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February
20th to February 29th - Callao, Peru
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At Callao,
the Peruvian government did its best to welcome the fleet. Having been at conflict with Chile and Brazil,
Peru
was looking for an alley in American and delivered a warm greeting for the
ships.
They were met 250 miles from Callao by the cruiser
Bolognesi which escorted the ship into a crowed harbor of warm wishers.
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By this time in the cruise, the crews had
grown tired to the receptions and clearly were not as crisp in going to
anchorage as at previous ports. Admiral
Evans issued provided a reprimand to the fleet for its un-seaman like
anchoring.
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Below,
a stereoview of the USS Yanton anchored
inn Callao.
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The
fleet received a warm welcome from the people
of Callao and Lima during their visit.
At
left ships providing fleet support.
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These
two cards were issued as part of a series
after the fleet departed. Left: Torpedo
Boats in Harbor. Right: Fleet
landing in Callao.
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The
postcards above show the port facility as
it receives the fleet steamers with liberty
boats in tow. These cards were created
from photographs during the visit but not
available until long after they left. All
of them are written in Spanish and were
made for local use.
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These
two photographs are from the Brown and Schaffer
collection. At left the Municipal
Plaza; at right, the fleet landing.
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As
part of my personal centennial celebration
I visited Callao and found where the fleet
landing was located. These two photographs
were taken at the fleet landing location
showing how it looks today compared with
the postcards above.
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Callao
was ready. They had sent spies to
earlier port visits of the crew and pasted on information regarding how the
fleet had been received. It was quickly
translated into businesses and a community prepared to greet sailors including
signs that said, “American Spoken Here”, organized dances and dinners, and
efforts to prevent conflict within the community. They went so far as to lock-up a traveling
group of Japanese acrobats that were visiting the city as to not offend the
Americans.
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The
postcard above pictures President Pardo
of Peru sent from E. C. Krugger, Petty Officer
First Class, USS Alabama and is dated February
23, 1908.
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Van
Buren Edwards, Machinist Mate 2nd, USS Connecticut
saved these postcards from Lima. At
left: A real photo postcard of a group
of sailors on the street. "How
bad the natives gather around the Sailors"
At Right: "Birds eye view"
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The
Cathedral of Lima at the Municipal Plaza
remains one of the most important attractions
of Lima. The Plaza has changed a lot
since the fleet visit of 1908, but the Cathedral
has stayed the same.
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At
left the Presidential Band on the Plaza
before his arrival.
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During
my visit I was lucky and caught the President
going to Mass on Sunday at the Cathedral
seen in the photo at right.
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In
the background of the photo can be seen
the Presidential palace located on the same
Plaza. It was just a short walk for
the President.
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Above
fleet units of the Peruvian Navy that were
in commission during the fleets visit.
At
Right: A postcard showing the Plaza
de Municipal in Lima during the fleet visit
on February 24th. Sailors passed through
here on the way to the bullfight.
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Sailors
on Libery in Lima
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On February 22nd, Washington’s birthday, the
fleet took the opportunity to celebrate by holding a birthday party for
President Pardo, who’s birthday just happen to coincide. A reception was held onboard the USS
Connecticut attended by more than 2,000 Peruvian dignitaries. The event was a success with only one minor
incident where three people in the crowd were pushed overboard and had to be
rescued by crewmembers.
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The two events that were planned by the government both had
difficulties. The first event was a
bullfight for the sailors. Six bulls had
been specially selected and named to appear at a special event in the Plaza de
Toros. Three-thousand officers and men
were transported by special train to the event and offer the best seating for
what was planned as premier bull fighting.
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Select the highlighted link for an excellent account of this event provided
by one of the
letters of Milton Willard,
a sailor onboard the USS Georgia,
and by Frank
Lesher, USS Virginia,
who attended the bull fight
and wrote a detailed account.
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The government had planned to prevent any horses getting gored by a
bull, understanding that the Americans would find it cruel. Unfortunately in the first fight one of the
horses took a horn from the bull. It was
followed by the bull catching the matador with its horns and tossing him out of
the ring. In the next two fights the
matadors hacked at the bull repeatedly but failed to kill the bull in a humane
manner. At this point the American guest
became uncomfortable with the treatment of the bull and began hissing a
booing.
At
right is a program given to
sailors in Lima for the bullfight
explaining the history and culture
of the sport. Pages of the program
can be selected below.
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P2
P3
P4
P5
P6
P7
P8
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getting gored to the audience fear of his death. By the end, many sailors left the stadium deciding
the event was unfair to the bulls and would rather not watch.
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One
of the stops on my recent trip included
a visit to the Plaza de Toros at Acho, now
the oldest active bullfighting ring in the
Americas. From the phograph at left
it has changed over the years but still
enjoys the same view of the mountains beyond.
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For
those of you who may be considering visiting
the ring, it is located in a high crime
area of Lima and I was advised to use a
driver to provide some additional security.
The ring does have a museum on
bullfighting and for a small fee, 6 Sols
($2) you get a guided tour of the museum
and the ring.
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The second planned event was a train trip to the top of Mount
Oroya,
the highest railroad in the world. This
recently completed line went through the mountains at a height of 13,000 feet. Two trains were planned for the journey, the
first for the “official” party and the second for sailors and other
guests. At a height of 10,000 feet, the
second train stalled. Some were already
suffering from altitude sickness from the quick assent, but now many more began
to suffer. Then came word from the first
train at 13,000 feet that there had been an avalanche blocking the line. At this point many were stricken with
vomiting and laid out on the floor. Below
are a set of original photographs that were
taken by Richard
Konter while on the train and during
the avalanche.
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One
passenger actually died from their condition.
At this point the first train could not remain at 13,000 feet and made a
slow decent to where the blockage in the tracks had occurred. Here there were accommodations of four beds
for the overnight stay which had been commandeered by members aboard the second
train leaving the members of the official party to sleep onboard the train that
evening.
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The next day, sick and
exhausted they were able to climb around the obstruction and board a train to
return to Callao. Surely this had been a memorable event from
the cruise for many of the crewmembers. Above is a card from a European
Dispensary in Lima, part of the collection
from Wilbur
Main, USS Virginia.
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This
is a program for a Minstrel show onboard
the USS Louisiana while in port at Callao,
Peru. It was the first performance
given by "The Louisiana Minstrels"
and included songs, dancing, magic, juggling,
comedy and drama. Pages of the program
are shown at right and can be seen in greater
detail by selecting.
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Left:
downtown Lima mailed by "Frank" onboard
the USS Kansas. Right: "B"
sent a card of Iglesia de San Marcelo -
Lima.
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From
the collection of William
Burgess, USS Kersearge
Callao,
Peru, Feb. 25, 1908
Dear
Nephew Howard, What do you think of these
people. Petty badly sunburned don't
you think?
W.G.B"
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Their
time in Peru also included fleet maneuvers. The
above card described the completion of the "Gridiron"
maneuver. Select the above card to see the 3-fold
card.
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Above:
A card mailed from a sailor of the
fleet showing the mountain railway of Peru.
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On February 29th the Fleet departed the harbor
providing a 21-gun salute to President Pardo on his yacht at the mouth of the
harbor. Everything went well with the
exception of the sailor off the Ohio to tried to “jump ship” by having a small
boat standing by to receive him as the ships steam out of the harbor. Unfortunately, the Georgia saw the acts of the
deserter and quickly lowered boats to apprehend the man before he could get
ashore. The ships were on the way to
proceed with a much needed period of target practice with the guns.
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The
Cruise of Frank
B. Lesher
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Copyright(c) 2002 My Company. All rights reserved.
Bill@GreatWhiteFleet.info
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