Domingo Bernardo 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, is 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 March 25, 1714, a few months after Domingo's birth.

His younger brother Francisco Bonechea Andonaegui is 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 serves in the Spanish navy as a pilot from 1732 to 1740, when he becomes midshipman (Alferez) of a frigate.

He takes part in the Battle of Toulon (22/23 February 1744).

He is promoted to Mishipman of a Ship of the Line in 1749 and to Frigate lieutenant in 1751.

In 1754 he is promoted to lieutenant of a ship of the line.

His first command seems to have been the Corvette Marte in which he takes part in the action in which Spain loses Havana to the British Admiral Pocock in 1762.

After a desperate action against the British Captain George Mackenzie, he surrenders at Mariel.

He is exonerated of all blame and acquitted with honor.

In 1766 he becomes a frigate captain and from 1767 commands the frigate Santa Maria Magdalena, afterwards renamed Aguila.

Together with the Lievre, he takes supplies to the Falkland Islands and reaches the port of Concepcion (Chile) on  April 14, 1768.

From there he continues on to Callao (Peru) and seems to have remained in the region for several years.

Domingo de Bonechea's exploratory voyages are commissioned by the Viceroy of Peru, Manuel de Amat y Juniet, who is concerned that Captain Cook's explorations might lead to the creation of British bases from which to attack Peru.

De Bonechea reaches Tahiti only weeks after Cook's First Voyage, and indeed finds an axe left there by Cook's expedition.

He records a great many local native words.

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