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crew of the scow left and took to the woods. The Brazilians then
lowered and manned three boats, and sent them to take possession
of the scow and her gun. As they reached her, some infantry,
numbering about one hundred, who were concealed in the woods,
gave the boats a volley, which killed or wounded about half of their
crews; the rest made off and returned to their vessels.
The ironclads then continued to fire at the abandoned scow, and at
last blew up the magazine, and she sunk. The gun was not injured,
and was recovered by the Paraguayans.
On the 27th they towed the other gun-boat to the same place, and
opened upon the Brazilian fleet again, and the ironclads renewed the
same tactics as before. This time the Paraguayans had their boat
very close in to the bank, and kept their cartridges on shore, to avoid
being blown up. Most of their 68-pound shot struck the ironclads, but
flew in pieces. Some penetrated, however. One struck the
Tamandaré at the edge of a port, broke in pieces, and the fragments
entered, killing every one in that part of the casemate, including the
first and second Captains, three other officers, and eighteen men
killed, and fifteen wounded. The Tamandaré was driven off by this
shot. The two other ironclads kept up the fire, responded to by the
Paraguayan musketry from the woods, and at nine o’clock at night
the Brazilians retired, having effected nothing. Next day four
ironclads and four wooden gun-boats came up to engage this
doughty Paraguayan 8-pounder. On this day the ironclad Barroso got
four holes through her plates, and all the rest of them were more or
less damaged, until, at last, the Paraguayan gun was struck, and
fairly broken in two. Strange to say, not a Paraguayan was hurt.
On the night of the 29th, these irrepressible people, having
recovered the 8-inch gun from the first scow, endeavored to bring a
boat from Humáitá, to mount it upon. Their audacity was such that
they towed it, with canoes, down the Paraguay to the confluence,
and then up the Parana, and all this under a bright moonlight. At last
the Brazilians saw them, before they had reached their goal, and the
gun-boats steamed up, to capture an empty scow. The men had
made off, in the canoes, up the Parana.
These Paraguayan gun-boats thus constantly engaged the whole
Brazilian fleet. But it must be remembered that a mere float, of this
kind, bearing a gun, was very difficult to hit. For a week after this, the
steamer Gualeguay went out every afternoon, and fired at the
Brazilian fleet with her two 12-pounders. This was done principally
for Lopez’ amusement, and he, at a safe distance, had excellent long
glasses mounted, with which he watched the performances. The
Brazilian fleet would dash up the water, all about the Gualeguay, with
every kind of missile, from a 68 to a 150-pounder, and yet this
steamboat never received any damage but one hole in her smoke-
stack.
In some of the subsequent bombardments, Lopez would take up
his quarters in a secure bomb-proof, and receive exact reports of
every gun fired; what it had effected, and so forth. But he never
exposed himself for a moment.
The Allied artillery, on the left bank of the Parana, kept up a heavy
fire upon the post of Itapirú. But there was nothing there to receive
any damage, the 12-pounder being snugly stowed away for an
occasion. This continued for some time; until, at last, the Brazilians
occupied a sand bank, or bar, in the river, opposite Itapirú, and
mounted eight guns there, with two thousand men in trenches. From
this point they reopened a fire upon the work, which seemed a
perfect bugbear to them.
On the 10th of April the Paraguayans attacked this bank, or bar;
and the naval part of the enterprise consisted in their coming in
canoes.
Nine hundred men were embarked, in divisions of four hundred
and fifty each; with a reserve of four hundred at Itapirú. It was a dark
night, and the canoes, propelled by paddles, arrived at the bank, or
bar, at four o’clock in the morning. It was a complete surprise; and
the Paraguayans delivered one volley, and then charged with the
bayonet, taking the trenches. They were soon driven out of them
again, however, by overwhelming numbers; retook them, and were
again driven out. The Brazilian guns opened with canister, and the
Paraguayans lost heavily from this source. Two hundred of them
were dismounted cavalrymen, armed only with their swords, but they
did great execution, charging up to the guns, and taking them; but
being again driven off by heavy musketry fire.
As soon as the firing was heard below several gunboats and
ironclads came up, and surrounded the island, while the garrison
was reinforced from the left bank.
At last the Paraguayans were almost all killed or wounded, and
those who could move pushed off in their canoes, some paddling
with one arm who had the other one wounded. The daylight had
appeared, and they were forced to stem a heavy current, under the
fire of the Brazilian vessels, at close quarters; and yet fifteen canoes
got back to their own shore.
The Paraguayans lost fourteen officers killed, and seven wounded.
Of the soldiers three hundred returned, almost all wounded, and they
left five hundred men on the bank, or bar. Among the prisoners taken
by the Brazilians was a Lieutenant Roméro; and Lopez forced his
wife to write a letter disowning him as a traitor to Paraguay, because
he had allowed himself to be taken alive.
In this affair the Brazilians lost about a thousand, killed and
wounded, many more than the whole attacking force. The fire of their
own steamers destroyed a number of these.
Six Brazilians were afterwards tried for cowardice in this
engagement, and were shot.
In February, 1868, the Brazilian iron-clad vessels succeeded in
passing Humáitá, the extensive works above the confluence of the
rivers, which had so long kept them in check.
On the 13th three new monitors had arrived from Rio Janeiro, and
joined their squadron. They were built in Rio Janeiro, and had twin
screws, with four inches of iron on the hull, which was only one foot
out of the water, when prepared for action in fresh water. They had
each one revolving turret, six inches thick, with one heavy Whitworth
gun in each. The circular port for the gun was barely larger than the
muzzle, and when run out was flush with the face of the turret.
Elevation and depression of a gun so placed was obtained by means
of a double carriage, which raised or lowered the trunnions.
On February 18th everything was ready, and at half past three in
the morning the Brazilians began to bombard the Paraguayan works
most furiously.
The large casemate ironclads, each with a monitor lashed
alongside, then steamed up to the batteries at Humáitá. The fire of
these batteries was well sustained, and true, as the Paraguayan fire
had always been, but their cast-iron shot flew to pieces on the armor
of the ironclads, which passed without serious damage. After
passing the works they continued straight on, past more batteries, at
Timbó, to Tayi. The batteries at Timbó were water batteries, and
injured the ironclads more than all the others they had passed. In
this passage one of the Brazilian monitors received no less than one
hundred and eighty shot; and another one was hit one hundred and
twenty times. Their plates were dented and bent, and the bolts
started, but there was little or no loss of life on board them.
If one or two of the Brazilian ironclads had remained between
Humáitá and Timbó, instead of all running by the latter place, the
works of the former would have been really closely invested; and as
the object of running the batteries was to cause the surrender of
Humáitá, the movement was to that extent a failure. The
Paraguayans evacuated their works at their leisure, taking guns and
stores.
THE DREADNOUGHT.
(The most powerful Ironclad of the English Navy.)
THE CAPTURE OF THE HUASCAR. OCTOBER
8th, 1879.
(ENLARGED VIEW OF
TURRET.)
Nearly every time she was struck the greatest temporary damage
possible was inflicted, and yet no permanent injury was caused. The
armor was really a disadvantage to her, for it served to explode the
enemy’s projectiles, which only stopped when they struck at the very
smallest angles. The backing and inner skin only served to increase
the number of fragments, which were driven in with deadly effect.
The shell which passed through the thin sides of the forecastle did
not explode, and did but little damage. Each shell which pierced the
armor exploded, and each explosion set the ship on fire in a new
place. The Chilian small-arm men and the Nordenfelt machine gun
drove all the Peruvians off the deck, and away from the unprotected
guns there. The “Cochrane” fired forty-five Palliser shells. The
“Blanco” fired thirty-one. It is thought that the “Huascar” fired about
forty projectiles from her turret guns.
The “Cochrane” was hit three times. The “Blanco” was untouched,
while the “Huascar” received at least sixteen large Palliser shells,
besides Nordenfelt bullets and shrapnel. The shot-holes in the
“Huascar” were so jagged and irregular that no ordinary stoppers
could be of any service.
The officers who have given us the account of this action make a
number of practical deductions and suggestions of great importance,
but not necessary to be quoted here.