One of the few available works depicting the five-year scientific expedition of Spanish naval officer Allesandro Malaspina. In that exploration Malaspina and Jose de Bustamente commanded two frigates of approximately 118 feet in length, the Descubierta and the Atrevida and departed from Cadiz, Spain on July 30, 1789. The expedition sailed through the Pacific Ocean, exploring and mapping much of the west coast of the Americas from Cape Horn to the Gulf of Alaska, crossing to Guam and the Philippines, and stopped in both New Zealand and Australia.
The expedition carried aboard some of Spain's top scientists, as well as at least three artists: Brambila, Jose Guio, and Tomas de Suria. This intaglio plate shows the Atrevida among large ice flows. Map coordinates are based on a Prime Meridian in Cadiz, Spain but the the location is somewhere very near the Malvinas (Falkland Islands), and by the stated date of 1794 we know this was the second-to-last stop of the 62 month voyage.
Last known sale of this engraving was in 1992 and no examples of the work are known for sale anywhere. Only two examples are found on the Internet, one at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London. The area within the platemark on this engraving is identical to that example at 513 x 340 mm. Wide margins and heavy paper.