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CONWAY
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(20) |
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Built in 1814, Frindsbury.
Sold in 1825. |
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- 1815 Capt. John TANCOCK, convoy to the West Indies in January.
- 1817 Capt William HILL, East Indies.
- 1817 Capt. Edward BARNARD, 07/1817, East Indies.
He was posted out of BACCUS by Rear Ad. Richard KING. - Capt. Basil HALL, 05/1820.
On 20 August 1820 she sailed from England for the South American station and touched at Teneriffe, Rio de Janeiro and the River Plate.
Capt. HALL was ordered by Commodore Sir Thomas HARDY to proceed to Valparaiso which he reached at Christmas. While visiting the Chilean capital Santiago Capt. HALL heard that a French line-of-battle ship and a frigate were about to arrive at Valparaiso so he and his officers hurried back there to be on board CONWAY in case the French intentions were hostile as many Chileans feared.
On 22 January 1821 Capt. SPENCER in OWEN GLENDOWER arrived at Valparaiso and CONWAY sailed for Callao which she reached nine days later. Peru was still in a state of revolt against Spain with Lord COCHRANE's insurgent squadron blockading her ports and General San Martin advancing on Lima from Chile. - On the evening of 18 February, while Capt. HALL was at Lima visiting the Viceroy, General La Serna, and his immediate predecessor, the deposed General Pezuela, two officers from CONWAY were arrested at Callao and were imprisoned in the castle there on suspicion of being spies from Lord COCHRANE's squadron.
Although they had landed in Capt. HALL's boat five men at Callao swore to their having belonged to Lord COCHRANE's ship. Although Capt. HALL, after several applications obtained an order from the Viceroy to see the prisoners it had to pass through many hands before he was allowed to see, but not talk, to them. He then officially identified them as officers of the CONWAY and, although the Viceroy admitted that the witnesses against them were worthless, the case would have dragged on had not three Spanish gentlemen who had been prisoners-of-war swore that the prisoners had not been on Lord COCHRANE's flagship. - CONWAY left Callao on 23 February and the following day Capt. HALL had an interview with Lord COCHRANE on his flag ship, the SAN MARTIN, which had rejoined the blockading squadron just before.
ANDROMACHE reached the anchorage off Callao on the 25th. and CONWAY sailed on the 28th. reaching Valparaiso on the evening of 18 March. It was hard for the Chileans to believe that CONWAY had been to Peru and returned in a matter of seven weeks since they were used to such trips taking the same number of months. - CONWAY sailed for Santiago on 23 March for Capt. HALL to report to the Commander-in-chief but from the 5 April to 26 May they remained at Valparaiso making surveys and observing a comet which remained in sight from 1 April to 8 June.
They left Valparaiso on 26 May and sailed along the coast to Arica where they landed on 7 June but found the place deserted after recent military operations.
Ylo was the next port of call where they found only six living things and one of these was a half starved jackass.
From the 13 to 20 June they anchored in the open roads of Mollendo where Capt. HALL discovered that the local rafts made of inflated seal skins were more successful than the ship's boats in crossing the surf without coming to grief. Callao was reached on 24 June and the next day Capt. HALL met General San Martin on a schooner in the roads. On the 5 July the Spanish Viceroy announced his intention of abandoning Lima and the General entered the capital on the 12th. - On 14 November 1821 CONWAY commenced another cruise from Valparaiso to visit ports between there and Lima to assist and protect British interests. They stopped at Coquimbo and Copiapo where one of her midshipmen surveyed the harbour. She stayed at Callao from 9 to 17 December before sailing north to Payta, Guayaquil, the Galapagos, Panama, Acapulco and San Blas which was reached on 2 March 1822.
On 6 May more than half a million dollars for the purchase of British goods were loaded on board CONWAY and she sailed on 15 June for the voyage of nearly 8,000 miles round the Horn to Rio where she anchored on 12 September.
CONWAY returned to England where she was paid off at Chatham in the spring of 1823.
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