Cochrane in the Pacific

by Brian Vale

  7. Report annexed in Pilar C Manrubia, La Marina de Guerra Espanola en el Primer Tercio del Siglo XIX, (Madrid, Editoria Naval, 1992), p. 309.

  Chapter 2: The Making of the Chilean Navy

  1. For details of the profits of carrying 'freight' from South America see, B Vale, A Frigate of King George: Life and Duty on a British Man-of-War 1807-27, (London 2001). For details of the Owen Glendower, see J. B. Hedderwick, The Captain's Clerk, (London 1957), pp. 129-31.

  2. Bowles to Croker, 28 November 1817, 10 February 1818, The Navy and South America.

  3. 'Reglamento Provisional de la Marina', printed in Luiz Uribe Orrego, Nuestra Marina Militar. Sua Organisation y Campanha durante la Guerra da la Independencia (Valparaiso, Tailleres Tipograficos de la Armada, 1910), pp. 25-8.

  4. Bowles to Croker, 30 June 1817, The Navy and South America. In fact, documents in the Chilean Treasury state that Alvarez was only issued with $33,000 (£6600) when he travelled to London. Archivo Nacional Santiago, Contadura Mayor, quoted in Martel, Alamiro de Avila, Cochrane y la Independencia del Pacifico, (Santiago 1976), p. 54.

  5. See, for example, the log of HMS Superb, NA Kew, Adm 51/3445.

  6. For full details of transactions in the USA over these two vessels, see Delano, Jorge Andres, 'The American Influence in the Independence of Latin America: Captain Paul Delano', Derroteros de la Mar del Sur, (Lima 1999).

  7. Decrees of 3 and 11 August 1818, printed in Orrego, pp. 100-5.

  8. Decree of 7 September 1818, printed in Orrego, pp. 114-15.

  9. Barros Arana, Diego, Historia Jeneral de Chile (Santiago 1884) vol. XI, p. 138.

  10. Miller, John (ed.), Memoirs of General William Miller, (London 1828) vol. 1, p. 187.

  11. Blanco to O'Higgins, 5 and 17 November 1818, Printed in Orrego, pp. 159-62.

  12. Guise to Zanuarte, 24, 27 July 1818. Orrego, 164. Hecate (actually renamed Lucy at this stage) arrived at Valparaiso on 14 October and was sent south as Galvarino on 29 October.

  13. Especulacion, San Fernando, Atocha and Santa Maria.

  14. Quoted in Orrego, p. 67.

  15. Barros Arana, vol. XI, p. 194.

  Chapter 3: The Coming of Lord Cochrane

  1. Alvarez to Zenteno, 12 January 1818 (1), printed in Orrego, p. 179.

  2. Alvarez to Zenteno, 12 January 1818 (2), printed in Orrego, pp. 117-19.

  3. Bulnes, Gonzago, Historia de la Expedicion Libertadora del Peru, (Santiago 1887-8) vol. 1, pp. 288-9.

  4. See Naval Chronical XXXIX, 1818.

  5. 8 July 1818, quoted in Turrado, Gaspar Perez, Las Marinas Realista y Patriota en la Independencia de Chile y Peru, (Madrid 1996), p. 127.

  6. Cochrane to Alvarez, 1 August 1818, printed in Orrego, p. 123.

  7. Historians, including de Avila Martel and Cubitt, have conjectured that a number of Cochrane's followers accompanied him on the Rose, notably Thomas Sackville Crosbie, Henry Cobbett, John Pascoe Grenfell and Robert Simpson. There is, alas, no evidence for this. Indeed, the names of Simpson and Grenfell do not appear in Chilean records before 1820 and the latter is said to have been employed as 5th Mate on an East Indiaman at this time.

  8. Miller, J. (ed.), Memoirs of General William Miller, vol. 1, p. 207.

  9. Decree of 10 December 1818, printed in Orrego, p. 177.

  10. Cochrane, Lord, Narrative of Services in the Liberation of Chile and Peru, (Ridgeway, London, 1859), vol. 1, p. 5.

  11. The Reglamento laid down that the annual pay and allowances of a Vice Admiral were $6000. This is what Cochrane received and was the basis of the claim for half pay contained in his Memorandum of 1845 (National Archive of Scotland (NAS) GD 233/31/238). The decree appointing Blanco as his successor specifically states the same amount.

  12. Stevenson, William Bennet, Historical and Descriptive Narrative of 20 years Residence in South America, (London, 1825), vol. 3, p. 148.

  13. Spry Court Martial Proceedings, 3 and 5 March 1821, NAS GD 233/38/258.

  14. Lieutenants Passing Certificates, NA Kew, Adm 107/25: Steel's Navy Lists 1809-15. It is difficult to reconstruct Guise's career between 1803 and 1809 as the Navy Lists for these years do not show the ships in which officers were serving, and his page in Officer's Records in Adm 9/5 (no 1522) has been torn out.

  15. Officer's Records, NA, Kew, Adm 9/5 (1533), O'Byrne, William, Biographical Dictionary, (London, John Murray, 1848), vol. 1.

  16. Bowles to Croker, 21 December 1818, The Navy in South America.

  17. Bowles to Croker, 15 March 1819, The Navy in South America.

  18. Pezuela accepted the position of the United States on blockades by agreeing that in future alleged American blockade runners would not be immediately seized but would be warned off by the blockading squadron and have their logs endorsed. Only if they tried to run the blockade a second time would vessels be arrested. This concession only applied to American ships.

  19. Cochrane's correspondence with Biddle was published in the Gazeta Ministerial de Chile on 16 January 1819, printed in Archivo de D Bernardo O'Higgins, (Santiago, Academia de Historia, 1946-68), vol.

  XII. Also NAS GD 233/39/262.

  Chapter 4: The Callao Campaign

  1. Gazeta Ministerial de Chile of 2 January 1819, ibid.

  2. O'Higgins letters to San Martin, January to June 1819, printed in Archivo de D Bernardo O'Higgins, vol. VIII.

  3. Zenteno to Cochrane, 7 January 1819, printed in Orrego, pp. 186-90. NAS GD 233/35/258.

  4. Blanco Encalada to Zenteno, 15 January 1819, printed in Orrego, pp. 193-4.

  5. Report of Lima Merchants to Shirreff, 19 January 1819, National Maritime Museum (NMM), SHI/2.

  6. Hickey to Bowles, 24 May 1819, The Navy and South America.

  7. Shirreff to Supercargoes of British ships, Callao,13 February 1819, NMM, SHI/2.

  8. Cochrane-Pezuela correspondence, printed in full in Gazeta Ministerial de Chile, 10, 17 and 22 July 1819, Archivo de D Bernardo O'Higgins, vol.

  XIII.

  9. In both Cochrane's memoirs and other biographies there has been uncertainty about the dates and nature of his operations of the coast of Peru in April and May. The whole story is clearly told in the run of dispatches from Cochrane and Blanco Encalada to the Minister of Marine printed in Orrego, pp. 213-49.

  10. Antonio Vacaro (Naval Commander at Callao) to Secretary of the Navy, Madrid, 6 July 1819, quoted Turrado, p. 138.

  11. Gazeta Ministerial de Chile, 16 May, 10 and 22 July 1819, ibid.

  12. Quoted in Worcester, Donald E., Sea Power and Chilean Independence, (Gainesville, University of Florida Monographs), No 15, Summer 1962, p. 45.

  13. Cochrane to Zenteno, 21 June 1819, NAS GD 233/39/261.

  14. Cochrane to William Cochrane, 9 August 1819, NAS GD 233/26/186.

  15. Cochrane to William Cochrane, 7 August 1819, ibid.

  16. Journal of Charles J. Deblois quoted in Billingstay, Edward B., In Defense of Neutral Rights: the US Navy and the Wars of Independence in Chile and Peru, (University of N Carolina, 1967), p. 83.

  17. Cochrane to O'Higgins, 9 Aug 1819, NAS GD 233/31/239 Zenteno to the Senate, 14 August 1820, printed in Zenteno J. I., Documentos justificativas sobre la Expedicion Libertadora del Peru: Refutation de las memorias de Lord Cochrane, (Santiago, 1861), p. 7.

  18. Cochrane to O'Higgins, 9 August 1819, ibid.

  19. Zenteno to the Senate, 27 August 1820, printed in Zenteno J. I., Documentos justificativas, 12. Decree of 1 September 1819, NAS GD 233/32/240.

  20. O'Higgins to San Martin, 20 September 1819, printed in Archivo de D Bernardo O'Higgins, vol. VIII.

  21. Cochrane's Orders, 9 September 1819, NAS GD 233/39/261, printed in Orrego, pp. 259-62.

  22. Correspondence between Cochrane and Pezuela printed in Cesareo Fernandez Duro, La Armada Espanola (desde la union de los reinos de Castilla y Leon), vol. 9, (Madrid, 1973), pp. 210-11; and Cochrane's (English) Letter Book, NAS GD 233/39/262.

  23. Cochrane to Zenteno, 2 October 1819, Gazeta Ministerial de Chile, 12 Octob
er 1819, Archivo de D Bernardo O'Higgins, vol. XIII.

  24. Narrative of Services, vol. 1, p. 26.

  25. Cochrane to O'Higgins, 8 October 1819, Gazeta Ministerial de Chile, 12 November 1819, Archivo de D Bernardo O'Higgins, vol. XII; NAS GD 233/37/255.

  26. Zenteno to Cochrane, 4 May 1820, printed in Zenteno J. I., Documentos justificativas, pp. 38-40; NAS GD 233/37/256.

  27. Cochrane to Zenteno, 7 October 1819, printed in Orrego, p. 275.

  28. Cochrane to O'Higgins, 8 October 1819, NAS GD 233/35/252.

  29. O'Higgins to Cochrane, 28 November 1819, NAS GD 233/35/252.

  30. Graham, Maria, Journal of a Residence in Chile during the Year 1822, London, Longman, 1824 (reprint New York, Praeger, 1969), p. 54.

  31. O'Higgins to Cochrane, 29 November 1819 (passing the news to Cochrane off the coast of Chile), NAS GD 233/35/252.

  Chapter 5: The Capture of Valdivia

  1. O'Higgins to Cochrane, 29 November 1819, NAS GD 233/35/252.

  2. Gazeta Ministerial de Chile, 12 October 1819 to 26 February 1820, Archivo de D Bernardo O'Higgins, vol. XIII.

  3. Zenteno to Cochrane, (Private), 26 Nov 1819, NAS, GD 233/37/258.

  4. Cochrane to Zenteno, 21 January 1820, printed in the Gazeta Ministerial de Chile, 29 January,1820 and in Orrego, p. 301.

  5. See, John Miers, Travels in Chile and La Plata, (London 1826) vol. 1, 490; Miller, vol. 1, p. 245.

  6. Narrative of Services, vol. 1, p. 5.

  7. Stevenson, vol. 3, p. 212.

  8. Stevenson, vol. 3, p. 216.

  9. Miller to Cochrane, 4 February 1820, printed in Orrego, p. 302.

  10. Beauchef to Cochrane, 4 February 1820, printed in Orrego, p. 304.

  11. Cochrane to Zenteno, 5, 6 and 19 February, printed in Maria Graham, pp. 58-61. All the dispatches regarding his capture of Valdivia are in Cochrane's (Spanish) Letter Book, NAS GD 233/39/262.

  12. Proceeds of the Sale of Dolores etc 30 May 1820; and Cochrane to Zenteno, 8 March 1820, quoted in David J Cubitt, Lord Cochrane and the Chilean Navy 1818-23 (University of Edinburgh Ph.D. Thesis 1974), p. 158.

  Chapter 6: 'Heartfelt Gratitude at that Signal Achievement'

  1. Gazeta Ministerial, 19 February 1820, Archivo de D Bernardo O'Higgins, vol. XIII.

  2. Decree of 1 March 1820.

  3. Zenteno to Cochrane, 22 February 1820. The first part of the letter is printed in Grimble, Ian, The Sea Wolf, (London, 1978), p. 209; the whole in NAS GD 233/39/262 and Zenteno J. I., Documentos justificativas, p. 21.

  4. Cochrane to O'Higgins, 10 February 1820, quoted in Cubitt, pp. 163-4.

  5. Narrative of Services, vol. 1, p. 53; Maria Graham, p. 59; Miers, vol. 1, p. 492.

  6. Narrative of Services, vol. 1, p. 71.

  7. Chisholm, Stuart M, The Independence of Chile, (London, T. Warner Laurie, 1959).

  8. Zenteno's' letters NAS 233/37/256-257-258

  9. Narrative of Services, vol. 1, p. 74.

  10. Narrative of Services, vol. 1, p. 47. The accusation is not mentioned in

  Miers or Maria Graham but by 1859 had become part of Cochrane's complaints.

  11. Miers, vol. 1, p. 432.

  12. Narrative of Services, vol. 1, p. 129; San Martin, Manifesto de las acusaciones que a nombre del General San Martin hicieron sus legados ante el Govierno de Chile contra el Vice-Admiral Lord Cochrane y vindicaciones de este dirigida al mismo San Martin, (Lima, 1823).

  13. O'Higgins to the Senate, 22 March 1820, printed in Zenteno J. I., Documentos justificativas, p. 24.

  14. Cochrane to O'Higgins, 14 May 1820, printed in Stevenson, vol. 3, p. 243.

  15. Cochrane to Paroissien, 14 May 1820, Essex Record Office (ERO), A/1895A.

  16. Hoseason's Summary Accounts 1819-21, NAS GD 233/39/260.

  17. Ibid. The purchase of Quintero cost Cochrane $50,000 plus the cost of the livestock, NAS GD 233/37/256.

  18. Spry and Forster's reports on Herradura, NAS GD 233/34/246.

  19. Cochrane to O'Higgins, 24 April 1820, printed in Stevenson, vol. 3, pp. 231-2. Unfortunately the date is wrongly given as 14 May.

  20. Zenteno to Cochrane, 4 May 1820, printed in Zenteno J. I., Documentos justificativas, p. 30.

  21. Guise to Cochrane with Annexes, 9 May 1820, NAS GD 233/31/237.

  Chapter 7: Plots and Paranoia

  1. Prevost to Adams, 13 September 1819, quoted in Cubitt, p. 231.

  2. Maria Graham, p. 39.

  3. Thomas, John, Historical Sketch of the Chilean Navy, Archivo Nacional de Chile (Archivo Vicuna MacKenna - AVM) vol. 104, quoted in Cubitt, p. 204.

  4. See, for example, Guise to Cochrane, 11 August 1820, (over the exclusion of Lautaro from a prize money distribution), NAS GD 233/36/253; Miller to Paroissien, 15 February 1821, (concerning Bennet's offering to sell prize bullion from Valdivia to the Chilean Merchant J. J. Barnard), ERO A/1895A; Miller to Cochrane, 6 October 1821, (over non-payment of troops), NAS GD 233/35/252; Cobbett to Cochrane, 25 September 1822, (about dilatory payments by Bennet), NAS GD 233/31/239; Wilkinson to Cochrane, 25 September 1822, (about money shipped out on Doris), ibid.

  5. Thomas, Historical Sketches, AVM, vol. 104, quoted in Cubitt, p. 52.

  6. Wilkinson to Cochrane, 27 June 1819; Ramsey to Cochrane, 14 April 1820, Charles to Cochrane, 16 April 1820; Delano to Cochrane, 11 October 1820; Carter to Cochrane, 8 September 1819, Cobbett to Cochrane, 4 May 1920, Crosbie to Cochrane, 18 April 1821 - all in NAS GD 233/36/253.

  7. Thomas, Historical Sketches, AVM, vol. 104, quoted in Cubitt, p. 248.

  8. Cochrane to San Martin, 10 July 1821, quoted in Cubitt, p. 26.

  9. Miers to Cochrane, 16 March 1823, NAS GD 233/36/255.

  10. Cochrane to Guise, 19 Dec 1819, NAS, GD 233/36/255.

  11. Cochrane to Guise, 1 April 1821, NAS GD 233/38/258.

  12. Hoseason's Summary Accounts 1819-21, NAS GD 233/39/260.

  13. Guise-Cochrane correspondence, 19 Dec 1819, NAS, GD 233/36/255.

  14. Thomas, Historical Sketches, AVM vol. 104, quoted in Cubitt, p. 56.

  15. Maria Graham, p. 138.

  16. Lieutenants Passing Certificates, NA, Kew, Adm 9/12.

  17. Maria Graham, p. 80.

  18. Gazeta Ministerial, 26 February 1820, Archivo de D Bernardo O'Higgins, vol. XII.

  19. Charges against Guise, NAS GD 233/36/255. By the time he wrote his memoirs, Cochrane had come to the absurd notion that Zenteno and San Martin were somehow behind Guise's 'insubordination.' Narrative of Services, vol. 1, p. 104.

  20. Zenteno to Cochrane, printed in Grimble, p. 213.

  21. Guise to Zenteno, 25 July 1820; Guise to Cochrane, 11 August 1820, NAS GD 233/36/253.

  22. Petition from Officers, GD 233/31/237, and Narrative of Services, vol. 1, pp. 66-7.

  23. Narrative of Services, vol. 1, p. 65.

  24. Minutes of Spry Court Martial, NAS 233/36/253.

  25. Cubitt, David J., 'Manning the Chilean Navy', Mariner's Mirror, May 1877, pp. 115-27.

  Chapter 8: Invasion and Blockade

  1. Paroissien's journal, ERO, A/1895A.

  2. Grimble, p. 220.

  3. Zenteno to Cochrane, no 293, 19 August 1820, NAS GD 233/31/239.

  4. Ibid.

  5. See Avila Martel, p. 196.

  6. Orders to Venganza and Esmeralda, 9 February 1820, Archivo General da la Marinha, Madrid (AGM), Expediciones a Indias, legajo 68.

  7. Memorias de Pezuela, p. 769, quoted in Cubitt, p. 298.

  8. Paroissien's Journal, 29 August 1820, ERO, A/1895A.

  9. Paroissien's Journal, 31 August 1820, ERO, A/1895A.

  10. Hall, vol. 1, p. 71.

  11. Narrative of Services, vol. 1, p. 79.

  12. Cochrane to Paroissien, 3 March 1821, ERO, A/1895A.

  13. Hall, vol. 1, pp. 73-4.

  14. Paroissien's Journal, 26, 27 October 1820, ERO, A/1895A.

  15. British merchants to Shirreff, 24 August 1820, NAS GD 233/38/253. In fact the merchants had probably misunderstood Cochrane's orders. The Chilean
declaration of blockade promulgated on 20 April 1819 and reissued on 20 August 1820, laid down that all neutral ships carrying contraband or enemy property, or which attempted to enter Peruvian ports, or which carried duplicate papers obscuring the origins of their cargoes were liable to seizure. The only amelioration was that six months grace was given before the arrest of ships proceeding from Europe and the United States, and 3 months to those coming from the Plate. Alberto Cruchage, Jurisprudencia de la Cancilleno Chileno, (Santiago 1835), quoted in Avila Martel, pp. 189-90.

  16. Hardy to Croker, 30 September 1820 with enclosures, printed in The Navy and South America.

  17. Croker to Hardy with enclosures, 12 December 1820, printed in The Navy in South America.

  18. Hardy to Croker, 28 July 1820 and Searle to Hardy, 2 June 1820, printed in The Navy and South America.

  19. Hetherwick, p. 117.

  20. Hardy to Croker, 30 September 1820, printed in The Navy and South America; Shirreff to Walker, 23 February 1821, National Maritime Museum (NMM), Shirreff Letter Books, SHI/2.

  21. Hardy to Croker, 2 April 1821, printed in The Navy and South America.

  22. Hall to Hardy, 17 June 1821, with letters from Cochrane dated 17 June 1821, printed in The Navy and South America.

  23. Hall, vol. 1, pp. 94-5.

  24. Correspondence between Shirreff and Lima Merchants, January to March 1821, NMM SHI/3.

  25. Hall, vol. 1, pp. 121-9.

  Chapter 9: The Capture of the Esmeralda

  1. Minutes of Council of War on Prueba, 22 November 1820, AGM, Expediciones a Indias, legajo 68.

  2. Orders printed in Narrative of Services, vol. 1, pp. 88-9.

  3. Hall, vol. 1, p. 79.

  4. Grenfell's description of the action, University of Liverpool Special Collections, (ULSC), Grenfell 1-2.

  5. Turrado, p. 167.

  6. Searle to Hardy, 8 November 1820, NA Kew, printed in The Navy and South America.

  7. Paroissien's Journal, 7 November 1821, ERO A/1895A.

  8. San Martin to O'Higgins, 9 November 1820, Gazeta Ministerial, 4 December 1820, Archivo de D Bernardo O'Higgins, vol. XIV, also in Grimble, p. 225.