Chilean frigate O'Higgins

Last updated
Maquetaohiggins.JPG
Model of the frigate O'Higgins from the Museo Naval y Marítimo of the Chilean Navy
History
Naval Jack of Russia.svg Russia
NamePatrikii
BuilderShipyard in Arkhangelsk
Launched3 July 1816
FateSold to Spain
Flag of Spain (1785-1873, 1875-1931).svg Spain
NameMaría Isabel
Acquired17 August 1817
Captured20 October 1818
FateCaptured by Chile in Talcahuano
Naval Jack of Chile.svg Chile
NameO'Higgins
Namesake Bernardo O'Higgins
CommissionedOctober 1818
RenamedMaría Isabel (1823)
FateSold to Argentina
Flag of Argentina.svg Argentina
NameBuenos Aires
Namesake Buenos Aires
Commissioned1826
FateSank 1826
General characteristics
Class and type Speshniy-class frigate
Tons burthen1220 (bm)
Length48.6 m (159 ft 5 in)
Beam12.7 m (41 ft 8 in)
Draft3.9 m (12 ft 10 in)
PropulsionSail
Crew288-430 men
Armament40-50 guns

O'Higgins was a Chilean frigate famous for her actions under Captain Lord Cochrane.

Contents

Russian career

The ship was launched in Russia in 1816, as the Speshni-class frigate Patrikii ("Патрикий"). To save time and money, the Russians built her of pine and larch. In 1817 the Russians sold her to Spain, which renamed her María Isabel.

Spanish career

In 1818 María Isabel sailed under Captain Dionisio Capas with a convoy to the coast of Peru. There the First Chilean Navy Squadron, under the command of Manuel Blanco Encalada, captured her at Talcahuano.

Chilean career

The Chileans renamed the ship O'Higgins after Bernardo O'Higgins, the South American Independence leader and first Chilean head of state.

O'Higgins was Thomas Cochrane's flagship when he commanded the Chilean navy during the Freedom Expedition of Perú.

When San Martín was wrecked in the bay of Chorrilos, Peru, in July 1821, Cochrane shifted his flag from San Martín back to O'Higgins. [1]

Cochrane also sailed O'Higgins to Acapulco.

On 8 June 1823, O'Higgins suffered severe damage when she collided with the Chilean ship Lautaro in the Bay of Paraíso during a gale. [2] [3]

During 1823, after a conservative coup on 28 January 1823 deposed O'Higgins, the new government under Ramón Freire renamed the frigate María Isabel again. [4]

Argentine career

She was sold to Argentina on 1 April 1826 and refitted in Valparaíso and renamed Buenos Aires, but she never reached Buenos Aires. She sank rounding Cape Horn. [5]

See also

Citations

  1. Lloyd's List №5648.
  2. "The Marine List". Lloyd's List (5844). 7 October 1823.
  3. "The Marine List". Lloyd's List (5847). 17 October 1823.
  4. Website of the Chilean Navy O´Higgins, fragata (1º) Archived 2010-10-02 at the Wayback Machine , retrieved 28. January 2011
  5. Gerardo Etcheverry, Principales naves de guerra a vela hispanoamericanas, retrieved 28 January 2011

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald</span> Scottish naval officer and politician (1775–1860)

Admiral Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald, styled Lord Cochrane between 1778 and 1831, was a British naval officer, peer, mercenary and politician. Serving during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars in the Royal Navy, his naval successes led Napoleon to nickname him le Loup des Mers. He was successful in virtually all of his naval actions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hippolyte Bouchard</span> French navy officer

Hippolyte or Hipólito Bouchard, known in California as Pirata Buchar, was a French-born Argentine sailor and corsair (pirate) who fought for Argentina, Chile, and Peru.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Angamos</span> 1879 naval battle during the War of the Pacific

The Battle of Angamos was a naval encounter of the War of the Pacific fought between the navies of Chile and Perú at Punta Angamos, on 8 October 1879. The battle was the culminating point of a naval campaign that lasted about five months in which the Chilean Navy had the sole mission of eliminating its Peruvian counterpart. In the struggle, two armored frigates, led by Commodore Galvarino Riveros Cárdenas and Navy Captain Juan José Latorre battered and later captured the Peruvian monitor Huáscar, under Rear Admiral Miguel Grau Seminario.

HMS <i>Aetna</i> (1803) Royal Navy bomb vessel

HMS Aetna was the mercantile Success launched in 1803 at Littlehampton. The Admiralty purchased her in 1803 for conversion into a Royal Navy bomb vessel. Aetna participated in the second Battle of Copenhagen in 1807 and the Battle of the Basque Roads in 1809. Later, she participated in the attack on Fort McHenry in the Battle of Baltimore and the bombardment of Fort Washington, Maryland in 1814, during the War of 1812. The Navy sold her in 1816 and she returned to mercantile service under her original name. She sailed to Calcutta, to Rio de Janeiro, and more locally until she was wrecked in 1823.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liberating Expedition of Peru</span> Military forces assembled by revolutionary forces during the Spanish American Wars of Independence

The Liberating Expedition of Peru was a naval and land military force created in 1820 by the government of Chile in continuation of the plan of the Argentine General José de San Martín to achieve the independence of Peru, and thus consolidate the independence of all former Spanish-American colonies. It was vital to defeat the Viceroyalty of Peru—the center of royalist power in South America—from where royalist expeditions were sent to reconquer the territories lost to the independence fighters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of 4 May</span> Naval battle during the Brazilian War of Independence

The Battle of 4 May was fought in open sea near Salvador, Bahia, on 4 May 1823, between the Imperial Brazilian Navy, under the command of British admiral Thomas Cochrane, and the Portuguese Navy during the Brazilian War of Independence.

HMS <i>Owen Glendower</i> (1808) Frigate of the Royal Navy

HMS Owen Glendower was a Royal Navy 36-gun fifth-rate Apollo-class frigate launched in 1808 and disposed of in 1884. In between she was instrumental in the seizure of the Danish island of Anholt, captured prizes in the Channel during the Napoleonic Wars, sailed to the East Indies and South America, participated in the suppression of the slave trade, and served as a prison hulk in Gibraltar before she was sold in 1884.

Chilean brigantine <i>Águila</i> (1796)

Águila was the first naval vessel of the Chilean Navy. She was later renamed Pueyrredón.

Chilean ship <i>Lautaro</i> (1818)

Lautaro was initially the British East Indiaman Windham, built by Perry, Wells & Green at the Blackwall Shipyard for the East India Company (EIC) and launched in 1800. She made seven voyages to India, Ceylon, and China for the EIC. In 1809–10, the French captured her twice, but the British also recaptured her twice. The Chilean Navy bought her in 1818 and she then served in the Chilean Navy, taking part in several actions during the liberation wars in Chile and Peru. From 1824 she was a training ship until she was sold in 1828.

<i>Cumberland</i> (1802 EIC ship)

The ship Cumberland was launched in 1802 as a 3-decker East Indiaman. She made seven voyages between India and England from 1802 to 1815 for the British East India Company. Her most notable voyage was her second when she fought in the Battle of Pulo Aura against a French squadron. In 1818 the Chilean government arranged for her purchase. When she arrived in Chile the Chileans took her into their navy as San Martín. As part of the First Chilean Navy Squadron she participated in 1818 in the defeat of a Spanish expeditionary force. She was wrecked off the coast of Peru in 1821.

Spanish frigate <i>Esmeralda</i> 44-gun frigate

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">First Chilean Navy Squadron</span> Military unit

The First Chilean Navy Squadron was the heterogeneous naval force that terminated Spanish colonial rule in the Pacific and protagonized the most important naval actions of in the Latin American wars of independence. The Chilean revolutionary government organized the squadron in order to carry the war to the Viceroyalty of Perú, then the center of Spanish power in South America, and thus secure the independence of Chile and Argentina.

Independencia was a 26-gun corvette of the First Chilean Navy Squadron.

Chilean corvette <i>Chacabuco</i> (1818)

Chacabuco was a 20-gun corvette of 450 tons built in 1815 in Boston, USA. She came to Coquimbo as Avon where investors in Copiapó, Chile, purchased her to use her as privateer vessel under the name Coquimbo. But as the businessmen drew back, the Chilean government bought the ship on 20 June 1818 for $36,000. She was renamed Chacabuco and commissioned to the Navy under the command of Captain Francisco Díaz.

Serpent was a French navy brig of the Palinure class, launched in 1807 at Paimbeouf (Nantes) as Rivolli, but renamed. HMS Acasta captured her in 1808 in the Caribbean and the British Royal Navy took her into service there as HMS Pert but renamed her Asp. The navy disposed of her in 1814. She then made five voyages as a whaler, and wrecked in December 1828 on her sixth voyage.

Montezuma was launched in Philadelphia in 1804. She came into British hands c.1807 after having been seized for attempting to evade the British East India Company's monopoly on British trade with India. She then initially traded with Charleston until 1811 when she went whaling in the Galápagos Islands. There the Americans captured her in 1813. Her captors sailed her to Valparaiso where the Spanish colonial government seized her.

Capture of the frigate <i>Esmeralda</i>

The capture of the frigate Esmeralda was a naval operation conducted on the night of 5 to 6 November 1820. A division of boats with sailors and marines of the First Chilean Navy Squadron, commanded by Thomas Cochrane, stealthily advanced towards Callao and captured the ship through a boarding attack. Esmeralda was the flagship of Spanish fleet and the main objective of the operation. She was protected by a strong military defense that the Royalists had organized in the port.

HMS <i>Narcissus</i> (1801) Frigate of the Royal Navy

HMS Narcissus was the lead ship of the Royal Navy Narcissus-class 32-gun fifth-rate frigates, launched in 1801. She participated in the War of 1812.

Agustín Manuel Hipólito Orella Macaya, known simply as Manuel Hipólito Orella, was a Chilean naval officer who made a career in the Chilean Navy. He was one of the first Chilean midshipmen who entered the nascent navy in 1818. He joined the First Chilean Navy Squadron and participated in the naval war for the independence of Chile and Peru. Likewise, also spent time in the Chilean Army in the infantry branch. Furthermore, he held several important positions in the navy until his death in 1857.

Sesostris was launched at Hull in 1818. She traded with India, the Baltic, and Russia, carried troops for a Chilean military expedition against Peru, and transported convicts to New South Wales. She was broken up in 1843.