Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra

Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra (22 May 1744 – 26 March 1794) was a Spanish

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

naval officer born in Lima, Peru. Assigned to the Pacific coast Spanish Naval Department

Spanish Navy

The Spanish Navy is the maritime branch of the Spanish Armed Forces, one of the oldest active naval forces in the world. The Armada is responsible for notable achievements in world history such as the discovery of Americas, the first world circumnavigation, and the discovery of a maritime path...

base at San Blas

San Blas, Nayarit

San Blas is both a municipality and municipal seat located on the Pacific coast of Mexico in the state of Nayarit.-City:San Blas is a port and a popular tourist destination, located about 100 miles north of Puerto Vallarta, and 40 miles west of the state capital Tepic. The town has a population of...

, in the Viceroyalty of New Spain

New Spain

New Spain, formally called the Viceroyalty of New Spain , was a viceroyalty of the Spanish colonial empire, comprising primarily territories in what was known then as 'América Septentrional' or North America. Its capital was Mexico City, formerly Tenochtitlan, capital of the Aztec Empire...

(present day Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

), this navigator

Navigator

A navigator is the person on board a ship or aircraft responsible for its navigation. The navigator's primary responsibility is to be aware of ship or aircraft position at all times. Responsibilities include planning the journey, advising the Captain or aircraft Commander of estimated timing to...

explored the Northwest Coast

Pacific Northwest

The Pacific Northwest is a region in northwestern North America, bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains on the east. Definitions of the region vary and there is no commonly agreed upon boundary, even among Pacific Northwesterners. A common concept of the...

of North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

as far north as present day Alaska

Alaska

Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...

.

Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra joined the Spanish Naval

Spanish Navy

Academy in Cádiz

Cádiz

Cadiz is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the homonymous province, one of eight which make up the autonomous community of Andalusia....

at 19, and four years later, in 1767 was commissioned as an officer

Officer (armed forces)

An officer is a member of an armed force or uniformed service who holds a position of authority. Commissioned officers derive authority directly from a sovereign power and, as such, hold a commission charging them with the duties and responsibilities of a specific office or position...

of the rank Frigate Ensign (alférez de fragata). In 1773 he was promoted to Ship Ensign (alférez de navío), and in 1774 to Ship Lieutenant (teniente de navío).

1775 expedition

In 1775 under the command of Lieutenant Bruno de Heceta

Bruno de Heceta

Bruno de Heceta y Dudagoitia was a Spanish Basque explorer of the Pacific Northwest. Born in Bilbao of an old Basque family, he was sent by the Viceroy of New Spain, Antonio María Bucareli y Ursúa, to explore the area north of Alta California in response to information that there were colonial...

, the Spanish explored the Pacific Northwest

Pacific Northwest

. This followed the first Spanish expedition by Juan Pérez

Juan José Pérez Hernández

Juan José Pérez Hernández , often simply Juan Pérez, was an 18th century Spanish explorer. He was the first European to sight, examine, name, and record the islands near present-day British Columbia, Canada...

in 1774, who had failed to reach and claim the upper northwest coast for Spain. The expedition consisted of two ships: the Santiago (alias Nueva Galicia), commanded by Hezeta himself, and the schooner Sonora (alias Felicidad, also known as Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe), commanded by his second in command, Lieutenant Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra. Bodega y Quadra was given the lesser position of second officer

Second Officer

Second Officer may refer to:*Second Officer , a civilian aviation rank*Second Officer , a merchant marine rank*A naval rank in the Women's Royal Naval Service*A billet in the Star Trek universe...

on the Sonora despite the fact that he outranked the others. Bodega y Quadra had all the training and qualifications necessary to be considered for a senior officer position, but as a non-Spaniard he was subject to the class prejudice common to Spain and the colonial Americas during that time. So he was passed over for promotions.

The Spaniards were given orders to explore the coast and to go ashore so that the newly discovered territories would be recognized as Spanish lands. Most important for the expedition was the identification of colonial Russian settlements. The ships left San Blas

San Blas, Nayarit

, New Spain, on 16 March 1775. Illnesses (scurvy

Scurvy

Scurvy is a disease resulting from a deficiency of vitamin C, which is required for the synthesis of collagen in humans. The chemical name for vitamin C, ascorbic acid, is derived from the Latin name of scurvy, scorbutus, which also provides the adjective scorbutic...

), storms, poor sailing capacities of the Sonora, and other incidents slowed their progress.

On 13 July 1775, they reached the vicinity of Point Grenville and Destruction Island in the present day U.S. state of Washington. While searching for a safe place for the ships to anchor, which was one of the duties of the Sonora, Bodega y Quadra sailed over what is now called Sonora Reef. He immediately realized his mistake and signaled the Santiago to not follow. The wind direction and changing tide trapped the Sonora between Sonora Reef and Point Grenville. The Santiago anchored a few miles to the south, in Grenville Bay. The Sonora attracted the attention of a nearby Quinault

Quinault (tribe)

The Quinault are a group of Native American peoples from western Washington in the United States.-Lands:The Quinault Indian Reservation, at , is located on the Pacific coast of Washington, primarily in northwestern Grays Harbor County, with small parts extending north into southwestern Jefferson...

village. Many Quinault visited the schooner, trading with the crew and giving gifts of food. Early the next day an armed party from the Santiago went ashore and quickly conducted a possession ceremony, which was observed by some Quinaults. Later that morning, Bodega y Quadra decided to send six sailors ashore to collect water and wood. A large number of Quinaults appeared, attacked, and killed the shore party. Bodega y Quadra was unable to help as the party had taken the schooner's only boat. At noon he weighed anchor, hoping to escape the shoals at high tide. Progress was slow as the wind was low and the crew significantly reduced. Nine large canoes carrying about 30 Quinaults carrying bows and shields followed and came along side the Sonora. They made signs of friendship which Bodega y Quadra rejected. The Quinaults in one of the canoes approached in an attempt to board the Sonora, but once the canoe was in range of the schooner's two swivel guns and three muskets it was fired upon, killing "the greater number of them", according to Bodega's journal.

Bodega wanted to avenge his lost sailors, but, was overruled by Heceta, who pointed out the expedition had orders to use force only in self-defense. Quinault ethnologists have come up with theories about the sudden attack, one being that the land-claiming ceremony was understood for what it was. Of particular note was the placement of a large cross on the beach. The Quinault would have understood that the erecting of a tall pole with a crossbar during an obviously religious ritual was a symbolically powerful act.

Shaken by this disaster, and with most of his crew suffering from scurvy, Hezeta decided to return to New Spain, but Bodega y Quadra refused to follow him without having completed the essential mission, which was to locate the Russians. He continued northward on the Sonora and got as far as what is now close to Sitka, Alaska, reaching 59° north latitude on August 15, 1775. Failing to find any Russians, he returned southward. When returning he made sure that he landed once to claim the coast for Spain. This expedition made it clear to the Spanish that the Russian colonization

Russian colonization of the Americas

The Russian colonization of the Americas covers the period, from 1732 to 1867, when the Tsarist Imperial Russian Empire laid claim to northern Pacific Coast territories in the Americas...

did not have a large presence in the Pacific Northwest. Bodega Y Quadra was able to draw for the first time a reasonably accurate map of the west coast of North America.

1779 expedition

On February 11, 1779 the corvettes Princesa
La Princesa (1778)
La Princesa was a Spanish frigate or corvette built at the Spanish Navy base at San Blas and launched in 1778. She is sometimes called a frigate and sometimes a corvette...

and Favorita, under the command of Lieutenant Ignacio de Arteaga and his second in command, Lieutenant Bodega y Quadra, left San Blas again. Their mission was to explore the northwest coast, and not to intervene with the assumed English navigators there. They charted every bay and inlet in search of the Northwest Passage

Northwest Passage

The Northwest Passage is a sea route through the Arctic Ocean, along the northern coast of North America via waterways amidst the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans...

, going north to 58°30′ before turning back from Alaska due to bad weather. They completed the complex process begun earlier of claiming the Pacific Northwest for Spain.

The expedition anchored in Port Etches

Port Etches

Port Etches is a bay in the southcentral part of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is located on the west side of Hinchinbrook Island and opens onto Hinchinbrook Entrance, a strait between Hinchinbrook Island and Montague Island, connecting Prince William Sound and the Gulf of Alaska.Port Etches was...

, near Prince William Sound

Prince William Sound

Prince William Sound is a sound off the Gulf of Alaska on the south coast of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is located on the east side of the Kenai Peninsula. Its largest port is Valdez, at the southern terminus of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System...

. The harbor was given the name "Puerto de Santiago" on July 23, 1779. The name commemorated Saint James, the patron saint

Patron saint

A patron saint is a saint who is regarded as the intercessor and advocate in heaven of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or person...

of Spain, whose feast day

Calendar of saints

The calendar of saints is a traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the feast day of said saint...

falls on July 25. While the Spaniards were anchored in Port Etches they performed a formal possession ceremony. All the officers and chaplains went ashore in procession, raised a large cross while cannons and muskets fired salutes. The Te Deum was sung, followed by a litany and prayers. After a sermon was preached a formal deed of possession was drawn up and signed by the officers and chaplains. The title to Puerto de Santiago was important for years afterward, as it formed the basis of Spain's claim to sovereignty in the North Pacific up to 61°17′N.

In 1780 Bodega y Quadra was promoted to capitán de fragata (Frigate Captain

Frigate Captain

Frigate captain is a naval rank in the naval forces of several countries.It is, usually, equivalent to the Commonwealth/US Navy rank of commander.Countries using this rank include Argentina and Spain , France , Belgium , Italy ,...

), in recognition of his achievements during the 1779 voyage.

Peru

In 1780 Bodega was ordered to sail to the Viceroyalty of Peru

Viceroyalty of Peru

Created in 1542, the Viceroyalty of Peru was a Spanish colonial administrative district that originally contained most of Spanish-ruled South America, governed from the capital of Lima...

in order to acquire quicksilver (mercury

Mercury (element)

Mercury is a chemical element with the symbol Hg and atomic number 80. It is also known as quicksilver or hydrargyrum...

), which was required by the Mexican silver mining industry. The supply of quicksilver had fallen sharply because the ships that would normally have delivered it had been diverted elsewhere due to the war with Britain. After many delays, Bodega sailed the old frigate Santiago from San Blas on 5 June 1781. The voyage was plagued by difficulties, such as continually contrary winds and bad weather. The Santiago took on so much water it needed to be careened

Careening

Careening a sailing vessel is the practice of beaching it at high tide. This is usually done in order to expose one side or another of the ship's hull for maintenance and repairs below the water line when the tide goes out....

, but there was no opportunity to do so until in Peru. Bodega finally reached Callao

Callao

Callao is the largest and most important port in Peru. The city is coterminous with the Constitutional Province of Callao, the only province of the Callao Region. Callao is located west of Lima, the country's capital, and is part of the Lima Metropolitan Area, a large metropolis that holds almost...

, Peru

Peru

Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....

, on 18 July 1782, thirteen months after sailing from San Blas. He soon discovered that there was no surplus quicksilver to be had. The Viceroy of Peru, Agustín de Jáuregui

Agustín de Jáuregui

Agustín de Jáuregui y Aldecoa was a Spanish politician and soldier who served as governor of Chile and viceroy of Peru .-Early life:...

, had heard of Bodega's mission before Bodega arrived and decided to expedite matters by sending all the quicksilver he could spare to Acapulco

Acapulco

Acapulco is a city, municipality and major sea port in the state of Guerrero on the Pacific coast of Mexico, southwest from Mexico City. Acapulco is located on a deep, semi-circular bay and has been a port since the early colonial period of Mexico’s history...

on the merchant ship San Pablo. Wishing not to return without any cargo, Bodega arranged to carry military supplies. The Santiago was careened and many rotten planks were replaced. Bodega sailed from Callao at the end of March 1783, carrying the cargo of military supplies and a number of passengers. The voyage north went smoothly, and Bodega anchored the Santiago at San Blas on 20 June 1783.

Spain

Shortly after Bodega's return to San Blas he received orders to go to Havana

Havana

Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...

, Cuba

Cuba

The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...

. There, in 1784, he requested and received permission to travel to Spain, which he did in 1785. He spent four mostly discouraging and frustrating years in Spain. However, there were at least two positive events. First, the king approved Bodega's promotion to capitán de navío (Ship Captain) on 15 November 1786, the highest naval rank below flag officer

Flag Officer

A flag officer is a commissioned officer in a nation's armed forces senior enough to be entitled to fly a flag to mark where the officer exercises command. The term usually refers to the senior officers in an English-speaking nation's navy, specifically those who hold any of the admiral ranks; in...

ranks. Second, he was knighted by the King of Spain as a full-fledged knight of the Order of Santiago

Order of Santiago

The Order of Santiago was founded in the 12th century, and owes its name to the national patron of Galicia and Spain, Santiago , under whose banner the Christians of Galicia and Asturias began in the 9th century to combat and drive back the Muslims of the Iberian Peninsula.-History:Santiago de...

—the most prestigious of Spain's four orders of chivalry. It was very difficult to earn a commission in the Order of Santiago. Bodega had begun the process in 1775. He was finally knighted by the king on 8 April 1788.

Commandant of San Blas

At the end of his stay in Spain, Bodega was appointed commandant of the Naval Department of San Blas. Instructed to select six junior officers to serve under him at San Blas, Bodega y Quadra chose Manuel Quimper, Ramón Saavedra Guiráldez y Ordóñez, Francisco de Eliza, Salvador Fidalgo, Jacinto Caamaño, and Salvador Menéndez Valdés. Bodega and these six officers sailed to America on the same ship that was carrying the new Viceroy of New Spain, Conde de Revillagigedo. The viceroy and Bodega arrived to find themselves in the immediate aftermath of the Nootka Crisis

Nootka Crisis

The Nootka Crisis was an international incident and political dispute between the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Spain, triggered by a series of events that took place during the summer of 1789 at Nootka Sound...

. They had two pressing issues to deal with right away. First they had to arrange for the release of the British ships, officers, and sailors taken prisoner by Martínez in 1789. Second, they had to respond to the Royal Order of April 14, 1789, which required that the Spanish establishment at Nootka Sound

Nootka Sound

Nootka Sound is a complex inlet or sound of the Pacific Ocean on the rugged west coast of Vancouver Island, in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Historically also known as King George's Sound, as a strait it separates Vancouver Island and Nootka Island.-History:The inlet is part of the...

be maintained. At first neither Revillagigedo nor Bodega knew that Martínez had abandoned Nootka Sound. The Royal Order thus meant that a new expedition be immediately organized for the purpose of reoccupying, permanently, Nootka Sound. The reoccupation expedition was organized very quickly.

The three ships, Concepción, San Carlos, and Princesa Real sailed from San Blas and arrived at Nootka Sound in early April 1790. Francisco de Eliza was appointed commandant. Quimper, Fidalgo, and other officers were part of the expedition. The First Company of the Free Company of Volunteers of Catalonia

Free Company of Volunteers of Catalonia

The Free Company of Volunteers of Catalonia was a military company of the Spanish Army serving in the Spanish colonial empire.-Origins:...

, under Pedro de Alberni, sailed with Eliza to garrison the Nootka establishment. The expedition had to be well supplied, not only with cannons and munitions but also with warm clothes, new equipment for the soldiers under Alberni, materials for constructing buildings and Fort San Miguel

Fort San Miguel

For Angola fort, see Fortaleza de São MiguelFort San Miguel was a Spanish fortification at Friendly Cove in Nootka Sound , Vancouver Island....

, thousands of sheets of copper for trading or giving to the indigenous peoples, and numerous other goods. That Bodega y Quadra was able to organize the complicated logistical issues, especially given San Blas's chronically undersupplied and underfunded status, such that the ships sailed within months of Bodega's arrival, was a remarkable achievement.

Nootka Sound Commandant

Quadra was called as an expert witness in the aftermath of the Nootka Crisis

Nootka Crisis

at Nootka Sound

Nootka Sound

. In 1789, as the Commandant based at San Blas

San Blas

San Blas, the Spanish name for Saint Blaise, can refer to:*San Blas, La Rioja*San Blas Department*San Blas, Costa Rica*San Blas, Quito*San Blas, El Salvador* San Blas, Nadur* San Blas, Nayarit* San Blas, Sinaloa* San Blas Atempa, Oaxaca...

, he sent out several new expeditions of exploration. In 1791 he was appointed Spanish commissioner to negotiate and administer the implementation of the Nootka Convention

Nootka Convention

The Nootka Conventions were a series of three agreements between the Kingdom of Spain and the Kingdom of Great Britain, signed in the 1790s which averted a war between the two empires over overlapping claims to portions of the Pacific Northwest coast of North America.The claims of Spain dated back...

s at Nootka Sound.

As commandant of the Spanish establishment at Nootka, Bodega made a point of hosting and entertaining every visitor, indigenous and European. He held feasts for the officers of every ship that arrived at Nootka Sound, including the French fur-trading ship La Flavie, the "Portuguese" ship Feliz Aventureira (actually a British ship masquerading as Portuguese), the American ships Columbia
Columbia Rediviva
Columbia Rediviva was a privately owned ship under the command of John Kendrick, along with Captain Robert Gray, best known for going to the Pacific Northwest for the maritime fur trade. The "Rediviva" was added to her name upon a rebuilding in 1787...

, under Robert Gray, and the Hope
Hope (ship)
The Hope was an American brig class merchant ship involved in the Maritime Fur Trade along the northwest coast of North America and discovery in the Pacific Ocean...

, under Joseph Ingraham

Joseph Ingraham

Joseph Ingraham was an American sailor and Maritime Fur Trader who discovered several islands of the Marquesas Islands while on his way to trade along the West Coast of North America...

, Vancouver's ships Discovery
HMS Discovery (1789)
HMS Discovery was a Royal Navy ship launched in 1789 and best known as the lead ship in George Vancouver's exploration of the west coast of North America in his famous 1791-1795 expedition. She was converted to a bomb vessel in 1798 and participated in the Battle of Copenhagen. Thereafter she...

and Chatham
HMS Chatham (1788)
HMS Chatham was a Royal Navy survey brig that accompanied HMS Discovery on George Vancouver's exploration of the west coast of North America in his 1791–1795 expedition. Chatham was built by King, of Dover and launched in early 1788...

, and a number of others. The journals of many people who visited Nootka Sound during the summer of 1792 record amazement at the grandeur of Bodega's dinners, especially at such a remote part of the world, at which over fifty people would be served many courses on Bodega's personal collection of about 300 pieces of silver dinner ware. Bodega also provided ship repair services to any vessel needing them. A number of ships, including the Chatham, were careened

Careening

and repaired by Spanish workers.

In August 1792, Bodega welcomed English Captain George Vancouver

George Vancouver

Captain George Vancouver RN was an English officer of the British Royal Navy, best known for his 1791-95 expedition, which explored and charted North America's northwestern Pacific Coast regions, including the coasts of contemporary Alaska, British Columbia, Washington and Oregon...

. The two commanders swiftly established friendly relations, including joint explorations and the sharing of supplies and information. Vancouver provided the services of his surgeon, Archibald Menzies

Archibald Menzies

Archibald Menzies was a Scottish surgeon, botanist and naturalist.- Life and career :Menzies was born at Easter Stix in the parish of Weem, in Perthshire. While working with his elder brother William at the Royal Botanic Gardens, he drew the attention of Dr John Hope, professor of botany at...

, to help Quadra with increasingly serious headaches. During their meetings Bodega y Quadra asked Vancouver to name "some port or Island after us both" (however, Bodega wrote in his journal that it was Vancouver who made the suggestion). Since Vancouver had determined that the land upon which Nootka stood was a great island, he proposed that they name it Quadra's and Vancouver's Island: "would name some port or island after us both in commemoration of our meeting and friendly intercourse that on that occasion had taken place (Vancouver had previously feted Quadra on his ship);....and conceiving no place more eligible than the place of our meeting, I have therefore named this land...The Island of Quadra and Vancouver." It was thus entered upon the explorer's charts, but this name was soon shortened to Vancouver Island

Vancouver Island

Vancouver Island is a large island in British Columbia, Canada. It is one of several North American locations named after George Vancouver, the British Royal Navy officer who explored the Pacific Northwest coast of North America between 1791 and 1794...

.

However, the two commanders were unable to reconcile the conflicts in the instructions from their respective governments. At issue was whether the Spanish were to hand over only the small plot of land actually built upon by the adventurer John Meares

John Meares

John Meares was a navigator, explorer, and maritime fur trader, best known for his role in the Nootka Crisis, which brought Britain and Spain to the brink of war.- Career :...

, or the entire West Coast, or something in between. It is scarcely contested that Meares had exaggerated the extent of his discoveries. However, Bodega y Quadra was handicapped by uncertainties as to how far his superiors' wished to maintain Spanish sovereignty in a part of the world that had limited strategic value. He improvised and by chance pressed for exactly the condition that both the king and viceroy later communicated to him. Vancouver was likewise handicapped by a lack of instructions. He stuck by a strictly literal interpretation of Article I of the Nootka Convention

Nootka Convention

. Having reached an impasse, the two agreed to refer the points at issue back to their respective governments in Madrid

Madrid

Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...

and London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

; Quadra arranged passage for Vancouver's envoy, William Robert Broughton

William Robert Broughton

William Robert Broughton was a British naval officer in the late 18th century. As a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy, he commanded HMS Chatham as part of the Vancouver Expedition, a voyage of exploration through the Pacific Ocean led by Captain George Vancouver in the early 1790s.-With Vancouver:In...

, through Mexico. Viceroy Revillagigedo chastised Bodega for allowing Broughton passage through New Spain. Eventually, Spain and Great Britain

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

signed an agreement on January 11, 1794, in which they agreed to abandon the region (the third Nootka Convention

Nootka Convention

Death

After suffering from chronic headaches for several years, in April 1793 Bodega y Quadra requested a leave from his duties to restore his health. It was granted and he left San Blas for Guadalajara

Guadalajara

Guadalajara may refer to:In Mexico:*Guadalajara, Jalisco, the capital of the state of Jalisco and second largest city in Mexico**Guadalajara Metropolitan Area*University of Guadalajara, a public university in Guadalajara, Jalisco...

and Mexico City

Mexico City

Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...

. He suffered a strong fluxo de sangre (blood loss or haemorrhage) in Guadalajara. He had a seizure in Mexico City

Mexico City

and died there on March 26, 1794, at the age of 49. The internist Dr. John Naish has conjectured that Bodega y Quadra's death was the result of either a brain tumor

Brain tumor

A brain tumor is an intracranial solid neoplasm, a tumor within the brain or the central spinal canal.Brain tumors include all tumors inside the cranium or in the central spinal canal...

or the severest form of hypertension

Hypertension

Hypertension or high blood pressure is a cardiac chronic medical condition in which the systemic arterial blood pressure is elevated. What that means is that the heart is having to work harder than it should to pump the blood around the body. Blood pressure involves two measurements, systolic and...

. Given the lack of details and the imprecision contemporary diagnosis and description, Viceroy Revillagigedo's statement official statement that Bodega died "of natural causes" is indisputable.

When George Vancouver, at Nootka Sound again in September 1794, learned of Bodega's death, he wrote in his journal (grammar and typos form the original):

"The death of our highly valuable and much esteemed friend Senr Quadra, who in the month of March had died at St. Blas, universally lamaneted. Having endeavoured, on a former occasion, to point out the degree of admiration and respect with which the conduct of Sen'r Quadra toward our little community had impressed us during his life, I cannot refrain, now that he is no more, from rendering that justice to his memory to which it is so amply intitled, by stating, that the unexpected melancholey event of his decease operated on the minds of us all, in a way more easily to be imagined than described: and whilst it excited our most grateful acknowledgements, it produced the deepest regret for the loss of a character so amiable, and so truly ornamental to civil society."

Legacy

Places named after him:

Bodega Bay
Bodega Bay
Bodega Bay is a shallow, rocky inlet of the Pacific Ocean on the coast of northern California in the United States. It is approximately across and is located approximately northwest of San Francisco and west of Santa Rosa...

in northern California.
Vancouver Island
Vancouver Island
Vancouver Island is a large island in British Columbia, Canada. It is one of several North American locations named after George Vancouver, the British Royal Navy officer who explored the Pacific Northwest coast of North America between 1791 and 1794...

was frequently referred to as "Vancouver's and Quadra's Island" on many 19th century maps.
Quadra Island
Quadra Island
Quadra Island is an island off the eastern coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, part of the Discovery Islands. It is separated from Vancouver Island by Discovery Passage, and from Cortes Island by Sutil Channel...

, an island in British Columbia, Canada. Quadra Island was named after him in 1903
Quadra Street, an arterial road in Victoria, British Columbia
Victoria, British Columbia
Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia, Canada and is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of about 78,000 within the metropolitan area of Greater Victoria, which has a population of 360,063, the 15th most populous Canadian...

, and neighbouring Saanich
Saanich
The Saanich or W̱SÁNEĆ are indigenous nations from the north coast of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington, the Gulf and San Juan Islands, southern Vancouver Island and the southern edge of the Lower Mainland in British Columbia.*BOḰEĆEN – Pauquachin...

.
Boca de Bodega (Bodega Inlet) is the entrance around Wadleigh Island. It was named by Francisco Antonio Mourelle
Francisco Antonio Mourelle
Francisco Antonio Mourelle de la Rúa was a Galician naval officer and explorer serving the Spanish crown. He was born in 1750 at San Adrián de Corme , near La Coruña, Galicia.-1775 voyage:...

on May 24, 1779.
Quadra, São Paulo
Quadra, São Paulo
Quadra is a municipality in the state of São Paulo in Brazil. The population in 2004 was 3,035 and the area is 205.52 km². The elevation is 638 m....

, a Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

ian municipality also named for the explorer, a Royal Canadian Sea Cadet
Royal Canadian Sea Cadets
Royal Canadian Sea Cadets is a Canadian national youth program sponsored by the Canadian Forces and the civilian Navy League of Canada. Administered by the Canadian Forces, the program is funded through the Department of National Defence with the civilian partner providing support in the local...

Summer Training Centre in Comox, BC

Places he named:

He named the Point that we know as Point Grenville, “Punta de los Martires” (Point of the Martyrs).
Canoa Point (Canoe Point) was named by Bodega/Mourelle in 1775/79. It is a point of land on the northeastern shore of Prince of Wales Island jutting into Trocadero Bay at 133°1′25″ W.
Discovered and named Bucareli Sound in Alaska. Named hundreds of places in the Bucareli Sound area.
Unlucky Island (La Desgraciada), a name given by Bodega/Mourelle to an island located at 133°3′15″ W.
Ladrones Islands were named Islas de Ladrones (Thieves) by Bodega/Mourelle in 1779. These five islands are located at 55°23′ N and 133°5′ W.
Cañas Island (Reeds) is an island in Trocadero Bay. Bodega/Mourelle named it Ysla de Cañas.
The Quadra rose, developed by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, was named in his honour.

Spanish name variations used in the literature:

Juan Francisco Bodega y Quadra
Juan Francisco de Bodega y Quadra
Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra
Juan Fran[cis]co de la Bodega y Quadra
Juan Francisco de la Quadra
Juan de la Bodega y Cuadra

General references

External links

Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online
HistoryLink: Spanish Exploration (1775), with maps and references.
HistoryLink: Spanish Exploration (1779)
Pathfinders and passageways: The exploration of Canada: THE SPANISH Explore the West Coast
Spanish exploration, long article with a good bibliography.
Book Review: At the Far Reaches of Empire: The Life of Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra, Oregon Historical Quarterly
American memory, a map from Bodega y Quadra.

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1775 expedition

1779 expedition

Peru

Spain

Commandant of San Blas

Nootka Sound Commandant

Death

Legacy

General references

Further reading

External links