Francisco de Eliza

Francisco de Eliza y Reventa (* 1759 in El Puerto de Santa María near Cádiz , Kingdom of Spain , † February 19, 1825 in Cádiz, Kingdom of Spain) was a Spanish navigator and explorer.

Life

Francisco de Eliza y Raventa joined the Spanish Navy in December 1773. Two years later he took part in the expedition against Algiers and in 1780 he was transferred to America. In the American War of Independence he fought in Florida against the British at the siege of Pensacola .

Landing points of Spanish ships along the western Canadian and Alaskan coasts

In 1789 he was promoted to 2nd lieutenant and was transferred to the newly built San Blas naval base , which served as the starting point for supplying the Spanish settlements in California and Oregon . His brother-in-law Jacinto Caamaño , the brother of his wife Saturnina Norberta Caamaño, served with him there .

During the summer of 1789, the British ships and crews arrived in San Blas from the Pacific Northwest , which the Spanish crew of the fort in Nootka Sound had brought under the orders of Esteban José Martínez . At the end of the year Martínez returned with his men as he had not received an order to winter. Viceroy Juan Vicente de Güemes rebuked Martínez's actions, but sent him back immediately to support the Spanish settlement and thus the territorial claims of the crown against British interests. He was supposed to make no further attacks, but prevent any settlement from the British side. Francisco de Eliza, who was the highest ranking officer in San Blas, was elected to command the second expedition.

His task was to renew and expand the fortifications in Nootka Sound and to demolish any settlements of other nations. In addition, he was supposed to carry out meteorological investigations, research the flora and fauna, bring mineral samples and exchange copper plates from Mexico for sea ​​otter pelts; after all, he was asked to develop friendly relationships with the native Indians and to explore their customs and habits.

Fort San Miguel in a drawing by Sigismund Bacstrom based on a sketch dated February 20, 1793. The red and yellow Spanish flag flies above the battery on the left, the soldiers' barracks on the right, with a Spanish ship in between.

The Spaniards arrived on the ships Concepción , San Carlos and Princesa Real (the renamed British Princess Royal , which had been captured by Martínez the previous year) on April 3, 1790 in the said Sound, at a place the British called Friendly Cove. The sailors were accompanied by 76 soldiers under the command of Pedro de Alberni (1747–1802), after whom the current city of Port Alberni is named. First they repaired the buildings and palisades and laid out a garden to ensure the supply of fresh vegetables. This protected them from scurvy . The Indians avoided contact. Eliza had a village looted to get wood for his ships. On May 4, a group of Spaniards under Salvador Fidalgo sailed north to inspect Russian posts in Alaska , while another ship under Manuel Quimper set out on May 31 to explore the Juan de Fuca Strait . There it was assumed that a sea route to the Atlantic began.

Meanwhile, the British, whose ships Martínez had captured, made political pressure in London to win them back or to provide compensation. Spain was in a weakened position, as the French Revolution left its traditional ally on these issues. After long negotiations, the Nootka Convention was agreed on October 28, 1790. John Meares was to get the ships back from the Spaniards and receive a reparation payment. Both countries would continue to have access to the Pacific Northwest, with Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra overseeing the details on the Spanish side and George Vancouver on the British.

Eliza stayed in Nootka and made preparations for wintering. The relationship with the indigenous Indian peoples, who belonged to the Nuu-chah-nulth tribal group , remained tense at first, especially since the local chief Callicum had been murdered by a Spaniard the previous year. When the Spaniards needed wood, they simply tore planks from Nuu-chah-nulth houses, and in an argument they shot five of their men. Nevertheless, the men of Maquinna , the chief of the Mowachaht , helped the Spaniards in their search for the unsuccessful English fur trader Thomas Hudson and his men. Eliza was supposed to secure her documents. On January 4, 1791, the English trader James Colnett arrived in Nootka on board the Argonaut and was allowed to repair his ship with the support of the Spaniards.

During the winter, the supply of the crew deteriorated dramatically. A lack of vitamins led to scurvy after all, the rusk rotten in damp storage areas or fell victim to the rats. Nine men died during the winter. In the spring, Eliza had to send 32 more men back to California who were no longer usable.

During the winter months, Eliza should study and describe the way of life and cultural techniques of the Indians; he bought 15 children from them, convinced that he had saved them from cannibalistic rites. He threatened the local chief Maquinna with the destruction of his village if this alleged cannibalism should repeat itself. The Spaniards, however, were very impressed by the seaworthiness of the canoes and the navigability of the locals.

As of May 4, 1791 Eliza took the San Carlos and a second ship, the Santa Saturnina (which was named after his wife), those wishing to explore the Clayoquot Sound , where he chief Wikaninnish of the Tla-o-qui-aht met , and sailed to Juan de Fuca Street. The aim was to determine the suitability of the area for agriculture and settlement. He emphasized the potential of the fresh water inflow through the river later called Fraser River , which flows into the Pacific. However, he did not circle Vancouver Island and did not go any further into Puget Sound , which is probably due to the rampant scurvy disease of some crew members and the hostile attitude of the Indians there. Wikaninnish, on the other hand, held a large party with 600 guests in honor of his guest Eliza. Eliza estimated that the Tla-o-qui-aht lived in four villages of 1,500 people each.

The Spanish viceroy Revilla Gigedo demanded that his officers treat the Indians in a friendly manner and that the teams be monitored accordingly. Guns should only be used in self-defense, but thefts should continue to be punished severely. Any bad treatment, however, offends against humanity. The aim was to win allies and thereby stabilize Spanish rule. Hence the viceroy was enraged by the lack of interest in exploring indigenous cultures, examining their propensity to be baptized, and by Eliza's laconic descriptions. Besides, instead of exchanging it for sea otter skins, Eliza had given the copper she had brought with her to the Nuu-chah-nulth to look for Hudson and his men.

Eliza succeeded in getting closer to Maquinna, who gave in to the demands of the Spaniards and ceded part of his land to them. In addition, he skilfully navigated between the colonial powers, because Great Britain also continued to try to win his support. Since Eliza could point to the recall of his predecessor Martínez, who had destroyed the Maquinnas village of Yuquot and forced Maquinna to hide at Wikaninnish, Maquinna was ready to live in peace with the Spanish. One of Eliza's skippers, Manuel Quimper , had managed to get Maquinna back to his village while visiting Wikaninnish. His men were now frequent visitors to the Spanish fort; Eliza believed they were converting to Catholicism.

As a result, the winter of 1791/92 was less harsh than that of the previous year. In addition, the Spaniards had learned from their bad experiences and provided for better quality supplies, which they also stored more skilfully to protect it from moisture and rat damage. On July 24, 1792, Eliza left the settlement in good condition. He was driven back to Spain, or at least to take on a less isolated post. His wife and children also applied to the Ministry of Navy for his transfer to Europe. This was not granted, because it was needed in Mexico, but it was replaced in Nootka by Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra , who won Maquinna as an ally.

Eliza led another research expedition along the coast of California in 1793 and served as commandant of the naval base in San Blas from 1795 to 1801. In 1803 he was finally ordered back to Spain, where he was still in the service of the Navy in Cádiz. During the Napoleonic Wars , when the French ruled Spain from 1808 to 1814, he held several political offices in the loyal Spanish government. He died in Cádiz in 1825. In Bellingham Bay , Salish Sea , Washington , an island was named after him: Eliza Island .

literature

• Entry in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 6, University of Toronto / Université Laval, 1987, author: Christon I. Archer (English)

Remarks

1. ^ Margaret Horsfield, Ian Kennedy: Tofino and Clayoquot Sound. A History , Harbor Publishing, 2014, no p.