Description
Four of the greatest maritime exploring expeditions were crammed into two decades late in the 18th century - Cook''s third voyage, the French expedition commanded by La Pérouse, the Malaspina expedition sent out by Spain, and George Vancouver''s Voyage of Discovery. All four visited the northwest coast of North America, but weather and circumstances prevented Cook from making more than what Beaglehole calls '' a magnificent, an epoch-making reconnaissance''; La Pérouse only touched the coast in a significant way at Yakutat Bay and Lituya Bay, and Malasina''s memorable visits were to Yakutat Bay and Nootka Sound. Vancouver, by contrast, surveyed the enormous extent of coast from Lower California to Cook Inlet, and his meticulous survey literally set out on the map of the world the intricacies of Puget Sound and the western coast of mainland Canada. It was an achievement that places him with his mentor, Cook, in the first rank of marine surveyors. As a midshipman Vancouver had been with
