Battle of Iquique

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Battle of Iquique
Part of the War of the Pacific
Naval Combat of Iquique - The sinking of the Esmeralda
Date May 21, 1879 Location near Iquique, Peru Result Peruvian victory
Belligerents
Chile	Peru
Commanders
Arturo Prat †	Miguel Grau
Strength
1 corvette	1 ironclad turret ship
Casualties and losses
135 dead 62 wounded 1 corvette lost	1 dead 7 wounded

v • d • e War of the Pacific
Topáter - Chipana - Iquique - Punta Gruesa - Angamos - Pisagua - San Francisco - Tarapacá - Tacna - Arica - San Juan - Miraflores - Callao - La Concepción - Huamachuco - San Pablo

The Battle of Iquique took place on May 21, 1879 during the War of the Pacific between Chile and Peru. It has became one of the most emblematic battles of the war due to the glorification of the fallen Chilean captain Arturo Prat and Admiral Grau's noble gesture of saving the enemy crew and rescuing Prat's body to be sent to Chile.

Contents 1 Background 2 The battle 3 Aftermath 4 References 5 See also

[edit] Background

During the first year of the war, Chilean war efforts were focused on destroying the Peruvian Navy. This, in order to clear the seas for the Chilean Navy, whose duty would be to help the army to conquer Bolivian and Peruvian territories with troop landings and port blockades.

During May 1879, the main ships of the Chilean Navy were sent towards the Peruvian port of Callao in order to destroy its navy, while two old, wooden ships the corvette Esmeralda and the schooner Covadonga, commanded by Captains Arturo Prat and Carlos Condell respectively were left blockading the Peruvian port of Iquique.

However, as the Chilean Navy steamed north towards Callao, two ironclad ships of the Peruvian Navy steamed south from Callao, unseen. These ships were the monitor Huáscar and the armored frigate Independencia, commanded by Admiral Miguel Grau and Captain Juan Guillermo More.

[edit] The battle

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The factual accuracy of this section is disputed. Please see the relevant discussion on the talk page.(March 2008)

On the morning of May 21, 1879, the watch in the crow's nest of Covadonga spotted two ships coming from the north. These were the Peruvian Independencia and Huáscar. The Esmeralda was notified and Prat, its captain, gave the order to reload and form up. Transport Lamar was ordered to retreat, so it raised the Flag of the United States and headed south, attempting to escape.

Meanwhile, in the Huascar Captain Grau said to his crew:

"Crew of the Huáscar: the time to punish the enemy of the Motherland has come and I hope you will perform this task harvesting new victories and glory, worthy of shining next to Junín, Ayacucho, Abtao and 2 de Mayo. Long live Perú!"^{[citation needed]}

The ships engaged in combat, but the armor of the Peruvian ships resisted the shots from the Chilean ships, while not being able to return fire. However, the Esmeralda lost one of her engines, slowing down to 2 knots (4 km/h). To Prat's dismay, Independencia chased Covadonga until it ran away.

With damaged engines and having been deserted, Captain Prat made a short speech stating that he'd never surrender to the enemy, and he trusted that if he were to die neither of his commanders would. He then gave orders to place the Esmeralda between the port itself and the Huascar. This action prevented Captain Grau from firing on the Chilean ship without also hitting the port. He was forced to fire at high angles which, due to the inexperience of the gunner's crew, resulted in most of the shots missing. The Esmeralda fired on the Huascar, but its weak firepower was unable to do any real damage.

Having received erroneous reports from the port authorities about naval mines being deployed around the blockading Chilean ships, he decided not to move closer.

Meanwhile, the coastal battery at Iquique started to fire on the two ships. The Esmeralda did not suffer much structural damage, but succeeded in inflicting massive casualties on the crew. Prat was forced to move away from the port.

With this action, Grau realized there were no mines in the water, so the Huáscar attempted to ram the wooden Esmeralda. Grau was feeling uneasy about the unnecessary bloodshed (all casualties to date had been Chilean), and so asked Prat to surrender. His refusal surprised Grau, who sent the order to capture him alive.

On impact Captain Prat, dressed in his parade uniform, gave his last order "Al abordaje muchachos!" ("To boarding, boys!")^{[citation needed]}, but it was muffled by the sound of the Huascar's metal crushing the Esmeralda's wood, and thus heard and answered by only two sailors; both were killed by gunfire on the enemy ship's deck. Prat received an impact on the knee but managed to stand and kill one Lieutenant. Shortly after a sailor delivered a deadly axe wound to Prat's head.

On Grau's orders, Prat was transported to Grau's cabin. There Grau, showing great chivalry, asked Prat if he wanted to send a message to his wife, to which he replied "...and... the Esmeralda?"^{[citation needed]}. Later, Grau would give Prat's journal, sword, and personal belongings to his widow.

The second ramming saw a better organized attempt with about 11 sailors led by 1st. Lt. Ignacio Serrano, which suffered a similar fate. One last ram left the Esmeralda too low to attempt a new boarding. Minutes later Esmeralda sank in Iquique Bay with her flag still flying.

Even though the Huascar attempted to rescue all the survivors immediately, only 62 survived of 197. 1 Peruvian sailor was killed and 7 wounded.

Meanwhile, Covadonga tried to escape south with Independencia in pursuit. This led to the Naval Battle of Punta Gruesa, that ended with the Peruvian ship lost. This may be labelled as the second part of the Naval Battle of Iquique, although it is described in many sources as a separate battle.

[edit] Aftermath

The naval battle of Iquique was a Peruvian tactical victory; the blockade on Iquique was lifted and Chile left temporally the area. In the battle of Punta Gruesa Peru lost the "Independencia". Both battles proved to be strategically costly; one of the most powerful warships in the Peruvian Navy was lost, while Chile only lost one of its oldest wooden warships. This left the Huáscar alone to fight the entire Chilean Navy. Also, the heroic death of Captain Prat inspired thousands of Chilean youth to join the army. This is considered in Chilean history as one of the most important factors for achieving victory. Years later the figure of Prat became so popular that newspapers started to talk about "Pratiotism" and "Patriotism".

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• Battle of Angamos
• Battle of Punta Gruesa