Paquete de Maule

Paquete de Maule
History
Chile
Name	Paquete de Maule
Builder	Lawrence & Foulks (NY)
Completed	1861
In service	1861
Out of service	1866
Captured	6 March 1866
Fate	Captured by Spanish Navy during the Chincha Islands War
Spain
Commissioned	6 March 1866
Fate	Burned and scuttled 10 May 1866
General characteristics
Type	Sidewheel steamer
Tons burthen	407 tons
Length	165 ft (50 m)
Beam	29 ft (8.8 m)
Draft	8 ft 6 in (2.59 m)
Depth of hold	9 ft (2.7 m)
Propulsion	2 × 32 in (81 cm) cylinder, 8 ft (2.4 m) stroke vertical beam steam engines; 2 × flue boilers in hold, no blowers
Sail plan	Brig
Armament	Chile: None Spain:2 cannons

Paquete de Maule (also spelled Paquette de Maule and Paquete del Maule) was a small merchant sidewheel steamer built in the United States in 1861 for operation along the Chilean coast. Converted into a gunboat for service during the Chincha Islands War, she was captured by Spain and scuttled shortly thereafter.

Construction and design

Paquete de Maule, a 400-ton sidewheel steamer, was built by Lawrence & Foulks in 1861 at Williamsburg, New York for G. K. Stevenson & Co., who planned to operate the vessel between Valparaiso and Maule, Chile.^[1]

Paquete de Maule was 165 feet long, with a beam of 29 feet, depth of hold 9 feet, and draft of 8 feet 6 inches. She was built of white oak and locust, with square frames fastened with copper and treenails, and strengthened with diagonal and double laid braces. She was powered by a pair of 32-inch cylinder, 8-foot stroke vertical beam steam engines built by the Neptune Iron Works of New York, driving two 24-foot-diameter (7.3 m) wooden sidewheels. Steam was supplied by a pair of flue boilers without blowers, located in the hold. The vessel was also brig-rigged for auxiliary sail power.^[1]

Career

Main article: Capture of the Paquete de Maule

During the Chincha Islands War, the Paquete del Maule served as an auxiliary ship to the Chilean fleet and she was not armed. On March 6, 1866, while en route from Lota to Montevideo with a crew of 126 men destined to complete the crews of the ironclads Huáscar and Independencia, she was captured by the Spanish frigates Blanca and Numancia at the Gulf of Arauco.^[2]

On 10 May 1866, after the Battle of Callao, the Paquete del Maule was burned and scuttled by the Spanish near San Lorenzo Osland off the coast of Peru because they chose not to take her with them on their postwar withdrawal from South American waters.

See also

• Chincha Islands War
• Battle of Callao

References

1. Frazer, p. 42.
2. Own, Our (10 April 1866). "SOUTH AMERICA.; High-handed Movements in Bolivia--Miscellaneous. CENTRAL AMERICA. Revolution in Panama--Bogus Canal and Railroad Companies-The Barbacoas Gold Mines-The Mines a Failure-All the Miners Anxious to Return--Over One Hundred already Returned to Panama--Naval Matters". New York Times. Retrieved 2 January 2010.

Bibliography

• Armada de Chile. "Paquete del Maule, vapor (1º)". Unidades Navales Históricas (in Spanish). Retrieved 1 January 2010.
• Frazer, John F. (Ed.) (1863): Journal of the Franklin Institute, Volume XLV, January–June 1863, p. 42, Franklin Institute, Philadelphia.
• García Martínez, José Ramón (1997). "LA CAMPAÑA DEL PACIFICO (1862-1866)" (PDF). Revista de Marina (in Spanish). Retrieved 1 January 2010.
• López Urrutia, Carlos. "Chile: A Brief Naval History". Historical Text Archive. Retrieved 1 January 2010.