Chilean brigantine Aquiles (1824)

The Peruviana sails under Chilean flag after her capture in Callao by the Aquiles. Oilpainting of Álvaro Casanova Zenteno
History
Spain
Name: Aquiles
Fate: Mutiny in Guam, handed over to Chile in 1824
Chile
Name: Aquiles
Namesake: Spanish for Achilles
Commissioned: 1825
Honours and
awards:
Capture of 3 Peruvian ships in Callao
Status: Sunk off Valparaíso 1839
General characteristics
Displacement: 405
Armament: 20 × 12-pounder guns

Aquiles was a brigantine, originally Spanish, that later served in the Chilean Navy. It sunk off Valparaíso on 24 July 1839.

Spanish career

Route of Aquiles, Asia, Constante and Clarington in 1824-1825

Aquiles was a Spanish brigantine of unknown builder that sailed on 13 January 1824 from Cadiz and arrived to Callao on 12 September 1824 with the Asia (1791) in order to support the Spanish troops in America. After the defeat of the Battle of Ayacucho, the Asia, Aquiles, brigantine Constante and the merchant ship Clarington sailed on 2 January 1825 from Quilca to Manila in the Philippines.

On 10 March 1825 the crew of the ship Asia mutinied in Guam, captured the Brigantine Constante, burnt the frigate Clarington, sailed to Acapulco and handed both ships to the new Mexican authorities.

On 14 March 1825 mutinied the crew of Aquiles and under the command of Capitán de Fragata Pedro Angulo Novoa sailed to Santa Barbara, California where they arrived on 29 April. On 23 Juno 1825 the Aquiles arrived to Valparaíso and the ship was handed over to the authorities.[1]

Chilean career

After the termination of the First Chilean Navy Squadron by a decree of Ramón Freire on 2 April 1826, the Aquiles was for a long time the only ship of the Chilean Navy.[2] 1828, under the command of Captain Charles Whiting Wooster she sailed for Juan Fernández Islands in search of pirates.

During the Chilean Civil War of 1829–1830 she was captured by insurgents and fought with HMS Thetis, under command of Captain Bingham,[3] surrendered and was handed over to the Chilean government.

Under the command of captain Robert Winthrop Simpson, she began the tradition of charting and bathymetric surveys of the Chilean coast with the first hydrographic survey around 40°S[4] that culminated with the Naval Hydrographic Institute in 1875 (today Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service of the Chilean Navy).

War of the Confederation

On 21 August 1836 she captured the Peruvian ships Santa Cruz, Arequipeño and Peruviana in Callao.

On 30 October the Chilean ships Aquiles, Colo Colo, frigate Valparaíso, frigate Monteagudo and brigantine Orbegoso under the command of Mariano Egaña arrived to Callao to negotiate the Chilean conditions for a peace with the Confederation, but he failed and on 28 December 1836 Chile declared war on the confederation.

On 5 February 1837 she fought against the Peruvian schooner Yanacocha off the San Lorenzo Island.

She sunk off Valparaíso on 24 July 1839.

See also

References

  1. "Bergantin Aquiles". Website of the Chilean Navy. Retrieved 1 November 2012.
  2. López Urrutia, Carlos (1969). Historia de la Marina de Chile. Santiago de Chile: Editorial Andrés Bello.
  3. López Urrutia, Carlos (1969). Historia de la Marina de Chile. Santiago de Chile: Editorial Andrés Bello. p. 158.
  4. Benson, Keith Rodney; Rehbock, Philip F. (2002). Oceanographic History: The Pacific and Beyond. University of Washington Press.

External links

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