Domingo de Bonechea

Domingo Bernardo de Bonechea Andonaegui (Basque: Domingo Bonetxea Andonaegi), born on August 8, 1713, in Getaria, Basque Country, Spain, died in Tahiti in 1775, was a captain in the Spanish Royal Navy and an explorer for the Spanish crown. He is known for having tried to incorporate Tahiti to the Spanish seaborne empire.

His father, Juan Bauptista de Bonechea Aramburu (1685–1770), commanded the fishing vessel Terranova off Nova Scotia in 1727 and became a captain in the Spanish Royal Navy; his uncle Francisco de Bonechea Aramburu was a frigate captain. His mother was Francisca Andonaegui Narbasta; the parents married on 25 March 1714, a few months after Domingo's birth. His younger brother Francisco Bonechea Andonaegui was also a naval officer, mentioned as a lieutenant aboard one of the frigates that escorted Carlos III from Italy to Spain in 1759 on his accession to the Spanish throne.

Domingo de Bonechea Andonaegui did not pass through naval college or formal navigational studies. He served in the Spanish navy as a pilot from 1732 to 1740, when he became midshipman (Alferez) of a frigate. He took part in the Battle of Toulon (22/23 February 1744) He was promoted to Mishipman of a Ship of the Line in 1749 and to Frigate lieutenant in 1751.

In 1754 he was promoted to lieutenant of a ship of the line. His first command seems to have been the Corvette Marte (18)in which he took part in the action in which Spain lost Havana to the British Admiral Pocock in 1762. After a desperate action against the British Captain George Mackenzie he surrendered at Mariel. He was exonerated of all blame and acquitted with honour.

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