Built as a transport under yard No 477 by Cammell Laird, Birkenhead for the Government of Argentine.
11 December 1879 launched as the VILLARINO.
Tonnage 649 gross, 365 net, displacement 1.192 ton, dim 56.37 x 9.14 x 4.56m., draught 3.20m.
Powered by a compound steam engine 800hp., one screw, speed 10.5 knots.
Rigged as a brig-schooner with 8 sails, total sail area 954 square meters.
Crew 50.
Building cost £18.000.
She was the first navy transport for the Argentinean navy in Patagonia.
30 December1880, a Presidential degree was signed that she would carry the mail from Bahia Blanco to Camarones, Patagonia.
1884 Was a unit of the squadron of the expedition to the South Atlantic under command of Commodore Lassare, where they build the light of San Juan del Salvevamento on Staten Island. The most southerly fire of the world. Jules Verne was inspired by this light and he wrote a book “The Lighthouse at the end of the World”.
12 October 1884 the squadron showed the Argentinean flag for the first time in Ushuaia.
16 March 1899 the VILLARINO underway under voyage No 101, was wrecked when entering Rocas Blancas, Bahia Camarones during the night in a storm.
The crew managed to survive and were rescued by the vessel de 9 DE JULIO.
07 May 1976 was the screw salvaged by divers from Puerto Madryn, and donated to the La Hermandad del Escrófalo and placed as a monument in Puerto Madryn.
Argentine 1980 500p sg 1676, scott?
Source: http://www.histarmar.com.ar/BuquesMerca ... larino.htm Miramar. Log Book.