As no one yet knew just where the Strait of Juan de Fuca might lead, Eliza felt some exploration was in order so he sent Sub-lieut. Manuel Quimper to have a look see. Turning left after passing through the strait, this little expedition discovered the San Juan Islands and the bestowing of place names in this part of the world began.

Knowing which side of his bread was well buttered, Eliza saw to it that his boss was frequently mentioned on the charts they drew. He penned in the Isla y Archepelago de San Juan for SAN JUAN ISLAND and its surrounding group. GUEMES ISLAND and nearby PADILLA BAY were other uses of the viceroy's name that have hung around on the charts while others have disappeared. ORCAS ISLAND is probably one more, having been abstracted from the Boca de Horcasitees Eliza put down on the chart. ELIZA ISLAND was later named for Francisco Eliza and one of his officers, Salvadore Fidalgo, gained his place in the sun on FIDALGO ISLAND. A lesser light of the expedition, Gonzales Lopez de Haro, has made it to the charts at HARO STRAIT and on LOPEZ ISLAND.

The Gran Canal de Neustra del Rosario la Marinera from the Spanish charts survives in part as ROSARIO STRAIT. They also provided the beautiful name of SUCIA ISLAND, a name that describes as "dirty" the rock and reef ridden waters around it. PATOS ISLAND was named for some ducks they saw thereabouts and MATIA ISLAND was given a name meaning that it was lacking protection.

In 1795 the Spanish connection came to an end when Spain agreed to abandon her claims north of California. No more Spanish names were added to our local geography although the uninitiated might suspect that ANACORTES had such an origin. If they so suspected it would be because they were intended to do so. The local citizens thought that Anna Curtis, the original name of the town plat and the maiden name of the founder's wife, was not too appropriate for a city on an island called Fidalgo so the name was Hispanicized.

Apostolos Valerianos de Cephalonia would be recognize as a good 'ol Greek boy immediately if we called him by his Spanish alias, Juan de Fuca. He was a Captain in the service of Spain for some forty years.

In 1592 Juan de Fuca sailed up the west coast of North America looking for the Straits of Anian, that mythical waterway thought to be between the Atlantic and the Pacific; otherwise known as the Northwest Passage. Between 47 and 48 degrees north of the equator he found the mouth of a large inlet which he took to be a likely candidate.

In 1596 Juan de Fuca sailed his way into the history books - on a rather roundabout course. In Venice, doing the Ancient Mariner bit, he made the acquaintance of one Michael Lok, a gentleman widely known for the depth of his knowledge of things geographical. Lok was impressed enough with Juan's sailing notes to record it and pass it along to the Reverend Samuel Purchas who included it in "Hakluytus Posthumus." This comprehensive history of sea voyages and land travel was published in 1625 and was widely known among adventurous seafaring types thereafter.

One of the seafaring types who was familiar with this book was William Barkley, an Englishman who came up the Pacific coast in 1887 looking to do some trading in sea otter pelts. He spotted the entrance of a large inlet between 48 and 49 degrees north of the equator, one that fit Juan de Fuca's description very well. Barkley didn't figure that the 60 mile or so difference in latitude was significant so he put it down on his chart as JAUN DE FUCA'S STRAIT. Thus it was that the Greek sailor became the first eponym for a name in or around the San Juan Islands.

He was not, as far as the records show, any kind of saint. That bit of the terminology was added on by the Spanish explorers who named the islands, adding it on to make the honor to their peerless leader that much more intense. Apple polishing is the polite way of saying it but there are other terms.

Revilla Gigedo, as he was known for short, was not the type of guy that would be much impressed by the apple polishing routine. At least we can assume as much of a man whose routine allowed him only three or four hours of sleep per night, 1:00 A.M. being his customary hour for starting the day's work. When Gigedo took over the job of viceroy in 1789, the Spanish claims in North America had reached their widest extent. He did not see the far Pacific Northwest as being worth what it would cost to hold so he resisted the build up of the army planned by his predecessor. This bit of frugality failed to bring him favor from the head office in Madrid.

Most of Gigedo's works as viceroy should have brought him more favor than they did. As a great reformer he is ranked among the top 20 or so of the leaders in Mexican history. He did much to clean up the bribery and corruption in the government service as well as seeing to the physical cleaning up of the capital city. He also saw to getting the streets lighted there and in various other cities as well as promoting the construction of necessary public buildings and aqueducts.

Before succeeding to the title, Conde Revilla de Gigedo, the count had been just plain Juan Vincente de Guemes Pacheco Horcasitees y Aguayo. Shortly after taking office as the 53rd of the 77 various viceroys to serve Spain, he earned another appellation that has usually been inscribed upon his portraits, "Vindicator of Justice." Soon after his arrival in Mexico a particularly nasty gang of outlaws particularly nastily murdered 11 members of an innocent household. It took Gigedo only 13 days to have the gang tracked down, rounded up, speedily tried and legally hung for those murders, thus gaining himself a quick reputation and doing much to establish law and order.

Despite his good works and popularity with the populous, Gigedo lasted only five years in office before being booted out. King Charles IV was the nominal ruler of Spain but Charles was not quite all there. The power passed from him through the queen, Maria Luisa, to the queen's little playmate, Manuel Godoy. Godoy didn't seem to think that Gigedo's reformations were all that necessary and handed him the pink slip as soon as he could. All in all, the Conde Revilla de Gigedo was a worthy eponym for our island group and deserves to be more widely known than he is.