First Chilean Navy Squadron

{{Infobox military unit | unit_name = First Chilean Navy Squadron | native_name = ''Primera Escuadra Nacional de Chile'' | image = File:Armada Chile 1era Escuadra nacional.jpg | image_size = 300px | caption = ''Departure of the First Chilean Navy Squadron on 9 October 1818'', Thomas Somerscales | dates = 1817–1826 | country = {{flagcountry|Chile}} | branch = {{flagdeco|Chile}} Chilean Navy | type = Navy | role = Naval warfare | battles = '''Spanish American wars of independence''' | commander1 = Bernardo O'Higgins Ramón Freire | commander1_label = Supreme commander | commander2 = Manuel Encalada Thomas Cochrane | commander2_label = Fleet commander | identification_symbol = 150px }}

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.<ref>Georg von Rauch, ''Conflict in the Southern Cone'', {{ISBN|0-275-96347-0}}, Praeger publishers, 1999, page 143</ref> 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.

==Background== {{see also|Chilean War of Independence}}

thumb|right|250px|Territories controlled by Chile and the Viceroyalty of Perú after the Battle of Chacabuco.

The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) had crippled Spain's navy, and the French occupation had destroyed the logistical base of its dockyards, with the result of the loss of the majority of Spain's navy. Nevertheless, during the ''Patria Vieja'' (Old Fatherland) period, the Spaniards and the Royalists of Chile and Peru were able from Callao, the royalist stronghold in Perú, to blockade any Chilean revolutionary ports, to land in Talcahuano, a loyal port, and support the advance of the royalist troops of Chile against Santiago de Chile, the main city of the revolutionary forces and crush the rebellion in Chile. Argentine historian Bartolomé Mitre gives the following list<ref>Bartolomé Mitre, ''[http://www.sanmartiniano.gov.ar/textos/parte2/texto080.php Origen de la Escuadra chilena] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120426041353/http://www.sanmartiniano.gov.ar/textos/parte2/texto080.php |date=2012-04-26 }}'', retrieved on 29 December 2011</ref> of armed Spanish ships in the west coast of South America, but it was never done simultaneously: frigates ''Venganza'' (44 guns) and ''Esmeralda'' (44), merchant corvettes ''Milagro'' (18), ''San Juan Bautista'' (18) and ''Begoña'' (18), second class frigates ''Governadora'' (16), ''Comercio'' (12), ''Presidente'' (12), ''Castilla'' (12) and ''Bigarrera'' (12), corvettes ''Resolución'' (34), ''Sebastiana'' (34) and ''Veloz'' (22), brigantine ''Pezuela'' (18), plus other 3 unnamed ships with 37 guns. All things considered 17 ships with 331 guns along the war. In 1819 came the frigate ''Prueba'' and 1824 came the 74 guns ''Asia'' and the ''Aquiles''.

Naval capacity played almost no role for the revolutionary forces in the time from the first declaration of independence 1810 to the Spanish "reconquest" of Chile 1814. Two ships bought by the patriots were defeated in a short fight off Valparaíso in May 1813.<ref name="lsondhaus">Lawrence Sondhaus, ''Naval warfare, 1815–1914'', 2001, by Routledge, {{ISBN|0-415-21477-7}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=TKXn0IQBKCcC url]</ref>{{rp|page=9}}

After the Argentinians and Chilean insurgency won the Battle of Chacabuco (1817), the beginning of the ''Patria Nueva'' (New Fatherland), Chilean patriots re-entered Santiago, but Talcahuano and Concepción (until 1819–20), Valdivia (until 1820) and Chiloé (until 1826) remained under Chilean royalist control.

The Chilean patriots decided that they needed their own navy with trustworthy crews if they were to protect the long coasts of the state and to mobilize troops against the enemy. Without a proper naval force, Chile was vulnerable to enemy landings.

The major concern of the British and US governments was the colonial dispute and preservation of their trade. During the Napoleonic wars Britain became committed to defending the status quo in the peninsular Spain in order to ensure Spain's alliance against France. In 1817, Castlereagh secured an order forbidding British subjects from serving in Spanish American armies.<ref>Malcolm Deas, Anthony McFarlane, Gustavo Bell, Matthew Brown, Eduardo Posada Carbó, [http://www.cancilleria.gov.co/sites/default/files/Document%20Bicentenary%20UK.pdf The role of Great Britain in the Independence of Colombia], {{ISBN|978-958-8244-74-7}}, June 2011, Bogotá, Colombia</ref> Although, in practice, strict neutrality was not always observed.<ref name="barrosarana8"/>{{rp|29}}

Still, British and US public opinion welcomed the end of Spanish autocratic government in South America. In England, the end of the Napoleonic wars permitted the government to reduce the number of ships in the Royal Navy from 700 to 134 and the number of sailors from 140,000 to 23,000, thus lessening the presence of the Royal Navy off the coasts of South America.<ref name="bv"/>{{rp|page=19}}

==1817-1818==

===Build up=== After the Battle of Chacabuco, Bernardo O'Higgins remarked that "this triumph and a hundred more will be insignificant if we do not control the sea". Consequently, the Chilean government, led by O'Higgins, on 20 November 1817 authorized privateers to engage as commerce raiders, interrupting the Spanish trade off the west coast of South America.<ref>{{citation |first=Lizandro |last=Godoy Araneda |url=http://www.revistamarina.cl/revistas/2003/2/Godoy.pdf |title=El corso en el derecho chileno |work= Revista Marina |access-date= 1 January 2013}}</ref> Although Spanish commerce along the whole coast from Chile to Panama was interrupted, the military and naval achievements of the privateers were insignificant.{{citation needed|date=June 2019}}

But they also violated the rights of neutral vessels. They drew to their crews navy deserters, so that O'Higgins was eventually forced to put a limit to their excesses.<ref name="Ugarte1999">{{cite book|author=Renato Valenzuela Ugarte|title=Bernardo O'Higgins: Estado de Chile y el Poder Naval en la Independencia de Los Países Del Sur de América|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bUspIDUKjXMC|access-date=2 January 2013|date=1 January 1999|publisher=Andres Bello|isbn=978-956-13-1604-1}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable" |+ List of ships under Chilean Letter of marque |- ! Ship name ! Type ! tonnage ! Other names ! Year ! Property of ! Guns ! Prizes ! Reference |-valign="top" | ''Santiago Bueras'' (1817) | Brigantine | align="right"| 200.0 | ''Lancaster'' | align="right"| 1817 | Gregorio Cordovéz | align="right"| 12 | ''Los Ángeles'', ''Resolución'' | <ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.armada.cl/prontus_armada/site/artic/20090712/pags/20090712170914.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120427015037/http://www.armada.cl/prontus_armada/site/artic/20090712/pags/20090712170914.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 27, 2012|title=Armada de Chile | Bueras, Santiago, bergantín|date=April 27, 2012|website=Armada de Chile}}</ref> |-valign="top" | ''El Chileno'' (1817) | Brigantine | align="right"| | ''Adeline'' | align="right"| 1817 | Felipe S. de Solar | align="right"| 12 | ''Saetas'', ''Diamante'', ''Inspectora'', ''Balero'' and ''San Antonio'' | <ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.armada.cl/prontus_armada/site/artic/20090712/pags/20090712170354.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101118002816/http://www.armada.cl/prontus_armada/site/artic/20090712/pags/20090712170354.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 18, 2010|title=Armada de Chile | El Chileno, bergantín|date=November 18, 2010|website=Armada de Chile}}</ref> |-valign="top" | ''La Fortuna'' (1817) | Boat | align="right"| 20 | ''Death or Glory'' | align="right"| 1817 | Budge and MacKay | align="right"| | ''Minerva'' | <ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.armada.cl/prontus_armada/site/artic/20090712/pags/20090712165240.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130115213916/http://www.armada.cl/prontus_armada/site/artic/20090712/pags/20090712165240.html|url-status=dead |archive-date=2013-01-15|title=Armada de Chile | La Fortuna, lanchón}}</ref> |-valign="top" | ''La Fortuna'' (1817) | Schooner | align="right"| 180.0 | ''Catalina'' | align="right"| | MacKay | align="right"| 10 | ''San Miguel'' and ''Gran Poder'' | <ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.armada.cl/prontus_armada/site/artic/20090712/pags/20090712165630.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130116042931/http://www.armada.cl/prontus_armada/site/artic/20090712/pags/20090712165630.html|url-status=dead |archive-date=2013-01-16|title=Armada de Chile | La Fortuna, goleta (2da)}}</ref> |-valign="top" | ''Minerva'' (1817) | Boat | align="right"| | | align="right"| 1817 | Budge and MacKay | align="right"| 12 | ''Santa María'' | <ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.armada.cl/prontus_armada/site/artic/20090712/pags/20090712170039.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130116031859/http://www.armada.cl/prontus_armada/site/artic/20090712/pags/20090712170039.html|url-status=dead |archive-date=2013-01-16 |title=Armada de Chile | Minerva, barca}}</ref> |-valign="top" | ''Maipú'' (1818) | Brigantine | align="right"| | | align="right"| 1818 | José M. Manterola | align="right"| | ''San Antonio'', ''Lanzafuego Providencia'', ''Buena Esperanza'' | <ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.armada.cl/prontus_armada/site/artic/20090712/pags/20090712171233.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130116003941/http://www.armada.cl/prontus_armada/site/artic/20090712/pags/20090712171233.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=2013-01-16 |title=Armada de Chile | Maipú, bergantín lanzafuego.}}</ref> |-valign="top" | ''Congreso'' (1817) | Schooner | align="right"| | | align="right"| 1818 | J.A. Turner | align="right"| | ''Empecinado'', ''Golondrina'', ''San Pedro Regalado'' | <ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.armada.cl/prontus_armada/site/artic/20090712/pags/20090712172116.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130116002332/http://www.armada.cl/prontus_armada/site/artic/20090712/pags/20090712172116.html|url-status=dead |archive-date=2013-01-16 |website=Armada de Chile |title= Congreso, goleta (1º)}}</ref> |-valign="top" | ''Nuestra Señora del Carmen'' (1818) | Schooner | align="right"| | Better known as ''Furioso'' | align="right"| 1818 | Manuel Antonio Boza | align="right"| 1 | ''Nuestra Señora de Dolores'',''Machete'' | <ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.armada.cl/prontus_armada/site/artic/20090712/pags/20090712170627.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130116065402/http://www.armada.cl/prontus_armada/site/artic/20090712/pags/20090712170627.html|url-status=dead |archive-date=2013-01-16 |title= Nuestra Señora del Carmen, goleta |website=Armada de Chile}}</ref> |-valign="top" | ''Rosa de los Andes'' (1818) | Corvette | align="right"| 400.0 | ''Rose'' | align="right"| 1819 | | align="right"| 36 | ''Tres Hermanas'' | <ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.armada.cl/prontus_armada/site/artic/20090712/pags/20090712172804.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130116074954/http://www.armada.cl/prontus_armada/site/artic/20090712/pags/20090712172804.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=2013-01-16 |website=Armada de Chile |title= Rosa de los Andes, corbeta}}</ref> |- valign="top" | ''Coquimbo'' (1818)<ref name="williamlneumann">Given by William L. Neumann, ''United States Aid to the Chilean Wars of Independence'', The Hispanic American Historical Review, Volume 27, 1947, pp. 204-219</ref> | | align="right"| |''Avon'' later ''Chacabuco'' (1818) | align="right"| 1818 | | align="right"| | | |}

O'Higgins set out to create a navy out of nothing. José Ignacio Zenteno was nominated as Minister of Marine and promulgated in November 1817 the ''Reglamento General de Marina'', a legal framework for the new institution. José Antonio Álvarez Condarco and Manuel Hermanegildo Aguirre were sent to respectively to London and New York City to recruit men and to acquire warships.<ref name="ge">{{citation |first=Gerardo |last=Etcheverry |url=http://www.todoababor.es/datos_docum/nav_hisp.htm |title=Principales naves de guerra a vela hispanoamericanas |date=20 February 2007 |access-date= 11 January 2011}}</ref>

A few days after the Battle of Chacabuco, Chilean revolutionaries commissioned their first ship, the old US-smuggler ship ''Eagle'', once captured by the Spaniards and now in the hand of the Chileans.<ref>There are two versions of the transference: some historians asserts that the ship was handed over to the Chileans by a Spanish captain but others say that the ship was captured in Valparaíso</ref> ''Eagle'' was first renamed Águila and then later ''Pueyrredón''. The regular Chilean navy began to grow steadily and soon was able to man the East Indiaman ''Windham'', which arrived at Valparaíso in March 1818, and ''Cumberland'', which arrived at Valparaíso in May 1818. The Chileans had bought both in England and renamed and ''Lautaro'' and ''San Martín''. In July 1818 the ''Columbus'', a US-origin 18-gun brig, reached Valparaíso and was bought and renamed ''Araucano''.

As usual at the time all prizes and seized property was subject to rules defining shares and differences between property and ships captured afloat or in transit, or property on land.<ref name="bv"/>{{rp|page=81}}

{| class="wikitable sortable" |+ List of major ships of the First Chilean Navy Squadron |- ! scope="col" width="100" | Ship name ! scope="col" | Type ! scope="col" | tonnage<ref name="dmarley">{{citation |first=David |last=Marley |title=Wars of the Americas: a chronology of armed conflict in the New World, 1492 to the present|date= 1998 |publisher= ABC-CLIO Ltd |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rdvp3cGJUZoC | page =422|isbn=9780874368376 }}</ref> ! scope="col" class="unsortable"| Other names ! scope="col" width="40" align="center" | Commissioned ! scope="col" | from ! scope="col" class="unsortable"| Price |- |''Águila'' |Brigantine |220 |Eagle |1817.02 |Spanish prize | |- |''Lautaro'' |East Indiaman |850 |Windham |1818.03 |bought in London |$180,000 |- |''San Martín'' |East Indiaman |1300 |Cumberland |1818.05 |bought in London |$140,000 |- |''Chacabuco'' |Corvette<ref name="hmdch"/>{{rp|page=59}} |450<ref name="todoababor">{{cite web|url=http://www.todoababor.es/datos_docum/nav_prov_chile.htm |title=Listado de buques de guerra a vela de Chile |access-date=October 3, 2011 |url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120428181253/http://www.todoababor.es/datos_docum/nav_prov_chile.htm |archive-date=April 28, 2012 }} retrieved 5. January 2011</ref> |Coquimbo, before Avon |1818.06 |bought from Chilean privateer |$36.000 |- |''Araucano''<ref name="bv"/>{{rp|page=20}} |Brigantine |270 |Columbus |1818.06 |bought in USA |$33,000 |- |''Galvarino''<ref name="hmdch">{{citation |first=Carlos |last=Lopez Urrutia |title=Historia de la Marina de Chile |others= Editorial Andrés Bello |date= 1969 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=IyV_C94lNRoC}}</ref> |brig-sloop |398 |HMS Hecate (1809) Lucy<ref name="dmarley"/> |1818.10 |bought in London |$70,000<ref name="hmdch"/>{{rp|page=416}} |- |''O'Higgins'' |Frigate |1220 |Patrikii (Russia) María Isabel (Spain) |1818.10 |Spanish prize | |- |''Moctezuma'' |Sloop |200 | |1819.02 |Spanish prize | |- |''Independencia''<ref name="bv"/>{{rp|page=20}} |Corvette |700 |Curatio |1819.06 |bought in USA |USD300.000<ref name="ge"/> |- |}

Note: $100,000 was equivalent to £20,000<ref>Brian Vale, "Cochrane in the Pacific: fortune and freedom in Spanish America", page 18</ref>

===The rescue from the Juan Fernández Island=== The first task of the ''Águila'' was to bring home 72 patriots being held prisoner in the Juan Fernández Islands. This apparently simple task had an enormous importance: among the rescued were Juan Enrique Rosales, Agustín de Eyzaguirre, Ignacio Carrera, Martín Calvo Encalada, Francisco Antonio Pérez, Francisco de la Lastra, José Santiago Portales, members of the first revolutionary governments; Manuel de Salas, (author of the Freedom of wombs law that banned Slavery in Chile in 1811), Juan Egaña, co-author of the first constitution of Chile, Mariano Egaña (main writer of the Chilean Constitution of 1833), Joaquín Larraín and José Ignacio Cienfuegos, churchmen of the insurgents; Luis de la Cruz, Manuel Blanco Encalada and Pedro Victoriano, eminent military men.<ref name="barrosarana8"/>

Later, the ''Aguila'' joined ''Lautaro'' to break the blockade of Valparaíso by the Spanish vessel ''Esmeralda''.

==Summer 1818-1819== The end of the Napoleonic Wars in Europe encouraged the Fernando VII's restored (in 1814) autocracy to make every effort to retain their American colonies. They planned in October 1817 to send 12,000 men to Buenos Aires and 2,000 to Chile to repress the independent movements in South America. But the Manila Galleons and tax revenues from the Spanish Empire had been interrupted. Spain was all but bankrupt and its government was unstable.

On 21 May 1818 eleven Spanish ships set sail from Cádiz escorted by the Spanish frigate ''Reina María Isabel'' bound for Talcahuano, a Chilean port still in possession of Spanish King. One of the ships remained in Tenerife. According to Antonio García Reyes in ''Memoria sobre la Primera Escuadra Nacional''<ref name="a.garcia.r">Antonio García Reyes in ''Memoria sobre la Primera Escuadra Nacional'', Imprenta del Progreso, Santiago de Chile, Octubre de 1846, page 100.</ref> the transporter were: ''Rosalía'' (''Escorpión''), ''Trinidad'', ''Especulación'', ''Dolores'', ''Javiera'' (''Jerezana''), ''Magdalena'', ''Carlota'', ''San Fernando'', ''Mocha'' (''Atocha'') and ''Elena'' (in brackets the names given by Diego Barros Arana in his ''Historia General de Chile''). This expedition was called '''"Expedición de la Mar del Sur"''' in Spain.

The eleven transport carried food supplies, ammunition, guns and, more importantly, two infantry battalions of the Cantabria Regiment, three cavalry squadrons, two artillery and combat engineer companies, for a total of 2,080 men under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Fausto del Hoyo,<ref name="bv">Brian Vale, ''Cochrane in the Pacific'', I.B. Tauris & Co ltd, 2008, {{ISBN|978-1-84511-446-6}}</ref>{{rp|page=13}} actually a member of the constitutionalist party in Spain.<ref name="barrosarana8">Diego Barros Arana, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Let-H7lEJecC ''Historia general de Chile'']</ref>{{rp|23}} The naval force was under command of Captain Manuel del Castillo, but suffering from a paralytic stroke, he had to disembark in Tenerife and the command was transferred to Lieutenant [http://www.xtec.es/~jrovira6/bio/capaz.htm Dionisio Capaz].

During the voyage the crew of one transport was severely weakened by sickness and at 5°N latitude the soldiers disembarked in Trinidad where they mutinied, executed their officers, deserted the fleet and sailed to Buenos Aires where they surrendered to the revolutionary authorities on 16 August 1818 and handed over orders, signals and rendezvous points of the expedition. The Argentine Government sent a hot-foot courier over the Andes with the information to warn the Government in Santiago de Chile.

===The capture of the Spanish frigate ''María Isabel''=== thumb|left|Capture of the ''Reina María Isabel'' {| class="wikitable" style="float: right; margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; font-size: 95%;" |+ Expedition against ''Reina María Isabel''<ref name="a.garcia.r"/> |- ! Ship name !! tons !! guns !! men !! Captain |- |''San Martin'' |1300 | 60 |492 |Guillermo Wilkinson |- |''Lautaro'' |850 |46 |253 |Charles Wooster |- |''Chacabuco'' |450 |20 |134 |Francisco Diaz |- |''Araucano'' |270 |16 |110 |Raymond Morris |- |total |2870 |142 |1109 | |- |colspan="5"|Commander-in-Chief: Manuel Blanco Encalada |- |} On 19 October 1818, under the rebellion of Spanish expeditionary forces, who goes to Buenos Aires and change the side, the first commander of the Chilean Squadron, Manuel Blanco Encalada, was ordered to set sail with ''San Martín'', ''Lautaro'', ''Chacabuco'' and ''Araucano'' in order to intercept the rest of Spanish convoy. Later ''Galvarino'' and ''Intrépido'' (an Argentine ship) joined the flotilla off Talcahuano. On 28 October they found the ''Reina María Isabel'' at anchor in Talcahuano. The crew of the ''Reina María Isabel'' ran their vessel aground to render her useless to the Chileans, but they were able to take the frigate in a brisk action and to repair the damage. With the Spanish prize the squadron sailed to Santa María Island, approximately 30 km south of Talcahuano, where they stayed for a week until, one by one, the Spanish transports<ref name="a.garcia.r"/> ''Magdalena'', ''Dolores'', ''Carlota'', ''Rosalia'' and ''Elena'' sailed innocently into their arms. Only four Spanish transports could disembark Captain Fausto del Hoyo and 500 men in Talcahuano and continue to Callao.

The ''Reina Maria Isabel'' was renamed ''O'Higgins'' and added to the Chilean Squadron. With the loss of the ''Reina Maria Isabel'', control of the sea passed to the insurgents, making the invasion of Peru itself an imminent danger.{{citation needed|date=July 2018}}

===Thomas Cochrane and the heterogeneity of the crew=== [[File:Callao-peru-1862.jpg|thumb|right|The fortress of Callao protected the Spanish ships.]] Under command of Lord Cochrane, the majority of the officers and sailors in the new Chilean Navy were from Britain.<ref group=note>"The navy list in 1818 -the year that Cochrane arrived in Chile- was dominated by British names, and in 1820 the majority of the fifty officers, and 1,600 sailors in the new Chilean Navy were from Britain." ''A History of the British Presence in Chile''. William Edmunson. 2009, Palgrave Macmillan page 74</ref>

In the middle of 1818, Bernardo O'Higgins, through his agent in London, had recruited Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald, a daring and successful captain of the Napoleonic Wars with well-known radical views to take command of the recently created Chilean Navy. Cochrane arrived in Valparaiso in December 1818, became a Chilean citizen of unrecognized state, was appointed vice admiral, and took command with pay and allowances of £1200<ref name="bv"/>{{rp|page=38}} a year.

O'Higgins founded the first Squadron of Chile on November 20, 1817. Indeed, one of the characteristics of the first squad was the heterogeneity of its crew, consisting mainly of two large groups: those who spoke English and those who spoke Spanish.<ref>(Cubitt, 1976: 193-195)</ref> It was stipulated that each ship should be governed by the language of its commander.<ref>(García Reyes, 1846. 10)</ref>

As of November 1818, being commanded by Lord Thomas Cochrane, which meant that approximately 500 British, including sailors and officers, were integrated with him. Cochrane distrusted the Chilean officiality, so that upon his arrival he removed all the Chilean commanders and replaced them by British officers or Americans. In this way, in practice, the first Chilean squadron officially governed by the English language, to the point that an officer of the British Royal Navy said that "even the uniform is very similar to ours."<ref>Baeza 2017. page 80</ref>

Cochrane was the first vice admiral of Chile. He reorganized the Chilean navy, introducing British naval customs and English language officially. Once Cochrane took command of the squadron, there emerged a new difficulty: what regulation or standard to use on ships. The British were governed by the British Regulations and the Chileans by the Spain Ordinances. The majority of commanders were of British origin so, in practice, British regulations on the ship under a British captain. The organization of the squadron was complete in January 1819, and the government was able to recruit 1,400 of the 1,610 officers and men it needed. Two-thirds of the seamen and almost all the officers were British or North-Americans.<ref>Brian Vale, ''Cochrane in the Pacific'', I.B. Tauris & Co ltd, 2008, {{ISBN|978-1-84511-446-6}}, The author gives in pages 25 and 43 different figures of the enrolled seamen: 1,200 and 1,400</ref>

===First blockade of Callao=== On 14 January 1819 the squadron ''O'Higgins'', ''Lautaro'', ''Chacabuco'', and ''San Martín'' set sails for the first blockade of Callao. The orders were specific and detailed: to blockade the port of Callao, to cut off the maritime forces of the enemy, and 17 other missions. A second Flotilla ''Galvarino'' (Cap. Spry), ''Aguila'' (Cap.Prunier) and the ''Araucano'' (Cap.Ramsay) followed in March under the command of Manuel Blanco Encalada. The Real Felipe Fortress was a striking fort built to protect the city against pirate attacks. Only the ''Baluarte del Rey'' had 24 iron and 8 bronze guns.

The expedition freed 29 Chilean soldiers imprisoned in the San Lorenzo Island, seized ships (best prizes were ''Moctezuma'' and ''Victoria''), property, money, gold and silver, but the massive batteries and Spanish passive system of defence (see map: '''a''' Baluarte de la Reina, '''b''' Baluarte del Rey, '''c''' Baluarte del Príncipe, '''d''' Baluarte de San José, '''e''' Baluarte de San Felipe) and the refusal of their warships to come out of Callao and fight frustrated further success. On 1 June the squadron arrived at Valparaíso from the first expedition to Callao. {| class="wikitable" |+ First Blockade of Callao<ref name="a.garcia.r"/> |- ! Ship name !! Officers !! Abroad crew !! Chilean crew !! Ship boys !! Artill- erists !! Marine Infantry !! Total crew !! Guns !! Captain |- |''O'Higgins'' |7 |47 |94 |45 |20 |70 |283 |48 |Robert Forters |- |''San Martín'' |8 |102 |169 |35 |73 |69 |456 |52 |Guillermo Wilkinson |- |''Lautaro'' |9 |109 |80 |27 |25 |38 |282 |48 |Martin Guise |- |''Chacabuco'' |7 |6 |78 | | |18 |109 |20 |Thomas Carter |- |Total |31 |264 |421 |107 |118 |195 |1130 |168 | |- |colspan="10"|Commander-in-Chief: Lord Thomas Cochrane |- |} {{clear}}

==Summer 1819-1820== On 11 May 1819 the King of Spain had dispatched a new expedition to the West Coast of America under the command of Rosendo Porlier, who was to replace the naval chief of Callao Antonio Vacaro. Two poorly provisioned ships of the line ''San Telmo'' (74 guns) and ''Alejandro I'' (74 guns, formerly a Russian ship), the frigate ''Prueba'' (34 guns) and the transport ''Mariana'' sailed from Cádiz bound to Callao.

===Second blockade of Callao=== On 12 December 1819, the squadron set sails to renew the attack on the Viceroyalty of Perú. The orders were: * to secure the command of the Pacific * to find and destroy the second Spanish convoy * to attack Callao with Congreve rockets * any hostility against Peruvian persons or properties was forbidden The cost of the expedition for the Chilean state was no less than £80,000.<ref name="bv"/>{{rp|page=60}}

As Cochrane found that the forts of Callao had been reinforced and the element of surprise had been lost, he was convinced that further attacks would be doomed to failure.

A successful campaign was frustrated, in part due to the death of Colonel Charles and the failure of the Congreve rockets.

But the Spanish reinforcements sent from Cádiz had shrunk to a fraction of its original size. The ''Alejandro I'' had to turn back to Spain because of its leaky condition and the ''San Telmo'' was lost in a severe storm rounding Cape Horn with 644 men. Only the transport ''Mariana'' (on 9 October) and the frigate ''Prueba'' (on 2 October) reached Callao but, the frigate fled to Guayaquil under pursuit by the Chileans.

===Capture of Valdivia=== {{main|Capture of Valdivia}} [[Image:Tomadevaldivia.JPG|thumb|200px|A painting of the fall of Valdivia in the Chilean naval and maritime museum]]

After failing to capture the Spanish fortress of Real Felipe in Callao, in defiance of his orders and without even telling the Chilean authorities what he intended to do, Thomas Cochrane decided to assault the city of Valdivia, the most fortified place in southern Chile at the time.<ref>Brian Vale, ''Cochrane in the Pacific'', I.B. Tauris & Co ltd, 2008, {{ISBN|978-1-84511-446-6}}, p 66-8</ref> Valdivia was a threat to Chilean independence as it was a stronghold and supply base for Spanish troops and was the first landing site for ships coming from Spain after the voyage round Cape Horn. Valdivia provided a safe landing site for sending reinforcements to the loyalist guerrilla fighting the Guerra a muerte in the area of La Frontera.

Valdivia was isolated from the rest of Chile by native Mapuche territory, and the only entrance to Valdivia was via the mouth of Valdivia River; Corral Bay. The bay was fortified with several forts built to prevent pirate raids or any attack from a foreign nation.

The forts of Valdivia were captured on 3 and 4 February 1820, and their fall effectively ended the last vestiges of Spanish power in mainland Chile and put large amounts of military materiel in the Chilean hands: 50 tons gunpowder, 10,000 cannon shot, 170,000 musket balls, small arms, 128 pieces of artillery, and the ''Dolores''. The Chilean ''Intrépido'' was lost.

==Summer 1820-1821==

===Freedom Expedition of Perú=== {{main|Freedom Expedition of Perú}} The emancipation of Perú was to have been a common enterprise by Chile and Argentina.<ref>See English translation of the Treaty in Edmund Burke, [https://books.google.com/books?id=CXUEAAAAQAAJ&q=Buenos+Ayres ''The Annual register, or, A view of the history, politics, and literature for the Year 1819''], page 138</ref> Argentina, then a loose alliance of provinces, distracted by internal strife and another threat of invasion from Spain was unable to contribute for the expedition and ordered José de San Martín back to Argentina. San Martín choose to disobey (see Acta de Rancagua) and O'Higgins decided that Chile would assume the costs of the Freedom Expedition of Perú.<ref name="colliersater">Simon Collier, William F. Sater, ''A history of Chile, 1808–1994'', Cambridge University Press, 1999, {{ISBN|0-521-56075-6}}</ref>{{rp|page=39}}

On 20 August 1820 the expedition sailed from Valparaíso for Paracas, near Pisco in Perú. The escort was provided by the squadron and comprised the flagship ''O'Higgins'' (under Captain Thomas Sackville Crosbie), frigate ''San Martín'' (Captain William Wilkinson), frigate ''Lautaro'' (Captain Martin Guise), the corvette ''Independencia'' (Captain Robert Forster), the brigs ''Galvarino'' (Captain John Tooker Spry), ''Araucano'' (Captain Thomas Carter), and ''Pueyrredón'' (Lieutenant William Prunier) and the schooner ''Moctezuma'' (Lieutenant George Young).<ref name="bv"/>{{rp|page=98}}

Every expeditionary ship got a painted number so that it could be identified at a distance. There are discrepancies between authors about the names and number and some names of the transports.<ref>We use here the list of Gerardo Etcheverry [http://www.todoababor.es/datos_docum/nav_prov_chile.htm Principales naves de guerra a vela hispanoamericanas.] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120428181253/http://www.todoababor.es/datos_docum/nav_prov_chile.htm |date=April 28, 2012 }}, retrieved on 21. January 2011. The ''Hercules'', ''Veloz'' and ''Zaragoza'' are not in the list.</ref> {| class="wikitable sortable" |+ List of transporters of the Expedition to Perú |- ! scope="col" | Ship name ! scope="col" | Ship number ! scope="col" | tons ! scope="col" class="unsortable"| Other names ! scope="col" | troops ! scope="col" class="unsortable"| personnel or cargo |- |''Potrillo''<ref group="Notes" name="hired">Property of Thomas Cochrane, hired out to Chile, Brian Vale, ''Cochrane in the Pacific'', page 144</ref> |20 |180 | |0 |1400 boxes of munitions for the infantry and artillery, 190 boxes of munitions for flamethrowers, and 8 barrels powder |- |''Consecuencia'' |11 |550 |''Argentina'' |561 | |- |''Gaditana'' |10 |250 | |236 |6 guns |- |''Emprendedora'' |12 |325 |''Empresa'' |319 |1280 boxes musket balls, 1500 boxes supplies of tools and repair shop |- |''Golondrina'' |19 |120 | |0 |100 boxes munitions, 190 boxes clothes, 460 sack kekse, 670 bunches jerked beef |- |''Peruana'' |18 |250 | |53 |hospital, physicians and 200 boxes |- |''Jerezana'' |15 |350 | |461 | |- |''Minerva'' |8 |325 | |630 | |- |''Águila''<ref group="Notes" name="hired"/> |14 |800 |not Brigantine ''Pueyrredón'' |752 |7 guns |- |''Dolores''<ref group="Notes" name="hired"/> |9 |400 | |395 | |- |''Mackenna'' |? |500 | |0 |960 boxes with weapons, armor and leather goods for infantry and cavalry. 180 quintal iron pieces |- |''Perla'' |16 |350 | |140 |6 guns |- |''Santa Rosa'' |13 |240 |''Santa Rosa de Chacabuco'' or ''Chacabuco'' |372 |6 guns |- |''Nancy'' |21 |200 | |0 |80 horses and fodder |- |} Notes <references group="Notes"/>

[[File:Capture of the Esmeralda (1820).jpg|thumb|left|Capture of the ''Esmeralda'' in the bay of Callao, L, Colet, Club Naval, Valparaíso.]] thumb|right|upright|Cochrane's pursuit of the ''Prueba'' and ''Venganza''. On 8 September 1820 the liberating army disembarked 100 miles southeast of Lima: 4118 soldiers, 4000 of them were Chileans.<ref name="hmdch"/>{{rp|page=144}} On the night of 5 November Cochrane and 240 volunteers wearing white with blue armbands captured the Spanish frigate ''Esmeralda (1791)'' within the port of Callao. She was renamed ''Valdivia'' and commissioned to the Chilean Navy.

Perú was not seen as an enemy territory but was occupied by Spanish military forces. The commander of the expeditionary troops José de San Martín understand that the task was to neutralise the Spanish army so that the population could liberate themselves and he followed a slow and relentless course.

==1821-1822==

===Cochrane sails to California=== In July 1821 the liberation troops entered Lima, declared Perú's independence, and San Martín was acclaimed as ''Protector'' of the new state, and Cochrane considered him (San Martín) relieved as Commander of the Expedition. However, undefeated Spanish troops still occupied the highlands. Cochrane clashed with the cautious San Martín because of the unrealistic hope for a national rising in support of Peruvian independence and San Martín's commanders were disenchanted about his inaction.

Although San Martín set about raising the bonuses he had promised the fleet after the fall of Lima, he refused to pay its routine expenses or prize money for the ''Esmeralda'' which he regarded as the responsibility of the Chilean government. Cochrane was furious and, when the Peruvian Treasury and the contents of the mint were loaded onto the schooner ''Sacramento'' to avoid an advance by the Spanish army from the interior, Cochrane seized the ship on 14 September and took the money. The amount seized was, according to Peruvian sources, £80,000 or $400,000.<ref>Brian Vale, ''Cochrane in the Pacific'', I.B. Tauris & Co ltd, 2008, {{ISBN|978-1-84511-446-6}}, pp 141-150</ref>

Now in violent conflict with San Martin, on 6 October 1821 Cochrane sailed with the ''Araucano'', ''O'Higgins'', ''Valdivia'', ''Independencia'' and the schooner ''Mercedes'' in order to scour the Pacific for the last remnants of the Spanish Navy, the frigates ''Venganza'' and ''Prueba''. After a month in Guayaquil to refit and to reprovision the ships, the squadron searched the West Coast of the Americas as far north as Loreto, Baja California Sur, where the ''Araucano'' was lost to mutineers.

After a pursuit of five months, he blockaded the Spanish ships in the port of Guayaquil. They surrendered to the authorities of the port.

The ''O'Higgins'' and ''Valdivia'' anchored in Valparaiso on 2 June 1822.

Cochrane left the service of the Chilean Navy on 29 November 1822.

==Capture of Chiloé in 1825== In 1825 a squadron commanded by Manuel Blanco Encalada landed 2,575<ref name="Arana2000"/> troops under the command of Ramón Freire on Chiloé and then blockaded the island. The Royalists on the island, the last bastion of Spain in South America, surrendered on 12 January 1826. {| class="wikitable" |+ Ships to Chiloe, 1825<ref name="Arana2000">{{cite book|author=Diego Barros Arana|title=Historia general de Chile: Parte novena : Organización de la república 1820 a 1833 (continuacíon)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4hKdAtgYfhAC|access-date=9 August 2013|year=2000|publisher=Editorial Universitaria|isbn=978-956-11-1786-0}}</ref> |- !Ships name !Captain |- |''O{{'}}Higgins'' (Ex-''Maria Isabel'') |Blanco Encalada |- |''Independencia'' |M.Cobett |- |''Aquiles'' |Wooster |- |''Galvarino'' |Wiater |- |''Chacabuco'' |Carlos Garcia del Postigo |- |''Lautaro'' (as Transporter) |Guillermo Bell |- |''Resolucion'' |Manuel Garcia |- |''Ceres'' | |- |''Infatigable'' | |- |''Swallow'' (''Golondrina'' English ship) | Kierulf |}

==Decommissioning of the Squadron== In April 1826 O'Higgins's successor, Ramón Freire, reduced the active navy to a single brig. He decommissioned the rest of the navy and sold ''O'Higgins'' and ''Chacabuco'' to Argentina.

==Aftermath== Chile's financial effort, impoverished the country. Even O'Higgins and his ministers had not been paid for months.<ref name="bv"/>{{rp|page=168}} As a partial result of the Latin wars of independence, United States President James Monroe, first declared the Monroe Doctrine on 2 December 1823.

==See also==

* Chilean Navy * List of decommissioned ships of the Chilean Navy * Manuel Hipólito Orella * {{Commons category-inline|Ships of the First Chilean Navy Squadron}}

==Notes== {{reflist|group=note}}

==References== {{reflist}}

==Literature== * Antonio García Reyes, (1817–1855), [http://www.memoriachilena.cl/temas/documento_detalle.asp?id=MC0034409 Memoria sobre la primera Escuadra Nacional] read in the Universidad de Chile on 11 October 1846 (In Spanish Language) * [https://web.archive.org/web/20140328231142/http://histarmar.com.ar/InfHistorica-7/BCN-PoderRealista/PoderNavalRealistaPacSur.htm El poder naval realista en el Pacífico Sur durante la guerra de independencia], by Julio M. Luqui Lagleyze, published in Bioletin del Centro Naval, N° 794 Vol 117, 1999

Category:First Chilean Navy Squadron Category:Military history of Chile Category:Military history of the Pacific Ocean