The Raids of the Huáscar were a series of raids that occurred by the Peruvian ironclad Huáscar under the command of Miguel Grau Seminario during the War of the Pacific. The actions kept the Chilean government in check for nearly five months which ended after the Battle of Angamos.
Background
Although the Huáscar was seaworthy at the start of the war, she found her guns dismounted and her crew untrained.Guerra del Pacífico en la página web de la Armada de Chile
Since 1878, the commander of the Huáscar was the frigate captain Gregorio Pérez. On March 24, 1879, Miguel Grau, who was a deputy of the Paita Province, was appointed commander of the Huáscar, assuming command of the ship on March 28.Melitón Carvajal Pareja. (2004). Historia Marítima del Perú. Volume XI, Volume 1. On May 10, 1879, 3 naval divisions were formed. The 1st Division, under the command of Captain Miguel Grau, was made up of the Huáscar, the ironclad Independencia, and the Chalaco.
Departure from Callao
On May 16, 1879, the Huáscar sailed from Callao together with the Independencia, escorting the transports Chalaco, Limeña, Oroya and the monitors Manco Cápac and Atahualpa, but a few hours later they returned to Callao, because the boilers of the monitors were leaking.Vegas, Manuel (1929), Historia de la Marina del Perú: 1821 -1924. They then left the convoy again on May 16 at midnight, but this time without the monitors. La Limeña is commissioned to Pacocha, where she arrives on the 19th, while the rest of the convoy arrives at Arica on the night of May 20, when Prado learns that the blockade of Iquique is sustained only by two old corvettes and that transports with 2,500 men which had left Valparaíso for Antofagasta. Immediately, President Mariano Ignacio Prado, who had traveled on the Oroya, ordered the Huáscar and the Independencia to go to the port of Iquique to lift the blockade maintained by ships from the Chilean squad. On May 21, after a combat of more than three hours, the Huáscar sunk the Esmeralda in the Battle of Iquique, thus lifting the blockade of the port. This tactical victory had a high cost since, on the same day, the frigate Independencia was sunk during the Battle of Punta Gruesa.
By order of President Prado, on May 24 at 5:30 am, the Huáscar set sail from Iquique to Antofagasta. On the 25th, at 6:45 am, he began to pursue a steamer for 4 hours which turned out to be the Itata, which was heading to Tocopilla to tow the schooner Covadonga to Antofagasta but the chase was to no avail. Then, the Huáscar captured the Peruvian pailebot Recuperado, which had been captured by the Esmeralda and was headed for Antofagasta, which she set on fire, saving her crew earlier; She anchored in Mejillones, where 7 boats and the schooner Clorinda were destroyed. On the 26th at 8:30 am, he spotted the transport Rímac leaving Antofagasta, which he gave a futile chase for 2 hours; she returned to the port and saw the Chilean steamer Itata, which was heading north and which she also gave an unsuccessful 2-hour chase but then the First Battle of Antofagasta took place. She returned to port on the morning of the 27th and cut the submarine cable. On the 28th she continued north and at 7 am, she recovered the schooner Coqueta, captured by the Esmeralda days before, and sent her to Arica. In Cobija, she destroyed the 6 boats that were there and set sail to the west, capturing at 2 pm the boat Emilia which had used the Nicaraguan flag, loaded with metals bound for Lota and who, under the command of 1st Lieutenant Melitón Rodríguez, traveled to Callao.
The Huáscar returned to Iquique to disembark the frigate captain Ramón Freyre, who had been injured by shrapnel in the legs, along with the senior surgeon Santiago Távara, who gave him medical treatment. He arrived at that port at dusk on the 29th and they agreed that the Huáscar would spend the night on the high seas to return to port in daylight to pick up the disembarked and receive new orders. But when the Huáscar returned to Iquique, she sighted the ironclads Blanco Encalada and Almirante Cochrane, the corvette Abtao and the gunboat Magallanes at the entrance to the port on May 30. She was pursued by the Blanco Encalada and the Magallanes from 7 am to 3 pm but the Almirante Cochrane and the Abtao were left behind due to lack of coal, suspending the pursuit because the Blanco Encalada had only 15 tons of coal and the Magallanes for two days of cooking.Bulnes, Gonzalo (1911), Guerra del Pacífico. Volume I. While the Huáscar headed for Pacocha, at 4:45 p.m., in the vicinity of Arica, he sighted a steamer,Carvajal, Melitón (2004), Historia Marítima del Perú. Part XI, Volume 1. Era el carbonero Matías Cousiño approaching both to recognize each other and at 6:20 p.m., the Huáscar began his pursuit until 7:50 p.m, in which he gave up on the pursuit.
The Huáscar continued to Pacocha, where it loaded coal on May 31, after which it traveled to Arica, anchoring on June 1 at 10:30 a.m. On June 2 at 8 a.m., it was in Pisagua, where the doctor Távara and Antonio Cucalón, who traveled overland from Iquique. There he received a telegram from Iquique from President Prado, to locate the Chilean corvettes O'Higgins and Chacabuco on the high seas near Iquique.
In the early hours of June 3, between Huanillos and Punta Lobos, near Iquique, Huáscar's lookout spotted smoke on the port side. Grau confused the fumes with those of the corvettes Chacabuco and O'Higgins, he was slow to recognize the Blanco Encalada due to the fog. At 6:15 a.m., the fog lifted and with the Blanco Encalada at a distance of 8 km, the Huáscar turned west and then towards Arica, trying to elude the pursuit at full speed. At 11:30 am the distance between the Blanco Encalada and the Huáscar was 4,700 meters, while the Magallanes was delayed. To relieve the Huáscar, Grau ordered the starboard feluccas to be thrown into the sea. Both irocnlads did not make more than 9 kilometers. At noon, the Blanco Encalada opened fire on the Huáscar. In order to sustain their rate of fire, the Chilean armor constantly changed from one band to another. Grau stayed on the northwest course and soon got the upper hand on the Chilean ironclad. At that time, the young Antonio Cucalón slipped from the deck of the Huáscar, who was a passenger and whose fall into the sea no one saw, since then all those who travel in an indefinite condition have been nicknamed "cucalones". The pursuit continued until midnight and the Huáscar was able to enter Arica. As soon as they arrived in Pisagua, they embarked all the crew members who remained in Iquique and who had made the trip on horseback all day and the previous night, and once again the Huáscar put to sea with a northerly bow, sailing 15 miles from the coast.
The Huáscar entered Callao on June 7 and remained in maintenance for almost a month. Since the start of the commission on May 16, it was planned that all ironclads would return to Callao in June for maintenance. Grau took advantage of his stay in Callao to recruit experienced artillerymen of English and Greek origin.
First raid
The Huáscar sailed from Callao for Arica on July 6, arriving on the 8th and sailing the next day for Iquique. There, the Third Battle of Iquique began between the Huáscar and the Magallanes at dawn on the 10th, after which she returned to Arica.
President Prado received in Tacna the news of the bombing of Iquique. At 2 am on July 17, General Prado conferred with the Miguel Grau and Aurelio García y García, to make a raid on Antofagasta and capture the any Chilean transports in sight. Both Peruvian and Chilean ships, anchored in the ports of operations, used to go to sea at night, returning the next morning, so they planned to attack or capture a transport off Antofagasta. The corvette Unión and the Huáscar sailed south, away from the coast, under the assumption that the 2 Chilean armored vehicles were in Iquique, which turned out to be false because the Almirante Cochrane sailed to Antofagasta. The two ships had agreed to meet off the coast of Mejillones.
In the early hours of July 18, the Union sighted the Huáscar off Mejillones, which had intercepted the British sailing ship Lady de Vére sailing to Liverpool. Grau was informed through this sailboat that 3 transports with troops and supplies from Valparaíso were waiting in Antofagasta. They sailed together all morning and the Huáscar was sighted by a steamer sailing in the opposite direction at 1 pm. The Unión identified it as a warship sailing to Mejillones and began pursuit. At first it was believed that it was the corvette Abtao. The unknown ship entered the Mejillones roadstead and the Unión stood in front of it, offering one of its bands ready to unload its artillery: the colors of France slowly rose on the unidentified warship. The Huáscar entered at 4 pm and the ship was identified as the French cruiser Hugon, from Valparaíso. According to the reports available to Commander Grau, the telegraph from Antofagasta to Mejillones had been laid, so it was assumed that upon entering the port, the surprise incursion had ended. The Peruvian ships left Mejillones at 8:00 p.m. on the 18th, while at 10 p.m., the news of the presence of Huáscar in Mejillones was received in Antofagasta.
On July 19 at 8 am, off Antofagasta, the Huáscar and the Union captured the frigate Adelaida Rojas, which had a Nicaraguan flag but was a Chilean ship. The ship, loaded with 1,700 tons of coal, heads to Callao as a prey.
On July 20 at 7:30 am, off Chañaral, the Huáscar captures the brig Saucy Jack loaded with copper and sent it to Callao. In Chañaral, the Huáscar sets fire to 10 boats and leaves another 2 stranded, while the Unión arrived in Caldera at 2 pm
On July 21, the Huáscar arrives at Huasco and destroys the 4 boats present. The Unión was anchored at 6:30 a.m. on the 21st in Carrizal Bajo, set fire to 17 boats and rendezvoused with Huáscar, returning north at 6 p.m.
The Peruvian ships returned to Chañaral on July 22 at 9:50 a.m. While the Unión sails to the Pan de Azúcar cove, the Huáscar captured the Adriana Lucía, loaded with metals, which was also illegally flying the Nicaraguan flag. The Huáscar left Chañaral at 2:30 pm with the boat, which sent it to Callao. The Unión entered Pan de Azúcar at 12 noon, destroyed 5 boats and went to join the Huáscar.
On July 23, the Huáscar together with the Unión and captured the Rímac transport, returning with the other ships to Arica on the 25th.
Second raid
The Huáscar was assigned to sink the ironclad Almirante Cochrane, which, according to intelligence reports, had its boilers in terrible condition however this wasn't true.Ekdahl, Wilhelm (1911), Historia Militar de la Guerra del Pacífico. Part I. Valparaíso. Sociedad Imprenta y Litografía Universo. On August 1 at 00:30 am, the Huáscar set sail from Arica together with the Rímac, to attack the Almirante Cochrane, which was said to be in Caldera.
On the high seas, a storm broke out that forced the Peruvian ships to further reduce their speed, between 3.5 and 6 knots, to weather the storm. The Rímac broke the eccentrics of its machines in the early hours of August 3 and they had to be stopped for temporary repair and it was sent by Grau to Callao, but previously, it transferred coal to the Huáscar, being the first documented coal replenishment at sea in naval warfare, although with the ongoing maintenance of the Rímac, The Huáscar continued alone.
On August 4, the Huáscar intercepted the German steamer Ibis of the Kosmos Company that was making the run between Valparaíso and Callao. From the Ibis it was reported that the Chilean ironclad was in Coquimbo. Grau decided to look for it along the Chilean coast and set sail for Caldera, with a speed between 4 and 7 knots. In order not to be seen, a boat was sent to this port with Lieutenant Fermín Diez Canseco and he was informed that only the Lamar was at the port.