Ferrer Maldonado, Lorenzo
Lorenzo Ferrer Maldonado, apocryphal navigator, adventurer (b in Spain; d 1625). In 1601 he submitted to King Philip III of Spain a document about his purported 1588 voyage through the NORTHWEST PASSAGE from east to west. His descriptions bear little semblance to reality, though his account received some support from geographers. In 1791 the Spanish government diverted Alejandro Malaspina's expedition to search the NORTHWEST COAST for the passage's entrance. See also Alejandro MALASPINA.