The Schooner Constitución and Preparations for the Pacific Expedition (1814–15)
The Constitución was a medium-sized schooner, similar to the vessel shown in the image. She was American-built, but belonged to an Italian resident in Chile, Andrés Barrios, or Andrea Bario, who leased her to the United Provinces as the campaign against Montevideo was drawing to a close.
Preparations for the expedition to the Pacific began with this small vessel. Unfortunately, the Constitución was wrecked in Antarctic waters and there were no survivors.
Following the disaster at Rancagua and the fall of Chile into Royalist hands, many patriots from Santiago fled to Mendoza, capital of the Governorate of Cuyo in Argentina, the last territory to remain free from Spanish control. Among them was the priest Julián Uribe, a member of the governing Junta and an ally of the Carrera brothers.
José Miguel Carrera’s conduct forced General José de San Martín, who by then governed Cuyo and was working to raise the Army of the Andes, to disarm Carrera’s followers and send them to Buenos Aires, Uribe among them. On their arrival they received assistance from Carlos María de Alvear, who shortly afterwards became Supreme Director of the United Provinces. While Carrera sought support for recognition as the legitimate government of Chile and obtained resources to mount an expedition to Coquimbo and resume the struggle, Father Julián Uribe proposed a plan to attack the Spanish in Chile by disrupting Spanish shipping and trade along the coasts of Valparaíso, Coquimbo, Atacama, Arequipa, Callao and Guayaquil.
The project had originally been devised by Andrés Barrios. Following Brown’s successful 1814 naval campaign against Montevideo, Barrios transported 200 soldiers from that city to Buenos Aires aboard the Constitución free of charge. He subsequently offered the vessel to the state for only $4,000, despite its estimated value of $6,200. Brown recorded that “this individual [Barrios] offered his vessel and his personal services for an undertaking of such importance to the country, for an insignificant sum”. Since, of the $4,000, he “had received only $1,950, guaranteed by Miguel de Irigoyen”, Barrios returned the money and recovered possession of the vessel.
The schooner, or ketch, Constitución was American-built, displaced 235 tons and measured 28 m in length, 8.75 m in beam, 5.60 m in depth and had an average draught of 2.90 m. She belonged to the patriot Andrés Barrios, also known as Andrea Bari, a native of Pisa who, after living in Concepción, had settled in Buenos Aires. Barrios was also the owner and captain of the Carmen, with which he had been trading between Chile and Buenos Aires for at least fifteen years.
After the proposed sale of the Constitución to the state fell through, Barrios offered her for privateering service in mid-1815, and the proposal was accepted on 23 May. Uribe eventually raised sufficient funds among his compatriots to acquire a share in the vessel alongside Barrios and sought the support of the commander of the Argentine squadron, William Brown. Brown agreed to join the expedition with the frigate Hércules, which had been presented to him in recognition of his services, and persuaded the authorities to contribute the brig Trinidad.
To adapt the vessel for the campaign, her owner and commander Andrés Barrios stated that “her hold has been subdivided into several compartments and various other works have been carried out”. The recruited crew numbered around one hundred men, mainly Chileans but also including Irishmen, Americans, Swedes, Italians and Englishmen.
Following Alvear’s fall from power, and while José Miguel Carrera departed for the United States, Uribe continued with the project with Brown’s support. On 20 September 1815, Andrés Barrios received from the government the corresponding Letter of Marque No. 27 of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata, with Miguel de Irigoyen acting as guarantor. Barrios was initially listed as commander, but at the last moment he was replaced by Lieutenant-Colonel of Marines Oliver Russell, Brown’s right-hand man during the Battle of Montevideo.
The government supplied the weapons and stores required not only for the privateering campaign but also for recruiting and arming a patriot army in Chile. The List of Artillery, Sets of Arms, Ammunition and Other Military Stores Delivered by Superior Order to Andrés Barrios, Commander of the Ketch Constitución recorded, among other items, one bronze 16-pounder gun, two iron 8-pounders and four 4-pounders; 210 canisters of grapeshot; 100 16-pound shot, 200 8-pound shot and 400 4-pound shot; 30 rounds of 16-pound bar shot; 12 quintals of gunpowder; two quintals of slow match; 1,000 musket cartridges; 100 pistol flints; 50 musket flints; and other supplies. The quantity and weight of the material loaded aboard were so considerable that they caused the vessel serious difficulties during the voyage and probably contributed to her tragic fate.
To give Uribe considerable freedom of action, his instructions were deliberately broad: to harass, capture or burn any vessel sailing under the Spanish flag; blockade Spanish-held ports on the Pacific; gather information on the general situation in Chile and Peru and on the Royalist and patriot land and naval forces operating there; ascertain the views of the insurgents and encourage and support their activities and military operations; clandestinely introduce proclamations and revolutionary writings; and undertake other similar activities.
Within a few months the squadron was ready. It consisted of the frigate Hércules, commanded by Brown’s brother-in-law Walter Dawes Chitty; the brig, or sumaca, Trinidad, commanded by Miguel Brown; the brig Halcón, under Captain Hipólito Bouchard, whose military commander was Ramón Freire, the future head of state of Chile; and the schooner Constitución, also known as the Uribe, under Oliver Russell.
The rest of the story has already been told. The Constitución sank near the South Shetland Islands while attempting to reach the Pacific in the midst of a violent storm. Uribe, Russell, Barrios and the entire crew were lost.
El Corsario del Plata