''Esmeralda'' was a wooden-hulled

steam corvette Steam frigates (including screw frigates) and the smaller steam corvettes, steam sloops, steam gunboats and steam schooners, were steam-powered warships that were not meant to stand in the line of battle. There were some exceptions like for exam ...

of the

Chilean Navy The Chilean Navy ( es, Armada de Chile) is the naval warfare service branch of the Chilean Armed Forces. It is under the Ministry of National Defense. Its headquarters are at Edificio Armada de Chile, Valparaiso. History Origins and the Wars ...

, launched in 1855, and sunk by the on 21 May 1879 at the

Battle of Iquique The Battle of Iquique was a naval engagement that occurred between a Chilean corvette under the command of Arturo Prat Chacón and a Peruvian ironclad under Miguel Grau Seminario on 21 May 1879, during the naval stage of the War of the Pacifi ...

during the

War of the Pacific The War of the Pacific ( es, link=no, Guerra del Pacífico), also known as the Saltpeter War ( es, link=no, Guerra del salitre) and by multiple other names, was a war between Chile and a Bolivian–Peruvian alliance from 1879 to 1884. Fought ...

Ship history

Construction

Construction of the ship was authorized on 30 June 1852 by President

Manuel Montt Manuel Francisco Antonio Julián Montt Torres (; September 4, 1809 – September 21, 1880) was a Chilean statesman and scholar. He was twice elected President of Chile between 1851 and 1861. Biography Montt was born in Petorca, Valparaíso R ...

and the Minister of War and Navy

José Francisco Gana General José Francisco Gana López (November 13, 1791 – January 20, 1864) was a Chilean military and political figure, who took part in the Peruvian War of Independence. José Francisco Gana was of Basque descent. Early life Gana was born in S ...

. Chilean naval officer Roberto Simpson Winthrop and shipbuilder William Pitcher of

Northfleet Northfleet is a town in the borough of Gravesham in Kent, England. It is located immediately west of Gravesend, and on the border with the Borough of Dartford. Northfleet has its own railway station on the North Kent Line, just east of Ebbsfl ...

, England, signed a contract for her construction, at a total cost of £23,000, on 23 October 1854. The ship was laid down in December 1854, and launched on 26 June 1855 under the name ''Esmeralda'', after the frigate captured by Thomas Cochrane during the Chilean War of Independence. Her hull was of wood, and coppered. She was in length overall (excluding the

bowsprit The bowsprit of a sailing vessel is a spar extending forward from the vessel's prow. The bowsprit is typically held down by a bobstay that counteracts the forces from the forestays. The word ''bowsprit'' is thought to originate from the Middle L ...

), with a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...

of and a depth of . Four coal-fired boilers powered two horizontal condensing

steam engines A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be trans ...

rated at , which gave the ship a speed of up to under power. The single propeller could be decoupled and raised when under sail. The ship's complement was 200.

Service history

''Esmeralda'' was commissioned into the

on 18 September 1855, and eventually sailed from

Falmouth, Cornwall Falmouth ( ; kw, Aberfala) is a town, civil parish and port on the River Fal on the south coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It has a total resident population of 21,797 (2011 census). Etymology The name Falmouth is of English or ...

, under Simpson's command and arrived at

Valparaíso Valparaíso (; ) is a major city, seaport, naval base, and educational centre in the commune of Valparaíso, Chile. "Greater Valparaíso" is the second largest metropolitan area in the country. Valparaíso is located about northwest of Santiago ...

on 7 November 1856. On 26 November 1865, during the

Chincha Islands War The Chincha Islands War, also known as Spanish–South American War ( es, Guerra hispano-sudamericana), was a series of coastal and naval battles between Spain and its former colonies of Peru, Chile, Ecuador, and Bolivia from 1865 to 1879. The ...

, while under the command of

Juan Williams Rebolledo Juan Williams Rebolledo (1825 in Curacaví, Melipilla Province – 24 June 1910 in Santiago), was a Chilean rear admiral who was the organizer and commander-in-chief of the Chilean navy in 1879 at the beginning of the War of the Pacific. ...

, she captured the at the

Battle of Papudo The Naval Battle of Papudo was a naval engagement fought between Spanish and Chilean forces on November 26, 1865, during the Chincha Islands War. It was fought 55 miles north of Valparaiso, Chile, near the coastal town of Papudo. Background U ...

. Her original armament of twenty 32-pounder guns was replaced in 1867–68 with twelve Armstrong rifled 40-pounders and four Whitworth

smoothbore A smoothbore weapon is one that has a barrel without rifling. Smoothbores range from handheld firearms to powerful tank guns and large artillery mortars. History Early firearms had smoothly bored barrels that fired projectiles without signi ...

40-pounders. On 24 May 1875, ''Esmeralda'' was driven ashore and severely damaged in a gale at Valparaíso. In 1877 she sailed to

Easter Island Easter Island ( rap, Rapa Nui; es, Isla de Pascua) is an island and special territory of Chile in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian Triangle in Oceania. The island is most famous for its nearl ...

and

Tahiti Tahiti (; Tahitian ; ; previously also known as Otaheite) is the largest island of the Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia. It is located in the central part of the Pacific Ocean and the nearest major landmass is Austr ...

on a training voyage. Combate Naval Iquique-Thomas Somerscales

On 21 May 1879, during the

, ''Esmeralda'' engaged the in the

. Despite the material superiority of the Peruvian ship, the battle lasted for over three hours. The captain of ''Esmeralda'',

Arturo Prat Agustín Arturo Prat Chacón (; April 3, 1848 – May 21, 1879) was a Chilean lawyer and navy officer. He was killed in the Battle of Iquique, during the War of the Pacific. During his career, Prat had taken part in several naval engagements, ...

, was killed while leading an attempt to board the enemy vessel, and ''Huáscar'' eventually sank ''Esmeralda'' after repeated ramming.

Museum Corbeta Esmeralda

Iquique Iquique () is a port city and commune in northern Chile, capital of both the Iquique Province and Tarapacá Region. It lies on the Pacific coast, west of the Pampa del Tamarugal, which is part of the Atacama Desert. It has a population of 191,468 ...

, a replica of ''Esmeralda'' as she was on 20 May 1879 was opened as a

museum ship A museum ship, also called a memorial ship, is a ship that has been preserved and converted into a museum open to the public for educational or memorial purposes. Some are also used for training and recruitment purposes, mostly for the small numb ...

on 20 May 2011 by President

Sebastián Piñera Miguel Juan Sebastián Piñera Echenique OMCh (; born 1 December 1949) is a Chilean billionaire businessman and politician who served as president of Chile from 2010 to 2014 and again from 2018 to 2022. The son of a Christian Democratic polit ...

, including the descendants of Arturo Prat. The museum corresponds on the representation of 1:1 scale of the major departments in ''Esmeralda''.

References

Bibliography

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Esmeralda 1855 ships Ships built in Northfleet Steam corvettes of the Chilean Navy Maritime incidents in May 1875 Maritime incidents in May 1879 Shipwrecks of the War of the Pacific Shipwrecks of Chile