On the map of Port Mulgrave already referred to, "Point Turner" and "Point Carrew" appear. The former was named for the second mate of the Queen Charlotte, who was the first of her officers to land; the second name was probably designed to honor another officer of the expedition, but of this I am not positive.
DOUGLAS, 1788.5
5 Voyage of the Iphigenia; Captain Douglas: in Voyages made in the years 1788–1789 from China to the Northwest Coast of America. John Meares, 4°, London, 1790.
In 1788, another trading vessel, the ship Iphigenia, in command of Captain Douglas, visited the southern shore of Alaska and anchored in Yakutat bay; but no special account of the country or the inhabitants is recorded in the narrative of the voyage.
MALASPINA, 1792.6
6 Relacion del viage hecho por las goletas Sutil y Mexicana en el año de 1792 para reconocer el estrecho de Fuca; con una introduccion en que se da noticia de las expediciones executadas anteriormente por los Españoles en busca del paso del noroeste de la América [Por Don Dionisio Alcala Galiano]. Madrid, 1802 [accompanied by an atlas]. Pp. CXII–CXXI.
About a hundred years ago the interest felt by the maritime nations of Europe in a "Northwest passage," connecting the northern Atlantic with the northern Pacific, was revived by the renewal of the discussion as to the authenticity of Maldonado's reported discovery of the "Strait of Annan." The western entrance to this strait was supposed to be about in the position of Yakutat bay. Spain, in particular, after three hundred years of exploration and discovery in all parts of the world, was still anxious to extend her conquests, and, if possible, to discover the long-sought "Northwest passage." Two of her ships, the Descubierta and Atrevida, were then at Acapulco, in command of Don Alejandro Malaspina, who was engaged in a voyage of discovery.
Malaspina, like Columbus, was a native of Italy in the service of Spain. Orders were sent to him to cruise northward and test the truth of Maldonado's report. The narrative of this voyage is supposed to have been written by Don Dionisio Alcala Galiano, but his name does not appear on the title page. Still more curious is the fact that Malaspina's name is omitted from the narrative of his own voyage. On his return to Spain, he was thrown into prison, on account of court intrigues, and his discoveries were suppressed for many years.
Malaspina left Acapulco on the first of May, 1791, and reached the vicinity of the present site of Sitka on June 25. Two days later, Mount Fairweather, or "Monte Buen-tiempo," as it is designated on Spanish maps, was sighted. Continuing northwestward, the entrance to Yakutat bay was reached. The opening through the first range of mountains at its head seemed to correspond to Maldonado's description of the entrance to the mythical "Strait of Annan."
The eastern shore of Yakutat bay, called "Almiralty bay" on the Spanish chart, was explored, and an excursion was made in boats into Disenchantment bay as far as Haenke island. "Disenchantment bay," as the name appears on modern charts, was named "Desengaño bay" by Malaspina, as previously stated, in allusion to the frustration of his hopes on not finding a passage leading to the Atlantic. Explorations in Disenchantment bay were checked by ice, which descended from the north and filled all of the inlets north of Haenke island. This is indicated on the map forming plate 7 (page 67), which is reproduced from the atlas accompanying the narrative of Malaspina's voyage. Special interest attaches to this map for the reason that by comparing it with that forming plate 8 (page 75), made 100 years later, the retreat of the glaciers during that interval can be determined.7 At the time of Malaspina's expedition, the Hubbard and Dalton glaciers were united, and were probably also joined by some of the neighboring glaciers which do not now reach tide-water; the whole forming a confluent ice stream which occupied all of Disenchantment bay northeast of Haenke island.