Amazonas

Characteristics

Amazonas was built in England, at Thomas Wilson's (Thomas Wilson Sons and Company) shipyards in Birkenhead and Liverpool, at a cost of £41,061. The purchase of the ship, and others, was due to Brazil's need to compensate for its technological backwardness regarding nations such as France, England and the Ottoman Empire, which shortly after were fighting in the Crimean War and demonstrated the great technological superiority of their ships compared to those of other nations.

It was named Amazonas, the fourth vessel to bear this name, in honor of the Amazon River and the province of Amazonas, on 21 August 1851, and was initially masted as a brig-barque. On the 25th, it was launched into the sea, and, on 7 April 1852, it went through an armament exhibition, when it received the badge number 62. Amazonas displaced 1,800 tons, measured 56.88 meters in length, 9.81 meters in beam and 4.45 meters in draft. It had a triple expansion engine built by the American company Benjamin Hick & Son, with 350 HP, which moved the two side wheels and propelled the vessel to about 11 miles per hour. It had the capacity to store 300 tons of coal and consume about 28 tons of it per day. The construction was under the supervision of vice admiral John Pascoe Grenfell.

In the ship's bow, a figure of an amazon was carved, in the form of an Amerindian woman who held a canoe oar in her right hand, a quiver on her shoulder and an adornment of feathers on her legs. At the stern, it had naval symbols, the coat of arms of the Empire of Brazil and other Brazilian flags. In both decorations, mahogany was used. Inside, there was a spacious chamber for the commander and eight cabins for the officers. At the bow were the cabins for low-ranking sailors, in addition to the infirmary, which had 12 berths. It stored 12 tanks of drinking water. Its armament consisted of four pieces of 68 caliber, in battery, with 90 quintal each, six feet and eight inches long, with the capacity to launch projectiles of 8 inches in diameter each; two swivel pieces of 68 caliber, 113 quintal in weight and 9 feet in length. The collars and bed bases were of iron. It had two rowing boats and five longboats. It also had the capacity to garrison 200 sailors in times of war and 170 in times of peace. The first commander of the Amazonas was captain lieutenant Elisiário Antônio dos Santos, future admiral and Baron of Angra. The ship docked in Rio de Janeiro on 2 June 1852.

History

1852–1855

After embarking in Rio de Janeiro, Amazonas departed for Bahia, where it remained until mid-July of that year. On August 9, back in Rio de Janeiro, frigate captain Joaquim Raymundo de Lamare was appointed commander of the ship. Under his command, the warship returned to Bahia on the 15th of October, and on this voyage collided with the brig Sarah, which sank, resulting in damage to the upper end of Amazonas' bow. It entered Guanabara Bay on November 8. Between the end of 1852 and July 1853, the following officers assumed its command: captain lieutenant Achilles Lacombe, frigate captain Rafael Mendes de Moraes e Valle, captain-lieutenant Francisco Xavier de Alcântara and captain lieutenant Luiz da Gama Rosa. Under Rosa's command, the ship made several voyages from Rio de Janeiro to Montevideo, Uruguay, between 1853 and 1855.

Years before the Paraguayan War, there were disputes between the Empire of Brazil and Argentina for hegemony in the La Plata Basin that also involved Paraguay. With Brazil, Paraguay had some negotiations over the free navigation of the Paraguay River and territorial limits in what is now Mato Grosso do Sul, a region that was claimed by both nations. This relationship was marked by tensions and mutual distrust, and reached a point of near war, which was only not materialized due to the imminence of the Platine War. However, in order to enforce the Brazil's right on border issues with Paraguay, emperor Pedro II sent documents on these issues to Paraguay, which arrived on 20 February 1855.

The expedition that took the documents had Amazonas as its flagship. The vessel and another 30 warships, armed with 150 cannons and about 3,000 soldiers, left Rio de Janeiro on 10 December 1854. The river section was too complicated for the heavy imperial ships, and they occasionally ran aground. Due to such difficulties, the fleet took 72 days to reach the border with Paraguay. The goal of this expedition was to carry out a display of force to the Paraguayan government, in an authentic gunboat diplomacy, so that it would accept the terms demanded in the documents. The mission was secret, but Paraguay had a large network of agents spread across Rio de Janeiro, São Borja and Encarnación who delivered news about imperial actions to Asunción. The Paraguayans got ahead in the preparations for the possible naval attack; evacuated the capital and increased the troops readiness.

When the imperial ships reached the border at Três Bocas, they encountered a Paraguayan force under the command of captain Pedro Ignacio Meza. Meza would allow the passage through Paraguayan territory as long as it was just one vessel. The commander of the Brazilian expedition, Pedro Ferreira de Oliveira, accepted and went up the Paraguay River aboard the Amazonas. During the journey, the Amazonas ran aground and had to be towed back by Paraguayan ships, and Oliveira had to sail to Assunción aboard the corvette Ipiranga, which docked on 24 March 1855. On April 3, talks began between the Brazilian commander and the then Minister of Foreign Affairs of Paraguay, Francisco Solano López. Negotiations lasted until 14 April and both agreed to open negotiations on border issues.

1856–1864

Under the command of captain lieutenant José Segundino de Gomensoro, after its repairs, Amazonas set sail for Montevideo on 13 April 1856 and returned to Rio de Janeiro on May 6. On the 20th of June it sailed to Bahia and returned on the 16th of July. On October 13 it left for Pernambuco and returned on December 13. Under the notice of the 18th, captain lieutenant Francisco Edwiges Brício temporarily assumed command of the ship. On 28 May 1857, a group of its crew watched, aboard the brig Fidelidade, the execution by firing squad of a sailor who had murdered the guardian of the corvette Recife. By the notice of 8 August 1857, it was the turn of captain lieutenant Manoel Pedro dos Reis to assume command of Amazonas.

On the 21st of August, it left on a reserved commission and returned on the 29th; it set sail on 19 September for Montevideo and returned on 14 January 1858; it left for the same port again on the 24th, and returned on the 30th of July. By the notice of December 21 of that year, frigate captain Teotônio Raimundo de Brito assumed command. On 1 October 1859, emperor Pedro II, accompanied by empress Teresa Cristina and a small entourage, undertook a trip to the northern provinces of Brazil. This trip was necessary for the Brazilian monarchy to strengthen itself among the population, and it was also a way of preserving national unity by providing the reconstruction of political alliances, including with opponents of the emperor. They boarded the steamer Apa, which was escorted by the frigate Amazonas, the corvette Paraense and the gunboat Belmonte. They visited the Paulo Afonso Falls, in Bahia, and the provinces of Pernambuco, Paraíba, Alagoas and Sergipe. On January 26, on their way back, they landed in the province of Espírito Santo, where they remained until 12 February 1860. The departure from Vitória back to the court in Rio de Janeiro took place early in the morning of the next day, under the same escort – Apa, Amazonas, Paraense and Pirajá – heading towards the port of Guarapari.

In the 1850s and 1860s, Brazil and Peru were involved in two disputes: the free navigation of the Amazon River and the delimitation of the territorial boundaries of the two countries. On 22 October 1858, a River Convention was signed that gave Peruvian merchant ships the right of navigation on the Amazon River, but on some conditions, which stated that Peruvian authorities and captains of Peruvian ships had to always keep the Brazilian authorities informed of the movements of ships flying the Peruvian flag. However, such restrictions, together with disputes over the delimitation of borders, resulted in an incident involving two Peruvian warships that docked in the city of Belém in 1863.

Uruguayan war

After the Uruguayan government refused the imperial ultimatum to safeguard Brazilian interests in the country, minister Saraiva authorized admiral Joaquim Marques Lisboa, commander-in-chief of Brazilian naval and land forces in Uruguay, to begin retaliatory operations. The naval fleet, already stationed in Uruguayan waters in August 1864, was made up of the Amazonas, as flagship, six corvettes and five gunboats. With the mission of protecting Brazilian nationals, the fleet was dispatched to the cities of Salto, Paysandú and Maldonado on the 11th. To confront the Brazilian fleet, Uruguay had only two small war steamers: Villa del Salto and General Artigas. Both vessels were parked at docks when the Brazilian commander ordered the ships to remain where they were. Only General Artigas complied, however, the Uruguayans managed to sell the vessel before it fell into Brazilian hands.

The steamer Villa del Salto escaped and was only sighted on August 24 by two corvettes and a gunboat, while carrying troops to fight the Colorados. These vessels fired on the Uruguayan steamer to stop it, but it ignored the shots and a demand to surrender. It was only on September 7, while trying to flee to Argentina, that Villa del Salto was neutralized. It ran aground in Paysandú and was set on fire by its crew to avoid being captured by the Brazilians. From then on, the imperial fleet acted together with Brazilian land forces, in addition to blocking the cities of Salto and Paysandú.

Paraguayan war

On 27 April 1865, in the midst of the Paraguayan War, the Brazilian naval force, based in Montevideo, constituted by the Amazonas, which took on board the 9th Infantry Brigade of lieutenant colonel José da Silva Guimarães, the Paraíba and Ivaí, was authorized to depart for Buenos Aires, after operations with naval and land forces against Paraguay had been authorized by the 2nd Viscount of Caramuru, Minister of War, and at the request of admiral Joaquim Marques Lisboa. On the 28th, already in the Argentine capital, Amazonas left for the Paraná River in order to join the 3rd Division of the Imperial Fleet, under the command of Sea and War Captain José Segundino de Gomensoro, made up of the corvettes Jequitinhonha, which was flying its ensign, Beberibe and Belmonte, and the gunboats Araguari, Iguatemi, Ipiranga, Itajaí, Mearim and the transport ship Peperiguaçu. The two fleets met in the Argentine city of Bella Vista.

On the 24th of May, the fleet departed from Bella Vista and headed for Rincón de Soto, an anchorage near the city of Goya, where Brazilian admiral Manuel Barroso and the Argentine general Venceslau Paunero discussed the operation to retake Corrientes, which had been invaded by the Paraguayans since April 14. The attack on Corrientes took place on 25 May, with the landing of Brazilian and Argentine troops, which were victorious. This attack demonstrated to the Paraguayans the vulnerability of their flank to the projection of Brazilian naval power against their army column, which was advancing through Argentina towards southern Brazil. For the Paraguayans, it was imperative to destroy this fleet in order to ensure dominance in the region of Corrientes and Entre Ríos.

Paraguayan president Francisco Solano López prepared an organized naval and land attack force. The Paraguayan fleet was under the command of frigate captain Pedro Ignacio Meza and consisted of the steamers Tacuary, Paraguary, Igurey, Jejuy, Ypora, Salto Oriental, Río Blanco, Pirabebe, the steamer Marquês de Olinda, a Brazilian vessel that had been captured by the Paraguayans on 12 November 1864, and six more artillery barges, called chatas, with a total of 47 cannons of varied calibers and 2,500 soldiers on board. On land, under the command of colonel José María Bruguez, there was an artillery battery composed of 22 cannons from 6 to 32 pounds and two batteries of Congreve rockets, strategically positioned close to Riachuelo, in addition to a force of 2,000 infantry between Riachuelo and Santa Catarina, and a large number of snipers and cavalry forces, under the command of general Venceslao Robles. Captain Meza's orders were to go down the Paraná River, bordering the coast of Corrientes, at dawn on June 11, and park the six barges on the banks of the Riachuelo; then, at daybreak, the fleet of steamers should look for the Brazilian ships to quickly board and capture them. If they were not successful, their duty was to return fighting down the river and rely on Riachuelo's batteries and on the artillery of the barges, attracting the Brazilians to the fire from these hidden positions. The plan did not come to fruition due to the Río Blanco running aground and the delay in pulling it ashore, thus losing the surprise element.

Final years

Between 1874 and 1879, Amazonas went through complete armament and made trips to Montevideo and to the port of Florianópolis. The Order of the Day of 25 January 1884 determined that the frigate be designated as an instruction ship for the Practical School of Artillery and Torpedoes. In 1890, admiral Eduardo Wandenkolk listed the Amazonas for repairs in order to "preserve it as a glorious reminder of a historical fact". In 1893, the Armada Revolt broke out, and the Amazonas was seized by the rebels who used it against government ships. In this episode, the frigate ran aground west of Ilha das Enxadas and sank. Some of its components were saved, such as one of its masts, the figurehead, the wheel and other relics. In 1897, a mine near the sunken ship detonated and completely shattered it.