Bruno de Heceta
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Accompanying Heceta was the escort and supply ship Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe initially under the command of Juan Manuel de Ayala. The 37 foot (11 m) schooner and its crew complement of 16 were to perform coastal reconnaissance and mapping, and could make landfall in places the larger Santiago was unable to approach on its previous voyage; in this way, the expedition could officially lay claim to the lands north of Mexico it visited.
The two ships sailed together as far north as Point Grenville, Washington, named Punta de los Martires (or "Point of the Martyrs") by Hezeta in response to an attack by the local Quinault Indians.
He was the first European to sight the mouth of the Columbia River. On his return journey south, with only the Santiago and a reduced crew, Heceta discovered a large bay penetrating far inland. He tried to sail in but the strong currents prevented it, even under a full press of sails. His crew was so reduced that they could not handle the anchor so he could not easily wait for better conditions. He wrote that the seething currents led him to believe it was the mouth of a great river or a passage to another sea. Later he guessed it to be the Strait of Juan de Fuca. He named the entrance bay Bahia de la Asunciõn and produced a map of what he could discern from outside the Columbia Bar. Later Spanish maps often showed the Columbia River's estuary with the name Entrada de Hezeta, Rio de San Roque, and similar variants.[1]
By design, the vessels parted company on the evening of July 30, 1775 with the Santiago continuing to what is today the border between Washington state and Canada. The Señora (now with second officer Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra at the helm) moved up the coast according to its orders, ultimately reaching a position at latitude 59° north on August 15, entering Sitka Sound near the present-day town of Sitka, Alaska. It is there that the Spaniards performed numerous "acts of sovereignty," naming and claiming Puerto de Bucareli (Bucareli Sound), Puerto de los Remedios, and Mount San Jacinto, renamed Mount Edgecumbe by British explorer James Cook three years later.
Throughout the voyage, the crews of both vessels endured many hardships, including food shortages and scurvy. On September 8, the ships rejoined and headed south for the return trip to San Blas.
Subsequently, Heceta returned to Europe, fighting in various naval battles against France and Great Britain. He died in 1807 with the rank of the lieutenant general.
Heceta Head and the Heceta Head Light on the Oregon Coast are named after him.
[edit] References
- ^ Hayes, Derek. Historical Atlas of the Pacific Northwest: Maps of exploration and Discovery. Sasquatch Books. 1999. ISBN 1-57061-215-3. pp. 38-39.
[edit] Further reading
- For Honor & Country: The Diary of Bruno De Hezeta, by Herbert K. Beals, Published in 1985 by the Oregon Historical Society. ISBN 0-87595-120-1.
[edit] External links
- Bruno de Heceta from historylink.org
