MIGUEL GRAU SEMINARIO

“THE GENTLEMAN OF THE SEAS”

JEAN MARCO NANQUEN MACALOPU
• Miguel Grau Seminario was born in Piura in Peru, in July 27 in
1834 in Piura.
• He was a Peruvian military sailor and admiral of the Peruvian
Navy. During the Pacific War, he commanded the monitor. For five
months, finally succumbig the heroic war in the naval combat of
Angamos, facing the superior forces. He is considered the máximum
hero of the enemy in the field of battle was worth the nickname if
the Knight of the seas, he has also been chosen as the Peruvian of
the Millennium.
• He was son of the Colombian colonel (nationalized Peruvian) Juan
Manuel Grau Berrío and of the piurana lady Luisa Seminario del
Castillo. Although he was born in Piura, he lived his childhood in the
port of Paita, where he forged his marine vocation.
• When he was nine years old, he embarked as a boy trainee on a merchant ship, but this first trip was frustrated
when the ship was shipwrecked in front of Gorgona Island (1843). However, he did not get discouraged and
embarked again the following year. For ten years he sailed in 12 different ships, touring different ports in Asia, the
United States and Europe, also completing a circumnavigation, before returning to Callao in 1853.
• At the outbreak of the War of the Pacific, on April 5, 1879, Grau obtained a license from Congress to return to
service, resumed command of Huáscar. He was appointed head of the first naval division, starting his campaign in
the month of May. During the following five months, it developed an intense activity, keeping in check the Chilean
fleet. He won the naval combat of Iquique on May 21, 1879, sinking the Esmeralda corvette and won unanimous
respect for his humanitarian action to rescue the Chilean shipwrecked and send the widow of Lieutenant Commander
Arturo Prat, commander of the Esmeralda, a heartfelt letter accompanying the personal effects of said boss.
• In the following months, Grau made several incursions into waters
controlled by Chile, attacking surprisingly, harassing their lines of
communication and bombing the military installations of the ports. On
July 27, 1879, he was promoted to the high class of Rear Admiral.
Finally, on October 8, 1879, in front of Punta Angamos, the Huáscar
was surrounded by two enemy divisions, locking up an unequal
combat. Grau died in the first minutes of the fight, due to the effects
of a grenade fired by the battleship Admiral Cochrane, which
destroyed his body. His officers and sailors continued the fight, until
they were killed or put out of action. Only with the elimination of
Grau and Huáscar, which had acted as a true mobile wall of Peru, the
Chileans were able to invade Peruvian territory, six months after the
war began.
• His remains, initially buried in Santiago de Chile, were repatriated in
1890 and transferred to the Crypt of the Heroes in 1908. On
October 26, 1946 he was posthumously promoted to the rank of
admiral. As an ex-deputy, he maintains a permanent seat at the
Congress of the Republic of Peru.