The Coming of Lord
Cochrane
The Chilean agents abroad not only contracted for ships and war supplies
but also tried to recruit foreign seamen and officers. Alvarez Condarco
managed to enroll Lord Thomas Cochrane, later the tenth Earl of
Dundonald, as commander in chief of the Chilean fleet. Cochrane was a
Scot of very high reputation as a seaman. He had entered the Royal Navy
at an early age and by the time he was twenty years old he was in
command of the brig Speedy. Under his command the ship made a most
successful cruise in the Mediterranean. Later he commanded a frigate and
used his prize money to run for Parliament. There he became a sharp
critic of abuses within the Navy. His own party decided to send him to
sea and he was given the frigate Imperieuse in command of which he
participated in the Battle of Basque Roads. Because of the timidity and
indecisiveness of Admiral Lord Gambier-- whom Cochrane accused of
incompetence-- his own brilliant performance achieved no result. When
the Admiral was absolved, Cochrane had to resign from the Navy. He was
later convicted of fraud in the stock market in 1814 and expelled from
Parliament. He went to Chile in 1818 and upon his return, was pardoned
in 1832, restored to the Navy list and gazetted Rear-Admiral of the
Fleet. He had been offered a position in the Spanish Navy, but took
Chile's offer instead.
At Cochrane's insistence, Alvarez Condarco committed Chile to buy a 410
ton, 60 horsepower steam warship. The Admiral was so excited about the
prospect of a ship that did not have to depend on the wind for its power
that he contributed 15000 pesos out of his own pocket. The ship was
christened the Rising Star. Cochrane's plan to sail her to Chile was
never realized, however, because the ship-- the first steam warship ever
built-- had not been properly designed and the boiler was too small to
propel her. Since the miscalculation could not be easily remedied,
Alvarez Condarco asked Cochrane to leave for Chile without delay, so
that he could take immediate command of the squadron. The steamship
would eventually reach Chile too late to participate in the struggle for
Independence.
When Cochrane arrived in Valparaíso, O'Higgins himself went there to
greet him. The government and the people received him with great
enthusiasm; they expected great things from him and were not be
disappointed.
Cochrane threw himself at once into the organization of the navy. He
intended bringing the Chileans to the same levels of effectiveness as
the Royal Navy, but he was hindered by the lack of both money and
resources. There was not even enough money to renew the worn-out
rigging, and certainly not enough to pay the crews. Prize money from the
Talcahuano expedition had not been distributed and the sailors had not
even received their regular pay. The officers were equally unhappy.
Cochrane had brought with him several officers whose loyalty to himself
had guaranteed their place in positions of command under him. The
officers already commissioned, fearing that they would lose their
appointments, attempted to put pressure on the government. Furthermore,
Blanco Encalada, the hero of Talcahuano, had been replaced by a
foreigner who had rendered no previous service to Chile. Realizing that
the political moment demanded great sacrifices, Blanco Encalada himself
saved the situation by announcing the change of commands to the crews.
He was to remain as second in command. Some money was produced to pay
the crews; but only the threat of another expedition from Spain would
eventually move the people to raise the necessary monies.
This new Spanish expedition had a heavy escort: two ships of the line,
the Alejandro I and the San Telmo, plus the frigate Prueba. On January
14, 1818, fearing that the arrival of these reinforcements would make
the Viceroy the master of the sea, Cochrane, although unprepared, sailed
with his three best vessels, the Lautaro, Chacabuco and San Martín.
There was trouble from the beginning. The Lautaro refused to sail;
Blanco Encalada had to board her with a picket of marines and force the
crew to set sail. At sea, the corvette Chacabuco was subjected to mutiny
but she managed to rejoin the squadron after lieutenant Ford A. Morgell
bravely fought a sword duel with the leader of the rebellion and
regained control.
These outbreaks were not directed at the new command; rather the crews
simply wanted to join the privateers who automatically received payment
for each prize taken. These men had been forced to man the squadron and
resented all attempts to impose discipline on them. Cochrane
counteracted with rigorous procedures. He kept the men in constant
training and rewarded them by issuing uniforms to those who qualified as
sailors. In time, his iron discipline would give Chile a reputation that
made its flag respected. When the time came to face the enemy in
landings and boardings which everyone else thought were too risky, the
Chileans forgot their unhappiness over money and their personal
rivalries. The epic events that were to follow were the result of a new
spirit infused into the fleet by Cochrane.
Cochrane planned to attack Callao by disguising his ships as American
men-of-war. The fog separated his ships and after six days of waiting
all that the Chileans could do was challenge the batteries. The Admiral
realized that he could gain nothing by challenging shore fortifications,
so he decreed the blockade of Callao and took the Island of San Lorenzo
with Miller and his marines.
A further attempt to attack the port with fireships failed completely.
The blockade dragged on and in spite of capturing several prizes the
supplies were running out. The squadron was forced to move up and down
the coast on supply gathering excursions. The first landings convinced
Cochrane of the great possibilities offered by such assaults. The crews
were therefore organized into marine companies. The towns of Supe,
Huacho, Patalvica, Huarmey, Huancayo and Payta were attacked. In Payta
some English sailors stole the robes and sacred vessels from the Church.
Cochrane had the culprits lashed in the public plaza, and he gave out of
his own pocket a one thousand peso donation to the church as reparation
of the offense.
The squadron failed to meet the transports bringing reinforcements and
supplies from Chile, so Cochrane was forced to return without
accomplishing his main objective: the destruction of the Spanish
squadron. The secondary mission had been a great success: he had
inspired the Peruvians Patriots not only by his actions but also by
delivering printed proclamations that their liberation was at hand; he
had reconnoitered the port and defenses at Callao; he had terrorized
enemy shipping so that they would not leave their anchorages.
Furthermore, his marine landings had opened an unlimited field of action
whose results had exceeded the most optimistic hopes. In Peru, Cochrane
revived the image of the sea raider which Drake had left. This new
"Draco" was nicknamed "el diablo", the devil, a title that seems fitting
when we consider the limited resources at his command.
Upon his return to Valparaíso, Cochrane again was plagued by the same
problems he had left behind. He needed money to pay the crews and
improve his artillery; in spite of Chile's rich forests, lumber was not
available. There were attempts by certain people in the
government--particularly some Argentinians--to undermine Cochrane's
prestige. It seems that his success with the marines was not well
received by those around San Martín, since thy expected to control the
land phase of the expedition to Peru. Among them, was O'Higgins able
Minister of Marine, Ignacio Zenteno, the man in charge of raising monies
for the navy and also opposed to the enlargement of the marine brigade.
The staff of the Army and the secret Masonic organization known as the
Lautaro Lodge tried to get rid of the Admiral as a threat to their
Peruvian plans. He was allowed however, to recruit people in the
countryside. But even so, he did not lack for crews; in spite of no
money to pay for regular salaries many foreign sailors were encouraged
by the coastal raids and the prospect of prize money to serve in Chile.
The American sloop of war Macedonia was forced to keep her sailors on
board while anchored in Chilean ports, because there was danger of the
crews deserting to the privateers.
The number of privateers increased remarkably in 1818. True, they were a
problems for the navy but they disrupted Spanish commerce from Peru to
Panama; and not a few attacked Spanish shipping along the coast of
Central America. The sloop Chileno, owned by a private citizen, captured
a frigate off the California coast. The corvette Rosa de los Andes, the
most famous Chilean privateer, battled the Spanish frigate Piedad to a
draw and later raked the decks of the 52-gun frigate Prueba. This ship,
under the command of Captain Illingsworth, took many towns along the
coast of Panama; and he even sent his men into battle in the Caribbean
after crossing the isthmus carrying one of the ships boats on their
shoulders. The contribution of the privateers to the cause of
Independence cannot be underestimated: they waged an unceasing war
against Spanish commerce to the point where a fleet of merchant ships
had to anchor at Callao. A true naval blockade of the port could not
have immobilized them better. But they also violated the rights of
neutral vessels. They drew to their crews navy deserters. Some turned
into outright pirates, sacking, burning, and sinking their captures, so
that Cochrane was eventually forced to put a limit to their excesses.
Cochrane reorganized his squadron by adding a few brigs and a full
battalion of marines. On September 9, 1819, the second expedition left
Valparaíso and headed north. The ships were carrying Congreve rockets
and another infantry battalion had been promised him at Coquimbo.
Reinforcements were not waiting at Coquimbo; but instead a few raw
recruits, many pressed into service, were going to join the squadron.
Cochrane was furious and thought he had been deliberately misled in
Santiago; but he kept on course for Peru.
The first attack against Callao failed. The rockets burst in mid-air,
their guiding rods breaking soon after firing. The brigs pulling the
rafts with the launchers ran out of wind and took severe punishment from
the forts. Only Major Miller of the marines, in command of a barge with
a mortar, achieved some success. Upon examination, it was discovered
that the rockets were partially filled with dirt and that the rods had
been weakened on purpose. The governor, in an attempt to save money had
forced the Spanish prisoners in his fortress to work on the rockets and
they had sabotaged the weapons.
Disappointed by the results, Cochrane decided to attack Pisco, at that
time the second port of the Viceroyalty. It was planned as a night
action, but a calm delayed the ships and the troops landed in broad
daylight. They encountered heavy opposition and Lieutenant Colonel
Charles, the newly appointed commandant of the marines, was killed.
Miller, who then took command, was gravely wounded. For some unknown
reason the Chileans had become masters of the bayonet, a fact that none
of their enemies would ever later ignore. When the marines charged, they
succeeded in routing more than a thousand Spaniards, and in capturing
both the fort and the town.
Cochrane held Pisco for a few days, but the men embarked at Coquimbo had
infected his crews with typhoid fever and Pisco could not be held. He
realized that a return to Chile with sickly troops, after a second
failure attack to Callao, would destroy all hope placed on him. He
decide to tighten the squadron by sending the sick and the wounded back
to Chile and keeping only his best officers and men; then he sailed
north.
A Spanish convoy with reinforcements for the Viceroy had been severely
hit by storms around Cape Horn and the ships had been dispersed. The
only surviving warship, the frigate Prueba, had taken refuge in
Guayaquil. Cochrane arrived off the mouth of the River Guayas and
entered the estuary with just the O'Higgins, not wanting to risk the
other ships to the treacherous and dangerous navigation of the shallow
waters of the delta. Behind the island of Puna he found the armed
merchant ships BegoZa and Aguila and captured them both. But the Prueba
had been taken up river after unloading her cannons. Cochrane sent some
of his ships back to Valparaíso with the prizes, left his brigs to
blockade the mouth of the Guayas, and kept his flagship. He decided that
some great feat had to be accomplished so that the hope of the people of
Chile and his own personal prestige re-established. Needing time both to
think out his plan and to refresh his crews, he ran his ship downwind
into the Pacific.
The wounded Miller had not been sent back to Chile: Cochrane had him
moved to the Admiral's cabin where he could consult with him. Cochrane
proposed attacking the fortified port of Valdivia. Miller thought the
admiral was mad and told him so. Valdivia was the base of Spanish
guerrilla operations in southern Chile and at that time the strongest
fortified port in the Pacific, bar none. Cochrane would later write in
his Memoirs: "My design was, with the flagship alone, to capture by a
coup de main the numerous forts and garrison of Valdivia, a fortress
previously deemed impregnable, and thus counteract the disappointment
which would ensue in Chili from our want of success before Callao. The
enterprise was a desperate one; nevertheless, I was not about to do
anything desperate, having resolved that, unless fully satisfied as to
its practicability, I would not attempt it." (4)
He knew the local garrison would be expecting a Spanish frigate, so it
was be easy for him to deceive the local commander at a distance by
flying Spanish colors. When an honor guard and a pilot came to greet
him, they were made prisoner and valuable information was obtained from
them. The pilot, with a pistol at his head, guided the O'Higgins into
the bay and Cochrane even fired a gun saute to the Spanish commander at
his headquarters in Corral Castle. Once he was satisfied he has gained
considerable knowledge, he sailed out from under the Spanish guns. Only
then, did the Royalist suspect the identity of their visitor, but it was
too late to do anything about it. Coming out of the port he captured the
brig Potrillo, the very same vessel that had been betrayed by its crew
six years earlier. She was carrying pay for the Valdivia garrison,
important dispatches, and a valuable chart of the Valdivia forts,
channels and soundings. Thus Cochrane learned that Valdivia was defended
by eleven batteries, which mounted 110 guns served by 700 men, and which
could be reinforced by 800 infantrymen from the town of Valdivia itself.
Cochrane realized that it would be sheer madness to attack with the
O'Higgins alone as he had originally planned. Needing more men, he went
north to Concepcíon, where General Ramon Freire maintained a respectable
garrison to contain the guerrilla attacks of the Royalist Benavides,
Pico, and Ferrebu.
In Concepcíon Freire gave him his full cooperation. He placed under
Cochrane's command 250 picked men and Major George Beaucheff, a brave
officer who had fought under Napoleon. The brig Intrepido and the
schooner Montezuma, which were anchored at Talcahuano, were made part of
the expedition. All this was done without authorization from Santiago,
although both Freire and Cochrane wrote to O'Higgins informing them of
their plans. Cochrane had sent the Potrillo back to Valparaíso so that
the Concepcíon troops were loaded in the three remaining vessels and set
sail for Valdivia.
The night after sailing, the O'Higgins struck a submerged rock and
started sinking. There were not enough boats, the pumps would not work
and the soldiers were on the verge of panic. Cochrane fixed the pumps
himself and put the crew and troops to work bailing. He refused to
repair the damage or to return to Talcahuano and insisted on going to
Valdivia. He later transferred the men to the two smaller vessels and
left the O'Higgins with enough men to bail and keep her afloat.
Late in the afternoon of February 3, the two ships entered the narrows
and tried unsuccessfully to use the same disguise as before. soon they
came under heavy fire while defending troops began to concentrate on the
small beach at the Aguada del Ingles. Two launches from Cochrane's ships
landed soldiers, sailors, and marines who charged with fixed bayonets.
So successful was this landing that the Chileans were soon at the foot
of the first battery. The enclosure was surrounded and taken by assault
despite the superior number of defenders. The fleeing Royalists ran into
the next fort, followed closely by their pursuers, who managed to enter
the fortification with the fugitives and create panic among the
defenders. The attack became a rout as five forts fell before midnight.
At that time the Royalist headquarters at Corral Castle was assaulted
and captured. The whole southern shore of the bay was now in the
Patriot's possession.
The next day Cochrane sailed his two ships into the inner bay,
exchanging fire with the northern forts where the men, totally
demoralized, believed that their defenses were under attack by 2000
Chileans. At mid-morning the O'Higgins, low in the water but without a
single soldier on board, entered the bay. Seeing this ship, the
Royalists abandoned their positions and fled upriver to Valdivia. There,
panic quickly spread to the local garrison and the town was abandoned.
Beaucheff occupied it with his men and set up civilian authorities. All
the fortifications, the frigate Dolores, and the rich area around
Valdivia were now incorporated into Chile.
Thinking that a surprise attack on Chiloe Island might be successful,
Cochrane decided to capture it too. Having lost the Intrepido on a mud
bank and having to run the O'Higgins ashore to keep her from sinking,
Cochrane now had to rely on the Montezuma and Dolores for
transportation. The Spanish commander of Chiloe's garrison, Antonio
Quintanilla, was well prepared for Cochrane's arrival and had strong
cavalry and infantry forces to repel any attack. The defenses were two
well fortified positions. The outer fort, Corona, was easily captured by
the Chileans, but the second, Fort Agui, proved to be well defended.
Miller was wounded again and Cochrane decided to re-embark his troops
and retreat.
The capture of Valdivia, besides being the outstanding single feat of
the War of Independence, had brought several advantages to the Patriots.
It yielded a large amount of military stores while depriving the
Royalists of their most secure port in the Pacific and as well as the
guerrillas of their only supply route and base of operations. On the
international scene, it created such respect or Chile, that after the
news of the victory reached London, a loan from English bankers was
easily secured. Furthermore, the failure of the attack on Callao was
forgotten and Cochrane became a popular hero. San Martín and Chile could
now turn their full attention to the Peruvian campaign.
The Peruvian Expedition
Cochrane firmly believed that with two thousand men and General Freire
he could easily conquer Peru. To take more men, he thought, was to
burden the squadron with too many supply problems; to organize a full
scale expedition, as planned by San Martín, would be to waste time that
would give further advantages to the Viceroy. But Cochrane's plan was
too risky for O'Higgins, who was committed to San Martín and the United
Army. There were several meetings of the three leaders and finally the
Lautaro Lodge prevailed: San Martín would lead a full scale operation
against Peru. Cochrane was never convinced of the merits of the plan.
Basically, O'Higgins could not risk a failure. He had devoted all his
energies to organize the army and navy in a country devastated by ten
years of war. Today it would seem impossible that a nation in such a
poor financial state could manage to do so, but O'Higgins's
administrative abilities sustained the United Army, secured weapons to
arm Peruvian recruits, and kept the fleet at sea.
When everything was ready, O'Higgins went to Valparaíso to direct the
final preparations. It took three days to load the equipment, cannons,
horses, and the men themselves. Finally, on August 20, 1820, O'Higgins
and San Martín could see the realization of their dreams as they watched
nine warships and sixteen transports leave the bay. On board were 4642
soldiers, almost 4000 of them Chileans, 1600 sailors and a cadre of
Argentinian and Chilean officers to take command of the Peruvian
recruits who were expected to join the Army. The United Army which now
became the Liberating Army, consisted of six infantry battalions, two
cavalry regiments, and an artillery division with 35 guns. The supplies
would last for four months and additional equipment was carried to
supply two more armies similar to that on board.
Cochrane was in command of the sea forces but the overall command was
held by San Martín. The commodore in charge of transports was Pablo
Delano, an American. The fleet stopped at Coquimbo to load another
battalion of Chilean infantry. As soon as they were at sea, a
disagreement arose between Cochrane and San Martín. The General
requested to be taken to Trujillo, in northern Peru, precisely where
Pizarro had started the Conquest of the Incas.The Admiral thought it
would be better to land at Quilca and march on Lima as soon as possible
while the squadron attacked Callao. San Martín refused to go along with
this plan but in the end agreed not to go to Trujillo. Instead, the army
was landed at Pisco, where the troops stayed for fifty days with
practically nothing to do. General Arenales was sent to the interior on
a reconnaissance mission with orders to march north. San Martín should
have learned in Pisco the true feeling of the Peruvians. They were
indifferent to the cause of Independence at best. Some were against all
intrusions and their presence in the town did nothing to change the
situation. Upon his arrival, San Martín had refused to attack the local
garrison, allowing the soldiers to escape into the interior. Still, most
of the inhabitants left, carrying with them as many of their possessions
as they could. The Chilean squadron could not engage in any offensive
activities since it was needed to protect the anchored transports. But
the mere presence of the expedition had achieved some benefit and news
soon arrived that Guayaquil had declared itself independent upon hearing
of the arrival of the army.
Cochrane could not accept this inactivity. He wanted to attack, conquer
the viceregal forces, and liberate the Peruvians. San Martín still clung
to the idea that it would not be necessary to fire a shot because the
Peruvians were waiting to be liberated. Furthermore, thinking in terms
of the Spanish conquest, he believed that once the Viceroy was removed
and Lima occupied the whole country would side with the Patriots. It
must be conceded that San Martín was ill: his stomach pain was so severe
that he had to take strong drugs and his great personal qualities had
deteriorated. He had become stubborn, was unable to make clear and quick
decisions, and had let himself be led by unscrupulous characters, among
whom the main figure was one Bernardo de Monteagudo.
Finally, convinced of the futility of staying at Pisco, San Martín
agreed to reembark the army move on Callao. After arriving off the port,
the convoy anchored at Ancon, just north of Lima. Cochrane took his
three best ships O'Higgins, Independencia and Lautaro, and blockaded
Callao. He had made up his mind that in order to salvage at least part
of the objective of the expedition, another spectacular feat-- such as
the one in Valdivia-- was needed. As before, he did not communicate his
plan to his superior officer, in this case San Martín, for fear that he
would forbid him to undertake such a risky attack. He had already
realized that San Martín was not the same person as the victorious
general of Chacabuco and Maipo. If San Martín had refused to face the
enemy on land, Cochrane was sure that the rapidly aging leader would not
want any engagements at sea. Since no Spanish warships had ventured out
of Callao, Cochrane decided that it would be necessary to enter the port
and attack them there. He chose as his main objective the flagship of
the Spanish Pacific Fleet, the frigate Esmeralda, which was anchored
under the 300 guns of Callao and protected by a floating barrier of
pontoons, old masts and chains to prevent this kind of attack. Besides,
27 cannon launches patrolled the bay and the Esmeralda was crammed with
the best sailors and soldiers who could be spared from the shore
fortifications.
Cochrane set out to drill his crews, first with climbing exercises, then
with techniques of silent rowing and finally, hand to hand fighting.
When at last his plan was finished and his men ready he revealed the
object of the exercises in a proclamation asking for volunteers to deal
a mortal blow to the enemy. Since all the men volunteered he was forced
to select 160 sailors and 80 marines.
On the night of November 5, 1821, two silent columns of boats entered
Callao Bay. When they encountered the night patrol launch, Cochrane
himself pointed a pistol at the leader and called on him to surrender.
The boats cut through the barriers and approached the Esmeralda which
was boarded simultaneously from both sides. The Spanish offered a stiff
resistance but the Chileans managed to capture the top masts. When
Cochrane ordered sail set, the maneuver was carried out so perfectly
that Cochrane would later write: "No British man-of-war's crew could
have excelled this minute attention to orders."
The admiral was wounded twice in the fighting; and his second in
command, Captain Martín Guise, was unable to continue the attack as
planned. Cochrane had hoped for a repetition of the events at Valdivia,
capturing ship after ship at Callao, as he had captured forts there.
Proof that the Peruvians were unwilling to fight for liberation was
found the next morning; when the American frigate Macedonia sent a boat
ashore to the market, a mob, believing them to have been involved in
Cochrane's attack, killed several sailors and kept the boat.
The effects of the capture of the Esmeralda from under the guns of
Callao's fortifications were to erase what fighting spirit the Viceroyal
troops had left. The Numancia battalion went over to San Martín, and the
naval power of the Viceroy was dissipated, by the demoralization of his
crews. Even so, San Martín still refused to attack.
Cochrane kept busy by attacking all the points he could reach on the
Peruvian coast from Pisco to Arica. When the Viceroy finally evacuated
Lima, San Martín moved in and proclaimed the Independence of Peru,
thinking himself was master of the entire country. Because the Callao
fortifications remained in Royalist hands, Cochrane ordered a night
attack under the command of Captain Thomas Crosbie. On July 24, Crosbie,
a veteran of the Esmeralda attack, easily captured four frigates and
several smaller ships ; and then he burned what could not be sailed or
towed out.
San Martín soon declared himself "Protector" of Peru and attempted to
keep the navy under his new flag. Despite their brilliant work, the
crews had not been paid. The Admiral, confronting San Martín, insisted
on payment and the discussion between the two men turned bitter.
According to Cochrane, San Martín answered that 'he would never pay the
Chilean squadron unless it was sold to Peru and then the payment would
be considered part of the purchase money.'
Cochrane refused to agree to this arrangement, alleging that the minute
that San Martín had become the head of Peru he no longer deserved any
allegiance from a navy, whose men were sworn to serve Chile. Cochrane
left; he would not see San Martín again. The Admiral went back to his
flagship, took over the treasury which had been left for safekeeping on
board the Lautaro, and he paid the crews ,sending a letter to San Martín
in which he explained his action and taking full responsibility for it.
San Martín tried by all means to get back the ships and the money. He
attempted to buy-off the captains, officers and crews and many went over
to his side and joined the newly formed Peruvian navy. Rather than risk
an incident and further loss of crews, Cochrane decided to leave Callao.
Some ships were sent back to Chile and the Admiral set sail with the
O'Higgins, Independencia, Esmeralda now renamed Valdivia, Araucano and
two schooners. He cruised north in search of the frigates Prueba and
Venganza, the only two Spanish ships left in the Pacific.
The squadron sailed all the way to Acapulco without finding a trace of
the missing frigates. While in Mexico he sent an expedition north to the
Baja California under command of Captain Wilkinson, who took with him
Independencia and Araucano. This was a most successful venture, as the
Chileans attacked Royalist forces all along the coast, captured a brig
and even proclaimed the Independence of California at San José del Cabo,
on the tip of Baja California, on February 17, 1822. The Araucano,
however, was lost to mutineers, who sailed up the California coast
before heading for Hawaii then Tahiti.
The squadron returned to Peru and found that the two Spanish frigates,
after searching for their enemy in order to surrender, had turned
themselves into Peru. The ports of Peru were closed to the Chilean ships
by order of the Protector; and since the task of the navy was finished--
not a Spanish ship was left in the Pacific-- Cochrane ordered a return
to Chile. The Chilean soldiers who remained in Peru would eventually end
up fighting alongside Bolívar in the final campaign for Peruvian
Independence.
Cochrane returned to a Chile in which O'Higgins's situation had
seriously deteriorated. His old friend Freire approached him with a
project to overthrow the government, but Cochrane refused and shortly
after left for Brazil.
Cochrane left Chile not only the memory and benefit of a brilliant
campaign. The organization, discipline and spirit de corps of the
Chilean Navy were all begun by this great British admiral. He never
forgot Chile; and Chile never forgot him. To his dying day he received
his retirement pension; and he always wore the medal he earned at
Valdivia. With him came great captains such as Crosbie, Wilkinson,
Simpson and Illingsworth whose actions established a tradition of
discipline, service, and honor that would last to the present day.
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