North West America was a British merchant ship that sailed on maritime fur trading ventures in the late 1780s.

Under the Spanish commander José María Narváez Santa Saturnina was the first European vessel to find and explore the Strait of Georgia and the area that is the city of Vancouver today.

Instead he tried to conceal the illegal activity by using the flag of Portugal and sailing under the titular Portuguese command of Francisco José Viana, who pretended to be the captain of Iphigenia.

On 17 March 1789 Douglas and Funter left the Hawaiian Islands for Nootka Sound, where they hoped to meet Meares in another ship.

Funter took North West America on a fur trading cruise along the Pacific Northwest Coast before sailing to Nootka Sound, arriving there on 24 April 1789.

The company's 1789 expedition and all its ships were put under the command of James Colnett, including Iphigenia and North West America.

On May 12 the 16–gun San Carlos, under Gonzalo López de Haro arrived, reinforcing Martínez, who then arrested Captain Douglas and seized Iphigenia, the first event in what soon became an international incident called the Nootka Crisis.

In a series of events similar to what had happened to Douglas and Iphigenia, Funter and his crew were soon arrested and North West America seized.

[2] According to Joseph Ingraham, second mate of Columbia, Martínez had paid to repair and provision Iphigenia and had an agreement with Douglas that North West America would be held as security for these costs, not because of any threat to Spanish sovereignty.

[5] Due to the way the events of the Nootka Crisis played out, and that Douglas was never able to repay Martínez, North West America was never returned to the British.

On 21 June 1789, Martínez dispatched José María Narváez in the captured North West America, renamed Santa Gertrudis la Magna, to explore inlets to the south of Nootka Sound.

[2] By early July Narváez returned to Nootka, having sailed about 65 miles (105 km) into the Strait of Juan de Fuca, demonstrating that it was a very large inlet.

[5] After hearing Narváez's report, Martínez felt that the Strait of Juan de Fuca was the entrance of the legendary Northwest Passage and of extreme strategic importance.

In October, Martínez completely evacuated Nootka Sound and returned to San Blas himself, with his prisoners and captured ships.

[1] From Barkley Sound Narváez took Santa Saturnina to rendezvous with Eliza at Esquimalt Harbour, called Cordova by the Spanish, arriving there on 11 June 1791.

[3] Eliza had Juan Pantoja y Arriaga, assisted by Narváez, Carrasco, and Verdía, take Santa Saturnina and a longboat to explore Haro Strait.

[7] He also noted many whales in the Strait of Georgia, which suggested to Eliza that there must be another connection to the open ocean and that Nootka Sound was on an island rather than the mainland, as it is.

Carrasco was unable to beat upwind to Nootka so instead sailed Santa Saturnina south to Monterey and then San Blas.

From there Carrasco sailed to Monterey to meet Bodega y Quadra and give him a Royal Order regarding the imminent negotiations with George Vancouver about resolving the Nootka Crisis.