Chincha Islands War - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Chincha Islands War was a series of coastal and naval battles between Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

and its former colonies of Peru

Peru

Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....

and Chile

Chile

Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

from 1864 to 1866, that began with Spain's seizure of the guano

Guano

Guano is the excrement of seabirds, cave dwelling bats, and seals. Guano manure is an effective fertilizer due to its high levels of phosphorus and nitrogen and also its lack of odor. It was an important source of nitrates for gunpowder...

-rich Chincha Islands

Chincha Islands

The Chincha Islands are a group of three small islands 21 km off the southwest coast of Peru, to which they belong, near the town of Pisco,...

, part of a series of attempts by Isabel II of Spain to reassert her country's lost influence in its former South American empire. The war saw the use of ironclads, including the Spanish ship Numancia

Spanish ironclad Numancia

The Spanish ironclad Numancia was an armored frigate bought from France during the 1860s. She was the first ironclad to circumnavigate the Earth. She saw service in the Chincha Islands War.-External links:*...

, the first ironclad to circumnavigate the world.

Background

Military expenditure had greatly increased during Isabel's reign, with Spain becoming as a consequence the world's fourth naval power. Isabel's reign saw Spain engaged in colonial adventures in the 1850s and 1860s in regions as disparate as Morocco

Morocco

Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...

, Indochina

Indochina

The Indochinese peninsula, is a region in Southeast Asia. It lies roughly southwest of China, and east of India. The name has its origins in the French, Indochine, as a combination of the names of "China" and "India", and was adopted when French colonizers in Vietnam began expanding their territory...

, Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

, and the Dominican Republic

Dominican Republic

The Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...

(which it briefly reoccupied.)

At the end of 1862, Isabel sent a "scientific expedition" to South American waters, with a second, hidden purpose of backing the financial and legal claims of Spanish citizens living in the Americas. The expedition was under the command of Admiral Luis Hernández Pinzón – a direct descendant of the Pinzón brothers who accompanied Christopher Columbus

Christopher Columbus

Christopher Columbus was an explorer, colonizer, and navigator, born in the Republic of Genoa, in northwestern Italy. Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that led to general European awareness of the American continents in the...

in the discovery of America. His squadron was composed of three warships: the twin steam frigates Triunfo and Resolución and the schooner Virgen de Covadonga.

The Spaniards arrived at the port of Valparaiso

Valparaíso

Valparaíso is a city and commune of Chile, center of its third largest conurbation and one of the country's most important seaports and an increasing cultural center in the Southwest Pacific hemisphere. The city is the capital of the Valparaíso Province and the Valparaíso Region...

, Chile

Chile

, on April 18, 1863. Spain had recognized Chilean independence since the 1840s, and both countries had diplomatic relations, thus the expedition was very cordially received and the Admiral exchanged visits with the local authorities. They left Chile in July in the best of terms and moved on to Peru

Peru

. Even though Spain had never recognized Peruvian independence (achieved in 1821), the squadron received a very friendly welcome at the port of Callao. They stayed in port for a few weeks and then moved on towards San Francisco, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

. This was the moment when the problems started.

Talambó incident

On August 4, 1863 a confusing incident took place at the Talambó hacienda, in Lambayeque, Peru

Lambayeque, Peru

Lambayeque is a city in the Lambayeque region of northern Peru. It is notable for its exceptional museums featuring artefacts from local archaeological sites. The Bruning Museum, established in the early 1900s, contains hundreds of gold and silver pieces, as well as textiles and ceramics, from the...

. For reasons not at all clear, a fight broke out between two Spaniards living there and 40 local people. As a result, one Spaniard died and four were injured.

When news of the incident reached Admiral Pinzón, he returned with his fleet to Peru on November 13 and demanded a government apology and reparations to the affected Spanish citizens. The Peruvians responded that it was an internal police matter, better handled by their justice system and that no apology was due. At this juncture, the Spanish government in Madrid decided to also demand the payment of former Peruvian debts stemming from the War of Independence, and it sent deputy Eusebio de Salazar y Mazaredo to settle the issue directly with the Peruvian authorities.

Salazar arrived in March 1864, with the title of Royal Commissary

Commissary

A commissary is someone delegated by a superior to execute a duty or an office; in a formal, legal context, one who has received power from a legitimate superior authority to pass judgment in a certain cause or to take information concerning it.-Word history:...

. This was a deliberate insult to the government of Peru, because a Commissary is a colonial functionary and not an ambassador, the proper title for a diplomatic functionary sent to negotiate with an independent state. From there on, the negotiations between him and the Peruvian minister of Foreign Affairs, Juan A. Ribeyro, were doomed to fail.

Chincha islands occupation

On April 14, 1864, as a retaliation for the indemnity that Peru was refusing to pay, the Spanish fleet seized the lightly defended Chincha Islands

Chincha Islands

The Chincha Islands are a group of three small islands 21 km off the southwest coast of Peru, to which they belong, near the town of Pisco,...

, the principal source of Peruvian guano

Guano

. There, the Spaniards placed the Peruvian governor Ramón Valle Riestra under arrest aboard the Resolución, occupied the islands with 400 Spanish marines, and raised the Spanish flag

Flag of Spain

The flag of Spain , as it is defined in the Spanish Constitution of 1978, consists of three horizontal stripes: red, yellow and red, the yellow stripe being twice the size of each red stripe...

. Spain considered these islands an important bargaining tool, because they were a major source of resources for Peru and produced almost 60% of all governmental revenue.

The Spanish squadron also blockaded the principal Peruvian ports, disrupting commerce and fostering a high level of resentment in all Latin America. They expected little resistance from Peru, believing its military prowess to be negligible. Even a proposal to exchange the islands with the British for Gibraltar

Gibraltar

Gibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. A peninsula with an area of , it has a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region...

was considered for a time. During this blockade the Spanish lost the Triunfo after an accidental fire destroyed it.

The recently assumed Spanish Prime Minister

Prime Minister of Spain

The President of the Government of Spain , sometimes known in English as the Prime Minister of Spain, is the head of Government of Spain. The current office is established under the Constitution of 1978...

, Ramón María Narváez did not approve of the unilateral position of Admiral Pinzón and replaced him with Vice Admiral Juan Manuel Pareja

Juan Manuel Pareja

Vice Admiral José Manuel de Pareja y Septien was a Spanish naval officer, who commanded the Spanish forces during the Chincha Islands War .-Youth and early career:...

, ex-Minister of the Navy. Admiral Pareja had been born in Peru and his father, Brigadier Antonio Pareja, had died in Chile on 1813, fighting for the King during the Chilean War of Independence. Very soon though, Narváez's opinion changed and he sent another four warships to strengthen their Pacific fleet.

Admiral Pareja arrived in Peru in December 1864, and immediately opened negotiations with General Manuel Ignacio de Vivanco

Manuel Ignacio de Vivanco

Manuel Ignacio de Vivanco Iturralde was a Peruvian politician and military leader who held the presidency of Peru from 1843 to 1844. He was born in Valparaíso, Chile...

, the special representative of Peruvian Presidente Juan Antonio Pezet

Juan Antonio Pezet

Juan Antonio Pezet was a Peruvian military officer and politician who served in the positions of Secretary of War, Vice President and President of Peru during his life...

. The Vivanco-Pareja Treaty

Vivanco-Pareja Treaty

The Vivanco-Pareja Treaty was a treaty between Peru and Spain, signifying cooperation between the two nations during the Chincha Islands War. It was signed on January 27, 1865, on board the frigate Villa de Madrid, by Manuel Ignacio de Vivanco and José Manuel Pareja .As a...

was signed on January 27, 1865, on board the frigate Villa de Madrid. Nonetheless national opinion considered it derogatory to Peruvian national honor. When the Peruvian Congress refused to ratify it, a general uprising followed and the government of General Pezet fell on November 7.

War with Chile

In the meantime, anti-Spanish sentiments in several South American countries such as Bolivia

Bolivia

Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...

, Chile

Chile

and Ecuador

Ecuador

Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...

were increasing. It was obvious that the Spaniards had no intentions of conquering their former colonies. However, Peru and its neighbors were suspicious about the possibility of the re-establishment of the Spanish Empire

Spanish Empire

The Spanish Empire comprised territories and colonies administered directly by Spain in Europe, in America, Africa, Asia and Oceania. It originated during the Age of Exploration and was therefore one of the first global empires. At the time of Habsburgs, Spain reached the peak of its world power....

. For this reason it was not surprising that when the Spanish gunboat Vencedora stopped at a Chilean port for coal, President José Joaquín Pérez

José Joaquín Pérez

José Joaquín Pérez Mascayano was a Chilean political figure. He served as the president of Chile between 1861 and 1871....

declared that coal was a war supply that could not be sold to a belligerent nation.

However, from the Spanish point of view, such an embargo could not be taken as proof of Chilean neutrality, since two Peruvian steamers had left the port of Valparaiso with weapons and Chilean volunteers to fight for Peru. In consequence, Vice Admiral José Manuel Pareja took a hard line and demanded sanctions against Chile, even heavier than those imposed upon Peru. He then took part of his squadron composed of four wooden ships to Chile, while the Numancia

Spanish ironclad Numancia

and the Covadonga

Covadonga (ship)

The schooner Virgen de Covadonga was a ship that participated in the Chincha Islands War and the War of the Pacific, under Spanish and Chilean flags. She was launched in 1859...

remained to guard Callao.

On September 17, 1865, Admiral Pareja arrived at Valparaiso

Valparaíso

on his flagship, the Villa de Madrid, and demanded that the Spanish flag be given a 21-gun salute. He purposefully chose the day before the anniversary of Chilean independence (September 18) to present his demand. Under the circumstances, the Chileans refused and war was declared a week later, on September 24.

The just named Spanish Prime Minister

Prime Minister of Spain

Leopoldo O'Donnell, who replaced Narvaéz, ordered Admiral Pareja to withdraw, but the Spanish admiral chose to ignore and disobey his direct orders. Since he had no troops with which to attempt a landing, he decided instead to impose a blockade of the main Chilean ports. Even so, his plan was doomed, for in order to blockade Chile's 1800 miles (2,896.8 km) of coastline, Pareja would have needed a fleet several times larger than what he had at his disposal. The blockade of the port of Valparaiso

Valparaíso

, however, caused such great economic damage to Chilean and foreign interests, that the neutral naval warships of the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

and the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

lodged a formal protest.

Naval battle of Papudo

Before Chile and Peru were even formally aligned, Spain suffered a humiliating naval defeat at the Naval Battle of Papudo

Battle of Papudo

The Naval Battle of Papudo was a naval engagement fought between Spanish and Chilean forces on November 26, 1865, during the Chincha Islands War...

on November 26, 1865. There, the Chilean corvette Esmeralda

Esmeralda (1855)

The Esmeralda launched in 1855, was a wooden steam corvette sunk during the War of the Pacific as was set against superior forces, fought until sunk with colors flying on 21 May 1879 at the Battle of Iquique...

captured the Spanish schooner Covadonga

Covadonga (ship)

The schooner Virgen de Covadonga was a ship that participated in the Chincha Islands War and the War of the Pacific, under Spanish and Chilean flags. She was launched in 1859...

, taking the crew prisoner and capturing the Admiral's war correspondence. This loss was too much for Admiral Pareja's

Juan Manuel Pareja

Vice Admiral José Manuel de Pareja y Septien was a Spanish naval officer, who commanded the Spanish forces during the Chincha Islands War .-Youth and early career:...

pride, and two days later he committed suicide on his flagship. After the Spanish Admiral's death, the general command of the Spanish fleet in the Pacific was assumed by Commodore Casto Méndez Núñez

Casto Méndez Núñez

Casto Secundino María Méndez Núñez , Spanish military naval officer. Born in Vigo . In 1866 during the Chincha Islands War between Spain, Peru and Chile, he was General Commander of the Spanish fleet in the Pacific...

, who was soon promoted to rear admiral.

War with Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia

On November 7, 1865, because of his unwillingness to declare war against Spain and his discredit for having signed the Vivanco-Pareja Treaty

Vivanco-Pareja Treaty

, Peruvian President Juan Antonio Pezet

Juan Antonio Pezet

Juan Antonio Pezet was a Peruvian military officer and politician who served in the positions of Secretary of War, Vice President and President of Peru during his life...

was forced out of office and replaced by his vice president, General Pedro Diez Canseco

Pedro Diez Canseco

Pedro Diez Canseco Corbacho was a Peruvian soldier and politician who became interim President of Peru on three occasions: 1863, 1865 and 1868.-See also:* List of Presidents of Peru...

.

General Diez Canseco also tried to avoid war with Spain, and that in turn also caused his downfall. Only 20 days later, on November 26 General Mariano Ignacio Prado

Mariano Ignacio Prado

Mariano Ignacio Prado Ochoa was twice the President of Peru, from 1865 to 1868 and 1876 to 1879).-Biography:Born in Huánuco in 1826, he entered the army at an early age and served in the provinces of Southern Peru....

, leader of the nationalist movement, deposed him. The new government immediately declared its solidarity with Chile and its intention to declare war against Spain to restore its national honor.

On December 5, 1865, Chile and Peru formally signed an alliance against Spain. The Peruvian Congress ratified this alliance on January 12, and two days later, on January 14, 1866, Peru finally declared war on Spain. Immediately after, a Peruvian squadron under the command of Captain Lizardo Montero

Lizardo Montero Flores

Lizardo Montero Flores was Vice President and President of Peru from 1881 to 1883, during the War of the Pacific.Lizardo Montero joined the Peruvian Navy in the decade of 1850. Seven years later, aboard the frigate Apurímac, he supported Manuel Ignacio de Vivanco's coup...

, composed of the steam frigates Amazonas and Apurímac, set out to join the Chilean fleet.

Ecuador

Ecuador

joined the alliance on January 30, 1866 by declaring war on Spain that same day. Bolivia

Bolivia

Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...

, under the command of General Mariano Melgarejo

Mariano Melgarejo

Manuel Mariano Melgarejo Valencia was the 19th President of Bolivia, from December 28, 1864, to January 15, 1871.-Early life:...

, did the same on March 22, 1866. In this way, all the ports of the Pacific coast of South America south of Colombia became closed and hostile to the Spanish fleet. On the other hand, Argentina

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

and Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

refused to join the alliance, involved as they were in the War of the Triple Alliance

War of the Triple Alliance

The Paraguayan War , also known as War of the Triple Alliance , was a military conflict in South America fought from 1864 to 1870 between Paraguay and the Triple Alliance of Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay...

Naval battle of Abtao

Admiral Mendez Núñez then sent two of his most powerful ships south to destroy the combined Chilean-Peruvian fleet. This squadron had been placed under the command of Peruvian Captain Manuel Villar and had taken refuge at Abtao, a well protected inlet near the gulf of Chiloé, in southern Chile. On February 7, 1866, the Spanish squadron appeared at the entrance, but the Spaniards were afraid to risk their ironclads in shallow water. A cannonade lasting several hours was exchanged with very little effect. In spite of being at anchor, without steam, and some ships even with their engines under overhaul, the Allies fought with energy and determination. The Covadonga, under the command of Lieutenant Manuel Thomson, managed to fire over an island and scored several hits on the frigate Blanca. The battle ended indecisively without further developments. Afraid of the shallow water and realizing that a long range gun duel served no purpose but to waste ammunition, the Spanish commanders retreated.

Williams and the Esmeralda were not at the anchorage that day. The commodore had sailed to Ancud for coaling. On the way back to Valparaiso, the Spanish squadron captured the Chilean steamboat

Steamboat

A steamboat or steamship, sometimes called a steamer, is a ship in which the primary method of propulsion is steam power, typically driving propellers or paddlewheels...

Paquete del Maule that was transporting part of the crew for the new Peruvian ironclads Huáscar

Huáscar (ship)

Huáscar is a 19th century small armoured turret ship of a type similar to a monitor. She was built in Britain for Peru and played a significant role in the battle of Pacocha and the War of the Pacific against Chile before being captured and commissioned with the Chilean Navy. Today she is one of...

and Independencia

Peruvian ironclad Independencia

Independencia was an broadside ironclad built in England for the Peruvian Navy during the mid-1860s. Independencia and Huáscar where the two main ships of the Peruvian Navy at the start of the War of the Pacific with Chile. Independencia ran aground while pursuing Covadonga during the naval battle...

Bombardment of Valparaiso

The Spanish could not attack the land forces and they had been frustrated in engaging the allied squadron at sea. The Spanish ships were isolated, short of supplies, and without any hope of victory. When the Chilean government ordered that all vessels communicating with the Spanish fleet should not be allowed to enter Chilean ports, Admiral Mendez Núñez decided to take punitive action against South American ports. On March 31 the Spanish fleet shelled and burned the town and port of Valparaiso, and destroyed the Chilean merchant fleet. All told, thirty-three vessels were burned or sunk. It was the total ruin of the Chilean merchant marine. Twelve years later the total tonnage under the Chilean flag was still less than half of what it had been in 1865.

Battle of Callao

Admiral Mendez Núñez, very unhappy with having destroyed a defenceless target as Valparaiso, and with the inconclusive result at Abtao, decided to change his plans and attack next a heavily defended port. As a result, the Admiral set upon the Peruvian port city of Callao

Callao

Callao is the largest and most important port in Peru. The city is coterminous with the Constitutional Province of Callao, the only province of the Callao Region. Callao is located west of Lima, the country's capital, and is part of the Lima Metropolitan Area, a large metropolis that holds almost...

. The Battle of Callao that took place on May 2. After the battle, both sides claimed victory. The Peruvian defenders claimed that they had stopped the Spanish from trying to re-take South America (a patent impossibility, due to the composition of the Spanish forces) and to have forced the Spaniards to withdraw their fleet, while the Spaniards claimed to have destroyed most of the Peruvian guns and harbor shelters.

Aftermath

Whether the claim of re-colonization was a fact or an exaggeration is not really known. For the South Americans, Spanish meddling with Latin American countries and the Chincha attack was proof a long-range Spanish intention of reasserting their influence in their former colonies. On the other hand, the force, which amounted to just a squadron of ships with a tiny landing force capability might simply have been intended to seize the islands for their valuable fertiliser resources and to regain some of Spain's lost prestige. If so, it achieved the opposite of what was intended.

After the battle, with all the South American ports closed to them, the Spanish fleet withdrew from South American coasts, vacated the Chincha Islands and returned to Spain via the Philippines

Philippines

The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

, completing a round-the-world trip in order to do so.

Spain

General Commanders

Vice-Admiral Luis Hernández Pinzón (1863–1864)
Vice-Admiral José Manuel Pareja (1864–1865)
Rear-Admiral Casto Méndez Núñez
Casto Méndez Núñez
Casto Secundino María Méndez Núñez , Spanish military naval officer. Born in Vigo . In 1866 during the Chincha Islands War between Spain, Peru and Chile, he was General Commander of the Spanish fleet in the Pacific...

(1865–1866)

! style="text-align: left; background: #AACCCC;"|Vessel
! style="text-align: left; background: #AACCCC;"|tons

Tonnage

Tonnage is a measure of the size or cargo carrying capacity of a ship. The term derives from the taxation paid on tuns or casks of wine, and was later used in reference to the weight of a ship's cargo; however, in modern maritime usage, "tonnage" specifically refers to a calculation of the volume...

(L.ton

Long ton

Long ton is the name for the unit called the "ton" in the avoirdupois or Imperial system of measurements, as used in the United Kingdom and several other Commonwealth countries. It has been mostly replaced by the tonne, and in the United States by the short ton...

)
! style="text-align: left; background: #AACCCC;"|Speed

Speed

In kinematics, the speed of an object is the magnitude of its velocity ; it is thus a scalar quantity. The average speed of an object in an interval of time is the distance traveled by the object divided by the duration of the interval; the instantaneous speed is the limit of the average speed as...

(Knots)
! style="text-align: center; background: #AACCCC;"|Armour

Iron armour

Iron armour was a type of armour used on ironclad warships. The earliest material available in sufficient quantities for armouring ships was iron, wrought or cast. The use of iron gave rise to the term ironclad as a reference to a ship 'clad' in iron....

(Inch)
! style="text-align: left; background: #AACCCC;"|Main Artillery

Artillery

Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...

Numancia

Spanish ironclad Numancia

Villa de Madrid
| 4,478-tons
| 15 knots (29 km/h)
| -
| 30 200-mm guns
14 160-mm guns
2 150-mm howitzers
2 120-mm guns
2 80-mm guns
| 1862
|
|----
|

Battle of Callao

The Battle of Callao occurred on May 2, 1866 between a Spanish fleet under the command of Admiral Casto Méndez Núñez and the fortified battery emplacements of the Peruvian port city of Callao during the Chincha Islands War...

|----
|

Reina Blanca
| 3,800-tons
| 12 knots (24 km/h)
| -
| 68 guns
| 1864
|
|----
|

Berenguela
| 3,800-tons
| 12 knots (24 km/h)
| -
| 36 guns
| 1864
|
|----
|

Resolucion
| 3,100-tons
| 11 knots (22 km/h)
| -
| 1 220-mm guns
20 200-mm guns
14 160-mm guns
2 150-mm howitzers
2 120-mm guns
2 80-mm guns
| 1861
|
|----
|

Pisco, Peru

Pisco is a city located in the Ica Region of Peru, the capital of the Pisco Province. The city is around 9 metres above sea level. Originally the villa of Pisco was founded in 1640, close to the indigenous emplacement of the same name...

on the night of 25 to 26 November 1864
|----
Steam-schooners

Vencedora, Built 1861; Weight 778-tons; Speed 8 knots (16 km/h); weapons two 200 mm revolving guns and two 160 mm guns.
Virgen de Covadonga, Built 1864; Weight 445-tons; Speed 8 knots (16 km/h); Weapons two revolving 200 mm guns at the sides and one revolving 160 mm guns at the prow. Captured by Chile at Battle of Papudo
Battle of Papudo
The Naval Battle of Papudo was a naval engagement fought between Spanish and Chilean forces on November 26, 1865, during the Chincha Islands War...

on November 26, 1865.

Steamboats

Marqués de la Victoria – 3 guns

Sail transports

Consuelo
Mataure

Perú

General Commanders

Captain Lizardo Montero
Lizardo Montero Flores
Lizardo Montero Flores was Vice President and President of Peru from 1881 to 1883, during the War of the Pacific.Lizardo Montero joined the Peruvian Navy in the decade of 1850. Seven years later, aboard the frigate Apurímac, he supported Manuel Ignacio de Vivanco's coup...
Captain Manuel Villar

Screw-frigates

Apurímac
BAP Apurimac
The Apurímac was the second steam frigate of the Peruvian Navy, built in England in 1855 along with the steamers Loa and Tumbes as a part of a major built-up of the Navy during the government of President José Rufino Echenique...

– Built 1854; Weight 1,666-tons; Speed 9.43 knots (18 km/h); Weapons thirty-four guns
Amazonas – Built 1851; Weight 1,743-tons; Speed 9.43 knots (18 km/h); Weapons thirty-three 200 mm guns – Beached at Abtao, near Punta Quilque, 15 January 1886

Steam-schooners

Tumbes – Built 1854; Weight 250-tons; Speed 7 knots (14 km/h); Weapons two 68-pounder gun
68-pounder gun
The 68-pounder cannon was an artillery piece designed and used by the British Armed Forces in the mid-19th century. The cannon was a smoothbore muzzle-loading gun manufactured in several weights, the most common being , and fired projectiles of . Colonel William Dundas designed the 112 cwt version...

s

Steamboats

Chalaco – Built 1864 – 2 guns
Colón – Built 1864 – 2 guns

Ironclad monitors
Monitor (warship)
A monitor was a class of relatively small warship which was neither fast nor strongly armoured but carried disproportionately large guns. They were used by some navies from the 1860s until the end of World War II, and saw their final use by the United States Navy during the Vietnam War.The monitors...

Loa – Built 1854; Weight 648-tons; Speed 10 knots (20 km/h); Weapons four 32 pdr. guns
Victoria – Built 1865; 1 gun

Chile

General Commanders

Captain Juan Williams Rebolledo
Juan Williams Rebolledo
Juan Williams Rebolledo was a Chilean rear admiral who was the organizer and commander-in-chief of the Chilean navy at the beginning of the War of the Pacific.-Early life:...

.

corvette

corvette Esmeralda – Built in 1854, 854-ton weight, speed of 8 knots (14.82 km / h), armed with two guns boat 12 lb, 16 smoothbore muzzle-loading guns of 32 lb and 4 smooth-bore muzzle-loading guns of 32 lb.

Steam-schooners

Schooner Virgen de Covadonga – Built 1864; Weight 445-tons; Speed 8 knots (15 km/h); Weapons two revolving 200 mm guns at the sides and one revolving 160 mm guns at the prow. Captured by Chile at Battle of Papudo on November 26, 1865.

Transports

Paquete del Maule – Captured by Spain; Speed 13 knots (25 km/h); armament 2 guns.

vapors

steam Maipú.
steam Lautauro.

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