King George III and Prime Minister William…

King George III and Prime Minister William Pitt had soon learned what had happened to the British ships, officers, and crews.

The arrest of James Colnett, who is after all still an officer of the Royal Navy, is particularly troublesome in England.

Angered by the incident and by ongoing competition with Spain for the Pacific Northwest, the British threaten war.

France, a Spanish ally, is coping with the early stages of the French Revolution and will not be able to fight for Spain in an armed conflict.

Without the French, Spain cannot realistically secure their massive North and South American territories in the event of war with Britain.

Bowing to pressure from Britain, Spain agrees to sign the Nootka Conventions in 1790, ending the Nootka Crisis and beginning the first phase of the Spanish withdrawal from the Pacific Northwest.

Both nations send officials to Nootka Sound in order to carry out the details of the Nootka Conventions.

George Vancouver serves as Britain's representative at Nootka, while Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra serves as Spain's.

Both sides seek to define a northern boundary for New Spain.

Quadra proposes a boundary at the Strait of Juan de Fuca, but Vancouver refuses to accept any boundary north of San Francisco.

No agreement can be reached, and while both representatives are respectful toward one another and even become friends, they cannot reach an agreement about how to carry out their instructions. (The northern boundary of New Spain will remain unspecified until the Adams–Onís Treaty with the United States , which treaty in 1819 will also cede Spanish Florida to the United States.)

They decide instead to await further instructions.

At this time, they decide to name the large island on which Nootka is now proven to be located as "Quadra and Vancouver Island".

Years later, as Spanish influence declines, the name will be shortened to simply Vancouver Island.