Cazador (Chilean ship)

The Cazador was a steamboat built 1848 in France and bought 1851 by the Chilean Navy for the transport of military and cargo along the coast of Chile.

On 30 January 1856 Cazador sailed off Talcahuano bound for Valparaíso at 11:30 AM carrying the 2nd Company of the Battalion Maipo and their families. In addition, she carried supplies, horses and guns. She sailed 6 miles from the coast at 9 kn.

At 20:00 the ship was driven on reef off Point Carranza, 10 km south of Constitución.

The sinking of the Cazador resulted in the greatest single-incident maritime loss of life in the history of Chile.

Sources disagree on the number rescued and final death toll. The ship's captain, Ramón Cavieses, in his report gives 23 rescued and 307 dead, but author Carlos Lopéz Urrutia gives 400 dead.