 1904 p. 279–478.
