Action of 22 August 1866

Last updated
Action of 22 August 1866
Part of the Chincha Islands War
10corbetatornado.jpg
Chilean steamer Pampero
Date22 August 1866
Location 32°38′N16°54′W / 32.633°N 16.900°W / 32.633; -16.900 Coordinates: 32°38′N16°54′W / 32.633°N 16.900°W / 32.633; -16.900
Result Spanish victory
Belligerents
Flag of Spain (1785-1873, 1875-1931).svg  Spain Flag of Chile.svg  Chile
Commanders and leaders
Don Benito Escalera Flag of Chile.svg Juan MacPherson
60 men
Strength
1 frigate 1 steamer
Casualties and losses
none 1 steamer captured

The action of 22 August 1866 occurred during the Chincha Islands War near Funchal, on the island of Madeira, and was the final action of the war battle between Spanish and Chilean forces.

The Chilean steamer Tornado was captured by the Spanish frigate Gerona, on 22 August 1866 off the island of Madeira. Tornado had arrived in Madeira under the command of Juan MacPherson, an English commander in service of the Chilean Navy. The Chilean ship had sailed to Madeira on 21 August to make provisions of charcoal and food supplements and to recruit sailors for its crew. Although the intent was to remain until 23 August, at 14:00 hours on 22 August the watch aboard ship alerted the captain to the presence of an armed vessel, the Spanish frigate Gerona. Captain McPherson decided to leave all his supplies on the dock and got the ship underway 90 minutes after the first sighting of Gerona. In its haste, Tornado had not been inspected by or granted permission to leave port from the Portuguese authorities in Madeira. Two blank charges were fired to signal that Tornado should stop, but Tornado continued out of port.

Gerona had been sent from Cádiz under the command of captain Benito Ruiz de la Escalera specifically to capture Tornado and its sister ship, Cyclone. The firing of the charges alerted Gerona of the presence of Tornado and Gerona gave chase. At 22:30 Gerona fired a blank shot. Tornado continued to ignore the intent. Gerona followed up with three live shots; Tornado stopped its engines and struck its colors.

The crew of Tornado was transferred to Gerona. Tornado was manned by a prize crew commanded by naval lieutenant Manuel de Bustillo y Pery. Tornado sailed for Cádiz, where it arrived on 26 August, while Gerona returned to Madeira in a fruitless search for Tornado's sister ship Cyclone. [1]

Aftermath

The captured Tornado was subsequently taken into the Spanish service under the same name. [2]

Notes

  1. García Martínez, José Ramón (2005). Buques de la Real Armada de S.M.C. Isabel II (1830–1868). Madrid: Museo Naval.
  2. Lawrence Sondhaus. Naval warfare, 1815–1914. Routledge press (2001) ISBN   0-415-21478-5, p.98

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Cape St. Vincent (1780)</span> 1780 naval battle between Great Britain and Spain

The Battle of Cape St. Vincent was a naval battle that took place off the southern coast of Portugal on 16 January 1780 during the American Revolutionary War. A British fleet under Admiral Sir George Rodney defeated a Spanish squadron under Don Juan de Lángara. The battle is sometimes referred to as the Moonlight Battle because it was unusual for naval battles in the Age of Sail to take place at night. It was also the first major naval victory for the British over their European enemies in the war and proved the value of copper-sheathing the hulls of warships.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hippolyte Bouchard</span> French navy officer

Hippolyte or Hipólito Bouchard was a French-born Argentine sailor and corsair who fought for Argentina, Chile, and Peru.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chincha Islands War</span> 1864–66 territorial conflict between Spain and the western South American nations

The Chincha Islands War, also known as Spanish–South American War, was a series of coastal and naval battles between Spain and its former colonies of Peru, Chile, Ecuador, and Bolivia from 1865 to 1879. The conflict began with Spain's seizure of the guano-rich Chincha Islands in one of a series of attempts by Spain, under Isabella II, to reassert its influence over its former South American colonies. The war saw the use of ironclads, including the Spanish ship Numancia, the first ironclad to circumnavigate the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Abtao</span>

The Battle of Abtao was a naval battle fought on February 7, 1866, during the Chincha Islands War, between a Spanish squadron and a combined Peruvian-Chilean fleet, at the island of Abtao in the Gulf of Ancud near Chiloé Archipelago in south-central Chile. It was limited to a long-range exchange of fire between the two squadrons, as the allied ships, anchored behind the island, were protected by shallow waters inaccessible to the Spanish ships, whose gunnery, nevertheless, proved more accurate and inflicted damage to the Chilean and Peruvian ships.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Cape Passaro</span> 18th century naval battle between British and Spanish navy

The Battle of Cape Passaro, also known as Battle of Avola or Battle of Syracuse, was a major naval battle fought on 11 August 1718 between a fleet of the British Royal Navy under Admiral Sir George Byng and a fleet of the Spanish Navy under Rear-Admiral Antonio de Gaztañeta. It was fought off Cape Passaro, in the southern tip of the island of Sicily of which Spain had occupied. Spain and Britain were at peace, but Britain was already committed to supporting the ambitions of the Emperor Charles VI in southern Italy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">José Antonio Pareja</span>

Brigadier José Antonio de Pareja y Mariscal was a senior Spanish naval officer. He captained the Argonauta during the Battle of Trafalgar (1805) and in 1812 commanded Royalist troops during the Chilean War of Independence (1810–26).

French frigate <i>Minerve</i> (1794)

Minerve was a 40-gun Minerve-class frigate of the French Navy. The British captured her twice and the French recaptured her once. She therefore served under four names before being broken up in 1814:

Peruvian frigate <i>Apurímac</i> Steam frigate of the Peruvian Navy

BAP Apurímac was the second steam frigate of the Peruvian Navy, built in England in 1855 along with the steam schooners Loa and Tumbes as a part of a major build-up of the Navy during the government of President José Rufino Echenique. A veteran of two wars and many internal conflicts, due to her age she served as training ship in Callao port from 1873 until January 17, 1881, when she was scuttled along with the rest of the Peruvian Navy to prevent capture by Chilean troops who had occupied the port after the defeat of the Peruvian Army in the battles of San Juan and Miraflores.

HMS <i>Terpsichore</i> (1785) Frigate of the Royal Navy

HMS Terpsichore was a 32-gun Amazon-class fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She was built during the last years of the American War of Independence, but did not see action until the French Revolutionary Wars. She served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, in a career that spanned forty-five years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Action of 13 October 1796</span> Naval engagement in French Revolutionary Wars

The action of 13 October 1796 was a minor naval engagement of the French Revolutionary Wars, fought off the Mediterranean coast of Spain near Cartagena between the British Royal Navy 32-gun frigate HMS Terpsichore under Captain Richard Bowen and the Spanish Navy 34-gun frigate Mahonesa under Captain Tomás de Ayalde. The action was the first battle of the Anglo-Spanish War, coming just eight days after the Spanish declaration of war. In a battle lasting an hour and forty minutes, Mahonesa was captured.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Action of 7 April 1800</span>

The action of 7 April 1800 was a minor naval engagement fought between a British squadron blockading the Spanish naval base of Cádiz and a convoy of 13 Spanish merchant vessels escorted by three frigates, bound for the Spanish colonies in the Americas. The blockade squadron consisted of the ships of the line HMS Leviathan and HMS Swiftsure and the frigate HMS Emerald, commanded by Rear-Admiral John Thomas Duckworth on Leviathan. The Spanish convoy sailed from Cádiz on 3 April 1800 and encountered Duckworth's squadron two days later. The Spanish attempted to escape; Emerald succeeded in capturing one ship early on 6 April. The British captured a brig the following morning and the British squadron divided in pursuit of the remainder.

Chilean brigantine <i>Águila</i> (1796)

Águila was the first naval vessel of the Chilean Navy. She was later renamed Pueyrredón.

Chilean corvette <i>Abtao</i>

The corvette Abtao was a wooden ship built in Scotland during 1864 of 1.600 tons and 800 IHP. She fought in the War of the Pacific and was in service for the Chilean Navy until 1922.

Spanish frigate <i>Esmeralda</i>

Esmeralda was a 44-gun frigate built in Port Mahón, Balearic Islands in 1791 for the Spanish Navy. The First Chilean Navy Squadron, under the command of Thomas Cochrane, captured her on the night of 5 November 1820. She was renamed Valdivia in Chilean service. She was beached at Valparaíso in June 1825.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">First Chilean Navy Squadron</span> Military unit

The First Chilean Navy Squadron was the heterogeneous naval force that temporarily terminated Spanish colonial rule in the Pacific and protagonized the most important naval actions of in the Latin American wars of independence. The Chilean revolutionary government organized the squadron in order to carry the war to the Viceroyalty of Perú, then the center of Spanish power in South America, and thus secure the independence of Chile and Argentina.

Spanish corvette <i>Tornado</i>

Tornado was a bark-rigged screw steam corvette of the Spanish Navy, first launched at Clydebank, Scotland in 1863, as the Confederate raider CSS Texas. She is most famous for having captured the North American filibustering ship Virginius, which led to the "Virginius Affair", which afterwards led to the Spanish-American Crisis of 1873.

Chilean brigantine <i>Aquiles</i> (1824)

Aquiles was a brigantine, originally Spanish, that later served in the Chilean Navy. It was driven ashore and wrecked at Callao, Peru on 24 July 1839.

HMS <i>Emerald</i> (1795) Frigate of the Royal Navy, in service 1795-1836

HMSEmerald was a 36-gun Amazon-class fifth rate frigate that Sir William Rule designed in 1794 for the Royal Navy. The Admiralty ordered her construction towards the end of May 1794 and work began the following month at Northfleet dockyard. She was completed on 12 October 1795 and joined Admiral John Jervis's fleet in the Mediterranean.

Capture of the frigate <i>Esmeralda</i>

The capture of the frigate Esmeralda was a naval operation conducted on the nights of 5 and 6 November 1820. A division of boats with sailors and marines of the First Chilean Navy Squadron, commanded by Thomas Cochrane, stealthily advanced towards Callao and captured the ship through a boarding attack. Esmeralda was the flagship of Spanish fleet and the main objective of the operation. She was protected by a strong military defense that the royalists had organized in the port.