Beschreibung:

JACINTO CAAMANO. Plano de la Entrada de Bucareli situada en el Latitud N de 55.15' Longitud 28.58' al O des n Blas, descuvierto Pr Dn Juan Franco de la Bodega y Quadra [Spain: 1792]. Manuscript chart of Bucareli Sound, Alaska, ink on paper, 540 x 450mm, scale in nautical miles, north arrow, the chart delicately drawn showing the coastlines, sand banks, depths and rocks, islands and headlands named, numbered 4, within a thick black-nile border. (The right margin shaved, some old crease marks). Mounted. A fascinating North-Western Pacific chart, this chart of Bucareli Sound was probably prepared on Jacinto Caamano's return to Europe in 1792. Caamano's voyage was the first on behalf of the Spanish crown to examine the Northwest coast of America north of 53°, near Queen Charlotte Island, British Columbia. It was here in 1787 that James Colnett, an Englishman, reported to have discovered the Strait of Bartholomew Fonte, believed to provide a deep water passage between the Pacific and Hudson's Bay. Caamano was unable to confirm this mythical Northwest Passage, but his voyage resulted in new discoveries along the coasts of Northern British Columbia and Southern Alaska. Bucareli's Sound is on the west coast of Prince of Wales Island, Alaska, in the area of Klawak and Craig, near the most northern point of the Caamano voyage. The sound was discovered by Bodega y Quadra in 1775. Wagner, Northwest Coast 803, pp. 233-235 notes another example of this map in the Library of Congress.