It protected the Spanish settlement, called Santa Cruz de Nuca, the first colony in British Columbia.

The fort lay near the home of Maquinna, chief of the Mowachaht group, who are now in the joint Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nations band government with the Muchalaht at Gold River nearby on Vancouver Island.

On June 24, 1789, a salvo was fired from the new fort and the Spanish ships in what Martínez considered an official act of possession of Nootka Harbour.

[1]: 288 On July 29, 1789, new orders arrived from Viceroy Flores directing Martínez to abandon the station and return to San Blas.

Remnants of the Spanish post, including its kitchen garden, were still visible when John R. Jewitt, an English captive of Maquinna, lived there in 1803–1805.