The Construction of the San Carlos Mission, Carmel-By-The-Sea.
Delightful 18th-century engraved view of Carmel-by-the-Sea, showing the San Carlos Mission during construction as visited by George Vancouver on his voyage to the Pacific Northwest. This view likely represents the first printed view of Carmel-By-The-Sea.
The view shows a rather small town with several early European and indigenous buildings. Bells are shown, as are various other religious symbols. The Mission remains under construction. It would be completed five years after Vancouver visited, in 1792.
The first Mission San Carlos was established in 1770 in Monterrey, but it was relocated to the mouth of the Cartmel River in the following year. In 1784, Father Junipero Serra was buried at the San Carlos Mission, reportedly his favorite. The Basilica was completed in 1797, from which period onwards it was the head of all the Missions in Alta California.
Primacy
We are unaware of any earlier views or maps of Carmel-By-the-Sea. It is unlikely that an earlier published Spanish view exists, as few such publications on Alta California exist. For the most part, the Spanish government did its best to limit publicizing their settlements. Searches for other, earlier, views have not produced any results.
George Vancouver (1757–1798), a naval officer and explorer, grew up in King’s Lynn, England, the youngest of six children. After entering the Royal Navy in 1771, he served in both the second and third great exploratory voyages of James Cook. During Cook’s second voyage, a three-year quest to find a legendary southern continent, Vancouver received instruction from the astronomer William Wales. During Cook’s third voyage, to the Pacific Northwest, Vancouver was part of the first known group of Europeans to land on the coast of present-day British Columbia.
Vancouver gained valuable navigational, surveying, and mapping experience in the Pacific Northwest during his time with Cook. After returning from Cook’s third voyage in 1780, Vancouver was promoted to lieutenant and spent the following nine years serving on fighting ships, primarily in the Caribbean.
In 1790, Vancouver was chosen to captain the Discovery and charged with a mission to discover and chart the vast areas of the Pacific that were still unknown, in part to locate a Northwest Passage between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. This four-year voyage of discovery circumnavigated the globe and eliminated the possibility of an inland Northwest Passage. During many months of surveying, Vancouver produced detailed regional maps of the Northwest Coast, as far north as Alaska. He also established several hundred place-names for physical features in the areas surveyed.
Upon returning to England in 1795, Vancouver’s voyage received little recognition, and he faced personal and political attacks from colleagues and crew members alleging abuse of power. With his health failing, Vancouver spent his remaining years in retirement, revising his journal for publication. His Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific Ocean, and Round the World was first published in 1798, which was also the year of his death. It contained a multi-volume account of his voyage as well as an atlas of his maps. His exploration and mapmaking activities greatly increased knowledge of the North American coast.