Chilean ship Cazador
{{About|a Chilean ship||Cazador (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image | Ship image= Sinking-of-ship-cazador-1856.png | Ship image size= 355px | Ship caption= Sinking of Cazador }} {{Infobox ship career | Hide header= | Ship country= | Ship flag= | Ship name= General Castilla | Ship namesake= | Ship ordered= | Ship awarded= | Ship builder= | Ship original cost= | Ship yard number= | Ship way number= | Ship laid down= | Ship launched=1848 | Ship sponsor= | Ship christened= | Ship completed= | Ship acquired= | Ship commissioned= | Ship decommissioned= | Ship maiden voyage= | Ship in service= | Ship out of service= | Ship refit= | Ship struck= | Ship reinstated= | Ship homeport= | Ship identification= | Ship motto= | Ship nickname= | Ship honours= | Ship fate= Sold to Chile 1851 | Ship notes= | Ship badge= }} {{Infobox ship career | Hide header=title | Ship country= Chile | Ship flag= {{Shipboxflag|Chile|naval}} | Ship name= Cazador | Ship namesake= | Ship ordered= | Ship awarded= | Ship builder= | Ship original cost= | Ship yard number= | Ship way number= | Ship laid down= | Ship launched= | Ship sponsor= | Ship christened= | Ship completed= | Ship acquired= | Ship commissioned= 1851 | Ship decommissioned= | Ship maiden voyage= | Ship in service= | Ship out of service= | Ship refit= | Ship struck= | Ship reinstated= | Ship homeport= | Ship identification= | Ship motto= | Ship nickname= | Ship honours= First Steamer in the Chilean Navy | Ship fate= Sunk on 30 January 1856 off Punta Carranza | Ship notes= | Ship badge= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics | Hide header= | Header caption= | Ship type= | Ship displacement= | Ship tons burthen= 250 bm | Ship length= | Ship beam= | Ship height= | Ship draught= | Ship depth= | Ship hold depth= | Ship decks= | Ship deck clearance= | Ship power= | Ship propulsion= 150 ps, 3 masts, barque riggedWreck site, [http://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?137266 PSS Cazador (+1856)] | Ship sail plan= | Ship speed= 9 kn | Ship range= | Ship endurance= | Ship boats= | Ship complement=65 | Ship armament= | Ship armour= | Ship notes= }} |
The Cazador was a steamboat built 1848 in France and bought 1851 by the Chilean Navy for the transport of military and cargo along the coast of Chile.
On 30 January 1856, the Cazador sailed off Talcahuano bound for Valparaíso at 11:30 AM carrying the 2nd Company of the Battalion Maipo and their families. In addition, she carried supplies, horses and guns. She sailed 6 miles from the coast at 9 kn.
At 20:00, the ship was driven onto a reef off Point Carranza, 10 km south of Constitución.
The sinking of the Cazador resulted in the greatest single-incident maritime loss of life in the history of Chile.{{cite book|author=Carlos López Urrutia|title=Historia de La Marina de Chile|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V_539D0ObYwC|date=29 February 2008|publisher=Lulu.com|isbn=978-0-615-18574-3}}
Sources disagree on the number rescued and the final death toll. The ship's captain, Ramón Cabieses, in his report gives 23 rescued and 307 dead,Cited in [http://es.scribd.com/doc/105319496/Tragedias-Maritimas-de-Importancia-en-Chile Tragedias marítimas de importancia en Chile], retrieved on 31 December 2012 but author Carlos López Urrutia gives 400 dead.
After the sinking, Captain Cabieses faced a drumhead court martialEl Mercurio de Valparaíso, 28/02/1856 «Naufrajio de Vapor Cazador» to determine his responsibility in the deaths of those on board. Public opinion at the time demanded that he be beheaded - however, thanks to his influence, his distinguished service in earlier naval campaigns, and that at the time there were few officials familiar with the coast of Chile, the Chilean Navy commuted his sentence.
References
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External links
- Chilean Navy website [https://archive.today/20130115200537/http://www.armada.cl/prontus_armada/site/artic/20090716/pags/20090716155625.html Cazador], retrieved on 31 December 2012
- {{usurped|1=[https://archive.today/20130901205001/http://www.plimsoll.org/resources/SCCLibraries/WreckReports/16249.asp Wreck Report for 'John Elder', 1892]}}, also sunk off Punta Carranza
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{{1856 shipwrecks}}
Category:Corvettes of the Chilean Navy
Category:Shipwrecks in the Chilean Sea
Category:Maritime incidents in January 1856