Galiano and Valdés were appointed to the Malaspina expedition, which departed from Cádiz in 1789. Valdés was an officer on the Descubierta and Galiano was stationed aboard the Atrevida as an astronomer and hydrographer. They proceeded across the Atlantic from Spain to South America and around Cape Horn, then north to the Galapagos Islands, Panama, and Acapulco. Valdés stayed on to chart in the Pacific Northwest with Malaspina during the spring and summer of 1791, while Galiano remained in Mexico as a scientific officer.
Following the developments of the Nootka Crisis and the release of the alleged memoirs of Maldonado, who claimed to have found a Northwest Passage in the 16th century, the viceroy of New Spain, Count Revilla Gigedo, requested further Spanish charting in the Pacific Northwest. Upon Malaspina’s return to Acapulco, it was decided that Galiano and Valdés would undertake the command of a second voyage north to continue charting. They sailed from Acapulco aboard the newly constructed schooners Sutil and Mexicana on March 8, 1792. The vessels were fitted with equipment taken from Malaspina’s vessels, and although the Descubierta and Atrevida departed for the Philippines prior to the Galiano-Valdés expedition, the voyage was essentially a component of the larger Malaspina commission.
Fighting winds and problems with the new schooners, they arrived in Nootka Sound on May 13. The expedition sailed in the Strait of Juan de Fuca and charted the nearby waters, arriving in Nootka Sound once again on September 1. Their expedition had proven that the Strait of Juan de Fuca did not lead to a Northwest Passage, so they turned back for Mexico, stopping in at Monterey and arriving at the San Blas naval base on November 23, 1792. Both Valdés and Galiano returned to Spain and continued to serve in the Spanish navy, sailing on further voyages and into battle during the wars with Britain in the early 1800s.
