 San Martin, Lautaro, Chacabuco, and Araucano | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | Columbus |
| Launched | 1817 |
| Fate | Sold to Chile |
 Chile | |
| Name | Araucano |
| Namesake | Araucano |
| Cost | $33,000 |
| Acquired | 1818 |
| Honours and awards | Expedition to California pursuing the Spanish Prueba and Venganza |
| Fate | Mutiny in 1822 |
| Name | Prudence |
| Fate | Scrapped in Tubuai Island |
| General characteristics | |
| Tons burthen | 217 (bm) |
| Armament | 16–18 guns |
Araucano was a 16- or 18-gun brigantine of the First Chilean Navy Squadron.
The ship was built in 1817 in the United States as Columbus. In November 1817 she was sent by the envoy of the Chilean government in the United States Manuel Hemanegildo Aguirre, fully manned and carrying a cargo of munitions, under the command of Charles Whiting Wooster (Carlos Guillermo Wooster, sometimes erroneously known as Worster) to Valparaíso, where she arrived in June 1818. [1] : 20 The Columbus was then sold to Chile for $33,000 [2] [3] On August 10 she was renamed Araucano and on 14 August was under the command of Wooster but in October 1818, as the First Chilean Navy Squadron under the command of Blanco Encalada left Valparaíso to South, she was under the command of Raymond Morris and carried 110 men. She participated in the blockade of Callao during the Freedom Expedition of Perú.
In 1821 the Chilean ships Independencia, San Martin, Mercedes and Araucano sailed to North America on pursuit of the last presence of the Spanish Navy in the Pacific coast, the frigates Prueba and Venganza. As Cochrane ordered the Araucano under the command of Captain Robert Simpson to investigate the situation in Acapulco, California, the crew of Araucano, led by Henry Good (also known as Patterson), mutinied in Loreto, Baja California Sur and under the command of an English boatswain sailed to Hawaii, Australia and then Tahiti, where they became pirates and sealers. They were captured as they tried to seize a missionary ship off the Tubuai Island. The Araucano remained placed at the disposal of the Chilean Government but she was never reclaimed and she was scrapped by the natives. [4]
On 23 June 1822 the Prudence (ex–Araucano) was captured by the crew of the Queen Charlotte under command of Captain Samuel Henry (22 years old) while mooring at the harbor Tubuai. But the piratical brig was declared un-seaworthy; she therefore remained mooring at Otaheite, and became a wreck.» (Sydney Gazette 22 November 1822). The Chileans too judged that the Araucano was best left to rot at Tahiti. [5]
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Roberto Simpson Winthrop, was a sailor of English origin, nationalized Chilean, who made a career in the Chilean Navy from 1818 and reached the rank of rear-admiral in 1852. Distinguished himself during the Spanish American wars of independence and the War of the Confederation. He was also founder of the Simpson family in Chile, initiator of the first hydrographic works in the country, senator and diplomat.
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Esmeralda was a 44-gun frigate built in Port Mahón, Balearic Islands in 1791 for the Spanish Navy. The First Chilean Navy Squadron, under the command of Thomas Cochrane, captured her on the night of 5 November 1820. She was renamed Valdivia in Chilean service. She was beached at Valparaíso in June 1825.
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Independencia was a 26-gun corvette of the First Chilean Navy Squadron.
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HMS Conway was a Royal Navy sixth-rate post ship launched in 1814 as the lead ship of her class. The Royal Navy sold her in 1825 and she became the merchantman Toward Castle, and then a whaler. She was lost in 1838 off Baja California while well into her third whaling voyage.
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The Capture of the steamer Rímac or the Hunt and seizure of the Chilean transport Rímac was a part of the Raids of Huáscar during the Naval campaign of the War of the Pacific. During an expedition over the conflicting seas, the Peruvian Navy ships, Huáscar and Unión, apprehend the Chilean war steamer Rímac, which was an artillery transport, taking all its cargo and capturing its crew, including a squad of the Carabineros de Yungay. In Chile, the news of the capture of the Rímac detonated a political and social crisis that led to the resignation of several government officials, including Rear Admiral Juan Williams Rebolledo, Commander General of the Chilean Navy.