Chilean Brigantine Águila (1796)

''Águila'' was the first naval vessel of the Chilean Navy. She was later renamed ''Pueyrredón''.

US time

She was the old US-smuggler ''Eagle'', a 220-ton brig with sixteen guns,David Marley, ''Wars of the Americas: a chronology of armed conflict in the New World, 1492 to the present'', ABC-CLIO, 1998
url
/ref> launched in England in 1796.Web site of the Chilean Nav

, retrieved 12. January 2011

Spanish career

Coming from Buenos Aires without documents or license with a contraband of lingerie the ship was captured by the Spaniards in Coquimbo but this capture was not informed to the Spanish Navy in Callao. The ship with the new crew sailed to then Spanish Valparaíso and refitted as a 50-gun ship and was put under the command of Spanish Captain José Anacleto Goñi and manned with 50 Chileans (in Spanish ''originarios'').Gaspar Pérez Turrado, ''Las Marinas realista y patriota en la independencia de Chile y Perú'', Ministerio de Defensa, Madrid, España, 1996, The next time the ship was seen in Paita in November 1816 and few days later sailed, allegedly, to the port of destination Galápagos. The Spanish commandant of Callao, Antonio Vacaro, was informed from Paita about this new ship in his naval division, but due to the circumstances he mistrusted Captain Goñi and his crew. Moreover, he learned that the real destination of the ship was Panama City. Consequently, he ordered the commandants of the ports of Guayaquil and Paita to replace Goñi with a trustworthy captain, to man the ship with at least 2/3 Spaniards (in Spanish ''europeos'') and to send the ship immediately to Callao on its return from Panama.

The Spanish author Gaspar Pérez Turrado supposes that Goñi was a supporter of the Chilean Independence and that as he learned about the triumph of the Chileans he sailed to Valparaíso in order to hand the ship over to the revolutionaries.

Chilean career

Meanwhile, after the defeat in the Battle of Chacabuco (12 February 1817) the Spaniards lost the control of Valparaíso albeit they were able to blockade the port temporarily with the ships ''Esmeralda'' and ''Pezuela''.

On 26 February 1817Website of the Chilean Navy
, retrieved 7. January 2011 the ship entered Valparaíso and the Chilean Authority assumed command over the ship. Some sources assert that the ship was captured by the Chileans.historical text archive
retrieved 7. January 2011 Anyway, she came under the command of Raymond Morris an Irish mercenary and former lieutenant in the British Royal Navy.Carlos Lopez Urrutia, ''Historia de la Marina de Chile'', Ed. Andrés Bello
url
/ref>

The ship sailed on 17 March 1817 to rescue a group of 78 Chilean patriots being held prisoners in the Juan Fernández Islands and came back to Valparaíso fourteen days later.Biography of Blanco Encalada
retrieved on 7 January 2011 The group included Manuel Blanco Encalada, who subsequently led the Navy and, in later years, became the first President of Chile and Francisco de la Lastra later Intendant of Santiago and Privy Councillor. As such, he became temporary Supreme Director.

On 14 July 1818 she had been renamed ''Pueyrredón'' to honour the Argentine Juan Martín de Pueyrredón, Supreme Director of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata who strongly supported the independence of Chile.

She captured on 8 October 1818 the Spanish corvette ''Perla'' (Ex-''US-Pearl'').

On 9 October 1818, ''Pueyrredón'' sailed from Valparaíso with others ships to deter a Spanish expedition from Cadiz made up of eleven transports and the-then Spanish frigate ''María Isabel''. It carried 2000 soldiers as well as weapons, ammunition, and supplies to reinforce the Viceroyalty of Perú. The Chilean squadron under commander Blanco Encalada captured ''María Isabel'' on 28 October in Talcahuano. On 11 November 1818 they captured ''Dolores'', ''Magdalena'', ''Elena'', ''Jerezana'' and ''Carlota'' at Santa Maria Island.

On 16 January 1819, ''Pueyrredón''sailed from Valparaíso with the First Chilean Navy Squadron, under the command of Admiral Lord Thomas Alexander Cochrane to the first blockade of Callao, later ''Pueyrredón'', ''Galvarino'' and ''Araucano'' under the command of Blanco Encalada. In June were all the Chilean ships back in Valparaíso.

On 12 September 1819, ''Pueyrredón'' sailed Cochrane and Blanco Encalada again to the second blockade of Callao with a squadron composed of ''O'Higgins'', ''San Martín'', ''Lautaro'', ''Independencia'', ''Galvarino'', and ''Araucano''.

''Pueyrredón'' was used to shell Callao with the Congreve rocket and later ordered to Guayaquil to search for the Spanish ''Prueba''. In December 1819 were most of the Chilean ships back in Valparaíso, as the ''Pueyrredón'' also.

On 21 August 1820 the Freedom Expedition Force of Peru sailed with ''Pueyrredón'' under the ships of the squadron.

On 28 September 1821, despite Cochrane's efforts to retrieve the ship, she sank in Ancón.

See also

* List of decommissioned ships of the Chilean Navy

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aguila
1796 ships
First Chilean Navy Squadron