The action having been commenced in a fog, the Spaniards imagined that
all the Chilian vessels were engaged, and were not a little surprised,
as it again cleared, to find that their own frigate, the quondam _Maria
Isabella_, was their only opponent. So much were they dispirited by this
discovery, that as soon as possible after the close of the contest,
their ships of war were dismantled, the top masts and spars being formed
into a double boom across the anchorage so as to prevent approach. The
Spaniards were also previously unaware of my being in command of the
Chilian squadron, but on becoming acquainted with this fact, bestowed
upon me the not very complimentary title of "El Diablo," by which I was
afterwards known amongst them. The title might have been rendered more
appropriate, had my efforts been better seconded by the other vessels.

On the following day, having repaired damages, the flag-ship and
_Lautaro_ again went in and commenced a destructive fire upon the
Spanish gun-boats, the neutral vessels in the harbour removing out of
the line of shot. As the gun-boats withdrew to a position closer under
the batteries, where we could make little impression upon them without
getting severely punished by the fire of the fortress, we contented
ourselves with the demonstration made.

On the 2nd of March, I despatched Capt. Foster with the gun-boat
captured from the Spaniards, and the launches of the _O'Higgins_ and
_Lautaro_--to take possession of the island of San Lorenzo, when an
unworthy instance of Spanish cruelty presented itself in the spectacle
of thirty-seven Chilian soldiers taken prisoners eight years before. The
unhappy men had ever since been forced to work in chains under the
supervision of a military guard--now prisoners in turn; their sleeping
place during the whole of this period being a filthy shed, in which they
were every night chained by one leg to an iron bar. The joy of the poor