[3] Orella was one of the thirteen cadets of the Military Academy who, at the request of Supreme Director Bernardo O'Higgins,[4] were chosen by the ship-of-the-line captain Manuel Blanco Encalada to be the first students of the naval institution.

[5] His naval baptism by fire culminated in November with the capture of the Spanish frigate María Isabel, renamed O'Higgins, and five transport ships.

[6] 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 15 August, ascended to first lieutenant and embarked as an assistant in the frigate Maria Isabel (former O'Higgins), commanded by Captain Forster, and flagship of Vice Admiral Blanco Encalada.

[7] He participated in the campaigns that the Supreme Director Ramón Freire carried out in Peru and Chiloé, which tested his conditions as brave and skillful leader of forces.

[10] During the Chiloé campaign of 1826, found himself in the landing maneuver in front of the batteries of San Carlos de Ancud, in which he commanded one of the boats that captured three realistic gunboats protected in the bay and destroyed two others.

[10] At the end of the campaign, for his military actions, he was promoted to a corvette captain and received a medal that on his obverse had the motto: “Colmavit gloriam suam in Chiloé”.

[2] On 2 October 1847, served as an assistant to the General Commander of the Navy and the following year, without prejudice to his position, assumed the Maritime Government of Valparaíso.