The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1899-02-02
SPANISH GUNNERY. /
GRIEVANCE AGAINST PERU WHICH
THE DONS FAILED TO SETTLE, A

"a
Tho Peruvians borrowed ChiIrs Navy Of
Three Vessels and Whipped the Spanish
Fleet Of seven-Forcsd to Quilt . Few
Hours After beginning the Battle. a
A chapter from modern Spanish his.
tory which was overshadowed In this
country by events of greater import.
ance. but which serves to give some
indication Of what Spanish gunnery
was few years ago, is worth retelline
now. Spain had grievance against
Peru in 1865 because some of her sub
jects had been maltreated there, and
she sent squadron Of seven vessels
mounting I'll guns, to punish the Pc
ruvians. Peru had no navy at that
time, but her neighbor Chill came to
her aid with three vessels-the Esmer-
aida. carrying AZ 'smooth-bores; the
Victoria. a small one-gun monitor, and
the Loa, a diminutive Merrimac, plated
with iron, and mounting two 6S-pound-
ers. 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 min
utes without the loss of a man. The
Spaniards fired only three shots. They
had two men killed and fourteen
wounded. The loss of the Cavandago,
followed by the capture Of an 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 the de.
fenceless Valparaiso, where not sim
gle gun was mounted, except few ga.
luting 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 10 5000 shells into it
from feet of six vessels. The Span
ish gunnery was so wretched that little
damage was done. except by fire. which
destroyed $1O,0OO.OOO worth Of neutral
goods. It was a most wanton piece Of
barbarlty. for If the Spaniards had had
landing force they could have taken
the town without firing shot.
1.-THE gallant Nunez next assailed the
city Of Callao, which taught him the
difference between an open town and
one that was adequately defended. In
four of five hours the Spanish squad
ron was badly used up. and was glad
to crawl back to Spain as best it could
In Its crippled condition. The Villa de
Madrid. flftysix guns, got shot in
her steam chest. and was toved 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 damages.
"The ammunition In two other Span.
ish vessels gave out after two hours
fight, and they had to retiN, one Of
them having been twice on fire in the
neighborhood of the magazine This
left two vessels, the Numancia, IRON
Sihu, lhC hllIuhLd. WI HOulb
later these two vessels ceased their
fire and withdrew. The Chilians fir
ing at them until they were beyond
range The Spanish loss is not ex-
acty known, but is supposed to have
been about 200 Commander Rodgers
U. s. NJ, estimated the loss of the Chill
ians at 80, though others give larger
number. No serious damage was done~
to either ships or forts by the fire be- Wy
yond that named. The Spaniards then
withdrew discounted from the Pacific,
being short of stores and ammunition
and with their vessels foul for want of
docking They had established base
at the Chincha Islands. but they had
no facilities for repair"
In speaking of this Hasco 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 a
naval engagement now as much as 1t
did 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 su.
perior to Spain. 1t is a wellestab-
lished 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 cen.
tury 1t has made itself ridiculous"