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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060
Photo # NH 496:  Peruvian corvette America wrecked by a tidal wave, 1868

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- SHIPS of the PERUVIAN NAVY --

America (Corvette, 1864-1868).
Originally intended to be CSS Georgia

America, an 1827-ton steam corvette, was originally ordered in France by the Confederate Navy, which expected to name her Georgia. The ship was embargoed by the French Government in February 1864. Launched in that year, she was later sold to Peru, which named her America. She was wrecked on 13 August 1868 at Arica, Peru (later part of Chile), by the same tidal wave that stranded the U.S. gunboat Wateree.

This page features all our views of the Peruvian corvette America.

If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

Photo #: NH 496

America
(Peruvian Warship)

Beached and partially dismasted at Arica, Chile, following the 13 August 1868 tidal wave that washed her and other vessels ashore. Photographed from the seaward side.
Ship in the distance, beyond America's bow, is USS Wateree.

This photograph was received from Captain Dudley W. Knox in 1934.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 96KB; 740 x 500 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 42226

USS Wateree
(1864-1868)

Beached at Arica, Chile, after she was washed ashore by a tidal wave on 13 August 1868.
Partially dismasted ship stranded in the left distance is the Peruvian warship America.

Halftone image, copied from the U.S. Naval Institute "Proceedings", July 1926, page 1323.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 81KB; 740 x 495 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 43759

USS Wateree
(1864-1868)

Stranded at Arica, Chile, after she was washed ashore by the 13 August 1868 tidal wave.
The Peruvian corvette America is partially visible in the distance.

Courtesy of Mrs. A.B. Hendrickson, from the collection of her father, the late Rear Admiral Luther G. Billings.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 138KB; 740 x 605 pixels

Note:
This image may be reversed. The orientation of ships is the opposite of that of other photographs of this incident.

 
Photo #: NH 495

Charnasilla
(English Barque)

The shattered hull of the Charnasilla on the beach at Arica, Chile, following the 13 August 1868 tidal wave that washed her and other vessels ashore.
Ship partially visible at right is the Peruvian warship America.

This photograph was received from Captain Dudley W. Knox in January 1934.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 71KB; 740 x 495 pixels

 


If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


Return to Naval Historical Center home page.

Page made 14 June 2001