Alessandro Malaspina returned to Spain in August 1794. Galiano joined him in presenting the Malaspina expedition's report to the Commander in Madrid. Along with two other officers they stayed in the capital to prepare a planned publication compiled from the vast quantity of reports, observations, charts, drawings, and other data collected during Malaspina's five-year voyage. This massive undertaking, which was to include a grand narrative and an atlas, was intended to rival the publication of the expeditions of James Cook. Galiano's 1792 exploration of the Strait of Georgia was to be an important complement to the accounts of Malaspina's visits to Alaska and Nootka. However, Malaspina tried to influence Spanish politics regarding the American colonies with disastrous consequences. He was arrested in late 1795 and imprisoned from 1796 to 1802, after which he was exiled from Spain. Nearly all documents from his expedition were seized and publication forbidden. As a result, Galiano's account of his exploration, published in 1802, became the only Spanish publication about Spanish activities in the Pacific Northwest for many years, and Galiano's name became synonymous with Spanish exploration of the region.