Action of 22 August 1866

Action of 22 August 1866
Part of the Chincha Islands War
Gerona chasing Tornado off Funchal
Date 22 August 1866 Location Funchal, Madeira 32°38′N16°54′W / 32.633°N 16.900°W / 32.633; -16.900 Result Spanish victory
Belligerents
Spain	Chile • British privateers
Commanders and leaders
Benito Escalera	John McPherson
Strength
1 screw frigate	1 screw corvette
Casualties and losses
None	1 screw corvette captured 60 prisoners

The action of 22 August 1866 occurred during the Chincha Islands War near Funchal, on the island of Madeira, and was the final engagement of the war between the Spanish Navy frigate Gerona and Tornado, a British-crewed screw corvette in Chilean service flying the Red Ensign.

Tornado had arrived in Madeira under the command of John McPherson, a British commander in service of the Chilean government, under British register and waving the British flag. The vessel was also manned by a 55-men British crew, ^[1] plus five Portuguese sailors who were taken aboard at Funchal. ^[2]

Background

Tornado was not still fully fitted as a man of war because its rendezvous with a resupply British ship also in Chilean service, the Greatham Hall, was thwarted by the HMS Caledonia, when the British frigate captured the provisioning vessel on 11 July off Portland island. ^[3] By then, Tornado had sailed from Hamburg on 10 July bounded for London. ^[4]

The Tornado eventually arrived in Leith on 4 July. Spanish diplomats warned British authorities that the vessel was loading rifles and was presumably hired either by the Peruvian or the Chilean governments. ^[5]

The action

Tornado sailed toward Madeira on 10 August ^[6] arriving 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.

Aftermath

The crew of Tornado was transferred to Gerona. Tornado was manned by a prize crew commanded by Lieutenant Manuel de Bustillo y Pery. Tornado sailed for Cádiz, where she arrived on 26 August, while Gerona returned to Madeira in a fruitless search for Tornado's sister ship Cyclone. ^[7]

The capture of the British crew triggered a diplomatic dispute between Britain and Spain about the status of the ship and protests by the British government for the harsh treatment of the British sailors as prisoners of war. ^[8] Spanish and English diplomatic sources at consular level agreed that Tornado was, by its construction and equipment, "a man-of-war, or rather a privateer". ^[4]

The captured steamer was condemned by a Spanish court at Cádiz as a good prize ^[9] and Tornado subsequently entered Spanish Navy service under the same name. ^[10]

Notes

1. Bentinck (1870), p. 30
2. Commons, Great Britain Parliament House of (1867). Seizure of the "Tornado" off Madeira by the Spanish Frigate "Gerona" - Accounts and Papers of the House of Commons. Ordered to be printed. p. 18.
3. Commons, Great Britain Parliament House of (1867), p. 85
4. Commons, Great Britain Parliament House of (1867), p. 149
5. Documentos diplomáticos presentados a las Córtes en la legislatura de ... por el Ministerio de Estado: 1867 (in Spanish). Impr. Nacional [Sp.:] Imprenta de Miguel Ginester. 1867. pp. 33–34.
6. Bentinck (1870), p. 9
7. García Martínez, José Ramón (2005). Buques de la Real Armada de S.M.C. Isabel II (1830–1868). Madrid: Museo Naval.
8. Commons, Great Britain Parliament House of (1867), p. 26
9. Commons, Great Britain Parliament House of (1867), pp. 32-35
10. Lawrence Sondhaus. Naval warfare, 1815–1914. Routledge press (2001) ISBN   0-415-21478-5, p.98

References

• Bentinck, G.C. (1870). Case of the Tornado. Harrison & Sons.