Gulf Coast breeze. [volume] (Crawfordville, Fla.) 1897-19??, 1898-06-10
PERU HUMBLED SPAIN.
A CHAPTER FROM MODERN HISTORY
THAT Is WORTH TELLING.

|
| Was Quickly Put out Of Action.
A chapter from modern Spanish his
tory which was overshadowed in this
country by events of greater impor-
,tance, but which serves to give some
indication of what Spanish gunnery
was few years ago, is worth retelling
now. Spain had grievance against
Peru in 1866 because some of her sub
jects had been maltreated there, and
she sent squadron of seven vessels,
mounting oil guns, to punish the
Peruvians. Peru had no navy at that
time, but her neighbor Chill came to
her aid with three vessels--the Esmer-
aida, carrying AZ small-bores; the Vic
toria, small one-gun monitor, and
the Loa, a diminutiye Merrimac, plated
with iron, and mounting two &C.
Founders. A writer in the army and
navy Journal describes the affair.
''The Esmeralda," he says, "met
the Spanish gunboat Cavandago three
guns and captured her in twenty
minutes without the loss of man.
The Spaniards fred only three shots.
They had two men killed and fourteen
wounded. The loss of the Cayaudago,
followed by. the capture of az armored
launch, so chagrined the Spanish adj
miral, Pareja, that he blew out his
brains in his cabin.
"Admiral Nunez, who succeeded
Pareja, then CALAMITY assailed tho de.
fenceless Valparaiso, where not q
single gun was mounted except few
saluting pieces. Not shot was fired
from the town and the inhabitants
promptly evacuated it. This Spanish
admiral, in spite OF the protests OF the
foreign men-of-war in the harbor,
threw from 1000 to 5000 shells into it
from his feet of six vessels. The
Spanish gnnnery was so wretched that
little damage was done except by fire,
which destroyed $4,000, 900 worth of
neutral goods. 1t was most wanton
piece of barbarity, for ifthe Spaniards
had had landing force they could
have taken the town without firing
shot.
"'The gallant Nunez next assaulted
the city of Callao, which taught him
the difference between an open town
and one that was adequately defended.
In four or five hours the Spanish
squadron was badly used up. and was
glad to crawl back to Spain as best
it could in it's crippled condition.
The Villa dc Madrid, fifty-six guns,
got shot in her steam chest, and was
towed out of action. The Berenguela,
thirty-six guns, had hole twenty feet
square knocked into her near the
water line by an exploding shell, and
crawled out of range to repair dam
ages.
''The ammunition in two other
Spanish vessels gave out after two
hours fight, and they had to retire,
one of them having been twice on fire
in the neighborhood Of the magazine.
This left two vessels, the Numancia,
ironclad, and the Almanac. Two hours
later these two vessels ceased their
fire and Withdrew, the Chiians fired
at them until they were beyond range.
The Spanish loss is not exactly known,
but is supposed to have been about
200. Commander Rodgers, U. ). N,
estimated the loss of the Chilans at
80, though others give larger num-
Der. No serious damage was done to
either ships or forts by the fire beyond
that named. The Spaniards then
withdrew discounted from the Pacific,
being short of stores and ammunition
and with their vessels foul for the
want of docking. They had estab-
lished base at the Chincha Islands,
but they had no facilities for repair"
III speaking of this fiasco naval
officer said: "Spain has in measure
shared in the movement toward more
formidable ships and guns, but it is
the personal factor which tells in n
naval engagement now as much as it
did a century ago, when battles were
fought with wooden ships. This is
recognized by all authorities on naval
warfare, although the uniformed are
apt to think that the modern gunboat
is complicated machine which fights
automatically. Good gun service will
win against great odds in armament,
and in this particular we have good
reason to believe that we ARE much
superior to Spain. Ii is we'll es-
tablished fact that the Latin races do
not develop good gunners. Whenever
the Spanish navy has attempted to
show its skill with guns in the last
half century it has made itself ridicu-
lous."