Sailing via St. Thomas, Barbados, Natal, Rio de Janeiro, and Montevideo, making official protocol visits to those Caribbean and Latin American ports, the "double‑ender" steamed through the Strait of Magellan in a severe gale on 9 October and arrived at Valparaíso, Chile, on the 29th.

Arriving six days later, the warship joined Rear Adm. George F. Pearson's Pacific Squadron in the midst of a Spanish blockade during the Peruvian War with Spain over conditions of the treaty recognizing Peru's independence.

Mohongo remained at Callao with the rest of the squadron, protecting American lives and property from attack by either side until departing on 21 May for a month's cruise up the coast of South America to Guayaquil, Ecuador, on a protocol visit.

Mohongo stood out of San Francisco on 26 April bound for Honolulu on an official diplomatic cruise to Hawaii.

During the seven‑month visit, she received on board King Kamehameha V and Dowager Queen Emma, the American Chargé d'affaires Colonel Spaulding, U.S. Minister Edward M. McCook, and other Island officials and court members in July and August, and then cruised the Hawaiian chain, making charts and patrolling into December.