On the 15th the Lautaro and Galvarino arrived from Pisco, and as nothing can give a better account of what occurred at this place than the official dispatch of the admiral to the Chilean government, the following translation is subjoined:
"The absolute want of many indispensable articles in the squadron, as I have already informed you, left me no other alternative than to abandon the object of the expedition, or to take the necessary provisions from the enemy. I adopted the latter, and sent the Lautaro and the Galvarino to Pisco for the purpose of procuring spirits, wine, rice and some other articles.
"The result of this expedition has been glorious to the arms of Chile in the valour shewn by her officers and soldiers when fighting hand to hand with the enemy, and in the assault on the city of Pisco, and the fort to which the forces of the Viceroy retired. It is my painful duty notwithstanding to inform you, that the unfortunate Lieutenant-Colonel Charles closed in this action his career in the cause of liberty, to which his soul was devoted, at a moment when it promised to be the most brilliant which the human mind could desire. The courage and judgment of Charles were not more visible than the talent and general knowledge which he possessed; such as could only receive an additional lustre from his peculiarly agreeable suavity of refined manners, and from that diffidence in his behaviour, as if he considered that he had not arrived at the portal of wisdom, when all who surrounded him saw that he was one of the inmates of the temple.
"Would to God that that sword, the companion of his travels over the greater part of the globe, in search of information, in the day of danger, and in the hour of death, be employed by his brother, to whom in his last moments he bequeathed it, with equal zeal in the just and glorious cause, in which my ever to be lamented friend Charles has prematurely fallen.
"Lamenting the loss which the cause of liberty and independence has suffered in the death of Charles, as well as all those who knew this able and meritorious officer, I subscribe myself with an anguished heart, your most obedient servant, (signed) Cochrane."
"To the minister of marine of Chile, November seventeenth, 1819."
The Spanish force at Pisco was composed of six hundred infantry and two hundred cavalry, part veteran and part militia; six pieces of eighteen pound calibre in the fort, and two field pieces, mounted and served in the city. The force under the unfortunate Charles consisted of two hundred and eighty marines. After taking the fort they advanced on the city, and took it. Colonel Charles fell about a hundred yards from the town, and was immediately conveyed on board the Lautaro, where he died on the following day. His last expressions were, "I hoped to have lived longer, and to have served Chile; however, fate decrees the contrary; but, Captain Guise, we made the Spaniards run!" Major Miller took the command of the troops, and having arrived at the plasa, he was severely wounded by a musket shot passing through his body, but he recovered, and has continued to serve the cause of liberty in the new world. A considerable quantity of spirits and wine was embarked, but the seamen, owing to the facility of obtaining their favourite beverage on shore, became so unruly, that Captain Guise was obliged to burn the stores, consisting at that time of about fourteen thousand eighteen gallon jars of spirits and wine.
Health being in some degree established among the crew of the San Martin, she, with the Independencia, was ordered to Valparaiso, and his lordship with the O'Higgins, Lautaro, and Galvarino, proceeded to the river of Guayaquil, in the hopes of falling in with the Prueba. On the twenty-seventh we entered the mouth of the river, at eleven P. M., and at five the following morning, to the astonishment of the natives, we were at the anchorage of the Puná, where we found two large Spanish merchant ships. La Aguila and La Begoña, almost laden with timber; after some resistance the crews cut their cables, and allowed them to drop down the river, as the ebb tide had begun to run; however the boats from the O'Higgins, the only vessel that had arrived, manned them before they received any damage. The Spaniards took to their boats, and fled up the river.
A slight dissention happened here between Lord Cochrane and Captain Guise, who asserted, that the prizes had been plundered by the officers of the flag ship; but on being questioned by his lordship respecting the assertion, he denied having ever made it. A report was afterwards circulated by Captain Spry, that it was the intention of the Admiral not to allow the Lautaro and Galvarino to share in the prizes, they not having been in sight when the vessels were captured, nor until the boats from the flag ship had taken possession of them; however, Captain Spry declared to the admiral, "on his honour," that the report was absolutely false. Spry being now convinced that no objection would be made to the vessels that were not present at the capture, sharing in the prizes, next circulated a rumour, that Lord Cochrane had no right to share in the double capacity of admiral and captain; but he also declared, "on his honour," that he had neither made nor even heard such a report. These trifling circumstances would be unworthy of detail, were they not connected with future transactions in the squadron of serious importance, which it will be my painful duty to relate.
The Spanish frigate la Prueba had arrived at the Puná on the fifteenth of October; and having placed her artillery on rafts, she went up to the city, where, for want of pilots, it was impossible for us to follow. Having watered, and purchased a large stock of plantains and other vegetables, we left Guayaquil river on the twenty-first of December. The vessels of war and the prizes received orders to proceed to Valparaiso; the O'Higgins appeared to have the same destination; but having made the island of Juan Fernandes, the admiral gave orders to stand towards Valdivia instead of Valparaiso, saying, that he wished to examine that port, because the Viceroy of Peru had assured the Peruvians, that one of the line of battle ships had entered Valdivia, and was there refitting, for the purpose of making an attack on Valparaiso.