THE BATTLE OF CALLAO: MAY 2, 1866
In 1864 Spain send a fleet to the Pacific coast of South America. It was called the "Scientific Expedition" and indeed was composed of several scientists. It has been claimed by the South American countries involved in the events that came later, that it was an invasión expedition organized with the intention of re conquering the colonies they had lost 40 years earlier. It is difficult to accept now that such an endeavour would have been atempted with a 7 ship fleet, but probably, due to the events that followed it was considered a good momento to try and get some payments that the Spaniards claimed had not been done after the Independence wars.
The dead of a Basque farmer in northern Perú was a good excuse to transform the situation into a diplomatic and military one. Some Basque farmers had come to work at Talambo, a farm some 400 miles north of Lima, and they were being abused by the farm owners and authorities. At a given moment some of this men were taken to prison and their friends tried to free them. Unfortunatelly a Basque died in the skirmish and that was taken as an excuse by admiral Pareja, the commander of the fleet. He took the "Chincha Islands" (April 15, 1864) and begun taking huano (bird manure) that was the most important export of Perú at the time. They planed to pay themselves what was suposedly owed to them that way. At the first moment the president of Perú, General Pezet accepted the signature of a treaty that was not accepted by the rest of the country. Pezet was deposed and General Mariano Prado named himself president, disregarding the treaty and preparing for war.
In November 30, 1865 Adm. Pareja comited suicide after his ship "Covadonga" was captured by the chileans in front of the port of Chanchay, north of Lima. Next in comand was Commander Mendez Nuñes who bombed Valparaíso, the main Chilean port.
The first battle, ABTAO, was fought by the Chilean-Peruvian fleet in southern Chile the 7th of February 1866.The Spaniards had the worst part.
On 14 March Peru declared war on Spain and signed a defense treaty with Chile, Bolivia, and Ecuador whose representatives were meeting in Lima at the moment. In the morning of May 2, 1866 the Spanish fleet started bombing Callao but the cannons in the port resisted. During the battle José Gálvez, Secretary(Ministro) of Defense died when a bomb reached the tower from which he was comanding the battle. The fight continued until 5 PM when the Spanish fleet had to retire. After burying thier dead at San Lorenzo Island in front of the port, the fleet returned to Spain.