South America Station

The South America Station was a formation of the Royal Navy which existed from 1808 to 1838 when it was split into the Pacific Station and the South East Coast of America Station.

Commander-in-Chief South America
The capture of USS Essex by Phoebe and Cherub off Valparaíso, 28 March 1814
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	Royal Navy
Type	Formation

Following the invasion of Portugal by Napoleon, the Portuguese court escaped to Brazil with an escort of the Royal Navy under the command of Admiral Sidney Smith. Following the establishment of the Portuguese Court in Rio de Janeiro in early 1808, was shortly followed by the reinforcement of Smith's escort and the establishment of the Brazil or South America Station.

The commander-in-chief heading the formation played a diplomatic role in South America in the early nineteenth century as the British diplomatic service was limited to having a representative in Brazil.^[1]

Commanders-in-chief

List of commanders-in-chief, South America (1808–1837)[2][3]
Commander-in-chief	From	Until	Notes
Rear Admiral William Sidney Smith	25 January 1808	17 May 1809
Vice Admiral Michael de Courcy	18 May 1809	1812
Rear Admiral Manley Dixon	1812	1816
Commodore William Bowles	1816	17 May 1819
Commodore Thomas Hardy	18 May 1819	16 November 1823
Rear Admiral George Eyre	16 November 1823	1826
Rear Admiral Robert Otway[4]	1826	1829	Later promoted to Admiral, flagship was HMS Ganges
Rear Admiral Thomas Baker	9 January 1829	January 1833	Promoted to vice admiral 10 January 1837
Rear Admiral Sir Michael Seymour	1 January 1833	9 July 1834	Died en route to station
Commodore Francis Mason	July 1834	16 September 1834	Temporary command after death of Seymour
Vice Admiral Graham Hammond	16 September 1834	17 May 1838	Promoted to Vice Admiral 10 January 1837

References

1. Thienel, Phillip M. (1963). "Review: The Navy and South America, 1801-1823: the Correspondence of the Commanders-in-Chief on the South American Station". The Americas. 20 (2): 223–224. doi:10.2307/979149. ISSN 0003-1615. JSTOR 979149.
2. Ortiz-Sotelo, Jorge (1998). Peru and the British naval station (1808-1839) (Thesis). University of St Andrews Library. hdl:10023/2958.
3. Davis, Peter. "Principal Royal Navy Commanders-in-Chief 1830-1899". Retrieved 2010-02-18.
4. "HMS Ganges circa late 1800s - Wisdom is strength". Retrieved 2010-03-07.