New Spain claims the entire west coast of North America and therefore considers the Russian fur trading activity in Alaska, which had begun in the middle to late eighteenth century, an encroachment and threat.

Likewise, the exploration of the northwest coast by James Cook of the British Navy and the subsequent fur trading activities by British ships are considered an invasion of Spanish territory.

British merchants, encouraged by Sir Joseph Banks and supported by their government, begin making a sustained attempt to develop this trade despite Spain's claims and navigation rights.

To protect and strengthen its claim, New Spain sends a number of expeditions from San Blas, Mexico, to the Pacific Northwest between 1774 and 1793.

Detailed information about Russian activities in Alaska had been acquired in 1788, including ominous indications that Russian might seize control of Nootka Sound.

This, in addition to the rapidly increasing numbers of fur traders working the Pacific Northwest coast—mainly British but also American and others—coupled with Spain's firm claim of sovereignty north to 61°N latitude (the vicinity of Prince William Sound, Alaska), and the lack of any Spanish outpost north of California, makes it imperative that a firm stand be taken.

Spain had sent Sub-Lieutenant Esteban José Martinez, commanding the Princesa and the San Carlos, to enforce Spanish sovereignty and defend its claims in February 1789.

Arriving in May 1789, he has established a settlement and established a naval outpost called Santa Cruz de Nuca (or just Nuca) at Friendly Cove in Nootka Sound (now Yuquot), Vancouver Island.

Martinez had formally occupied the land and begun checking the papers of visiting vessels.

Two American fur trading ships are already anchored in the sound, one of which is the Columbia Rediviva, and more arrive later, including the Lady Washington, under Robert Gray.

The two American ships are allowed to sail, as the United States had been Spain's ally, Spain having aided the US in its War of Independence.

However, the American ship Fair American, under the command of Simon Metcalfe, is seized and taken to the naval base at San Blas, before being released.

A number of other vessels arrive soon after Martínez secures control of the Nootka Sound, including the Princess Royal, under Thomas Hudson, along with Iphigenia (William Douglas); the Argonaut, under James Colnett, and North West America, under Robert Funter—all British fur trading vessels.

Martínez is particularly troubled by the appearance of Colnett's Argonaut.

Not only is the Argonaut carrying material and supplies obviously intended for the construction of a permanent base, but a group of Chinese laborers are also on board, one of the first examples of "coolie" labor in the Pacific Northwest.

Martínez, whose warships give him de facto control, asserts Spanish sovereignty.

After a heated exchange between the two men, Martínez has Colnett arrested, along with the crew of the Argonaut.

Martínez writes in his journal about personal insults slung at him by Colnett.

He is also irritated by Colnett having sailed the Argonaut under a Portuguese rather than a British flag, which he feels is deceptive.

After a complicated series of events, Martínez ends up with three captured ships and their crews, including the Argonaut, Princess Royal, and North West American.

Hudson had taken the Princess Royal into Nootka Sound earlier and had been allowed to leave on the condition he proceed to China.

Instead, he had collected more furs from the region and returned to Nootka Sound, expecting Martínez would no longer be there.

Hudson did not intend to enter the sound but the Princess Royal was becalmed on an incoming tide.

A Spanish longboat had captured the ship and towed it in.

Martínez also impounds the holdings and ship, the Efigenia Nubiana, of John Meares, a British navigator and fur trader who has settled in the area.

The prisoners had eventually been released and the ships returned.

The Chinese workers have been forced to help build Fort San Miguel, a small battery of Spanish cannon overlooking the entrance to Friendly Cove, the main harbor of Nootka Sound at this time.

Santa Cruz de Nuca, the northernmost establishment of New Spain, is the first colony in British Columbia and the only Spanish settlement in what is now Canada.

Kendrick meets with Martínez, whom he and Gray had met with earlier that June, in the Spanish fort.

Martínez had asked both captains when they first met why they were here and the captains did not say anything about trading furs, but rather said that they were looking for barrel staves, telling of their loss of fifteen water casks previously.

Gray also tells Martínez that they are only guests here.

Their meeting ends in a friendship.

The capture of the British ships lead to the Nootka Crisis and near war between Britain and Spain.

The British challenge Spanish claims to allegedly "un-colonized" land on the Pacific coasts of North and South America.

Both Simon Metcalfe and his son Thomas Humphrey Metcalfe had been caught up in the Nootka Crisis at Nootka Sound in 1789.

The events at Nootka had been mainly directed toward British merchant vessels, but the Spanish naval officer Esteban José Martínez had seized Thomas Metcalfe's small schooner, the Fair American.

Simon Metcalfe had approached Nootka Sound and the Eleanora was almost captured as well, but he managed to escape.

The Fair American and its crew, taken to the Spanish naval base at San Blas, had been quickly released.

The Metcalfes had planned to spend the winter in the Hawaiian Islands.

Thomas Metcalfe, after being released, sails the Fair American to Hawaii, hoping to join his father.

The Eleanora, under Simon Metcalfe, arrives in the islands first.

Metcalfe is greeted by local chief Kameʻeiamoku in Kohala on the island of Hawaiʻi.

Metcalfe, by most accounts an irascible and harsh man, believes in strong and immediate punishment when his rules are broken, and has the chief flogged for some infraction.

Metcalfe then sails to the neighboring island of Maui to trade along the coast.

Kameʻeiamoku meanwhile vows revenge on whatever ship next comes his way.

Simon Metcalfe runs into more trouble on the coast of Maui when a boat and sailor go missing.

It is discovered that the boat had been stolen and the sailor killed.

Metcalfe fires his cannons into the village, and captures a few Hawaiians who tell him the boat was taken by people from the village of Olowalu.

His punishment in this case becomes known as the Olowalu Massacre.

He sails to the village of the suspected thieves but find that the boat has been broken up for its nails, which are treasured like gems, being that the Hawaiians lack metal-smelting technology.

Feigning peaceful intent, Metcalfe invites the villagers to the Eleanora for trade.

Many canoes gather at the ship.

Metcalfe directs them to come to one side, where he has loaded his cannon with ball and shot.

He orders a broadside fired at point-blank range, which blasts the vessels to pieces.

About one hundred Hawaiians are killed and several hundred wounded.

Because Hawaiians consider Olowalu a pu'u honua, or place of refuge, this attack has profound and long-lasting consequences, ultimately undermining the site's cultural stability.

After the massacre, Metcalfe weighs anchor and sails back to the island of Hawai'i.

The muskets of the Fair American had been salvaged and the schooner refloated.

Kamehameha had decided to spare the lives of Davis and Young.

Davis is nursed back to health by an American beachcomber named Isaac Ridler.

Like his friend Young, Davis will assist Kamehameha in his dealings with foreigners and in wars of conquest.

Kamehameha moves against the district of Puna in 1790, deposing Chief Keawemaʻuhili.

Keōua Kuahuʻula, exiled to his home in Kaʻū, takes advantage of Kamehameha's absence and leads an uprising.

When Kamehameha returns with his army to put down the rebellion, Keōua flees past the Kilauea volcano, which erupts and kills nearly a third of his warriors from poisonous gas.

This first Nootka Convention averts war but leaves many specific issues unresolved.

It gives both countries the right to settle along the Pacific coasts, interrupting the Spanish monopoly for the first time in over two centuries.

Difficulties in implementing the terms will lead to a second, and then a third Nootka Convention (1794).

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.

Young and Davis, while slowly adjusting to the island lifestyle, have instructed Hawaiians in the use of the captured cannon and muskets, soon becoming respected translators and military advisors for Kamehameha.

Their skill in gunnery, as well as the cannon from the Fair American, have helped Kamehameha win many battles, including the Battle of Kepaniwai later in 1790, which had defeated the forces of Maui.

Davis, given the Hawaiian name ʻAikake, is awarded the status of a high chief, marrying a relative of Kamehameha.

He will later be appointed Governor of Oʻahu, and eventually will own estates on Oʻahu, Maui, Molokaʻi, and the Big Island.

Questioning a kahuna on how best to go about securing the rest of the island, Kamehameha resolves to construct a temple (heiau) to Kūkaʻilimoku, as well as lay an aliʻi's body on it.

Kamehameha invites Keōua to meet with him when the Puʻukoholā Heiau is completed in 1791.

Keōua may have been dispirited by his recent losses.

He may have mutilated himself before landing so as to make himself an imperfect sacrificial victim.

One of Kamehameha's chiefs throws a spear at him as he steps on shore.

He dodged it, by some accounts, but was then cut down by musket fire.

Keōua's bodyguards, caught by surprise, are killed.

Kamehameha, with Keōua dead and his supporters captured or slain, becomes King of Hawaiʻi island.