Don José Alvarez, the Chilian agent, in a communication to Lord Cochrane, had called attention to the “unfortunate delay,” and urged him to embark immediately with his family in the ship Rose to proceed to Chili. The agent’s letter contained “the assurance that I will attend to the affairs of the Rising Star, and take care that everything is done to her.”
The memorial of the Hon. William Erskine Cochrane to the President of the Chilian Republic many years later, in reciting the circumstance, states that Mr. Edward Ellice, then an eminent English merchant and a well-wisher to the independence of Chili, undertook the completion and equipment of the Rising Star, but after having expended £8000 and the machinery being found defective, he declined making any further advance, and being unable to obtain repayment of the sum he had expended or the funds requisite for the necessary alterations and equipment he advertised the vessel for sale. Don Alvarez then wrote to Lord Cochrane on April 18, 1820, announcing Messrs. Ellice and Co.’s intentions and solicited his assistance and added: “I shall, on the part of the Government of Chili, agree to the following terms: The ship, engines and stores to be sold or made over to any one of your nomination for £6000; by that person and at his expense, the engines must be altered in the following manner, viz., the pipes which convey the steam from the boilers to be removed and larger ones provided. Alterations to be made in the condensers. The paddle-blades to be altered. The smoke apparatus to be completed and fitted, and the effect of the engines tried. The ship must then undergo any necessary repairs in her hull and rigging, when she must be manned, victualled, insured, and conveyed to Chili at the expence of the purchaser; boats and pumps of which she is now deficient must also be provided. The amount of these various items, together with the interest of money and profit, to be calculated at nine thousand pounds, so that on the arrival of the vessel at Chili she will be purchased by Government at fifteen thousand pounds.[47] In addition to which the licences formerly granted to Messrs. Ellice for the importation of goods to the amount of 40,000 dollars[48] of duties shall be made over and transferred to the person who undertakes this matter, and all property conveyed out in the Rising Star shall be admitted into Chili free of duties.”[49]
[47] This includes the £6000 paid for the ship.
[48] These were originally granted as a bonus.
[49] No goods were taken out in the ship.
The Rising Star was completed, and arrived at Valparaiso in April 1822. But Lord Cochrane’s work was practically over and she was therefore not required for the purpose originally intended of enabling the Chilians to cope with the Spanish Navy. In June 1823 there was a sudden change of government in Chili, and the O’Higgins Cabinet was overthrown. The change was accompanied by the restless outbreaks which have often marked political differences in the South American States, and a good many of the papers relating to the building of the Rising Star and sending her to Chili were destroyed.
The new Chilian Government, being very short of money, took advantage of the destruction of the papers and repudiated the obligation to Lord Cochrane. It would take too much space to go into the details of this lamentable affair, but it is sufficient to say that the vessel was sold, that the Cochrane interest in her vanished, and the Hon. Wm. E. Cochrane was called on for payment of a considerable additional sum solely in consequence of the vexatious delay of the Chilian Government in saying whether they would or would not fulfil their engagement.
The “Rising Star.”
From a journal kept by Major W. E. Cochrane it appears that on May 31, 1820, he made his first payment of £50 on account of the vessel to Mr. Kier, engineer. He seems to have visited very frequently the yard at Deptford where the vessel was built, sometimes with the Chilian agent, and payments on account of construction of £50 or so are frequent. By the 14th of the following September the engines were sufficiently advanced to undergo a trial, with what result is not stated. On October 6, he paid Mr. Ellice £2000 on account of the price of the ship. On the 17th he paid her another visit, when the engines were tried, and on the 18th he went again and tried the open paddles. Extensive alterations to the engines were necessary, for on November 11 there appears the item that he paid the balance of Kier’s account for that work, £163 4s. 11d. On January 30, 1821, he went and took dimensions for the smoke-burning apparatus.