''Casma'' was an
auxiliary ship
An auxiliary ship is a naval ship designed to support combatant ships and other naval operations. Auxiliary ships are not primary combatant vessels, though they may have some limited combat capacity, usually for purposes of self-defense.
Auxili ...
of the
Chilean Navy
The Chilean Navy () is the naval warfare service branch of the Chilean Armed Forces. It is under the Ministry of National Defense (Chile), Ministry of National Defense. Its headquarters are at Edificio Armada de Chile, Valparaiso.
History
Ori ...
.
History
''Casma'' was bought in
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...
by the Chilean Government of
Jose Manuel Balmaceda during the
1891 Chilean Civil War
The Chilean Civil War of 1891 (also known as Revolution of 1891) was a civil war in Chile fought between forces supporting Congress and forces supporting the President, José Manuel Balmaceda from 16 January 1891 to 18 September 1891. The ...
. However, as with the French built armored cruisers
''Presidente Pinto'' and
''Presidente Errázuriz'', and the battleship
''Capitán Prat'', they were detained abroad and were not involved in the civil war. It was only after the war ended, in 1892, that the ship was handed over to the Chilean Navy.
In 1905, ''Casma'' was lent to the
Ecuadorian Navy
The Ecuadorian Navy () is an Ecuadorian entity responsible for the surveillance and protection of national maritime territory and has a personnel of 9,400 men to protect a coastline of 2,237 km which reaches far into the Pacific Ocean. The v ...
to be used as a training ship, though in 1908, she was returned to Chile in exchange for the
torpedo gunboat
In the late 19th century, torpedo gunboats were a form of gunboat armed with torpedoes and designed for hunting and destroying smaller torpedo boats. By the end of the 1890s torpedo gunboats were superseded by their more successful contemporaries, ...
.
In a 1911 accident, a boat was run over by ''Casma'' with the
propeller
A propeller (often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon a working flu ...
killing all six members of the boat's crew.
Final mission
In 1916, eight members of the German light cruiser
SMS ''Dresden'', four members of the
steamship
A steamship, often referred to as a steamer, is a type of steam-powered vessel, typically ocean-faring and seaworthy, that is propelled by one or more steam engines that typically move (turn) propellers or paddlewheels. The first steamships ...
''Göttingen'' and sixteen cadets of the
barque
A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing ship, sailing vessel with three or more mast (sailing), masts of which the fore mast, mainmast, and any additional masts are Square rig, rigged square, and only the aftmost mast (mizzen in three-maste ...
''
Herzogin Cecilie
''Herzogin Cecilie'' was a German-built four-mast barque (windjammer), named after German Crown Princess Duchess Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1886–1954), spouse of Crown Prince Wilhelm of Prussia (1882–1951) (''Herzogin'' being German ...
'', who were
interned
Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without Criminal charge, charges or Indictment, intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects ...
on
Quiriquina Island
Quiriquina Island, Chile is located at the entrance to the Bay of Concepción, 11 km north of Talcahuano. (''Quiriquina'' is a Mapuche word meaning "many True thrushes").
In April, 1557, Don Garcia de Mendoza, Spanish governor of the Capta ...
for the duration of the
war
War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...
, escaped on board of the cutter ''Tinto'' bound for Germany.
Francis Stronge, British Minister Plenipotentiary at Santiago, Chile, requested that the Chilean Government attempt to recapture the Germans in fulfillment of Chile's obligations as a
neutral
Neutral or neutrality may refer to:
Mathematics and natural science Biology
* Neutral organisms, in ecology, those that obey the unified neutral theory of biodiversity
Chemistry and physics
* Neutralization (chemistry), a chemical reaction in ...
country.
On 28 December 1916 the Chilean Navy ordered the ''Casma'' to search for the Germans from the
Evangelistas Islets to the
Gulf of Penas. The ''Casma'' crew commenced the search from
Punta Arenas
Punta Arenas (, historically known as Sandy Point in English) is the capital List of cities in Chile, city of Chile's southernmost Regions of Chile, region, Magallanes Region, Magallanes and Antarctica Chilena. Although officially renamed as ...
under the command of Capitán de Fragata Julio Lagos de la Fuente. Leaving the standard navigation route, the ''Casma'' searched by following the route Evangelistas,
Nelson Strait,
Diego de Almagro Island (then Cambridge Island),
Concepción Channel,
Trinidad Channel
Trinidad Channel is a channel in Chile that leads to seaward from the northern end of Concepción Channel, is exceedingly useful to pass out to the Pacific Ocean from the Patagonian Channels in case it is desirable to avoid the possible delay occ ...
and the
Picton Channel
''Picton Channel'' (Spanish: ''Canal Picton'') is a waterway in the Magallanes Region of Chile that continues southward the Ladrillero Channel, and it runs between the Chipana Island (east) and Mornington Island (Chile) (west).
With the Ladrille ...
.
On 2 January, not far from Golfo Ladrillero, the ship hit a rock and buckled her plates, popping rivets and breaching several compartments. The engine room gradually flooded, impeding the use of the
electric generator
In electricity generation, a generator, also called an ''electric generator'', ''electrical generator'', and ''electromagnetic generator'' is an electromechanical device that converts mechanical energy to electrical energy for use in an externa ...
and, consequently, the radio. The ''Casma'' was able to continue for a further 600 m and run aground on a sandy beach, far from the main shipping channel in a sparsely inhabited region.
In order to obtain assistance, and owing to the extreme desolation of these parts and the impossibility of traveling overland, Capitán Lagos sent one of the lifeboats, under the command of Teniente Luis Pepper van Buren, to the main channel. They took with them water, food rations for several days, a compass, chronometer, navigation charts, binoculars, pocket lamp and a flare gun, as well as a rifle and Pepper's service weapon.
Leaving on 3 January, Pepper's party headed for the
Sarmiento Channel
Sarmiento Channel is a principal Patagonia channel, which extends in a north–south direction. It begins with the Guia Narrows ('' Angostura Guía'') and is located in Magallanes y Antártica Chilena Region. The kawésqar people sailed its wa ...
. On 7 January, in Puerto Bueno, they alerted the steamer ''Chiloé'' by firing a
Very light
A flare gun, also known as a Very pistol or signal pistol, is a large-bore handgun that discharges flares, Blank (cartridge), blanks and Smoke grenade, smoke. The flare gun is typically used to produce a distress signal.
Types
The most commo ...
. The steamer promptly sailed to the Picton Channel to render help to the crew of the ''Casma''. She was followed to the shipwreck by other rescue vessels - on 10 January the cutters ''Meteoro'' and ''Yáñez'', on 13 January the tug ''Ortiz'' and on 18 January the cruiser
''Chacabuco''. However, despite three months of effort, the ''Casma'' could not be freed and had to be abandoned.
See also
*
List of decommissioned ships of the Chilean Navy
References
External links
* Germán Bravo Valdivieso
Cumplimiento de una Comisión "Contra Viento y Marea"in Revista Mar of Liga Marítima de Chile
* Chilean Navy websit
{{coord missing, Chile
Auxiliary ships of the Chilean Navy
1889 ships
Shipwrecks in the Chilean Sea