 TheYelcho | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 Chile | |
| Name | Yelcho |
| Owner |
|
| Builder | George Brown & Company Greenock, Yard No 34, Engines by Muir & Houston, Glasgow |
| Launched | 23 June 1906 |
| Commissioned | 1908 (Navy) |
| Decommissioned | 1945 (Navy) |
| Reinstated | 1945-1958 as tender |
| Honours and awards | Rescue of theEndurance crew ofErnest Henry Shackleton (1916) |
| Fate | Scrapped 1965 |
| Notes | Bow preserved inPunta Arenas |
| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage | 219 grt[1] |
| Displacement | 467 t |
| Length | 120 feet (37 m) |
| Beam | 23 feet (7.0 m) |
| Depth | 9.9 feet (3.0 m)[2] |
| Installed power | 350 ihp |
| Propulsion | compound steam engine by Muir & Houston Ltd, Glasgow |
| Speed | 10 knots |
| Crew | 22 men |
| Armament | 1Hotchkiss 37mm Cannon |
| Notes | There are two otherYelchos in the Chilean Navy,Chilean tugYelcho (AGS-64) andYelcho (1971). |
TheYelcho was built in 1906 by theScottish firm Geo. Brown and Co. ofGreenock, on theRiver Clyde for towage and cargo service of the ChileanSociedad Ganadera e Industrial Yelcho y Palena,Puerto Montt. In 1908 she was sold to the Chilean Navy and ordered toPunta Arenas as atug and for periodic maintenance and supply of thelighthouses in that region.[1]
After the dramaticvoyage of theJames Caird,Ernest Shackleton had attempted and failed three times to rescue the crew left onElephant Island: the shipsSouthern Sky (loaned by the English Whaling Co, 23–31 May 1916),Instituto de Pesca N°1 (loaned by the Government of Uruguay, 10–16 June 1916) andEmma[3] (a sealer, funded by the British Club, Punta Arenas, 12 July – 8 August 1916) all failed to reach Elephant Island.
In July 1916,Yelcho was authorised by the president of Chile,Juan Luis Sanfuentes, to escort and towEmma to a point 200 miles (320 km) south ofCape Horn.[4] but this third attempt was also unsuccessful.
At dawn on 7 AugustYelcho under the command of CaptainLuis Pardo was ordered toPort Stanley in order to tugEmma and the British explorers back to Punta Arenas to make a fourth attempt.
The Chilean government offeredYelcho although she was totally unsuited for operations in Antarctic waters. With no radio, no proper heating system, no electric lighting and nodouble hull the small ship had to cross the 500 miles (800 km) of theDrake's Passage in Antarctic winter.
On 25 August 1916 at 12:15 am, she sailed bound for Elephant Island with 22 men under command of Pardo, carrying Shackleton,Frank Worsley andTom Crean. After making it safely through the complex tides and channels of the west side of theTierra del Fuego,Yelcho headed out into theBeagle Channel.
On the 27th at 11:15 am, she arrived atPicton Island, where she bunkered 300 sacks of coal (a total of 72 tons were in the ship) from the Puerto Banner Naval Station.[5] The process was completed within only 12 hours and on 28 August at 3:30 pm she weighed anchor and left for Elephant Island. 60 miles (97 km) south ofCape Horn the lookout spotted the firsticebergs[6]
At 11:40 am on 30 August, the fog lifted and the camp on Elephant Island was spotted, andYelcho immediately entered the bay. Within an hour, in two trips of a small boat, all the Elephant Island party were safely aboardYelcho, which sailed for Punta Arenas.
The 23 crew ofYelcho at the rescue was:[7]
| Crew | Name |
|---|---|
| Captain | Luis Alberto Pardo Villalón |
| 2nd in Command | León Aguirre Romero |
| Chief Engineer | Jorge L. Valenzuela Mesa |
| 2nd Engineer | Jose Beltrán Gamarra |
| Engineers | Nicolás Muñoz Molina, Manuel Blackwood |
| Firemen | Herbito Cariz Caramo, Juan Vera Jara, Pedro Chaura, Pedro Soto Nuñez, Luis Contreras Castro |
| Guard | Manuel Ojeda, Ladislao Gallego Trujillo, Hipólito Aries, José Leiva Chacón, Antonio Colin Parada |
| Foreman | José Muñoz Tellez |
| Blacksmith | Froilan Cabana Rodríguez |
| Seamen | Pedro Pairo, José del Carmen Galindo, Florentino González Estay, Clodomiro Aguero Soto |
| Cabin Boy | Bautista Ibarra Carvajal |
After the successful rescue mission of 1916 the nameYelcho has been given to streets and ships of Chile, particularly to Chile's southernmost cityPuerto Williams, and it was there that theprow of theYelcho has been preserved and was prominently displayed as a tribute to Captain Pardo's ship and crew until 2020, when a new monument, featuring a statue of the officer and part of his vessel, stands to commemorate the courageous rescue on the waterfront of the southern port ofPunta Arenas.
In 1945, the ship was decommissioned and used as tender in thePetty officer School of the Chilean Navy. On 27 January 1958Yelcho was retired by decree 190 and in 1962 sold to ASMAR under terms of Law 14.564 (5 May 1954) for 300,000CLP.[8]
List of Antarctic exploration ships from the Heroic Age, 1897–1922
