Argentina-Chile Naval Race: Gunboat Magallanes (5/13)

Gunboat Magallanes

Part 5
From Part 4


Its acquisition was approved by a bill enacted on March 4, 1872. This legal body authorized, in addition to the gunboat, the construction of the armored ships Cochrane and Valparaíso (later renamed Blanco Encalada). The cost of the gunboat rose to $200,000 pesos and its construction was commissioned to the Raenhill & Co. shipyards in London, England. 1.

It arrived in Chile in 1875. Its acquisition was due to the death of two English castaways in Tierra del Fuego at the hands of the Fuegian aborigines. Upon learning of this, the British government launched a protest to its Chilean counterpart, in which it threatened to occupy said territory, given the Chilean government's lack of capacity to avoid these bloody events and ensure transit through the Strait of Magellan. For this reason, it was decided to acquire a ship that was capable of arming itself in war for use in the Punta del Fuego Colony. Arenas 1.

   
Gunboat Magallanes 7 

She displaced 950 tons (maximum), her hull was made of mixed iron and wood, she was armed with one 7-inch caliber cannon (177.8 mm), and weighed 7 tons, which launched a 115-pound (52.1 kilo) grenade, one 64-pound (29 kilo) grenade, and two 20-pound (9 kilo) grenades; she had a speed of 11 knots, engine power of 1,230 HP, 220 tons of coal capacity, coal consumption of 24 tons per day, she had a brig-schooner rig of 2.

Since her arrival she served the colony of Punta Arenas, and carried out exploration and hydrographic survey work in the southern channels and in Patagonia.

In 1877, the Magallanes, under the command of Captain Juan José Latorre, suppressed the mutiny of the artillery company that covered the square in Punta Arenas (which at that time had approximately 1,100 inhabitants), called “La Fija de Magallanes”, which had revolted under the work of Corporal Antonio Riquelme and Sergeant Isaac Pozo 3.

In 1876 and 1878, it captured the French ship Jeanne Amelie, and the American barge Devonshire respectively, both vessels loading guano in Río Negro. In both cases, these ships had been authorized by the Argentine government to carry out this task. At that time, both Argentina and Chile claimed sovereignty over said territory, which ultimately determined that their intervention had violated international law 4.

  
Armstrong cannon of 115 pounds (52.21 kilos) and 7 inches of caliber (17.78 cm), belonging to the Magellan Gunboat 8

At the start of the Pacific War, the Magallanes gunboat was the only Chilean warship that was fully operational, as revealed by the technical report prepared in the fleet in 1878 by Captain Ramón Vidal Gormaz contained in the Navy Report of that same year 5.

It carried out the entire campaign of the Pacific War and was the Chilean ship that participated in the first naval action of the war on April 12, 1879 (Naval Battle of Chipana) against the Peruvian corvette Unión and the gunboat Pilcomayo. It also participated in the second Naval Battle of Iquique on the night of July 9-10, 1879, in which it saved the fleet's coalman Matías Cousiño from being captured, and in the Battle of Antofagasta on August 28 of the same year, saving the corvette Abtao, which was undergoing repairs. On both occasions, it was faced the Huáscar and on both occasions the ship was commanded by Captain Juan José Latorre 6.

    
Another view (from bow to stern) of the 115-pounder Armstrong, along with the 64-pounder 9.

After the war, it continued in hydrographic survey operations along the Chilean coast and in the civil war of 1891 it participated on the Congressional side, which was the victor at the time. After that, it continued in hydrographic work until its transfer to the merchant marine in 1906. It was wrecked in a storm in Corral in 1907 and sank.

Sources

1. Historia de la relaciones Internacionales de Chile, Don Adolfo Ibáñez Su gestión con Perú y Bolivia, Ximena Rojas Valdés, Editorial Andrés Bello, 1971, Santiago, Páginas 73-75,; La Armada de Chile: Desde la Alborada al Sesquicentenario (1813-1968), Rodrigo Fuenzalida Bade. Santiago, Chile: 1978, Empresa Periodística Aquí Está, Tomo III Página 694. 

2. La Armada de Chile: Desde la Alborada al Sesquicentenario (1813-1968), Rodrigo Fuenzalida Bade. Santiago, Chile: 1978, Empresa Periodística Aquí Está, Tomo III Página 722-723; La Guerra en el Pacifico Sur, Theodorus B.M. Mason, Editorial francisco de Aguirre, 1971, Argentina, Página 39 

3. El Motín de los Artilleros, Armando Braun Menéndez, Editorial francisco de Aguirre , segunda edición 1972, Argentina. 

4. La Armada de Chile: Desde la Alborada al Sesquicentenario (1813-1968), Rodrigo Fuenzalida Bade. Santiago, Chile: 1978, Empresa Periodística Aquí Está, Tomo III Página 705; Sitio WEB Armada de Chile.

5. Partes del informe se encuentran en: Influencia del poder Naval en la historia de Chile, desde 1810 a 1910, Luís Langlois. Valparaíso, Imprenta de la Armada, 1911, paginas 159-163 

6. Para una relación de ambos combates se recomienda: Pacifico, Gonzalo Bulnes, Tomo I “De Antofagasta a Tarapacá, Sociedad Imprenta y Litografía Universo, Valparaíso, 1911, Páginas 206-213 y 442-449 

7. Artículo Escuadra Chilena, 1879, Almirante A. Silva Palma

8. Memoria Chilena 

9. Especial Revista Ercilla sobre la Guerra del Pacífico Fascículo 2 página 27, suplemento que circulo junto con la revista Nº 3.238 de la quincena del 29/03/2004 – 11/04/2004, la imagen fue obtenida primitivamente desde el libro: Álbum Grafico Militar de Chile: Campaña de Pacífico 1879-1884 de Antonio Bizama Cuevas. Santiago, 1909, Editorial Universo.