flagship; but the men were quickly at their quarters, and every gun in
the ship was promptly trained upon the position indicated by Douglas.
It was too dark to enable the gunners to aim with precision, but the
sound guided them to some extent, and suddenly a perfect volcano of
machine-gun fire broke out on board the _Blanco Encalada_, followed by a
hoarse scream of agony from the torpedo-launch. An iron bucket was
partly filled with paraffin and this was lighted as a flare, throwing a
lurid glare over the sea and disclosing plainly to view a couple of
rapidly approaching launches, each of which carried a spar over her
bows, from which a torpedo was suspended, the launches heading directly
for the _Blanco Encalada_. But upon the nearest launch the effect of
the flagship's fire was terrible. The helmsman had been cut nearly to
pieces by the hail of bullets, and he now hung dead over the tiller of
the little steamer, which was consequently yawing wildly about. The
remainder of her crew were in the well abaft the boiler, some lying
huddled up on the floor, while others hung loosely, like half-empty
sacks, over the launch's bulwarks, their arms trailing in the water.
Indeed it appeared as though the _Blanco Encalada_, by a lucky fluke,
had concentrated her whole fire upon that one devoted craft. For a
moment it appeared as though the little steamer, with her crew of dead,
would still effect her purpose, for the torpedo was still intact at the
end of its spar, and the launch was heading straight for the battleship;
but just at the last moment the corpse of the helmsman was jerked from
the tiller by the motion of the sea, and the launch's head immediately
fell off a point or two. She rushed past the _Blanco Encalada's_ bows,
missing them by no more than a few feet, and a few minutes later a
deafening report from the shore told those on board the flagship that
the torpedo-launch had rushed at full speed upon the rocks, thus
exploding her torpedo and blowing herself to pieces.
The second launch, which had been steaming about a hundred yards astern
of her consort, had miraculously escaped that whirlwind of shot, and
now, seeing the fate of her consort, she described a wide circle, and
headed away to the north-west, out of the bay, at full speed. In a few
minutes she would be beyond the circle of light thrown by the flagship's
brazier of fire, and would be in safety; but she was not to escape so
easily. The _Blanco Encalada's_ gunners carefully laid their machine-
guns on the craft, and opened a furious fire upon her. The rattle of
the Nordenfeldts sounded like a continuous roar of thunder, and the
stream of fire from their muzzles itself illuminated the darkness of the
night with a fitful glare.
The gunners got the range almost immediately, and those on board the
flagship could see that the water was lashed into foam round the launch
by the pelting rain of missiles. There was no escape from that iron
hail, not even for those desperate members of the crew who dived
overboard, for the men of the _Blanco_ made a target of every face that
appeared upon the surface of the water.
Then the end came, suddenly and dreadfully. A bullet must have passed
in advance of the launch and struck the torpedo itself, for the
onlookers saw a dazzling burst of whitish-blue flame, which was followed
by a deafening, stunning explosion, and the launch seemed to disappear,
as if by magic, in a tornado of flame, for not even a fragment of her
appeared on the water afterwards. The roar of the machine-guns at once
ceased, and every man on board the ship wiped away the cold sweat of
fear which had burst out on his forehead at the prospect of being
torpedoed; for there is no arm in the naval service so dreaded by the
sailor.
Tranquillity was now gradually restored, and half an hour later peace
once more reigned; but not a single man in the whole squadron could
bring himself to go below again until day dawned. On every ship huge
fires were lighted, and boats were sent to patrol the fleet in order to
prevent a repetition of the occurrence; but it was not until daylight
revealed a sea empty of craft save those of the Chilians that the
fearful strain of suspense was relaxed.
Admiral Williams personally thanked Douglas and O'Meara for their quick
action, which had undoubtedly saved the flagship, and very probably some
of the other vessels of the squadron. He also questioned the lads
closely, in order to ascertain whether they had heard or seen anything
which would furnish a clue to the nationality of the occupants of the
launches, but they could tell him nothing; and the Admiral was at length
driven to the conclusion that his assailants must have come down the
coast from Antofagasta, and must have consisted of a couple of the
ancient torpedo-launches which the Bolivians were known to possess, but
which Williams had left out of his calculations as being too unimportant
to be taken into consideration. How dearly this oversight might have
cost him has already been seen.
The following, or rather, the same morning, the ships' boats were
lowered, and, assisted by flat-bottomed craft from the shore, began the
work of embarking the remainder of the troops. It continued during the
whole morning, and by mid-day the balance of the military contingent was
distributed among the ships, which then got up their anchors and turned
their bows to the northward once more, still under easy steam for the
benefit of the old and rotten _Esmeralda_, two of whose boilers were so
eaten away by rust as to be useless. A particularly keen look-out for
hostile ships was kept, in view of the alarming incident in Caldera Bay,
but nothing of a suspicious character was sighted, and on the evening of
the 13th of February the fleet anchored before the town of Antofagasta,
the principal seaport of Bolivia, lying in a half-circle at a distance
of about a mile and a half from the shore.
The obnoxious tax was to come into force on the following day, if
Bolivia adhered to her original resolution; and Admiral Williams had
orders that, should such prove to be the case, he was to seize the
Custom House, invest the town, and in the event of resistance being
offered, to bombard it. Chili did not intend to submit tamely to the
high-handed action of Bolivia, which constituted a serious and
intolerable infraction of treaty.
Immediately the squadron came to an anchor, therefore, every gun was
trained upon the town, in readiness for action, should such become
necessary; and early on the following morning Admiral Williams had his
gig piped away, and, accompanied by his flag-captain, he was pulled
ashore to ascertain the intentions of the Bolivian authorities, and to
warn all the Chilian inhabitants of the place that it would be bombarded
should the President of the Republic not prove amenable to reason, so
that they might leave the town, with their belongings, before his ships
opened fire.
The Admiral was ashore until about three o'clock in the afternoon; and
when he returned to the _Blanco Encalada_ it soon became known that the
Bolivians had refused to relinquish their demands, and that therefore
Antofagasta was to be invested. He believed, however, that it would not
be necessary to bombard the town, as he thought it was hardly likely
that the inhabitants would be so unwise as to offer armed resistance to
the landing of the Chilian troops. The soldiers were therefore to be
landed at once under cover of the guns of the squadron, while a naval
force, composed of men from the _Blanco Encalada_ and the _Almirante
Cochrane_, were at the same time instructed to land at the northern part
of the seaport and seize the Custom House.
The Chilian troops, under Colonel Sotomayor, were therefore put into
boats belonging to the warships, which were then taken in tow by the
small steam craft and conveyed to the wharves at the south end of the
town, their landing being unopposed, except for a few stray shots which
were fired from the cover of some closed shops, and which a few volleys
from the soldiers promptly checked. Then the ships' boats being once
more available, the task of seizing the Custom House was proceeded with;
and it was anticipated that here, if anywhere, a determined resistance
would be made. A council of captains was called on board the _Blanco
Encalada_, and a plan of campaign resolved upon. It was decided that
Captain Latorre, of the _Almirante Cochrane_, should lead the naval
detachment, which was to be drawn from all the ships of the squadron, in
proportion to the complement of their crews; and Douglas was the officer
selected to take charge of the party from the _Blanco Encalada_, much to
his delight, the selection being probably due to a desire on Admiral
Williams's part to recompense the lad in some measure for the
promptitude and coolness which he had displayed in saving the flagship
in Caldera Bay.
Jim joyously took leave of his friend Terry--who, as he belonged to the
engine-room staff, could not expect to be sent on shore expeditions--
adjusted the sword at his side, ran down the side-ladder, and took his
seat in the stern-sheets of the steam-launch which, with a whaleboat
which it was to tow, carried the detachment of men from the _Blanco
Encalada_. The boats of the other vessels were by this time ready; and,
headed by the launch of the _Almirante Cochrane_, carrying Captain
Latorre, the leader of the expedition, the little flotilla swept away
from the ships toward the north end of the town, vociferously cheered as
they went by the remainder of the squadron.
The distance to the Custom House was about two miles; and by the time
that they had covered half of it, it was seen that a considerable amount
of activity was being manifested ashore; in fact it looked as though
here, at any rate, the Bolivians had fully determined to offer
resistance.
Jim remarked on the circumstance to Lieutenant Alcerrerez, who was
sitting next to him; and while he was speaking, Captain Latorre hailed
the boats to slow up and come alongside, in order to receive further
instructions. These were soon given, and were to the effect that the
launches of the flagship and of the _Almirante Cochrane_ were to be the
leading boats in a formation of double column of line ahead, in which
order they were to attack. This matter having been arranged, all went
ahead again at full speed, while the men eased the cutlasses in their
sheaths and inspected the cartridges in their rifles, in readiness for
the anticipated encounter.
Suddenly, when the boats were within a couple of hundred yards of the
mole leading down from the Custom House, a blaze of fire leapt from the
loopholed walls of the buildings, and bullets flew round the little
flotilla in a perfect hailstorm. The Chilian ensign in the stern of
Douglas's launch was literally ripped from its staff, proving that, had
the Bolivians but depressed their rifle muzzles a trifle more, every man
in the steamer's well would have been hit by the leaden shower.
Lieutenant Alcerrerez, who was sitting next to Douglas, emitted a
curious little cough, turned half round, and fell forward over the lad's
knees, while several men in the launch sprang convulsively to their
feet, only to drop down again in a limp, motionless heap, or to fall
over the low gunwales in the violence of their death-struggles. Jim
shuddered as he thought of the fate of poor Lieutenant Alcerrerez, but
he pulled himself together and laid the poor shot-pierced body gently
down on the boat's floor grating, thereby saving his own life; for even
as he stooped, another shower of rifle-bullets hurtled into the launch,
killing several more men, and piercing the boat herself in six places
below the water-line, so that she began to take in water at an alarming
rate.
Some of the other craft had, however, come off still worse than the
_Blanco Encalada's_ launch; for the casualties were even heavier in the
_Almirante Cochrane's_ boats, while a shot had pierced the boiler of the
launch belonging to the _O'Higgins_, which immediately blew up with
disastrous results, killing and wounding nearly the whole of her crew.
The flotilla was by this time, however, within the shelter of the mole;
and a minute later the boats rushed alongside at full speed, Jim leaping
ashore at the same time as Captain Latorre, who, sword in hand, formed
his men quickly up, shouting, "Forward, my children; you have your
comrades to avenge!" And away raced the boat's crew along the pier
toward the Custom House, receiving, as they did so, another terrible
volley from the defenders. The Chilians' blood was up, however, and
they did not even pause to succour their wounded, but dashed forward,
holding their fire in reserve, and with their bayonets fixed.
Before the Bolivians could fire again, the Chilians had reached the
building, and were thus protected from the fire of its occupants, as the
loopholes were too small to allow of their rifles being depressed to any
great extent.
"Bring that bag of powder here!" roared Latorre at the top of his voice
as two men came up staggering under its weight. The petard was promptly
laid against the door; a train was led close alongside the wall to the
corner of the house, round which the seamen also sheltered themselves; a
match was put to it; there was a loud report and a stunning concussion,
followed by the sound of rending timber; and the landing party dashed
forward again, round the angle of the building, and in through the
breach formed by the explosion. As they entered the house there was a
shout of execration and defiance from the floor above, and the defenders
began to swarm down the stairs to repulse their enemies.
But, hampered as they were by lack of room to move freely, they could do
nothing. They had foolishly left no force on the ground-floor, but had
all gone to the first storey, in order to be the better able to fire on
their foes; and this oversight now cost them very dear. The Bolivians
got jammed into an inextricable mass, in their efforts to descend the
stairs at the same time; and, while thus helpless, they were mercilessly
cut down and bayoneted by the infuriated Chilians.
In a few minutes the bloody work was over; the corpses on the stairs
were pulled away, and the assailants rushed upstairs to complete their
work. But the Bolivians had now no stomach for further fight, and they
threw down their arms, crying for mercy. Captain Latorre therefore had
them all disarmed and bound securely, after which he went up on to the
roof of the building and hauled down the Bolivian flag, hoisting the
Chilian ensign in its place. He then signalled to Admiral Williams:
"Custom House taken, with loss of nineteen killed and twenty-three
wounded."
Antofagasta was in the hands of the Chilians!
CHAPTER FOUR.
THE CHILIANS BOMBARD IQUIQUE.
Shortly after the occupation of Antofagasta, a Chilian force under
Colonel Sotomayor--who was in command of the troops landed from the
squadron--advanced to Caracoles, to protect the mines there; and on
March 23, 1879, defeated at Calama a body of Bolivians under Dr
Ladislas Cabrera, who was compelled to retire, with a loss of twenty
killed and wounded, and thirty prisoners. The losses of the Chilians
numbered only twelve.
Peru thereupon made certain precautionary preparations, and sent envoys
to both Chili and Bolivia; although, as a matter of fact, she had
already mobilised her navy, and was quite prepared to take the offensive
at any moment. Indeed it was perfectly well known in Chilian official
circles that the Peruvian fleet was actually at this time at sea,
seeking, if possible, to deal her opponent a crippling blow even before
war had been formally declared.
Chili thereupon demanded the reasons for her preparations, as indeed she
was fully entitled to do, and required that they should cease. Then,
receiving no satisfactory reply, she announced her knowledge of a secret
treaty, dated the 6th of February 1873, between Bolivia and Peru, and at
once declared war against the latter as well as the former.
Immediately following this, Chili increased her navy by repurchasing the
corvette _Abtao_--a sister ship to the famous _Alabama_ of American
Civil War times--built in 1864, of 1050 tons displacement, 300 horse-
power, and with a nominal sea-speed of 6 knots. This ship was armed
with three 150-pounder muzzle-loading guns and three 30-pounder muzzle-
loaders; and she played almost as important a part in the war between
Chili and Peru as did the _Alabama_ in the American Civil War.
Chili also bought from the Pacific Steam Navigation Company the screw
steamer _Amazonas_, for use as a transport; and by chartering the
_Rimac, Itata, Lamar, Loa_, and _Limari_ from the Chilian Steam
Navigation Company, and the _Mathias Cousino_ and other steamers from
the Cousino estate, she strengthened the effectiveness of her fleet to a
very great extent. All the upper spars of these craft were sent ashore,
and their lower yards, where they were retained to serve as derricks,
were cock-billed. The head-booms were unrigged, and all but the
standing bowsprits of the wooden vessels were landed.
The senior Peruvian naval officer afloat was at this time Captain Don
Miguel Grau, a native of Piura, and a man of about forty-five years of
age. He is spoken of as "an officer of the highest capacity and
bravery, remarkably quiet and unassuming, and an excellent seaman. His
people worshipped him, and all who knew him honoured him." In 1868 he
had been given command of the _Huascar_, an ironclad monitor of 1130
tons displacement, 1200 horse-power, and with a nominal sea-speed of 11
knots. She was armed with two 10-inch 21-ton muzzle-loading guns (both
in the same turret), two 40-pounder muzzle-loaders, one 12-pounder
muzzle-loader, and one Gatling gun. This ship distinguished herself
more than any other of the Peruvian fleet; and in her subsequent bloody
battle with the Chilian warships, _Blanco Encalada_ and _Almirante
Cochrane_, in which her gallant commander lost his life, she behaved
herself with such gallantry that her name will go down to history as one
of the epoch-making ships of the world.
From 1873 to 1879 Admiral Grau was a member of the Peruvian Congress for
Paita, but on the outbreak of the war he successfully applied to be
reinstated in his former command of the _Huascar_. By him the Peruvian
squadron was arranged as follows: The first division, under Admiral Grau
himself, consisted of the _Huascar_; _Independencia_, armoured frigate;
and the _Oroya_, a paddle-transport of 1597 tons. The second division
was placed under the orders of Captain Carillo, and consisted of the
monitors _Manco Capac_ and _Atahualpa_, bought from the United States,
each of 2100 tons; and the _Chalaco_, a transport of 1000 tons
displacement. The third division, under Captain Garcia y Garcia,
comprised the _Union_, a wooden corvette of 1150 tons, and a very famous
ship; the _Pilcomayo_, gunboat; and the _Limena_, a paddle-transport.
Such was the Peruvian navy at the commencement of the war; and the whole
fleet, in three divisions, as above, was under the command of Admiral
Grau.
The port of Antofagasta having been occupied by Chilian troops, the
squadron under Admiral Williams left the place and commenced a patrol of
the coast, with a view to enforcing a blockade. On the 5th of April the
fleet appeared off Iquique, in Peru, and the admiral announced that a
blockade of that port would begin on the 15th of April following, thus
allowing ten days for the Chilian inhabitants of the place to leave and
carry with them all their belongings.
Up to this time no naval action had been fought at sea; and it was, even
yet, a moot point whether Peru would not "climb down," and back out of
her alliance with Bolivia. But, all unknown to the Chilians, the
Peruvian warships _Union_ and _Pilcomayo_ were cruising up and down the
coast for the purpose of snapping up any small Chilian craft that they
might happen to sight, and to do as much damage to the Chilians as they
possibly could.
Now, it happened that, shortly after the Chilian squadron had invested
Antofagasta, the small corvette _Magellanes_ arrived at Valparaiso,
having returned from police duty in Tierra del Fuego. She was thereupon
immediately ordered by the Chilian authorities to proceed northward and
join Admiral Williams's fleet. But on her way, while off the mouth of
the river Loa, she fell in with the Peruvian ships _Union_ and
_Pilcomayo_, with which she fought a running action for over two hours,
when, owing to her superior speed, she effected her escape. The carnage
on both sides was terrible, and the _Union_, although much the larger
ship, was so seriously damaged that she was obliged to return to Callao,
the principal seaport of Peru, in order to be drydocked and repaired.
The _Magellanes_ then fell in with the main Chilian squadron, off
Iquique, and made her report of the occurrence.
It was at first intended that Iquique should merely be bombarded; but to
render the attendant conditions as stringent as possible, Admiral
Williams strictly forbade the condensation of fresh water on shore, a
prohibition that would naturally cause very great inconvenience to the
inhabitants, since fresh water, either from springs, wells, or streams,
was almost unobtainable in the town. On several occasions, however,
smoke was observed to be rising from the spot where the condensing
apparatus was located, indicating an apparent disposition on the part of
the inhabitants to disregard the prohibition; and this so incensed the
Chilian admiral that he determined to send Douglas on shore with a
message to the effect that if the offence were persisted in, he would be
compelled to bombard.
The steam-launch was accordingly lowered away from the _Blanco
Encalada_, and manned; and presently Jim, in full uniform, took his seat
in the stern-sheets of the craft, which immediately steamed away to
carry the admiral's protest and message to the _Intendente_ of Iquique.
In about half an hour the launch ran alongside the quay at Iquique, and
Jim sprang ashore, declining the offer of the coxswain to accompany him
and show him the way to the _intendente's_ quarters.
Jim, whose knowledge of Spanish was by this time nearly perfect, made
inquiries at the pier for the office of the _intendente_, and a man, in
a uniform with which the lad was not acquainted, immediately offered to
conduct him thither. Jim, suspecting no treachery, unhesitatingly
accepted this individual's services, and the pair, entering into an
animated conversation, left the pier and turned their steps townward.
For some distance their way led along a sandy road, paved here and there
with cobblestones, and fronted by buildings which seemed to be hotels or
inns of the cheaper kind, probably intended for the accommodation of
seamen from foreign ships which used the port. They followed this road,
which ran along the sea-front, for about a mile and a half; and Jim was
just about to pass some comment on the distance when his guide turned to
the right and plunged into a narrow and gloomy side-street, the
appearance of which filled Douglas with aversion, although at that time
no suspicion of treachery entered his mind. He soon noticed, however,
that his guide, whose name, it transpired, was Manuel Lopes, was taking
him up one narrow street and down another in a most extraordinary
fashion, and that they seemed to be getting into a particularly low
quarter of the town.
Jim had just made up his mind to question Lopes as to whether he was
quite sure of the way, when the latter stopped before a large white-
painted building with green shutters, and led his companion in through a
high and wide archway into a kind of courtyard, the like of which is
nearly always to be found in large houses in both Old and New Spain.
"This looks as though it might be the residence of some official or
other," mused Jim; "but what an extraordinary quarter of the town the
governor seems to have selected for his dwelling! However, I suppose he
knows his own business best, and--"
"Will you be pleased to follow me, senor?" here broke in the guide
Lopes, bowing in an obsequious manner, and leading the way across the
_patio_ to where a heavy door gave entrance into a part of the building
which overlooked the courtyard.
Jim tucked his sword under his arm and followed the fellow into a room
which seemed, to him coming out of the brilliant sunlight, to be
shrouded in darkness.
"Have the goodness to take a chair, senor," smiled Lopes, pushing one of
those articles forward for Jim, "while I go and ascertain whether His
Excellency will see you."
Jim accepted the proffered chair but, somewhat nettled by a certain
curious change in the man's voice, remarked: "But, senor, I have come
ashore expressly to see the _intendente_; and see him I must; my orders
are imperative!"
"Oh, I assure you there will be no difficulty whatever on that score,"
replied Lopes. "Kindly excuse me for a few minutes while I announce
your arrival."