The first Esmeralda of the Chilean Navy was a Spanish vessel captured by Thomas Cochrane in 1820; the second was a corvette of 850 tons, commanded by Capt Arturo Prat, which was sunk on May 21, 1879 by the Peruvian armoured turret ship Huascar, built by Laird Brothers, at Birkenhead in 1866. Both these ships are shown on stamps of Chile issued in 1948, commemorating the centenary of the birth of Prat. The Naval Academy is named in honour of Arturo Prat, who lost his life after boarding the Huascar. The engagement between the two badly-matched ships lasted four hours, before the Chilean ship was sunk.
The present day Esmeralda is generally referred to as a barquentine, though her rig is that of a topsail schooner, as is the Juan Sebastian de Elcano, shown on a 10p stamp of Spain issued in 1964, according to Underhill. The vessel was built at Cadiz in 1953 and was originally laid down as the Don Juan de Austria for the Spanish Navy. Her displacement is 3,040 tons. She has auxiliary power of 1,500 h.p. provided by a 6-cylinder Fiat oil engine. The vessel's complement is 351 officers and men, including 80 midshipmen.
Chile SG378