Living in Peru » Features : October 8th: The Battle of Angamos

Lima, Peru  |  Sunday, March 21, 2010 01:05 pm  |  |  | 


« back to home
FREE !
Make Livinginperu.com your Homepage

Being a resident of Peru, how many times per year do you travel abroad?
 
1
2
3
4 or more?

Features / Archive

6 October, 2009 10:32:29 | in history

October 8th: The Battle of Angamos

By Diana Schwalb
Miguel Grau Seminario, the hero of The Battle of Angamos
This week many of us have paid special attention to the fact that October the 8th is a national holiday in Peru. But, do we know why this is? The day is a celebration, and an honoring of, Miguel Grau Seminario, one of Peru's heroes from the Guerra del Pacífico.

Miguel Grau Seminario holds an important place amongst Peru’s heroes. His military accomplishments, as well as his distinguished and courageous disposition earned him the title of Knight of the Seas (“Caballero de los mares”). At the end of the 20th century, he was also named the Peruvian of the Milenium.

October 8th: The Battle of AngamosMiguel Grau commanded the great “Huascar” which was the most brilliant ship of the Peruvian fleet of 1879, during the War of the Pacific. This fleet was inferior to that of the enemy Chileans. After losing the valuable battle ship “Independencia,” in the combat of Iquique (during which the “Huascar” sank the Chilean battleship “Esmeralda”), Miguel Grau was given orders to avoid direct combat with the Chilean fleet. Thanks to the superior speed of the “Huascar,” Grau was able to cruise along the coast creating havoc in enemy lands.

On October 8th of that same year, the monitor “Huascar” was captured after the battle of Angamos, during which its commander was killed. The morning of October 8th saw the ship fleeing from its Chilean aggressors; Grau, knowing combat was inevitable, shot cannons towards the Chilean ship “El Almirante Cochrane.” These shots provoked the eventual retaliation of “Huascar.” Miguel Grau was killed by a projectile from the Chilean ship. The capture of the “Huascar” was the final step in the clearing of the Peruvian seas, which allowed for the Chilean invasion by land, of the southernmost portion of Peru.

The Peruvian nation remembers this day with admiration and has rendered it a holiday in honor of Grand Admiral Miguel Grau.


tags :

Add to del.icio.us | digg it! |

3 Comments

# Tomás Grau says :
7 October, 2009 [ 04:42 ]
Not quite. Please consult an encylopedia.
# marco mendoza says :
8 October, 2009 [ 10:09 ]
The Huascar was never destroyed, it was actually captured by the chileans and is in their possession to this day as a war trophy.

# Elenita says :
10 October, 2009 [ 02:28 ]

The "HUASCAR" is in Chile!!!  It was NOT destroyed.

Add Comment

Full Name

E-mail

Notify me via e-mail of new comments to this entry.


Code :


Comments

  • Comments are the property of their respective authors, and LivinginPeru.com is not responsible for the content of these comments
  • Only comments in English will be published
  • Por ahora solo se permiten comentarios en ingles.
  • Any offensive, injurious, profane or disrespectful comments will not be published
  • You must include a real email address (this WILL be verified) for your comments to be published
  • Repeat comments, or comments of a similar nature written by the same person will not be published
  • All comments are sent to a moderator before publication
  • Referring to the topic indicated in the article will increase your chances of publication
  • Repeat offenses of the above guidelines will result in the removal of your ability to comment