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Robert Winthrop Simpson
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Robert Winthrop Simpson was a Rear-Admiral of the Chilean navy and a hero of the War of the Confederation.
He participated actively on all the naval encounters of the war of independence in Chile and Peru between 1825 and 1826. When the Chilean fleet was dispersed in that year (1826), Simpson went into the reserve and took command of the Peruvian ship Congreso. In 1827 took command of a Mexican ship also named Congreso. He finally returned to Chile in 1829, when named Naval Governor of Coquimbo. From 1830 to 1836 commanded the Aquiles and in December 1834 became the first Chilean hidrographer. On 1836 he was in command of the Valparaiso, flagship of Admiral Blanco Encalada when war was declared.
On January 12, 1839 while the Chilean squadron under his command was at Casma taking provisions, it was attacked by the Confederate fleet under the command of the French sailor Juan Blanchet. At the Naval Battle of Casma the Chileans had a resounding victory. During the battle Blanchet was killed and the Confederate ship Arequipeno was sunk, but not before the Chilean fleet had been badly battered. Nonetheless, the defeat of the Confederate fleet at Casma by the smaller Chilean squadron left Chile in absolute control of the southeastern Pacific. As a reward, Simpson was promoted to Commodore on May 8, 1839.
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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Robert Winthrop Simpson
