SANTA SATURNINA & SAN CARLOS in Royal Roads.
1791

Watercolor 14" x21"


Among the items on board the ARGONAUT when she was seized in 1789 were frames for a small schooner, to be named the JASON, that Colnett had planned to build at Friendly Cove. The Spanish sent the ARGONAUT to San Blas with the material in her hold. It was sent back to Friendly Cove in the SAN CARLOS and assembled and launched on the beach in 1790. Named SANTA SATURNINA, she was small, less than fourty feet on deck, and she was the second ship built on the Northwest Coast. She was destined to make history as the first to sail in the Gulf of Georgia and visit the site of the city of Vancouver.

Francisco de Eliza, who had been given command of the Spanish forces at Nootka, had instructions to further explore the waters at the eastern end of Juan de Fuca Strait that Quimper had seen the year before. He decided to undertake the survey himself and took command of the SAN CARLOS. Accompanied by SANTA SATURNINA under José Maria Narváez they first intended to explore in Alaska but contrary winds and the poor sailing ability of the schooner forced a change of plans. It was agreed the two ships would rendezvous at Puerto de Cordova [Esquimalt Harbour] near the eastern end of the strait. Eliza arrived first, on May 29th. While waiting for the SANTA SATURNINA Eliza sent the long boat on a survey up Haro Strait. When SANTA SATURNINA arrived, she and the longboat were provisioned for three weeks, and at dawn on July 1st 1791, the two little vessels cast off from the SAN CARLOS.

The anchors drawn on the chart produced by Narváez shows that they likely sailed into Bellingham Bay through Rosario Strait to the east of the San Juan Islands. They then sailed north into Georgia Strait past Lummi, Suchia and Patos Islands. They sailed far enough in the strait, which they named Nuestra Señora del Rosario, to know that the strait was closed at the top, although they surmised correctly there was an opening to the Pacific. Landmarks on both sides of the strait are easily identifiable on the chart, although they thought Point Roberts and Point Grey were islands.