WThe First Chilean Navy Squadron was the heterogeneous naval force that temporarily terminated Spanish colonial rule in the Pacific and protagonized the most important naval actions of in the Latin American wars of independence. 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.
WÁguila was the first naval vessel of the Chilean Navy. She was later renamed Pueyrredón.
WAquiles was a brigantine, originally Spanish, that later served in the Chilean Navy. It was driven ashore and wrecked at Callao, Peru on 24 July 1839.
WAraucano was a 16- or 18-gun brigantine of the First Chilean Navy Squadron.
WThe Callao affair occurred in November 1820, during the Peruvian War of Independence. It began when a Spanish fort opened fire on the United States warship USS Macedonian. Though the ship was damaged, the Americans did not violate their neutrality by counterattacking. On the following day, a boat filled with United States Navy sailors was attacked, resulting in the deaths of two seamen and the wounding of eight others. Two days after that, an American merchant ship was attacked and her crew had to abandon ship. Ultimately, there was no significant response by the United States to the attacks on their shipping and their citizens, though the Spanish government vowed to punish the perpetrators.
WChacabuco was a 20-gun corvette of 450 tons built in 1815 in Boston, USA. She came to Coquimbo as Avon where investors in Copiapó, Chile, purchased her to use her as privateer vessel under the name Coquimbo. But as the businessmen drew back, the Chilean government bought the ship on 20 June 1818 for $36,000. She was renamed Chacabuco and commissioned to the Navy under the command of Captain Francisco Díaz.
WThe ship Cumberland was launched in 1802 as a 3-decker East Indiaman. She made seven voyages between India and England from 1802 to 1815 for the British East India Company. Her most notable voyage was her second when she fought in the Battle of Pulo Aura against a French squadron. In 1818 the Chilean government arranged for her purchase. When she arrived in Chile the Chileans took her into their navy as San Martín. As part of the First Chilean Navy Squadron she participated in 1818 in the defeat of a Spanish expeditionary force. She was wrecked off the coast of Peru in 1821.
WEsmeralda was a 44-gun frigate built in Port Mahón, Balearic Islands in 1791 for the Spanish Navy. The First Chilean Navy Squadron, under the command of Thomas Cochrane, captured her on the night of 5 November 1820. She was renamed Valdivia in Chilean service. She was beached at Valparaíso in June 1825.
WHMS Hecate was a Royal Navy 18-gun Cruizer-class brig-sloop, built by John King at Upnor and launched in 1809. 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.
WLautaro was initially the British East Indiaman Windham, built by Perry, Wells & Green at the Blackwall Shipyard for the East India Company (EIC) and launched in 1800. She made seven voyages to India, Ceylon, and China for the EIC. In 1809-10, the French captured her twice, but the British also recaptured her twice. The Chilean Navy bought her in 1818 and she then served in the Chilean Navy, taking part in several actions during the liberation wars in Chile and Peru. From 1824 she was a training ship until she was sold in 1828.
WO'Higgins was a Chilean frigate famous for her actions under Captain Lord Cochrane.