HMS Hecate was a Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

 18-gun , built by John King at Upnor

Upnor

Lower Upnor and Upper Upnor are two small villages in Medway, Kent, England. They are in the parish of Frindsbury Extra on the western bank of the River Medway...

 and launched in 1809. After serving in the British Navy, essentially entirely in the East Indies

East Indies

East Indies is a term used by Europeans from the 16th century onwards to identify what is now known as Indian subcontinent or South Asia, Southeastern Asia, and the islands of Oceania, including the Malay Archipelago and the Philippines...

, she served in the Chilean Navy as Galvarino from 1818 until she was broken up in 1828.

Royal Navy service

Hecate was commissioned in 1809 under Commander William Buchanan. Commander Edward Hoare replaced him in October and sailed for the East Indies on 31 October.

In 1810, Lieutenant George Rennie became acting commander and Hecate was detailed for service with the squadron under Admiral Albemarle Bertie

Sir Albemarle Bertie, 1st Baronet

Admiral Sir Albemarle Bertie, 1st Baronet, KCB, was a long-serving and at time controversial officer of the British Royal Navy who saw extensive service in his career but also courted controversy with several of his actions....

 engaged in the Invasion of Île de France

Invasion of Île de France

The Invasion of Île de France was a complicated but successful amphibious operation in the Indian Ocean, launched in November 1810 during the Napoleonic Wars. During the operation, a substantial British military force was landed by the Royal Navy at Grand Baie on Île de France...

. In 1814 she would share in the prize money resulting from the capture of the island.

In 1811 she was under Commander Thomas Graham until July, when Commander Henry John Peachey assumed command. From 3 August she was part of the fleet involved in the invasion of Java

Anglo-Dutch Java War

The Anglo-Dutch Java War in 1810–1811 was a war between Britain and the Netherlands , fought entirely on the Island of Java in colonial Indonesia.-Background:...

, which ended with the surrender of Dutch and French forces on 16 September. For this service all of her crew who had had survived to 1847 and chose to were entitled to claim the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Java". In 1815 Hecate also shared in the prize money arising out of the invasion.

Peachey was promoted to post-captain

Post-Captain

Post-captain is an obsolete alternative form of the rank of captain in the Royal Navy.The term served to distinguish those who were captains by rank from:...

 on 7 August 1812 and removed to . Commander William Case followed Peachey. His successor, from 4 February 1814, was Commander John Allen. On 20 November 1815 command passed to John Reynolds.

Hecate arrived in Portsmouth on 17 August 1816, from Trincomalee

Trincomalee

Trincomalee is a port city in Eastern Province, Sri Lanka and lies on the east coast of the island, about 113 miles south of Jaffna. It has a population of approximately 100,000 . The city is built on a peninsula, which divides the inner and outer harbours. Overlooking the Kottiyar Bay,...

, which she had left on 20 March. She had sailed via the Cape of Good Hope

Cape of Good Hope

The Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula, South Africa.There is a misconception that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Africa, because it was once believed to be the dividing point between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. In fact, the...

 and Saint Helena

Saint Helena

Saint Helena , named after St Helena of Constantinople, is an island of volcanic origin in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the British overseas territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha which also includes Ascension Island and the islands of Tristan da Cunha...

. On 22 May 1817 the Admiralty offered Hecate, then lying at Portsmouth, for sale.

Chilean Navy service

On 30 October 1817 the Admiralty sold Hecate to Mr. Parkin for ₤860. In Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...

 she was known also under the name Lucy. She was resold to the Chilean Revolutionary government, arriving in Chile on 9 November 1818 under the command of Captain Guise. She served the new Chilean Navy as Galvarino, first under Captain Spry (until Admiral Thomas Cochrane

Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald

Admiral Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald, 1st Marquess of Maranhão, GCB, ODM , styled Lord Cochrane between 1778 and 1831, was a senior British naval flag officer and radical politician....

 dismissed him) and then under Captain Winter. On 2 October 1819 she was at the second attack on Callao

Callao

Callao is the largest and most important port in Peru. The city is coterminous with the Constitutional Province of Callao, the only province of the Callao Region. Callao is located west of Lima, the country's capital, and is part of the Lima Metropolitan Area, a large metropolis that holds almost...

 where a lieutenant onboard was killed by Spanish fire. In 1821, while under the command of Captain I. Esmond, her crew mutinied and refused to go to sea until they had received their back pay and prize money.

She participated in the liberating expedition to Perú, but after the final confrontation between San Martín

José de San Martín

José Francisco de San Martín, known simply as Don José de San Martín , was an Argentine general and the prime leader of the southern part of South America's successful struggle for independence from Spain.Born in Yapeyú, Corrientes , he left his mother country at the...

 and Cochrane and the subsequent loss of many officers and seamen to the new Peruvian Navy

Peruvian Navy

The Peruvian Navy is the branch of the Peruvian Armed Forces tasked with surveillance, patrol and defense on lakes, rivers and the Pacific Ocean up to 200 nautical miles from the Peruvian littoral...

, the Lautaro

Chilean ship Lautaro (1818)

The Lautaro was initially the British East Indiaman Windham of 850 tons built in Perry, Wells & Green shipyards for the East India Company and launched 1800. She made seven voyages to the India and China for the HEIC. In 1809-10, the French captured her twice, and the British recaptured her twice...

 and Galvarino were sent back to Valparaíso

Valparaíso

Valparaíso is a city and commune of Chile, center of its third largest conurbation and one of the country's most important seaports and an increasing cultural center in the Southwest Pacific hemisphere. The city is the capital of the Valparaíso Province and the Valparaíso Region...

to ease the demand for seamen.