The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1898-06-09
THREE-HAUDED NAVAL DUEL.
Defeated the Chilian ships EE-
mereldR and IndependenctR,

When hostilities between Chill and
Peru were declared the former nation
had a good modern navy, Including some
frst-class cruisers, among these being
the O'Higgins and the Cochrane. These
vessels were of a little less than 10, 600
tons displacement, possessed the twin
screw, and were armored and equipped
with main batteries of ten aud six
inch guns, with a full complement Of
~rapid-hre and machine guns. To oppose
these the allies had but one vessel which
could be considered In any way a match
for them. That vessel, the Huascar, of
the Peruvian navy, was an armored
cruiser about equal to the Cochrane in.
displacement and armament.
When war was declared the Peru
Wan government placed Capt. Grau, a
thoroughly experienced, brave and com,
petent sailor of German descent, in com
mand of the H]usacar, as the admiral
Of the allied nayies. Capt Prat, a
friend Of Grau's, and an able seaman
Of English descent, was placed in charge
Of the CHILEAN squadron, and put to sea
10 the Esmerelda, an unprotected
cruiser, accompanied only by her sis.
ter ship, the independence. While
cruising off Iguigue on the ED of May
these vessels were spied by the Huas-
car, and Admiral Grau decided to en-
gage them both, cleared his deck for ac-
ton, and bore down upon them. Capt.
Pratt stood his ground, and an action
commenced which soon demonstrated
that no number of wooden ships can
stand before the armored cruiser. The
shot from the Esmerelda and the hide
p~endencia, one Of which weighed 200.
pounds, pelted the tHusacar steadily
at a decreasing range. and only one OF
them made a dent in the armor, On the
other hand the Huascar's shot went
through the wooden cruisers as though
they had been paper, converting them
into regular slaughter houses. In
vain did the brave prat try to ram the
steel monster, until. driven to despera.
ton, with drawn sword, at the heud Of
a boarding crew, he jumped aboard the
Huascar, and fell at the gaugway,
pierced through the brain by a rife.
man in the rigging Seeing that the
battle was lost, the Esmerelda escaped
under the guns Of shore batteries, but
in trying to follow her a shot from the
Huascar penetrated to the magazine,
and the Independence blew up with all
on board.
Repairing his slight damages, Ad.
miral Grau turned south along the
Chilian coast, and began that cruise
which, a few months later, terminated
IN the most terrific naval conflict Of
modern times, Bombarding cities, sinb
Ing the wooden vessels Of Chill. and de-
gtroying commerce, he swept every.
thing before him until tie name Of Hi.
ascar became the synonym Of terror.
At this time the admiral had an expert
ence with a torpedo which permanently
p]rejudiced him against that engine Of
warfare. Seeing a CHILEAN vessel one
day he decided to blow her up. The tor
pedO was fired, proceeded about halt
way to The mark, then turned and made
q direct line for the Huascar, which
was only saved by a seaman jumping
overheard and catching IT, Loweringl
bis stock Of torpedoes into a boat, he
had them rowed ashore and buried 90
cemetery Of the village, and from
that day refused TO let one come on bis
shlp.-Chicago Tribune.