The Rising Star left the dock on February 5, when the engineers received £1 for working on Sunday. On the 7th, the wheels were tried and one of them broke, and on the 8th he ordered the wheels to be brought to town. On the 16th, a payment was made of £79 19s. “for the deeds relating to the purchasing of the Rising Star.” On the 21st, he paid a bricklayer for constructing the smoke-burning apparatus in the flues of the boilers. Presumably the repairs were effected after the ship had been returned to dock, for on February 22 she was taken out of dock again. On March 20, the name of Captain Scott, as master, first appears. On the 24th, Major Cochrane “went to the ship and got the balance wheels fixed,” and on the 26th “tried the wheels, which did not propel.” The weights were taken off the paddles on the following day and reversed, and another trial was made of which the result is not stated, and there was yet another trial on the 11th of the following month. In April he paid to Mr. Brent, the builder, for docking the Rising Star, £120 15s. 3d. On May 9 he ordered “my new vertical paddles,” which were erected on the 29th. On this date there is a curious entry: “Steward and boat 6s. 6d.,” which is probably the first recorded instance of a ship’s steward receiving a tip. The wheels were tried while the vessel was in dock on June 8, and were found to act well, and Don José Alvarez visited her the next day.

On the 11th of that month the first real trial of the ship took place, for the entry reads: “Tried the ship with my vertical paddles. She went from 5 to 6 knots, (standard broke).” A new standard was ordered and on July 5, “tried my new paddles, went 20 miles at the rate of 5³⁄₄ knots an hour.” On the 18th of that month he paid Brent’s bill for alterations and repairs, £193 3s. 8d. On September 4 the ship was taken five miles down the river, and on the 11th he “ordered her into dock to have her paddle-case closed (on account of insurance).” The paddle-cases were fitted on the 13th, and on October 17 she went down to Gravesend. Then comes a series of entries which are interesting as showing the rates of pay at the time.

They are as follows, and are dated October 18:

Paid one month’s wages to Captain Scott£1000
Paid William Ford, Carpenter, for the voyage13100
Mr. Cook, Mate, one month’s voyage[50]400
To Cluly, 2nd Mate, one month’s wages300
To Leach, Steward600
Wages of Seamen2066

[50] Wages is probably meant.

The Rising Star sailed from Gravesend on October 22, 1821. Numerous heavy bills came in shortly afterwards, among which are “Insurance on ship £800,” and Mr. Brown’s account, in which is included the heavy expenses at Cork, when the ship put in there in distress, having sprung a leak off the coast of Portugal, £913 9s. 1¹⁄₂d.

Altogether the actual outlay in cash amounted to £13,295 4s. 4¹⁄₂d. The sum agreed upon in the arrangement with Don Alvarez was £15,000, to which was added the interest to the year in which the claim was made thirty-four years later, bringing the total amount of the claim of the Cochrane family on account of this little steamer to £40,500.

Mr. W. Jackson went to Chili to join Lord Cochrane as secretary, and remained with him in that capacity until his lordship’s return to England. Mr. Jackson wrote on June 20, 1856, from Melton Mowbray: “I sailed in her [the Rising Star] to Valparaiso, having been appointed joint agent with Mr. Barnard, already at that place, for her transfer to the Chilian Government. She arrived there in April 1822 in excellent condition, having proved herself a very superior sea-boat, frequently going twelve knots an hour. She was then tendered to the Government on the terms of the contract, but they first claimed her in virtue of a partial advance they had made for the building of the hull, and failing to obtain possession on that ground they repudiated the contract with Alvarez altogether, without assigning any valid reason for so doing. The sum agreed to be paid on her delivery was £15,000, no part of which was there received.”

Unfortunately, little is known as to the nature of her machinery or means of propulsion. An illustration of the Rising Star, published in 1821, represents her as a full-rigged ship and carrying two funnels placed abreast and situated between the main and fore masts; but she seems to have neither paddle-boxes nor uncovered paddle-wheels. The description attached to the picture states that the Rising Star was “built under the direction of Lord Cochrane upon the principle of navigating either by sails or by steam, the propelling apparatus being placed in the hold and caused to operate through apertures in the bottom of the vessel.”

From this it may be conjectured either that the paddles were discarded or that she was also fitted with some modification of the jet system.