 Galveston Island was originally inhabited by members of the Karankawa and <unk> tribes who called the island <unk> . The Spanish explorer <unk> de <unk> and his crew were shipwrecked on the island or nearby in November <unk> , calling it " <unk> de <unk> " ( " Isle of Bad Fate " ) . They began their years @-@ long trek to a Spanish settlement in Mexico City . During his charting of the Gulf Coast in 1785 , the Spanish explorer José de <unk> named the island Gálvez @-@ town or <unk> in honor of Bernardo de Gálvez y Madrid , Count of Gálvez . 
