HMS Hecate (1809)

Career (UK)
Name: HMS Hecate
Namesake: Hecate
Builder: John King, Upnor
Launched: 1809
Commissioned: 1809
Decommissioned: 1817
Honors and
awards:
Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Java"[1]
Fate: Sold, October 1817
Career (Chile)
Name: Galvarino
Namesake: Galvarino
Acquired: 1818
Fate: Broken up, 1828
General characteristics
Class and type: Cruizer-class brig-sloop
Tons burthen: 38470⁄94 (bm)
Length: 100 ft 6 in (30.63 m) o/a; 770 ft 4 in (234.80 m) (keel)
Beam: 30 ft 6 in (9.30 m)
Depth of hold: 12 ft 9 in (3.89 m)
Sail plan: Brig
Complement: 121
Armament: 16 × 32-pounder carronades + 2 × 6-pounder bow guns

HMS Hecate was a Royal Navy 18-gun Cruizer-class brig-sloop, built by John King at Upnor and launched in 1809.[2] After serving in the British Navy, essentially entirely in the East Indies, she served in the Chilean Navy as Galvarino from 1818 until she was broken up in 1828.

Contents

Royal Navy service

Hecate was commissioned in 1809 under Commander William Buchanan. Commander Edward Wallis Hoare replaced him in October and sailed for the East Indies on 31 October.[2]

In 1810, Lieutenant George Rennie became acting commander and Hecate was detailed for service with the squadron under Admiral Albemarle Bertie engaged in the Invasion of Île de France. In 1814 she would share in the prize money resulting from the capture of the island.[3]

In 1811 she was under Commander Thomas Graham until July, when Commander Henry John Peachey assumed command.[2] From 3 August she was part of the fleet involved in the invasion of Java, which ended with the surrender of Dutch and French forces on 16 September.[4] For this service all of her crew who had had survived to 1847 and chose to were entitled to claim the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Java". In 1815 Hecate also shared in the prize money arising out of the invasion.

Peachey was promoted to post-captain on 7 August 1812 and removed to Malacca. Commander William Case followed Peachey. His successor, from 4 February 1814, was Commander John Allen. On 20 November 1815 command passed to John Reynolds.[2]

Hecate arrived in Portsmouth on 17 August 1816, from Trincomalee, which she had left on 20 March. She had sailed via the Cape of Good Hope and Saint Helena. On 22 May 1817 the Admiralty offered Hecate, then lying at Portsmouth, for sale.[5]

Chilean Navy service

On 30 October 1817 the Admiralty sold Hecate to Mr. Parkin for ₤860.[2] In Buenos Aires she was known also under the name Lucy.[6] She was resold to the Chilean Revolutionary government, arriving in Chile on 9 November 1818 under the command of Captain Guise.[7] She served the new Chilean Navy as Galvarino, first under Captain Spry (until Admiral Thomas Cochrane dismissed him) and then under Captain Winter. On 2 October 1819 she was at the second attack on Callao where a lieutenant onboard was killed by Spanish fire. In 1821, while under the command of Captain I. Esmond, her crew mutinied and refused to go to sea until they had received their back pay and prize money.[8]

She participated in the liberating expedition to Perú, but after the final confrontation between San Martín and Cochrane and the subsequent loss of many officers and seamen to the new Peruvian Navy, the Lautaro and Galvarino were sent back to Valparaíso to ease the demand for seamen.[9]

Fate

She was broken up 1828.

Notes

  1. ^ London Gazette: no. 20939. p. 244. 26 January 1849.
  2. ^ a b c d e Winfield (2008), pp.300-1.
  3. ^ London Gazette: no. 16938. p. 1923. 24 September 1814.
  4. ^ London Gazette: no. 17064. p. 1956. 23 September 1815.
  5. ^ London Gazette: no. 17253. p. 1211. 24 May 1817.
  6. ^ Lopez Urrutia (1969),page 52.
  7. ^ Vale (2008), p.53.
  8. ^ Cochrane (1859), p.153.
  9. ^ Vale (2008), p.151.

References

External links