, a 36-gun frigate under his command. The destination was Chile, and the purpose was to protect British mercantile interests in the area. In April 1822, shortly after the ship had rounded Cape Horn, her husband died of a fever, so HMS Doris arrived in Valparaiso without a captain, but with a distraught captain's widow. All the naval officers stationed in Valparaiso – British, Chilean and American – tried to help Maria (one American captain even offered to sail her back to Britain), but she was determined to manage on her own. She rented a small cottage, turned her back on the English colony ("I say nothing of the English here, because I do not know them except as very civil vulgar people, with one or two exceptions", she later wrote), and lived among the Chileans for a whole year. Later in 1822, she experienced one of the Valparaíso earthquake; one of the worst in Chile's history, and recorded its effects in detail. In her journal she recorded that after the earthquake "...the whole shore is more exposed and the rocks are about four feet higher out of the water than before." This idea that the land could be lifted proved controversial, but correct. An extract of Maria's letter to Henry Warburton giving an account of the earthquake was published in 1824 in the Transactions of the Geological Society of London. This was the first paper published in this journal by a woman. Tutor to the princess In 1823, she began her journey back to Britain. She made a stop in Brazil and was introduced to the newly appointed Brazilian emperor and his family. The year before, the Brazilians had declared independence from Portugal and had asked the resident Portuguese crown prince to become their emperor. It was agreed that Graham should become the tutor of the young Princess Maria da Gloria, so when she reached London, she just handed over the manuscripts of her two new books to her publisher (Journal of a Residence in Chile during the Year 1822. And a Voyage from Chile to Brazil in 1823 and Journal of a Voyage to Brazil, and Residence There, During Part of the Years 1821, 1822, 1823, illustrated by herself), collected suitable educational material, and returned to Brazil in 1824. She stayed in the royal palace only until October of that year, when she was asked to leave due