Like La Favorita, a similar corvette stationed at San Blas, La Princesa was heavily used, serving for over three decades, playing an important role in the exploration of the Pacific Northwest as well as the routine work of provisioning the missions of Alta California.

[4] The expedition's objective was to evaluate the Russian penetration of Alaska, search for a Northwest Passage, and capture James Cook if they found him in Spanish waters.

[4] During the voyage Arteaga and Bodega y Quadra carefully surveyed Bucareli Bay then headed north to Port Etches on Hinchinbrook Island, near the entrance to Prince William Sound.

[5] Arteaga and Bodega y Quadra also explored Cook Inlet, and the Kenai Peninsula, where a possession ceremony was performed on August 2, 1779, in what today is called Port Chatham.

While Spain was at war with Britain during the early 1780 the San Blas Naval Base was devoted to the defense of the Philippines.

The packet ship San Carlos, under Gonzalo López de Haro with pilot José María Narváez accompanied Martínez.

In June Haro and Narváez made contact with the Russians at the post at Three Saints Bay on Kodiak Island.

He also confirmed that the Russians planned to take possession of Nootka Sound, a key harbor on the west coast of Vancouver Island, the next year.

[7] The visit to Unalaska marks the westernmost point reached during the Spanish voyages of exploration in Alaska.

Due to increasing conflict between Martínez and Haro contact was broken off within three days and the two ships sailed south separately.

During the voyage south, however, Haro, with support from Narváez and the other pilots, declared his ship no longer under Martínez's command.

Conflict broke out between Martínez and the British, setting in motion a series of events known as the Nootka Crisis, which nearly led to war between Britain and Spain.

In 1792 Salvador Fidalgo was assigned to establish a Spanish post at Neah Bay (the Spanish name was Bahía de Núñez Gaona), on the southwestern coast of the Strait of Juan de Fuca in present-day U.S. state of Washington.

Work on the post began and soon land had been cleared for a garden, a livestock enclosure with a number of cows, sheep, hogs, and goats, and a stockade with a small garrison.