The Spanish voyages to the Northwest Coast, 1774-1779: Perez at Nootka, Heceta at the Columbia, Bodega y Quadra in Alaska

Three expeditions sailed from San Blas under the viceroy of Mexico and examined the American coast from Monterey to beyond the 58th parallel - reaching Nootka four years before Cook and the mouth of the Columbia seventeen years before the Boston ship that named it. Spain published nothing until 1802, so the priority was conceded late and by an unfriendly witness: the librarian of the United States Department of State, writing to support the American claim to Oregon.