Prat, Arturo (1848–1879)

Arturo Prat (April 3, 1848–May 21, 1879) was a Chilean naval officer and his nation's preeminent hero. In reduced economic circumstances following his father's premature death, Prat entered the Naval Academy in 1858. While serving with the fleet, Prat distinguished himself first as a line officer and then as an intelligence officer. Although on active duty, Prat studied for and obtained a legal degree from the University of Chile; he also taught at the Benjamin Franklin School, an institution dedicated to educating the poor of Valparaíso.

Admiral Juan Williams Rebolledo, commander of Chile's navy at the onset of the War of the Pacific (1879–1884), apparently disliked Prat, who had acquired a reputation for being an intellectual and someone who would question his superiors. Thus Williams did not assign him to command a warship until May 1879, when he appointed Prat to the Esmeralda, one of the fleet's most decrepit vessels. In mid May, when Williams led most of his naval force north to attack Callao, Prat and his subordinate, Carlos Condell, captain of the Covadonga, remained to continue the blockade of the Peruvian nitrate port of Iquique.

Early on May 21, the Peruvian ironclads Huáscar and the Independencia attacked the two Chilean vessels. Prat held off his more powerful foe until the Huáscar rammed his vessel three times. Before his ship sank, however, Prat boarded the Huáscar, trying to capture it. Although the Peruvians killed him before he could achieve his mission, Prat emerged as an example of heroic sacrifice which has served as a standard of conduct for subsequent generations of Chileans.

See alsoChile: The Nineteenth Century; War of the Pacific.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Sater, William F. The Heroic Image in Chile: Arturo Prat, Secular Saint. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1973.

                                              William F. Sater