Qualla: Capture of Valdivia https://qualla.com/capture-of-valdivia en-us © 2026 Bendyline Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:39:57 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/6/2/g/v/capture-of-valdivia-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Capture of Valdivia https://qualla.com/capture-of-valdivia Capture of Valdivia: Introduction https://qualla.com/capture-of-valdivia/ Photo credit Danielduce, CC BY-SA 3.0. Lord Cochrane had no orders to do this. The Chilean government had not asked him to attack Valdivia, the strongest fortress complex on the entire Pacific coast of the Americas, defended by seven forts, roughly 120 cannons, and 1,600 soldiers. He had three ships and about three hundred men. By any sober calculation it was suicide. On the night of February 3, 1820, the British admiral who had been court-martialed and stripped of his Royal Navy rank for a stock-market scandal sailed his small squadron toward the dark cliffs of Corral Bay and prepared to do the impossible anyway.

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Image: Danielduce | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/6/2/g/v/capture-of-valdivia-wp/62gv-capture-of-valdivia-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Capture of Valdivia: The Seawolf in Exile https://qualla.com/capture-of-valdivia/ Photo credit AlBustos, CC BY-SA 3.0. Thomas Cochrane was one of the boldest naval commanders of his age and one of the most ruined. The Royal Navy had cast him out, so the young Republic of Chile hired him to build and lead its navy in the war against Spain. He fought, as he always had, with audacity bordering on re...

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Image: AlBustos | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/6/2/g/v/capture-of-valdivia-wp/62gv-capture-of-valdivia-the-seawolf-in-exile.mp3 0:06 2 full Capture of Valdivia: Three Forts in the Dark https://qualla.com/capture-of-valdivia/ Photo credit The painter of this paint died on 1891., Public domain. Late on February 3, Cochrane's landing party slipped ashore below the fortifications, led in the assault by Major Jorge Beauchef, a French-born officer in Chilean service. They fell on the Aguada del Inglés, the "English Fort," and took its garrison utterly by surprise. In the pa...

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Image: The painter of this paint died on 1891. | Public domain

]]> Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/6/2/g/v/capture-of-valdivia-wp/62gv-capture-of-valdivia-three-forts-in-the-dark.mp3 0:06 3 full Capture of Valdivia: The Bluff at Dawn https://qualla.com/capture-of-valdivia/ Photo credit The painter of this paint died on 1891., Public domain. Daylight should have doomed the attackers. By the morning of February 4, the surviving Spanish defenders could see how few men actually opposed them. So Cochrane gambled again. He called his ships in toward the bay in broad daylight, their boats crewed by only skeleton hands. To ...

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Image: The painter of this paint died on 1891. | Public domain

]]> Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/6/2/g/v/capture-of-valdivia-wp/62gv-capture-of-valdivia-the-bluff-at-dawn.mp3 0:06 4 full Capture of Valdivia: The End of an Empire's Footing https://qualla.com/capture-of-valdivia/ Photo credit Danielduce, CC BY-SA 3.0. The fall of Valdivia broke the last real foothold of Spanish power on the Chilean mainland. The looting that followed was thorough: weaponry, gunpowder, silver objects taken originally from the churches of Concepción, and the captured frigate Dolores, the richest prize of all, la...

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Image: Danielduce | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/6/2/g/v/capture-of-valdivia-wp/62gv-capture-of-valdivia-the-end-of-an-empires-footing.mp3 0:06 5 full