Chilean frigate O'Higgins (1816)
 Model of the frigate O'Higgins from the Museo Naval y Marítimo of the Chilean Navy | |
| Career (Russia) |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | Patrikii |
| Builder: | Shipyard in Arkhangelsk |
| Launched: | 3 July 1816 |
| Fate: | Sold to Spain |
| Career (Spain) | .svg.png){kind=small} |
| Name: | María Isabel |
| Acquired: | 17 August 1817 |
| Captured: | 20 October 1818 |
| Fate: | Captured by Chile in Talcahuano |
| Career (Chile) |  |
| Name: | O'Higgins |
| Namesake: | Bernardo O'Higgins |
| Commissioned: | October 1818 |
| Renamed: | María Isabel (1823) |
| Status: | Sold to Argentina |
| Career (Argentina) |  |
| Name: | Buenos Aires |
| Namesake: | Buenos Aires |
| Commissioned: | 1826 |
| Fate: | Sunk off Cape Horn |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Russian Speshniy class frigate |
| Displacement: | 1,220 t (1,201 long tons) |
| Length: | 48.6 m (159 ft 5 in) |
| Beam: | 12.7 m (41 ft 8 in) |
| Draft: | 3.9 m (12 ft 10 in) |
| Propulsion: | Sail |
| Crew: | 288-430 men |
| Armament: | 40-50 guns |
O'Higgins was a Chilean frigate famous for her actions under Captain Lord Cochrane.
Russian career
The ship was launched in Russia in 1816, as the Speshni-class frigate Patrikii ("Патрикий"). To save time and money, the Russians built her of pine and larch. In 1817 the Russians sold her to Spain, which renamed her María Isabel.
Spanish career
In 1818 she sailed under Captain Dionisio Capas with a convoy to the coast of Peru. There the First Chilean Navy Squadron, under the command of Manuel Blanco Encalada, captured her at Talcahuano.
Chilean career
The Chileans renamed the María Isabel the O'Higgins after Bernardo O'Higgins, the South American Independence leader and first Chilean head of state.
She was Thomas Cochrane's flagship when he commanded the Chilean navy during the Freedom Expedition of Perú. He also sailed her to Acapulco.
In 1823, after a conservative coup on 28 January deposed O'Higgins, the new government under Ramón Freire) renamed the frigate María Isabel again.[1]
Argentine career
She was sold to Argentina on 1 April 1826 and refitted in Valparaíso and renamed Buenos Aires, but she never reached Buenos Aires. She sank rounding Cape Horn.[2]
References
- ↑ Website of the Chilean Navy O´Higgins, fragata (1º), retrieved 28. January 2011
- ↑ Gerardo Etcheverry, Principales naves de guerra a vela hispanoamericanas, retrieved 28 January 2011