Early knowledge of the Pacific Northwest

The Pacific Northwest coast of North America was one of the last coastlines reached by European explorers.

In 1542, Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo reached a point north of San Francisco.

This took him through a series of waterways until, at the Strait of Ronquillo, he met a ship from Boston commanded by a Captain Shapely.

The east end of the lake leads through a Strait of Ronquillo to Hudson Bay near what is marked as Wager Bay (Eau de Wager) (65°30′N 89°00′W) (with Cape Dobbs at its eastern end) and Chesterfield Inlet (although the area between them is incorrectly shown as an island).

in 1783, one year before the publication of Cook's journals, Jean Nolin published a map incorporating Delisle's geography, including an even larger Sea of the West.

At its mouth he found a large harbor where he met a ship with gold and pearls manned by Lutherans from the Baltic ports.

In June he returned, finding temperatures north of the Arctic Circle warmer than those of Spain.

In 1771 Samuel Hearne reached the Arctic coast from Hudson Bay, proving that there was no saltwater waterway at this latitude.

People like George Vancouver who followed Cook had to examine each inlet very closely since any one of them could have been the exit from the northwest passage.

1772 Vaugondy and Diderot Map of the Pacific Northwest and the Northwest Passage - Carte Generale des Decouvertes de l'Amiral de Fonte et Autres Navigateurs Espagnols, Anglois et Russes pour la Recherche du Passage a la Mer du Sud.
The great probability of a North West Passage: deduced from observations on the letter of Admiral de Fonte, who sailed from the Callao of Lima on the discovery of a communication between the South Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Proving the authenticity of the Admiral's letter