Chilean corvette Chacabuco (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.[2] 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.[1]

For other ships with the same name, see Chilean ship Chacabuco.
From left to right San Martín, Lautaro, Chacabuco and Araucano, in a painting of Thomas Somerscales
History
United States
Name: Avon
Launched: 1815
Acquired: by purchase, 20 June 1818
Fate: Sold to Chilean privateers
Chilean privateers
Name: Coquimbo
Fate: Sold to Navy of Chile
Chile
Name: Chacabuco
Namesake: Battle of Chacabuco
Launched: 1815
Acquired: by purchase, 20 June 1818
Honours and
awards:		 First Chilean Navy Squadron
Fate: Sold to Argentina, 1 April 1826
Argentina
Name: Chacabuco
Honours and
awards:		 Chacabuco the only one to reach Buenos Aires.
General characteristics [1]
Type: Corvette
Tons burthen: 450 tons bm
Length: 131 ft 3 in (40.01 m)
Beam: 26 ft 3 in (8.00 m)
Depth: 8 ft 2 in (2.49 m)
Sail plan: Full-rigged ship
Complement: 80
Armament:
  • 18 × 12-pounder guns
  • 2 × 9-pounder guns

In October 1818 she participated with the First Chilean Navy Squadron under the command of Manuel Blanco Encalada in the campaign to deter the Spanish convoy of the frigate María Isabel. She was not involved in the capture of the frigate in Talcahuano, but on 18 November she captured the Spanish transporters Jerezana, Carlota and Rosalía of the convoy.

On 24 March 1819, during the second blockade of Callao she captured the Spanish sloop Moctezuma.

In 1826 she set sail with Galvarino, Aquiles, O'Higgins and Lautaro from Corral under the command of Manuel Blanco Encalada in order to capture the last Spanish enclave in South America, Chiloé, commanded by Antonio de Quintanilla.

Fate

Chacabuco was sold to Argentina on 1 April 1826, together with O'Higgins and Independencia. Out of the three she was the only one to reach Buenos Aires. (O'Higgins sank while rounding Cape Horn; Independencia sank in Talcahuano but was refloated and sold to Peru).

References
  1. Etcheverry, Gerardo (2011). "Listado de buques de guerra a vela de Chile". todoababor.es. Retrieved 25 July 2012.
  2. William L. Neumann, United States Aid to the Chilean Wars of Independence, The Hispanic American Historical Review, Volume 27, 1947, pp. 204-219

See also
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