Esmeralda visits Maui at beginning of Chilean naval training, diplomatic mission

It isn’t every day that a four-masted sailing ship anchors off of Lahaina, but there she was — the 360-foot-long Esmeralda, a Chilean flag deployed for diplomacy and life-at-sea training for Chilean naval academy graduates.

“We very excited, very proud to be here in Hawaiʻi,” said Capt. Andres Gallegos.

The Chilean Navy training ship is on a six-month deployment, with its first stop in Hawaiʻi. The ship was scheduled to depart from Lahaina at 9 p.m. Thursday, sail between Lānaʻi and Molokaʻi and arrive at Pearl Harbor, Oʻahu, early Friday morning. The ship will dock inside the US Naval Base at Pearl Harbor. The ship departs the islands on May 20.

The ship anchored off of Lahaina for the crew to prepare for its first official visit to Oʻahu.

The ship has a crew of 280, with 73 of those recent graduates of Chile’s naval academy and 23 seamen in training, he said. The remainder of the crew are officers and crewmen.

During the training cruise, seamen attend classes, conduct navigational exercises and “learn about life at sea,” Gallegos said.

The ship will be part of Chilean diplomacy, he said, to “show our flag around the world.”

The vessel was built in 1954 in Spain, and Hawaiʻi was among its first ports of call on its maiden voyage. In the past 70 years, the ship has been to Hawaiʻi 21 times, he said.

The voyage also celebrates the US Navy and its 250th anniversary this year, he said.

The Esmeralda is a “good ship,” he said. “Beautiful, perfect for training,” for development of teamwork and other sea skills.

The ship has seven foreign officers from the United Kingdom, Canada, Equador, Brazil, Argentina, Peru and Panama, he said.