Martínez, Esteban José (09 December 1742–28 October 1798), Spanish naval officer and explorer of the northwest coast of North America, was born in Seville, Spain, of unknown parentage. At thirteen years of age, Martínez entered a three-year program at Seville’s marine Semenario de San Telmo. During the 1760s he served in several merchant ships on voyages from Spain to the Americas. In 1770 he married Gertrudis González. Transferred to duty on Mexico’s Pacific Coast, in 1773 he was a second pilot in the naval department of San Blas that supplied Baja California and Sonora and was home base to the naval vessels that had begun to explore the California coast....
