Manuel Hipólito Orella

Agustín Manuel Hipólito Orella Macaya (died Quillota, Chile, 12 February 1857), known simply as Manuel Hipólito Orella, was a Chilean naval officer who made a career in the Chilean Navy. He was one of the first Chilean midshipmen who entered the nascent navy in 1818. He joined the First Chilean Navy Squadron and participated in the naval war for the independence of Chile and Peru. Likewise, also spent time in the Chilean Army in the infantry branch. Furthermore, he held several important positions in the navy until his death in 1857.

Early years and emancipation war Orella was born somewhere in the Captaincy General of Chile, part of the Spanish Monarchy. His father was Manuel de Orella Goya and his mother Mercedes Macaya Mujica. He had a sister named Maria del Carmen.

In the first months of 1818 he entered the Military Academy of Santiago as a cadet and was soon sent to fight in the battle of Maipú in April, winning a medal for it. At the beginning of September, entered the newly created Naval Academy of Valparaíso as a midshipman. Orella was one of the thirteen cadets of the Military Academy who, at the request of Supreme Director Bernardo O'Higgins, were chosen by the ship-of-the-line captain Manuel Blanco Encalada to be the first students of the naval institution. He would be one of the few first midshipmen to continue the naval career.

In the first Chilean naval squadron during the war Campaigns between 1818 and 1822

At the end of September, embarked on the corvette Chacabuco, under the command of Captain Francisco Díaz, and joined the fleet commanded by Blanco Encalada, which sailed from Valparaíso on 9 October with the mission of intercepting in Talcahuano a Spanish convoy that had recently left Cádiz. His naval baptism by fire culminated in November with the capture of the Spanish frigate María Isabel, renamed O'Higgins, and five transport ships. Upon returning from the mission, he won with the crew the right to wear a bracelet that had the following description: “His first trial gave Chile the dominance of the Pacific”.

On 23 December, he went on to serve under Vice Admiral Thomas Cochrane, hired by the Chilean government to direct his naval fleet. Participated in the two raids to Peru that Cochrane made in 1819, aboard the flagship O'Higgins, under the command of Captain Robert Forster. In these incursions he was present in the capture of San Lorenzo Island, the attacks on Callao, the landings in the Peruvian coast and in the capture of the Spanish ships Águila and Begoña. He also participated in the capture of Valdivia in February 1820, temporarily aboard the schooner Moctezuma, earning a silver medal for his bravery.

He later participated in the Liberating Expedition of Peru, again aboard the O'Higgins, earning another medal. He was in several actions of the expedition, such as the capture of the Spanish frigate Esmeralda, in which he had to command one of the frigate's boats that Cochrane arranged for the attack.

Commissions and new campaigns between 1823 and 1826 At the beginning of 1823 Orella became second lieutenant and embarked on the brig Galvarino, under the command of Captain Matías Godomar. He also had two daughters: Celmira and Celia.

On 23 December 1853 he was granted sick leave. Its last designations were the Maritime Government of Atacama (Caldera) in 1854 and that of Valparaíso in 1856. At that time, its service sheet recorded multiple recommendations, one of which read as follows: (Translation to English) “During the years he was in service this officer has observed a conduct worthy of all praise, having conducted himself with courage, fearlessness, zeal and activity in the performance of his duties”.(Original in Spanish) “Durante los años que estuvo en servicio este oficial ha observado una conducta digna de todo elogio, habiéndose conducido con valor, intrepidez, celo y actividad en el desempeño de sus deberes”.

Finally, he died in Quillota, on 12 February 1857. His wife received from the government, by the laws of 30 March of that year and 28 August 1868, respectively, a pension of 543 pesos per year and one of 14 pesos per month.