The Spanish Esmeralda was a 44 gun frigate

Frigate

A frigate is any of several types of warship, the term having been used for ships of various sizes and roles over the last few centuries.In the 17th century, the term was used for any warship built for speed and maneuverability, the description often used being "frigate-built"...

 built in Port Mahón

Mahon

Mahón is a municipality and the capital city of the Balearic Island of Minorca , located in the eastern part of the island. Mahon has the second deepest natural harbor in the world: 5 km long and up to 900m. wide...

, Balearic Islands

Balearic Islands

The Balearic Islands are an archipelago of Spain in the western Mediterranean Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula.The four largest islands are: Majorca, Minorca, Ibiza and Formentera. The archipelago forms an autonomous community and a province of Spain with Palma as the capital...

 in 1791. The First Chilean Navy Squadron

First Chilean Navy Squadron

The First Chilean Navy Squadron was the naval force that terminated Spanish colonial rule on the south-west coast of America and protagonaized the most important naval actions in the Latin American wars of independence...

 under the command of Thomas Cochrane

Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald

Admiral Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald, 1st Marquess of Maranhão, GCB, ODM , styled Lord Cochrane between 1778 and 1831, was a senior British naval flag officer and radical politician....

 captured her in the night from 5 to 6 November 1820. She was renamed Valdivia in Chilean service. She was beached in Valparaíso in June 1825.

Spanish career

The ship was 950 ton burthen frigate designed by engineer Bouyón in the Balearic Islands.
After the defeat in the Battle of Chacabuco

Battle of Chacabuco

The Battle of Chacabuco, fought during the Chilean War of Independence, occurred on February 12, 1817. The Army of the Andes of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata led by General Captain José de San Martín defeated the Spanish force led by Rafael Maroto...

 the Spanish government ordered the Esmeralda to set sail from Cadiz

Cádiz

Cadiz is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the homonymous province, one of eight which make up the autonomous community of Andalusia....

 on 6 May 1817 under the command of Captain Luis Goic with a convoy that included the ships Reina de los Ángeles, San José, San Juan, Castilla, Tagle and Primorosa Mariana. The convoy arrived in Callao on 30 September 1817, except Tagle, which had arrived 21 August.

On 31 March 1818 Esmeralda, the most powerful Spanish warship on the Pacific coast joined the Pezuela and Potrillo in the blockade of Valparaíso until 27 April 1818. On that day the Chilean ship Lautaro come alongside the Esmeralda, but she made such poor contact that fewer than twenty of men from Lautaro were able to get on board Esmeralda. The boarders were unable to capture Esmeralda but the Spanish ships abandoned the blockade.

Chilean career

On the night of November 5, 1820, during the Expedition to Freeing of Perú, two silent columns of boats under command of Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald

Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald

Admiral Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald, 1st Marquess of Maranhão, GCB, ODM , styled Lord Cochrane between 1778 and 1831, was a senior British naval flag officer and radical politician....

 entered Callao Bay and captured the Esmeralda under the guns of Callao's fortifications. The demoralization of his crews helped dissipate the naval power of the Viceroy. Later she was renamed Valdivia to commemorate Cochrane's capture of Valdivia

Capture of Valdivia

The Capture of Valdivia was a battle in the Chilean War of Independence between Spanish forces commanded by Colonel Manuel Montoya and the Chilean forces under the command of Lord Cochrane, held on 3 and 4 February of 1820.-Background:...

.

The squadron was forced to move up and down the coast on supply gathering excursions, challenging shore fortifications.

As the intensity of the quarreling between San Martín and Cochrane increased, Cochrane sailed north with the O'Higgins, Independencia and Valdivia, (former Esmeralda) in search of the last two Spanish frigates in the Pacific: Venganza and Prueba. The Chilean ships sailed as far as the Gulf of Cortez

Gulf of California

The Gulf of California is a body of water that separates the Baja California Peninsula from the Mexican mainland...

 off Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

without finding a trace of the missing frigates.