Sinking of Cazador
History
NameGeneral Castilla
Launched1848
FateSold to Chile 1851
Chile
NameCazador
Commissioned1851
Honours and
awards		First Steamer in the Chilean Navy
FateSunk on 30 January 1856 off Punta Carranza
General characteristics
Displacement250 bm
Propulsion150 ps, 3 masts, barque rigged[1]
Speed9 kn
Complement65

The Cazador was a steamboat built 1848 in France and bought 1851 by the Chilean Navy for the transport of military and cargo along the coast of Chile.

On 30 January 1856, the Cazador sailed off Talcahuano bound for Valparaíso at 11:30 AM carrying the 2nd Company of the Battalion Maipo and their families. In addition, she carried supplies, horses and guns. She sailed 6 miles from the coast at 9 kn.

At 20:00, the ship was driven onto a reef off Point Carranza, 10 km south of Constitución.

The sinking of the Cazador resulted in the greatest single-incident maritime loss of life in the history of Chile.[2]

Sources disagree on the number rescued and the final death toll. The ship's captain, Ramón Cabieses, in his report gives 23 rescued and 307 dead,[3] but author Carlos López Urrutia gives 400 dead.

After the sinking, Captain Cabieses faced a drumhead court martial[4] to determine his responsibility in the deaths of those on board. Public opinion at the time demanded that he be beheaded - however, thanks to his influence, his distinguished service in earlier naval campaigns, and that at the time there were few officials familiar with the coast of Chile, the Chilean Navy commuted his sentence.

References

  1. ↑ Wreck site, PSS Cazador (+1856)
  2. ↑ Carlos López Urrutia (29 February 2008). Historia de La Marina de Chile. Lulu.com. ISBN 978-0-615-18574-3.
  3. ↑ Cited in Tragedias marítimas de importancia en Chile, retrieved on 31 December 2012
  4. ↑ El Mercurio de Valparaíso, 28/02/1856 «Naufrajio de Vapor Cazador»

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