Chilean corvette Independencia (1818)
Encyclopedia
Independencia was a corvette
Corvette
A corvette is a small, maneuverable, lightly armed warship, originally smaller than a frigate and larger than a coastal patrol craft or fast attack craft , although many recent designs resemble frigates in size and role...
of 851 tons and 26-gun built 1818 in the Forman Cheeseman Shipyard of New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
under the name Curatio for the Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
an revolutionary government.
The ship was launched in July and tugged from Corlear's Hook in East River
East River
The East River is a tidal strait in New York City. It connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates Long Island from the island of Manhattan and the Bronx on the North American mainland...
to the Hudson River
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
to continue the work there. Because of US neutrality laws she was declared in the ship's register with the built number 203 on 30 July as merchant ship property of his captain, Paul Delano
Paul Delano
Captain Paul Delano , born in Fairhaven, Massachusetts, was a sea captain and a member of the prominent American Delano family. He moved to Chile as Captain of the Curiacio where he arrived in June 22, 1819 and became an important part of that country's First Chilean Navy Squadron...
and, unarmed, set sails for Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
on 9 September, together with the Horatio (under Captain Joseph Skinner), built in the Adam and Noah Brown Shipyards under the same circumstances, and the Sachem with the respective materiel
Materiel
Materiel is a term used in English to refer to the equipment and supplies in military and commercial supply chain management....
.
Chilean career
In Buenos Aires the Curatio set sails for ValparaísoValparaíso
Valparaíso is a city and commune of Chile, center of its third largest conurbation and one of the country's most important seaports and an increasing cultural center in the Southwest Pacific hemisphere. The city is the capital of the Valparaíso Province and the Valparaíso Region...
, where she arrived on 23 June 1819 to be renamed Independencia and commissioned to the First Chilean Navy Squadron
First Chilean Navy Squadron
The First Chilean Navy Squadron was the naval force that terminated Spanish colonial rule on the south-west coast of America and protagonaized the most important naval actions in the Latin American wars of independence...
under the command of Captain Carlos F. Foster (also Robert Forster) and up 1821 Wilkinson.
She was flagship of Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald
Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald
Admiral Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald, 1st Marquess of Maranhão, GCB, ODM , styled Lord Cochrane between 1778 and 1831, was a senior British naval flag officer and radical politician....
's expedition to California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
in 1821. On the way she, together with the Araucano, captured the Spanish brigantine corsario San Francisco Javier. She ran aground near El Realejo
El Realejo
El Realejo is a municipality in the Chinandega department of Nicaragua. The town of El Realejo was constructed in 1532, during the first years of Spanish colonization. During this period it served as Nicaragua's principal port, and remained so until the beginning of the 17th century, when pirate...
without heavy losses.
In summer 1822/23 she was refitted in Valparaíso and participated in the blockade of Chiloé. 1823 transported Jorge Beauchef
Jorge Beauchef
Jorge Beuchef was a French military who participated in the Napoleonic Wars and later on in the Chilean Independence War....
and his regiment from Valdivia
Valdivia
-Geography:*Chile** Valdivia, Chile, a city and municipality in the Province of Valdivia** Valdivia River, a river which begins in the city of Valdivia** Valdivia Province, the Province of Valdivia...
to Talcahuano
Talcahuano
Talcahuano is a port city and commune in the Biobío Region of Chile. It is part of the Greater Concepción conurbation. Talcahuano is located in the south of the Central Zone of Chile.-Geography:...
in order to support the Putsch of Ramón Freire against Bernardo O'Higgins
Bernardo O'Higgins
Bernardo O'Higgins Riquelme was a Chilean independence leader who, together with José de San Martín, freed Chile from Spanish rule in the Chilean War of Independence. Although he was the second Supreme Director of Chile , he is considered one of Chile's founding fathers, as he was the first holder...
.
1826 she participated to the blockade and conquest of Chiloé under the command of Paul Delano again.
Argentine career
On 1 April 1826 she was sold for $40,000 to ArgentinaArgentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
(in war against Brazil) and renamed Montevideo, but her bad condition impeded the rounding of Cape Horn
Cape Horn
Cape Horn is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island...
, and she sank in Talcahuano
Talcahuano
Talcahuano is a port city and commune in the Biobío Region of Chile. It is part of the Greater Concepción conurbation. Talcahuano is located in the south of the Central Zone of Chile.-Geography:...
. She was refloated and sold to Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
.
External links
- Gerardo Etcheverry, Principales naves de guerra a vela hispanoamericanas. (retrieved 22. January 2011) in Spanish languagee