that visited the Galapagos was the Malaspina expedition, a Spanish expedition led by Alejandro Malaspina, who arrived in 1790. However, the records of the expedition were never published.

In 1793, James Colnett, (1753 – 1 September 1806) was an officer of the British Royal Navy, an explorer, and a maritime fur trade described the flora and fauna of the islands and suggested they could be used as base for the whalers