The Torpedo Men

In August 1879, the Chilean consul in Panama again protested the departure of the Limeña with torpedos for Peru. Chilean spies worked for the Panama railroad. It was almost impossible to secretly ship arms, because the Chileans knew when they would arrive on the other side of the isthmus.

By August, there were three groups of torpedo men from the U.S. in Peru: the Lay, the U.S. Torpedo Co., and the Herreshoff men. A "rowdy, hard-drinking lot", they drew their pay in gold, and consorted with ladies at the Callao waterfront.

On the 15th, the Chileans detained an armored torpedo boat leaving Pisagua for Iquique with four crew members under orders of Peru. The Chileans arrested them and placed them on board an armored ship the same day. The crew included William Alfred Scott, 41, the British commander of the vessel who had contracted the other members, Abraham Johnson of Jamaica, Cosem Espiro, 31, a Greek,and John Shertzer. a U.S. engineer. Before they were arrested, they threw overboard two booms 15 feet in length, each one with a torpedo full of dynamite. The government of Peru was paying them ten soles daily with the promise of paying them 10,000 soles for each armored Chilean ship that they sunk with their torpedos, through Casa Grace. They had made four large torpedos, capable of holding 200 pounds of dynamite, as well has two 90 pounds ones and four smaller ones of four pounds. They were also to earn 5000 soles for any wood boats they were able to sink. Their contract was time-limited, and extended two months from the time they left Callao. (Lopez, 1930, pg. 307, 308)

On the 20th, Charles W. Read, an ex-confederate recruited by Charles Flint, sailed for Peru. During the Civil War, Read commanded a Confederate torpedo squadron on the Mississippi River. Read brought with him an engineer, John H. Smith. After previously testing torpedos in Narragansett Bay, they followed the munitions down and across the isthmus and to Peru. The Peruvian Navy commissioned Read as a commander and offered him a substantial amount of prize money if they sunk the principal Chilean war ships.

A dispute arose amongst the Peruvian officers, when they heard that a prize would be awarded to Read for sinking the Chilean ships. The naval commandant at Callao told Read that no prize money would be forthcoming, so Read headed back to the United States. W. R. Grace was disgusted with this handling of affairs and felt the torpedo men had made a poor use of the weapons.

Resources
Lopez, Jacinto. 1930. Historia de la Guerra del Guano y el Salitre o Guerra del Pacifico entre Chile, Bolivia y El Peru. New York: De Laisne & Rossboro.