Chilean ship Micalvi

The Micalvi was an auxiliary vessel of the Chilean Navy.

Micalvi in the marina of Puerto Williams
History
Germany
Name: Bragi, Bostonlines
Namesake: Bragi
Operator: Emil R. Retzlaff, Stettin, Germany, 1926 sold to Otto A. Müller, Hamburg,
Builder: Ostseewerft in Frauendorf
Launched: 1925
Fate: Sold to Chile, 1928
Chile
Name: Contramaestre Micalvi
Namesake: Boatswain Constantino Micalvi, a Greek sailor in the Chilean Navy
Commissioned: 1928
Decommissioned: 1961
Fate: Museum ship in Puerto Williams
General characteristics
Displacement: 850 long tons (864 t)
Length: 181 ft (55 m) 6 in (0 m)
Draught: 11 ft (3.4 m)
Propulsion: One triple expansion steam engine 380 hp.
Speed: 9.5 knots (17.6 km/h; 10.9 mph)

Career

Built by Ostseewerft in Frauendorf, now Golęcino, as the Bragi in 1925. She was used as a merchant vessel on the Baltic Sea. In 1926 she was sold to O.A. Müller, Hamburg, and renamed Bostonlines.

In 1928 she was sold to the Chilean Navy and sailed from Europe with a cargo of ammunition for the battleship Almirante Latorre, after arrival she was due to be broken up, but, like the Majestic, she was refitted as a supply vessel for the Punta Arenas region, where she gave service to the colonists in sparsely inhabited areas, especial Tortel and Navarino Island.

Chilean naval mutiny of 1931
Main article: Chilean naval mutiny of 1931

During the Chilean naval mutiny of 1931 she was anchored in Talcahuano under the command of Lt Cdr. Pedro Espina Ritchie[1] but the crew joined the mutiny and brought the ship into the hands of the insurrection. She was ordered to weigh anchor and sail to Lota in order to bring miners to support the rebellion, but there they were seized by Carabineros de Chile, then a cavalry troop of the army dedicated to police tasks.[2][3]:520

Snipe incident
Main article: Snipe incident

In 1958 the Micalvi crew built a lighthouse on the islet Snipe to improve the navigation on the Beagle Channel. The beacon of the lighthouse was installed on 1 May and it triggered the Snipe incident. The Argentine Navy shelled the Chilean beacon and disembarked an infantry company in the uninhabited islet.

Museum ship

Micalvi was decommissioned in 1961, and then used as pontoon. She was anchored in Puerto Williams in 1961 and declared as an historical ship and museum. Since 2007 used as clubhouse and restaurant in the local yacht harbour.[4]

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See also

References
  1. Carlos René Manuel Tromben Corbalán, The Chilean Naval Mutiny of 1931, University of Exeter, Thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Maritime History, September 2010
  2. Portalnet.cl, Sublevación de la Escuadra en 1931, retrieved on 6 March 2013
  3. Carlos Lpez Urrutia (1 February 2008). Historia de la Marina de Chile. Lulu.com. ISBN 978-0-615-18574-3.
  4. On Deck sailing Puerto Williams

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