Esmeralda (1855)
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| History | |
|---|---|
 Chile
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| Name: | Esmeralda |
| Namesake: | Esmeralda (1791) |
| Ordered: | 30 June 1852 |
| Awarded: | 23 October 1854 |
| Builder: | William Pitcher, Northfleet, England |
| Cost: | £23,000 |
| Laid down: | December 1854 |
| Launched: | 26 June 1855 |
| Commissioned: | 18 September 1855 |
| Fate: | Sunk, 21 May 1879 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Steam corvette |
| Tons burthen: | 854 77⁄94 tons bm |
| Length: | |
| Beam: | 32 ft (9.8 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 18 ft (5.5 m) |
| Propulsion: |
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| Sail plan: | Full-rigged ship |
| Speed: | 8 knots (15 km/h; 9.2 mph) (under steam) |
| Complement: | 200 |
| Armament: |
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| Service record | |
| Commanders: | |
| Operations: | |
Esmeralda was a wooden-hulled steam corvette of the Chilean Navy, launched in 1855, and sunk by the Peruvian ironclad Huáscar on 21 May 1879 at the Battle of Iquique during the War of the Pacific.
Construction of the ship was authorized on 30 June 1852 by President Manuel Montt and the Minister of War and Navy José Francisco Gana. Chilean naval officer Robert Winthrop Simpson and shipbuilder William Pitcher of Northfleet, 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 210 ft (64 m) in length overall (excluding the bowsprit), with a beam of 32 ft (9.8 m) and a depth of 18 ft (5.5 m). Four coal-fired boilers powered two horizontal condensing steam engines rated at 200 indicated horsepower (150 kW), which gave the ship a speed of up to 8 knots (15 km/h; 9.2 mph) under power. The single propeller could be decoupled and raised when under sail. The ship's complement was 200.
Esmeralda was commissioned into the Armada de Chile on 18 September 1855, and eventually sailed from Falmouth, Cornwall, under Simpson's command and arrived at Valparaíso on 7 November 1856.
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