Chilean Training Ship ESMERALDA moored alongside at TAMAR was open to the public.
Possibly late 1970s or 80s.
This vessel also visited in Hong Kong 1966.
A bit disappointing to see that this sailing ship had a large portion of the hull filled with diesel engines for propulsion and related machinery.
Date picture taken
6 May 1972
Comments
Chilean Navy training vessels
Visits by Chilean Navy training vessels have a very long history of visiting Hong Kong.
A Hong Kong Maritime Museum exhibit model of the Chilean Navy training corvette General Baquedano tells us that the vessel had visited Hong Kong from 3 to 12 November 1900 on its maiden training voyage.
Shortly after arrival, Midshipman Carlos Krug Boonen died of a fever and was buried in the Catholic Cemetery, Happy Valley where his tomb still stands.
A sighting of the vessel in period images of the harbour could be used to accurately date them.
Visit to Hong Kong
The Esmeralda visited Hong Kong for five days in May 1972. On Saturday 6 May, the ship could be visited by the public.
A British Pathé film shows some impressions of this day.
P.S. Another visit was in September 2019.
Visiting HK
Klaus
Thank you for locating the exact day of my visit to the ESMERALDA, the film clip certainly brought back to my memory of the large crowds on board.
Interesting that the ship was still visiting in 2019.
I must have just missed seeing it as I was in HK shortly after that date.