The escape of Napoleon in January of 1819 is considered one of the watershed moments in world history. At the time, sympathy for Napoleon was widespread. The once great Emperor of France, now locked away to the cold and barren isle of Saint Helena, was reported to love gardening and softened the hearts of the British people. Many politicians supported Napoleon, his largest sympathizer being Thomas Cochrane. Although Cochrane had once been a politician in the British House of Commons, he now held the position of Vice Admiral of the Chilean Navy. Cochrane, who supported freeing the former Emperor and using him to liberate South America, was busy fighting a war and couldn't risk the manpower and was forced to bury his plans. That was until he was contacted in mid December by 400 Le Grande Armee veterans who had been living in Texas. They offered their services to the Chilean Army in return for a vessel with good sailors to help them save Napoleon.
So in the dead of night, epitomized by Lord Byron's poem, "The Liberation at Longwood", the Chilean Tall Ship stole away from its port in the south of Patagonia. When they reached Saint Helena they saw no sign of a British patrol. The entire liberation took less then 3 hours and no was killed. Napoleon was stolen away to Chile, who then boarded several ships going towards Puerto de San Benito.