<P> Most Northwest Passage expeditions originated in Europe or on the east coast of North America, seeking to traverse the Passage in the westbound direction . Some progress was made in exploring the western reaches of the imagined passage . </P> <P> In 1728 Vitus Bering, a Danish Navy officer in Russian service, used the strait first discovered by Semyon Dezhnyov in 1648 but later accredited to and named after Bering (the Bering Strait). He concluded that North America and Russia were separate land masses by sailing between them . In 1741 with Lieutenant Aleksei Chirikov, he explored seeking further lands beyond Siberia . While they were separated, Chirikov discovered several of the Aleutian Islands while Bering charted the Alaskan region . His ship was wrecked off the Kamchatka Peninsula, as many of his crew were disabled by scurvy . </P> <P> The Spanish made several voyages to the northwest coast of North America during the late 18th century . Determining whether a Northwest Passage existed was one of the motives for their efforts . Among the voyages that involved careful searches for a Passage included the 1775 and 1779 voyages of Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra . The journal of Francisco Antonio Mourelle, who served as Quadra's second in command in 1775, fell into English hands . It was translated and published in London, stimulating exploration . </P> <P> Captain James Cook made use of the journal during his explorations of the region . In 1791 Alessandro Malaspina sailed to Yakutat Bay, Alaska, which was rumoured to be a Passage . In 1790 and 1791 Francisco de Eliza led several exploring voyages into the Strait of Juan de Fuca, searching for a possible Northwest Passage and finding the Strait of Georgia . To fully explore this new inland sea, an expedition under Dionisio Alcalá Galiano was sent in 1792 . He was explicitly ordered to explore all channels that might turn out to be a Northwest Passage . </P>

Spain was searching for a western route to