THE LAND OF THE SEA OTTER In the Vancouver Aquarium, the big splash is made by the orcas, but the most significant exhibit is tucked away in a little pool behind the killer whales and the white whales. It contains a little family of sea otters. It is inevitable that the white man would come to the North-West Coast. Sooner or later, from one pressure or another, he would have come. It was the sea otter that would dictate the when and the how. Exploitation of the area was begun by the Russians. In the 1680's, Peter the Great extended Russian Sovereignty into northern Asia, discovering and exploiting its wealth of furs. Vitus Bering, a Dane in the tsar's service, explored the Asian shoreline, discovering in 1728 tfie strait that nov./ bears his name. In 1741, Bering and Chirikov investigated the Aleutian Islands and went as far south as 55° 21' in sight of land. The vessels had separated; Bering's ship ran aground, and he and many of his crew died of scurvy or exposure. But the survivors made their way home with 900 sea otter pelts. The richness of the pelts at once drew traders to the area. The Spaniards far to the south soon became aware that there was a possible challenge to their claims to the Americas. The voyage of Juan de Fuca is an indication that the Spanish had not been inactive, but while they claimed all of the west coast of the Americas, they made little effort to support their claims with discovery or settlement. Indeed, Spanish policy was rather to throw a blanket of secrecy over the area - what other nations did not know about they would not contest. Now the blanket had, to some measure, been pulled aside, and the Spanish were stirred to action. The first response was the setting up of a base for northern exploration. They chose a site on the coast of Mexico, due west of present day Guadalajara, for its many advantages: fresh water streams, hardwoods for boat construction, a sheltered harbour, and a convenient run to Sonora and Alta California. In summer, however, the rains turned the land into a swamp, making transport impossible, and they brought forth hordes of mosquitos and a high incidence of fever. Nevertheless San Bias remained the base, from 1767 to the end of Spanish exploration. Then to action. Two expeditions were sent out, one by sea and the other by land. The comrnondant, Galvez, suggested that the land expedition could set up a string of Franciscan missions at intervals of a day's ride. The land group also discovered the esturary to San Francisco Bay, not yet discovered from the sea. In 1774, a first naval expedition set out, under Juan Jose Perez Hernandez. It was not too successful as Perez was unwilling to risk his ship by getting too close to shore, or to risk his men by landing. He did sight land near 54° 40', and he did stop at Nootka Sound, where he named Estaban Point, after his lieutenant, Estaban Martinez. On the way south, Marinez was to say that he saw a wide entrance which could have been "Estrecho de Juan de Fuca" but Perez did not log the observation. In 1775, a second expedition was sent out with Bruno de Hezeta in the SANTIAGO and Juan de Ayala in the SONORA. Rather than sit and fester in San Bias, an officer, Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra, volunteered to go in the SONORA as second pilot. It was fate. The two vessels accompanied the SAN CARLOS, a supply ship to Monterey, and on the way, her captain went mad. Ayala was trans-to the SAN CARLOS, Quadra took over the SONORA and went on to deserved fame.