New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1879-06-17
1GfyL4yT SE4-FIGHT.

All Iile aCtOiHl5 plNliS any hNtt'A'H VI ''AN
affur off Iquque thus far received have come
through Peruvian sources, and cannot, there
fore. be supposed to have the least cOloring
favorable to the Chilians. 1t appears that the
defence of the Esmeralda was an act OF hero
ism deserving conspicuous place III the an
mails of naval warfare. The CHILEAN corvette,
an old wooden craft of 1000 tons burden,
tolerably well armed, was caught IN little
bay where escape was impossible, by the
powerful Peruvian ram Huascar. Here was a
situation where n prudent commander would
have speedily pulled down his flag; but most
heroic deeds are performed in defiance OF that
discretion which is said to be the better part
of valor, and Captain Thomson, of the
Esmeralda. determined to fight his ship to the
last. He refused TO surrender, and opened fire
on his huge antagonist. The Huascar declined
a fair fight, and running into her adversary
crushed the Esmeradas wooden walls with Il
single blow from her iron ram and sent her to
the bottom. Captain Thomson. with handful
of his men, climbed on board the Huascar and
were cut down while bravely fighting on the
deck OF their enemy. The fate of the Esme-
ralda wildly recalls the sinking of the friSate
Cumberland by the rebel ram herrimack, III
Hampton Roads, in 1862. The parallel be-
tween the two events is complete save III two
particulars: none of the crew of the Cumber-
land were able to board their antagonist, and
there was no Monitor to ayenge next day the
loss of the Esmoralda.
The Chilians who went down at their guns
or were slaughtered on board the Peruvian
ram were avenged in another fashion, how
al Xll
was sunk, the splendid Peruvian armored
frigate Independence ran fast upon a sunken
rock and was abandoned and fred 10y her own
crew. She had separated from the Huascar
when the latter attacked the corvette and
had gone in pursuit of the CHILEAN dispatch
boat Coyadonga, which, keeping close i'll shore,
i'm shallow water, lurcd the big ironclad to
self-dcstructiOn. The net result Of the whole
affair." so far as Chill is concerned, is there
fore Che exchange of an old wooden craft for
the finest and only really formidable cruising
ship in the Peruvian Nayy-abOut equivalent
TO trading pawn at chess for an adversary s
queen At the same time the plucly little
Republic adds a bright page to naval history.
For the sake of the science of maritime
warfare it is pity the ram and the corvette
did not have fair fight with their guns, at
moderately short range. There is a suspicion
among naval officers the world over that the
fighting qualities of heavily armored ships have
been greatly overrated, and that they have pc
cuIar weaknesses in action which counter
balance their special defensive advantage.
Such a fight would have thrown new light
upon the problem, and its details and result
would have been studied with interest by all
naval powers. As the contest turned out, moth
ing new was settled. The power of an iron
ram to sink wooden ship had long ago been
demonstrated, and the fatal facility of a big
ironclad to go to the bottom on slight PROV
ocation more than one nation had already
learned to its great chagIin.