Action of 17 November 1865
| Action of 17 November 1865 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Chincha Islands War | |||||||
 The frigate Lealtad, twin of the frigate Resolución, to which the captured gunboat belonged. | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Spain |
 Chile | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 1 gunboat | 1 tugboat | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
|
1 gunboat captured Around 50 prisoners[1] | None | ||||||
The Action of 17 November 1865 was a minor naval battle of the Chincha Islands War, waged in front of the port of Tomé. The Chilean tugboat Independencia captured a Spanish gunboat, which belonged to the frigate Resolución.
Background
On 24 September 1865, the Spanish Admiral José Manuel Pareja declared the beginning of hostilities against Chile, establishing the blockade of its ports, given the refusal of this country to accept Spanish demands.[2] This caused the Chilean government to declare war on Spain the next day, in response to Pareja's decision.[3]
The Spanish admiral wanted to block the entire Chilean coast with his warships, but due to its extension, he had to confine himself with difficulty to the ports of Caldera, Coquimbo, La Herradura, Valparaíso, Tomé and Talcahuano.[4] In the first days of war, the frigate Resolución was entrusted the blockade of the last two mentioned ports, and for the blockade to be effective, it had to patrol the entire bay of Concepción, due to the small ports that were in the zone.[5]
Action
To optimize the blockade of the bay of Concepcion, the Spaniards released from the Resolución a gunboat armed with 2 guns. The objective of this gunboat was to prevent the traffic of smaller vessels from Talcahuano to Penco and Tomé.[5]
On 17 November, in front of Tomé, the Chilean tugboat Independencia approached dangerously to the Spanish gunboat, beginning the latter to attack with his guns the tugboat.[5] The Chilean ship simulated surrender, turned off the lights and stopped its steam engine. The Spaniards approached and proceeded to board the tugboat to capture it, but at that moment they were surprised by a detachment of at least a hundred Chilean soldiers who were manning the ship. The Spaniards were forced to surrender and the gunboat was captured.[6] Later, the Spanish gunboat was sent by his captors to the port of Constitution.[6]
Reception
The capture of the Spanish gunboat and its endowment was mentioned in the Chilean newspaper El Mercurio, in the edition of 25 November 1865, and also in the American newspaper The New York Times, in the number of 1 January 1866.[6] On 19 January of that same year, the Spanish newspaper La Época reported on the event.
References
- ^ "News of the day.; General News", New York Times, January 1, 1866, retrieved 15 July 2019
- ^ Novo y Colson, Pedro (1882). Historia de la Guerra de España en el Pacífico (in Spanish). Madrid, España: Imprenta de Fortanet. p. 326.
- ^ Vicuña Mackenna, Benjamín (1883). Historia de la Guerra de Chile con España (de 1863 a 1866) (PDF) (in Spanish). Santiago, Chile: Imprenta Victoria. p. 145.
- ^ López Urrutia 2007, p. 298–299
- ^ a b c López Urrutia 2007, p. 299
- ^ a b c López Urrutia 2007, p. 300
Bibliography
- López Urrutia, Carlos (2007). Historia de la Marina de Chile (in Spanish) (2 ed.). Santiago, Chile: El Ciprés Editores. ISBN 978-0-6151-8574-3.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help)