The Malaspina Expedition (1789–1794) was a five-year maritime scientific exploration commanded by Alejandro Malaspina and José de Bustamante y Guerra. Although the expedition receives its name from Malaspina, he always insisted on giving Bustamante an equal share of command. Bustamante had, however, acknowledged Malaspina as the "head of the expedition" since the beginning. The expedition was funded by the Spanish government and originally pursued strictly scientific goals, in the same fashion as the voyages of James Cook and Jean-François de Galaup, comte de La Pérouse. Some of the leading scientists at the time collected an impressive amount of scientific data that even surpassed what was collected during Cook's expedition, but due to Malaspina's involvement in a conspiracy to overthrow the government, he was jailed shortly upon return. Most of the expedition's reports and collections were put away unpublished, and did not see the light of day until the late 19th century.
History
Background and preparation
From September 1786 to May 1788 Malaspina made a commercial circumnavigation of the world on behalf of the Royal Company of the Philippines. During this voyage he was in command of the frigate Astrea. His route went via the Cape of Good Hope and, returning, Cape Horn. Astrea called at Concepción, Chile, in February 1787, whose military governor, the Irish-born Ambrose O'Higgins, had recommended six months before that Spain organize an expedition to the Pacific similar to those led by Lapérouse and Cook. O'Higgins had made this recommendation following the visit of the Lapérouse expedition to Concepcion in March 1786, and presumably discussed it with Malaspina while the Astrea was at Concepcion. Following the Astrea's return to Spain, Malaspina produced, in partnership with José de Bustamante, a proposal for an expedition along the lines set out in O'Higgins' memorandum. A short time later, on 14 October 1788, Malaspina was informed of the government's acceptance of his plan. José de Espinoza y Tello, one of the officers of the Malaspina expedition, subsequently confirmed the importance of the information sent by O'Higgins in stimulating the Government to initiate an extensive program of exploration in the Pacific. The prompt acceptance of Malaspina's proposal was also stimulated by news from Saint Petersburg of preparations for a Russian expedition (the Mulovsky expedition) to the North Pacific under the command of Grigori I. Mulovsky that had as one of its objectives the claiming of territory on the north west coast of North America around Nootka Sound that was also claimed at the time by Spain. The Spanish government had the largest scientific budget of any European state at the time. In the last four decades of the eighteenth century, a number of scientific expeditions had crossed the Spanish Empire, including botanical expeditions to New Granada, Mexico, Peru and Chile, and making an enormous collection of the American flora. They saw the New World as a vast laboratory for study and an unending source of samples. The Spanish king, Charles III, was known for his fascination with science, and had already procured funds to further develop science and technology in several areas. He promptly approved the expedition, although he would never see its results, as he died exactly two months later. Additionally, the Spanish government had a vested interest on all issues concerning the Pacific Ocean because a large number of her colonies were in that area, including most of the American Pacific coast, the Philippines, and several islands, such as Guam. Two frigates were specially designed and built for the expedition by the shipbuilder Tómas Muñoz at the La Carraca shipyard, under Malaspina's direction. They were both 306 tons burden and 36 metres long, with a normal load displacement of 4.2 metres. They were launched together on 8 April 1789 and were baptized in honor of former James Cook's ships Resolution and Discovery as Descubierta and Atrevida (a liberal translation in Spanish). Malaspina commanded Descubierta and Bustamante Atrevida. The expedition carried on board the elite of astronomers and surveyors of the Spanish Navy, headed by Juan Gutiérrez de la Concha, with the young Felipe Bauzá as cartographer. Also on board were many scientists and artists, such as painting master José del Pozo, artists José Guío, Fernando Brambila and Giovanni Ravenet, cartoonist and columnist Tomás de Suria, botanists Luis Née, Antonio Pineda and Thaddäus Haenke, and many others.
The Expedition
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