The Bonaventure (C1-21) was an early Earth starship credited with the discovery of the space warp.
In 2369, this ship appeared on a wall chart titled "Starship Chronology" in Keiko O'Brien's classroom. (DS9: "The Nagus") Later that year, and into the next year, a model of this ship was added to the classroom. (DS9: "In the Hands of the Prophets", "Cardassians")
Appendices
Background information
The Bonaventure on the cover of Star Trek Chronology
The Bonaventure is likely a predecessor to the Bonaventure (10281NCC). There have been several ships in the Royal Navy with the name HMS Bonaventure. A Canadian aircraft carrier was renamed HMCS Bonaventure in 1952.
The first appearance of the Bonaventure was in the first edition of the Star Trek Chronology, the reference model for which, especially built by Greg Jein. [1](X) In the Chronology the ship is identified as Zefram Cochrane's first warp-powered spacecraft from 2061. The name of the ship appeared on the wall display featuring warp ships. Registry was visible on the model. The Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual (page 54) mention a prototype field device and an unmanned flight test vehicle from 2061, which predates all manned warp ships.
Following the introduction of the Phoenix in Star Trek: First Contact, the model and all depictions of the Bonaventure were removed from the DS9 set and from the second edition of Star Trek Chronology. According to the second edition, the Bonaventure was a conjectural design for what became the Phoenix. Several significant changes were made to the design, in part because the film required the ship to be launched from a missile.
In Star Trek Spaceflight Chronology (1980), a Cochrane-class cruiser, the UNSS Bonaventure was introduced as Earth's first warp drive ship. Utilizing an alien warp guidance system, she began Earth's warp drive era under the command of Captain Hadrian Huckleby, with a trip to Tau Ceti. This was four years after the first successful demonstration of warp technology.
Apocrypha
In the novel Federation, Zefram Cochrane's first warp ship that traveled to Alpha Centauri was called the Bonaventure and his later personal ship is called the Bonaventure II.