Chilé

Brig rigged iron screw steamer built in 1856 by C. Lungley, London. Dimensions: 179'×28'×16' and 713 GRT, 618 NRT. Equipped with a 60 HP steam engine. Built under special survey with heavier plating than the rules required.

Later had the engines removed and converted to a fullrigged ship, later re-rigged as a barque.

1856 November: Launched at the shipyard of C. Lungley, London, for Seymour & Co., London. Assigned the official British Registration No. 9494 and signal KHNV. Employed in the South American trade.
1858: The Parliamentary Return of Steam Vessels 29 July 1858 gives her owner as George Peacock, London.
1859: The engines were removed and the Chilé was converted to a fullrigged ship. The new measurements were 191'0"×28'0"×16'3" and 768 GRT, 768 NRT and 746 tons under deck. Used in the Australian and New Zealand emmigrant trade.
1860: LR 1860-61: Master: Captain Brinsden.
1860 September 17 - December 24: Sailed from Great Britain to Dunedin in 98 days under Captain Turnbull.
1862 August 29 - November 20: Sailed from Great Britain to Dunedin in 83 days under Captain Turnbull.
1863 July 31 - November 23: Sailed from Great Britain to Dunedin in 115 days under Captain Curthoys.
1864 August 2 - November 17: Sailed from Great Britain to Dunedin in 107 days under Captain Curthoys.
1865/6: LR 1865-66: Captain E. Curthoys replaced Captain Brinsden.
1865 September 14 - December 14: Sailed from Great Britain to Dunedin in 87 days under Captain Stringer.
1866 August 11 - December 4: Sailed from Gravesend to Auckland, New Zealand, in 115 days under Captain Stringer.
1867: Sold to Shaw & Co., London, later to become Shaw, Savill & Co. [Sold 1867 according to Davies, but the Sailing Book of the Passengers' Line of Packets for 1866 lists the Chilé. Could the ship have been on charter before it was sold to the Shaw & Co.?]
1867 September 3 - December 2: Sailed from Great Britain to Dunedin in 90 days under Captain Petherbridge.
1868 August 27 - December 4: Sailed from Great Britain to Dunedin in 99 days under Captain W. Culbert.
1869 May 22 - December 14: Sailed from Great Britain to Auckland in 112 days under Captain W. Culbert.
1870 August 3 - November 17: Sailed from Great Britain to Bluff in 116 days under Captain W. Culbert.
1871 August 9 - December 4: Sailed from Great Britain to Auckland in 114 days under Captain W. Culbert.
1872 September 12 - December 30: Sailed from Great Britain to Napier in 108 days under Captain Burch.
1873 August 15 - November 24: Sailed from Great Britain to Auckland in 99 days under Captain Thomson.
1874: LR 1874-75: Captain T. Thompson.
1874 February 9: While at anchor in the Auckland Harbour a hurricane struck and the barque Beatrice drifted onto the Chilé. The latter vessel's cables parted and both vessels drifted past the little steamer Victoria. The fore topgallant mast of the Chilé fouled the foremast of the Victoria and both masts went by the board.
1874 July 22 - October 26: Sailed from Gravesend to Nelson, New Zealand, in 96 days under Captain Atchieson.
1875 June 10 - September 29: Sailed from Great Britain to Nelson via New Plymouth in 111 days under Captain Alex. Smith. The greatest day's run logged was 260 miles.
1877 December 7 - March 9: Sailed from Great Britain to Auckland in 95 days under Captain Ward.
1878 November 2 - February 16: Sailed from Great Britain to Lyttleton in 105 days under Captain Culbert.
1879: LR 1879-80: Captain F. Ward. Registered as a barque.
1880 March 6 - June 19: Sailed from Gravesend to Auckland, New Zealand, in 105 days.
1880 March 8 - June 19: Sailed from Great Britain to Auckland in 103 days under Captain Pitfield.
1881: Sold to R.W. Leyland & Co., Liverpool, after having made 20 voyages to New Zealand.
1882 March: Special survey No. 3 in London.
1882 March 7 - June 27: Sailed from Great Britain to Auckland in 115 days under Captain Herd.
1885 April 7 - July 24: Sailed from Great Britain to Dunedin in 107 days under Captain Herd.
1886 February 20 - June 20: Sailed from Great Britain to Nelson in 120 days under Captain Herd.
1889: LR 1889-90: Captain: T.W. Forbes.
1889: Sailed from Hamburg to Buenos Ayres and further on to Mobile and Liverpool under command of Captain Owen Lewis, Aberdeen. [Richard Hartmann, Sea Breezes Vol. XX (1935-36), p 86]
1892 September 10: Destroyed by fire two days out from Iquique on voyage for Europe with a cargo of nitrate. At the subsequent enquirey it was found that the vessel's mainmast and mainyard were in a defective state and that the Master would have been justified in returning to Iquique for a survey.

References:

Squarerigged ships, general references.
Brett, Henry: White Wings. Fifty Years of Sail in the New Zealand Trade 1850-1900.
The Brett Printing Company, Auckland, 1924. 8vo, 368 pp, ill.
Brett, Henry: White Wings. Founding of the Provinces and Old-Time Shipping Passenger Ships from 1840 to 1885.
The Brett Printing Company, Auckland, 1928. 8vo, 259 pp, 12 pl.
Davies, A.G.: Re R.W. Leyland & Co.'s Fleet (Roll of Honour, June and July).
Sea Breezes Vol. XIX (1934-35), p 59.
Savill, David: Sail to New Zealand. The Story of Shaw Savill & Co. 1858-1882.
Robert Hale, London, 1986. 8vo, 185 pp, ill, 21 pl.

Updated 1997-04-16 by Lars Bruzelius

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