Arturo Prat
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Agustín Arturo Prat Chacón (April 4, 1848, near Ninhue - May 21, 1879, Iquique) was a Chilean navy officer, and is considered to be Chile's greatest hero. He was killed at the Naval Battle of Iquique after jumping on board of the Peruvian armored monitor Huáscar after his ship, the Esmeralda, was rammed by the Peruvian monitor. Prat, as captain of the Esmeralda, was the first to board the Huáscar. He was killed shortly after boarding.
Previous to his martyrdom, Prat had taken part in several major naval engagements, including battles at Papudo (1865), a coastal city north of Valparaiso, and at the Battle of Abtao (1866), at the islet of Abtao before Chiloé Island. Following his death, his name became a rallying cry for Chilean forces, and since then, Arturo Prat has been considered a national hero.
Prat's name is commemorated on numerous plazas (squares), streets, buildings and other structures in Chile. One of Chile's Antarctic research facilities, Arturo Prat Station, is named after him. His likeness also appears on the 10,000 Chilean peso bill.
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[edit] Early life
Prat was born on the San Agustín de Puñual Hacienda, in south-central Chile, on April 4, 1848, the fourth (and only surviving) son of Agustín Prat and Rosario Chacón. He entered the Naval Academy on August 28, 1858, at the age of 10 years.
Prat entered the Naval Academy thanks to the scholarships created by President Manuel Montt Torres. There were two scholarships per province. One for Arauco went to Prat, and the other went to Luis Uribe Orrego. Both had the same benefactor don Jacinto Chacón (uncle of Arturo and stepfather of Uribe), making the two youths like brothers.
Directing the academy in those years was the Frenchman Juan Julio Feillet, backed by another Frenchman, don Anatolio Desmadryl. The young Arturo and his friend Luis were part of the so-called "class of the heroes" including, among others, Carlos Condell de la Haza, Juan José Latorre, and Jorge Montt Álvarez.
During his first year he was often distracted and struggled in his studies, especially mathematics. But just as in his previous school, he overcame these difficulties and won a silver medal for his accomplishments.
In 1859, his second year as a cadet, he began a nautical apprenticeship, a requirement for second-year students. His first voyage of training was completed in the steamer "Independencia," with sail and rigging maneuvers, followed later by practice in seamanship and artillery.
In January of 1860, Arturo Prat boarded, for the first time, the "Esmeralda," the ship which would be the scene of his glory. His nautical apprenticeship continued: embarkation and disembarkation, combat simulation, etc. In July 1861, he left the Naval Academy as "primera antigüedad" (the most distinguished in the course). He obtained the grade of midshipman without examination.
Many things happened to Prat during this time. For example, there was an incident with the "Infernal", a French ship that carried explosive materials. On October 1, 1861, it (fittingly) caught on fire while in the Bay of Valparaiso. The "Esmeralda, which was also there, sent boats to save the wreck. Arturo Prat, steering one of these boats, struggled for two hours against the fire.
[edit] War with Spain
On July 21, 1864, Prat passed with flying colors the theoretical and practical test needed to be promoted from "midshipman without exam" to "examined midshipman". That year saw the incidents that resulted in the war against Spain, inflamed by the Chilean attitude towards the occupation of the Peruvian Cincha Islands by a Spanish squadron. With war declared, it was a baptism by fire for Prat and his classmates.
Commanding the "Esmeralda" at the time was Juan Williams Rebolledo, who planned the recovery of the Chilean steamer "Matías Cousiño" and the capture of the Spanish schooner "Covadonga." The naval battle of Papudo occurred on December 26 and rapidly went to the Chilean side, which was superior in force and firepower and captured the defeated ship. The capture of the "Covadonga" resulted in the promotion by one grade of all sailors participating in the battle, converting Prat into a ensign (equivalent of army's Second Lieutenant).
Wishing to offset their losses at Papudo, the Spanish fleet sought another confrontation with the allied navies (Peru and Ecuador added to Chile's side). Their desire for vengeance were fulfilled at Chiloé, in the battle of Abtao, on February 7, 1866. Artillery combat occurred only between the "Covadonga" and the Spanish ships "Villa de Madrid" and "Blanca", as the other allied ships were unused due to a lack of coal or the rocky estuary. Prat then served on the Covadonga, the ship which luckily resisted the Spanish bombardment. There were no losses on the allied side, while the Spanish suffered two deaths.
[edit] Young officer
After the war, Prat completed a large number sea voyages, both inside and outside his country, for example the Juan Fernández Islands, Easter Island (on the Corvette "Esmeralda" under Policarpo Toro's command), Magallanes and Peru. During this last trip, in 1868, he was responsible for transporting aid to those affected by that year's earthquake, and he later he brought back the remains of Bernardo O'Higgins, at the orders of Manuel Blanco Encalada.
On September 9 Prat became a Lieutenant. The future hero the returned to Naval School, but this time as an instructor. Since 1871 he was the Second Commander of the "Esmeralda", leading to his appointment to several positions in the school (teacher, subdirector, internal director), and he was assigned to teach the courses of naval order, law, naval tactics, cosmography, etc. Likewise he had to dock the corvette for four years (1871-1874) in the Mejillones port. He received the title of Graduated Corvette Captain (equivalent to Lieutenant Commander) in 1873 and Capitán de Corbeta Efectivo in 1874. He was a dedicated teacher, who fought against the lack of resources available to provide quality education. He himself translated textbooks from French to Spanish.
Around that time, Prat faced an unusual situation. On May 24, 1875, the "Esmeralda" was in the port of Valparaíso, while Prat was on sick leave. The commander of the ship, Luis Alfredo Lynch, was also on leave, so Lieutenant Constantino Bannen was left in charge. A storm began in the bay, and the "Valdivia" broke its ties and went right towards the "Esmeralda", which then crashed with the "Maipo." It appeared that the Esmeralda's destruction was unavoidable. When Prat and Lynch came back, they managed to get transported back to the ship by boat, but the violent waves kept them from embarking. Arturo Prat threw himself to the water and swam to the ship to climb a rope (as Lynch had done just before him), He worked feverishly with a rope tied by the waist to the mast to accomplish rescue maneuvers. This consisted in making the ship stop with the bow against the beach and securing it there through riggings. It wasn't easy, but finally they were able to do it. Luis Alfredo Lynch would later remember Prat's "unflappable calm in the face of danger".
The repairing of the "Esmeralda" was hard and long and cost 100,000 pesos. And Lynch had to face charges of dereliction of duty, but he was saved by a tie in the voting. Throughout the trial, Arturo Prat was always faithful to his superior, helping him in what he could.
After the tests of May 1876, the government of Chile closed the Naval School. Chile no longer needed officers, explained the government, only three years before the Pacific War.
Prat, who left Condell in charge of the "Esmeralda", disembarked and was named helper of the Maritime Government of Valparaíso (for his studies in law). It was December 1876, he was already a graduated commander, but to the ship of his destiny he'd only return once the war started.
[edit] Lawyer Prat
[edit] The studies
In 1870 Arturo started on the path to becoming a lawyer. Prat had always had an interest in the law and therefore decided to pursue his law degree. He entered as a secondary student in humanities at the Liceo de Valparaíso and the National Institute (Instituto Nacional). In 1871 he received his secondary school diploma in Philosophy and Humanities, a prerequisite to studying law. One of his examiners was the renowned Chilean historian Diego Barros Arana.
The next year he started his studies in property law at the Faculty of Law in the Chile University. He studied onboard the "Esmeralda", which was located in Mejillones. Upon returning from his mission, he requested to be take his examinations in Valparaíso, where he passed the required subjects.
In 1875 he began practicing law in a law firm in the port town, as a prerequisite to receiving his license.
In July of the following year, Prat passed his final required courses and was now ready to complete his licensing. In order to graduate he was required to pass an examination on an area of law picked at random. He was assigned Roman Law, which he managed to pass between 24, 25 and 26 July, while his thesis "Observaciones sobre la ley electoral vigente" (Observations on the current electoral law) was approved. There remained one final step before receiving his license, a final exam before the judges of the Supreme Court.
On 31 July 1876, at 11 a.m., the lieutenant commander passed through the corridors of Supreme Court of Justice with full dress uniform and sword at the belt; he has come to take examination before the highest judges, the final requirement to practice law.
But, surprisingly, Prat was told that the judges had decided not to hear examinations that day. The enterprising lawyer insisted that he had an appointment for that day, and that he had very little free time as a naval officer, requesting a meeting with the Supreme Court president Manuel Montt Torres. He convinced him to hear his examination, and as the day ended, surrounded by the court's applauses, Prat became a 28-year-old lawyer.
Prior to his final exam, Prat had already conducted legal work while defending the engineer Ricardo Owen, accused of disobedience, and also his friend and classmate Luis Uribe Orrego, accused of disobedience and contempt to his superiors. He succeeded the first time, but he did not have the same luck when defending his friend, who was condemned to six months of jail by six votes. The amnesty of the President saved Uribe and his naval career from that destiny.
[edit] Jurist
Prat practised his recently adopted profession for a very short time. He primarily devoted himself to resolving the legal problems of the Chacón and Carvajal families, as well as naval-related problems.
He aspired to be a Navy auditor, but he only was sworn as "assistant" (mainly because of his lack of experience), assigned the legal aspects of the Navy General Command. Prat performed a complete remodeling of the army's legal system, starting with the Navigation Law. He presented 152 modifications to it, many of which were approved. He also was in charge of the regularization of the promotion system, to avoid that social relations, politics and other factors apart from own merit and seniority influenced promotions. Prat died without this navy code being published.
[edit] “Observaciones a la lei electoral vijente”
Translated: "Observations on the effective electoral law"
This was Arturo Prat's thesis book, which contained many clues about his political thoughts. It was written within the framework of the promulgation of the new electoral law during Federico Errázuriz Zañartu's government, in which the Greater Taxpayer Institution and Parliament Member Cumulative Vote were established.
Prat analyzes this law with the perspective that it would make further progress towards electoral freedom possible. He points out the contradictions and the obscurity of the text, but he stresses that it is an "eminently liberal" law. Prat ends saying: ...deep-down a good law, it needs serious and important reforms with respect to regulations if it is to achieve the lofty objective it is destined to: to be the effective guarantee that the voting result is the happy expression of the national will".
Again, the text reveals Prat's political ideas, clearly reflecting the common liberalism of the times, and demonstrates a great naivety (not even with all of its indications could the law prevent the intervention of the executive power).
[edit] Family Man
[edit] Engagement and Matrimony
Don Pedro Chacón used to throw parties in his portside house once or twice a week. Arturo frequently attended, as did Concepción Chacón's sister-in-law, Carmela Carvajal. In those happy get-togethers the couple met and fell in love, a love that would last a lifetime.
In the voyage of repatriation of O'Higgins mortal remains from Peru, Prat brought presents for Carmela: a sewing box, a fan, a silver cross, and an ivory card holder.
The relationship was very obvious, but Prat was bothered when others mentioned it. In addition to his shyness, he got annoyed because he was afraid to formalize an engagement because he had no money to support the marriage.
When he learned that he would be promoted to Corvette Captain, he finally decided to ask for Carmela's hand, in 1873. The only love letter from Prat to his fiancée that has reached us is dated shortly after:
- "My Carmela, my life, my treasure, I have to tell you, even that I adore you every day more fervently, I cannot do it now because I am afraid a could fall ill. Receive the passionate heart of your Arturo".
On 5 May 1873 the wedding bells sounded over the San Agustín de Valparaíso church. A beautiful red carpet was laid, over which the radiant 22-year-old bride passed on her way to the altar. Her parents had died when she was a girl, and she had been raised by her siblings, through whom she had contact with the Chacón family. The Chacóns adopted her as a member of the family. Tall, slender and beautiful, she met with a sturdy Arturo Prat, with large forehead due to his baldness, thick beard and steady step. The cleric José Francisco Salas blessed them at 10:30 am. They were man and wife.
Their relationship as spouses was based on a love that did not fade for a single moment during the six years they lived together. Prat treated his wife as an equal, as a partner (something really rare in that society), putting her in charge of the family budget, and he, on the other hand, helped with some house chores: "At every moment I seem to find you exhausted from rocking our daughter, without me being with you and sharing, event if it's by little, your works...".
[edit] First happiness and first tragedy
The newlyweds spent their honeymoon in Quillota and in the Cauquenes's Hot Springs. After that, Prat returned to Valparaíso to resume his navy duties. He did not see his wife again until October.
By that time Carmela was already pregnant of their first daughter. Prat wrote for the event of his daughter's birth:
- "The fifth of march Carmela de la Concepción was born at 9:35 a.m., under the circumstances that I had to go to Santiago just the day before...The fifth of April she was baptised in the Church of the Holy Spirit, the godparents being Conchita with José Jesús..."
- "It seems to me that she was to be very vivacious, smiling, playful... Last night I dreamt about her and she seemed to know me and with her little face a bit sad, she extended her little arms to hug me..."
But like Prat's older brothers who died very young, the girl inherited a very frail and sickly build. Arturo writes to Carmela: "Keep using homeopathy for my little daughter and inform me after she is healthy". He has, undoubtedly, the hope that the method that (he supposed) cured his weak condition, would work the same wonders in little Carmela. But it didn't work, the child's life was extinguishing more and more every day, to the despair of the helpless parents, who put all their strengths in their prayers.
- "Poor little angel! I cannot see her any more, at least I want her to be healthy".
Carmelita's problem was a hernia caused by the badly removed umbilical cord, in addition to several other illnesses (diarrhea, fever, etc.).
For Prat's despair, at the end of the annual season, he had to be transferred to the center of the country, because of the "Abtao", a steamer that should have arrived but had not. It was Sunday 13 December when the boat finally arrived, and he wrote to his wife: "Later then I will be seeing you, as I will see my little child who I hope is completely healthy..."
But the girl had died one week ago, 5 December. At dusk, a devastating letter arrived from his wife: "My beloved Arturo, our dear little angel is still not well; I feel my heart fainting from pain and you are not here to hold me... If it were possible for you to come, that would be my only comfort. Don't despair my wellbeing, think of your unhappy Carmela".
More desperation for Prat, the steamboat would not leave until the 18th.
All his hopes were destroyed in that trip, days later, when he was given a condolence letter in an intermediate port, signed by Juan José Latorre. Arturo wrote at the foot of Carmela's previous letter: “The 5th of December, at past 1 hour and 3 minutes after midnight, my daughter Carmela de la Concepción died. This is the letter destined to announce it to me. The sadness it reveals should have made me see, but hope is so sweet."
[edit] War of the Pacific
When the war broke out, Prat was assigned to assistant of the Navy General Command, a position he tried to reject.
When Don Rafael Sotomayor Baeza was required to go to Antofagasta with instructions from the Government, he requested an assistant, and Prat was assigned to the job. Being both of them aboard the armored ship Blanco Encalada, he was assigned to notify Iquique's authorities that they have been blocked by the Chilean army, which he did without letting the hostile position of the people daunt him.
He was assigned Covadonga's command. On 3 May the corvette Abtao, under lieutenant commander Carlos Condell de la Haza's command, and the Covadonga, under Prat's command, set sail towards Iquique arrivin to that port on 10 May.
To achieve the plan that the Admiral Juan Williams Rebolledo had conceived, consisting in attacking the Peruvian squadron in El Callao's port, he assigned as Abtao's commander Manuel Thompson, who commanded the corvette Esmeralda until then. Arturo Prat replaced him, and Carlos Condell de la Haza was designated Covadonga's commander.
On 16 May, the squadron set sail to Callao Port, with the intention of surprising the Peruvian warships, but the same day Peruvian monitor Huáscar and armored frigate Independencia set sail from that port, towards Arica, to carry reinforcements, armaments, ammunition and provisions, so both squadrons missed each other on their trips.
[edit] Battle of Iquique
It was 21 May 1879, 6:30 in the morning, when the fog cleared, Covadonga's lookout shouted: "Smoke to the north!". But, due to the thick marine fog, they were not able to identify the newly arrived ships, and for a few moments they thought it was the Peruvian squadron coming back.
At 6:45 a.m., a sailor by Condell's side asked for the telescope, and in a moment of clarity he observed the warships' riggings and said to Condell: "It's the Huáscar and the Independencia". "What bases do you have to assert that" asked Condell, and the sailor answered "For the shape of the plateau on the top of the foremast".
Immediately Condell ordered a shot to the air to warn the "Esmeralda", still anchored in the port. They were, in fact, the "Independencia" and the "Huáscar".
In that same moment, the Peruvian admiral Grau roused his crew: "Crewmembers of the Huáscar, Iquique is at sight, there are our afflicted fellow countrymen from Tarapacá, and also the enemy, still unpunished. It's time to punish them! I hope you will know how. Long live Peru!"
Carlos Condell de la Haza warned Prat, and he, seeing the difference between their forces and the enemies', he pronounced his famous impassioned speech before his brethren in arms:
- ”Lads, the battle will be unfair, but, cheer and courage. Our flag has never been hauled down before the enemy and I hope this will not be the occasion to do it. From my part, I assure you that as long as I live, this flag will blow in its place, and if I die, my officers will know how to fulfill their duties”.
The "Esmeralda" was then an old wooden corvette weighing 850 tons and 200 horsepower, with eight 40-pound cannons, four 30-pounders and two of 6 pounds. When the action began, Prat ordered Condell to follow his course and the Covadonga met with the Esmeralda and the Lamar in the middle of the bay. At 8:15, the first volley hit between the ships, and Prat ordered the Esmeralda to start moving, followed by the Covadonga. At 8:25 a second volley fell and a shot from the Huáscar hit fully at the starboard, passed through Esmeralda's side, killing the surgeon Videla, beheading his assistant, and mortally wounding another sailor. The transporter "Lamar" hoisted the US flag and fled to the South, and Condell changed his course and went behind that ship. Grau ordered to the Independencia to block Covadonga and Lamar's way Prat observed Condell's action and he asked himself: "What is Condell doing?" Condell ignored Prat's order and followed the Lamar, but the warship did get to sneak from the Covadonga, and the Independencia under control of Juan Guillermo Moore followed him. On the other hand, the monitor Huáscar weighed 1130 tons and had a plating 4½-inches thick, two 300-pounds forecharging cannon on a revolving tower and 11 mph at maximum speed.
The Admiral Miguel Grau Seminario, Huáscar's captain directs the Independencia to the chase of the Covadonga, while he finished the Esmeralda. Prat went down to his cabin, got dressed with his parade uniform, put away his wife's picture and other objects and went up again to the command post. Prat quickly positioned the ship in front of the coast, 200 meters (220 yd.) from it, forcing the Huáscar to shoot with a parabolic trajectory to avoid hitting the Peruvian village, whose people gathered in crowds to see the battle. General Buendía, commander of Peruvian garrison of Iquique, had artillery cannons placed in the beach and sent an emissary in a fast rowing boat with a warning to the Huáscar. Grau was misinformed that the Esmeralda was loaded with torpedoes and stopped 600 m (660 yd.) from it and began shooting with its 300-pound cannons, not hitting her for an hour and a half, due to the Peruvian sailor's inexperience in the handling of the monitor's Coles tower. The Chilean crew answered with their 30-pound cannons and gunfire, shots that rebounded uselessly from the Huáscar's plated armor.
At the coast, the Peruvians installed a 9-pound-cannon battery and began to bomb the Chilean ship. A grenade reached it, killing three men. Prat order the warship to move, slowly maneuvering at scarcely 4 knots, for its engine was defective and one its boilers burst. He stopped 1000m (0.7 miles) from the city and 250m (280yd) from land, where they would stand until their sinking. This move made Grau see the inexistence of the torpedoes that supposedly filled the Esmeralda. One of Huáscar's shots hit fully on the board, beheading the ordering bugler and mutilating the cannon's guardians. The board started to stain with the blood of the fallen.
The position of the Esmeralda was desperate when it began to receive both Huáscar and Iquique's beach's cannon shots. Even Grau from his armored tower claimed: “It's remarkable how these Chileans battle”, impressed by the courage shown by the enemy.
At 11:30am, Grau, seeing the useless slaughter that was taking place in the dismantled and disgraced corvette and wanting to end the combat, which had been nearly 4 hours long until that moment, ordered to charge into the Esmeralda. The monitor backed to get enough impulse and charged bow-first into starboard side of the ship. When Prat saw the enemy warship colliding into his, near the stern, he raised his sword and cried: "Let's board, boys!", but due to the roar of the battle, only the sergeant Juan de Dios Aldea heard it, and both him and Prat and a sailor named Arsenio jumped into the other ship's board. Arsenio unfortunately slipped and fell down because of the impact, so just the two officers got to the monitor. The sergeant Aldea armed with a boarding hatchet and a pistol received a burst from the artillery tower and falls mortally injured. Only Prat continued advancing, amazing the Peruvian crew for his tremendous courage. Grau gave order to capture the Chilean captain alive.
Prat got to the enemy's board and advanced towards to command tower, but he was hit by a bullet. Nevertheless he did not fall and could stand on his knee, but a sailor from the artillery tower stroke him dead with a shot in the forehead.
From the Esmeralda they saw with horror their chief's sacrifice, and when Grau tried another charge, now against the Esmeralda's bow, Ignacio Serrano cried again "Stand by for boarding!" and he boarded with ten more men the Huáscar, but they were massacred by shots of the mounted Gatling guns and the monitor's crew. Ignacio Serrano was then, the only survivor and had received several wounds in the genital area and his shouts are atrocious due to the pain. Grau quickly had him picked up and carried to the infirmary in state of shock, where they leave him next to the dying sergeant Aldea.
A third charge, this time into the middle of the ship, was fatal and sentenced the ship to death. Nobody else could jump to the other ship for lack of height, as the Esmeralda was already sinking. The Chilean banner was the last thing to touch the water, and the last shot was made by the first lieutenant Riquelme, who sunk with the artillery piece; it was 12.10pm. Grau showed grief for Prat's death and paid him respects.
After the battle, Admiral Grau gave order that Prat's personal objects (diary, uniform and sword among others) were to be returned to his widow. Carmela Carvajal received them, as well as a letter from the Peruvian Admiral, proving his rival's person quality, his gentlemanship and his high moral values. Grau was later named "The Knight of the Seas".
Grau also ordered to rescue the surviving Chilean sailors, immediately after they repaired their boats, and gave them dry clothes and food. He kept them at the stern hold, because if they went back to the beach, the crowd would certainly kill them.
In the confrontation of Iquique, that day Chile lost an old wooden ship, but Prat's death allowed the mobilization of the Chilean population to support the war's common cause, and that would be one of the factors of the Chilean victory in the War of the Pacific, being the most important one the superiority of their fleet.
[edit] References
Much of the content of this article comes from the equivalent Spanish-language wikipedia article (retrieved January, 2006). The following references are cited by that Spanish-language article:
- Gonzalo Bulnes, “Guerra del Pacífico”, three volumes, Sociedad Imprenta Litografía Universo, Valparaíso, 1911.
- Gonzalo Vial Correa, “Arturo Prat”, Editorial Andrés Bello, Santiago, 1995
- Bernardo Vicuña, Biografía completa de Arturo Prat , Valparaíso : Impr. del Mercurio, 1879.
[edit] External links
