Life of Rear Admiral John Randolph Tucker

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Title: Life of Rear Admiral John Randolph Tucker
Author: Rochelle, James Henry, 1826-1889
Language: English
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[Illustration: JOHN RANDOLPH TUCKER]

LIFE OF REAR ADMIRAL

JOHN RANDOLPH TUCKER

COMMANDER IN THE NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES, CAPTAIN
AND FLAG-OFFICER IN THE NAVY OF THE CONFEDERATE
STATES, REAR ADMIRAL IN THE NAVY
OF THE REPUBLIC OF PERU AND PRESIDENT
OF THE PERUVIAN HYDROGRAPHICAL
COMMISSION OF THE AMAZON

WITH AN APPENDIX

CONTAINING NOTES ON NAVIGATION OF THE UPPER
AMAZON RIVER AND ITS PRINCIPAL
TRIBUTARIES

By CAPTAIN JAMES HENRY ROCHELLE

AND CONTAINING A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE
AUTHOR, AND PORTRAITS OF ADMIRAL
TUCKER AND CAPTAIN ROCHELLE

WASHINGTON
THE NEALE PUBLISHING COMPANY
431 ELEVENTH STREET
MCMIII

CONTENTS.

A SKETCH OF THE AUTHOR 9

DEATH OF CAPTAIN ROCHELLE 17

PREFATORY NOTE 18

PART I.

THE TUCKERS--BIRTH OF JOHN RANDOLPH TUCKER. BOYHOOD--APPOINTED A
MIDSHIPMAN IN THE UNITED STATES NAVY--FIRST CRUISE--"THE
ROARING LADS OF THE BRANDYWINE"--PASSES EXAMINATION FOR
PROMOTION--APPOINTED A PAST MIDSHIPMAN--PROMOTED TO THE RANK
OF LIEUTENANT--MARRIAGE--MEXICAN WAR. CAPTURE OF
TOBASCO--COMMANDS UNITED STATES BOMB-BRIG _Stromboli_--MADE
A COMMANDER--COMMANDS UNITED STATES RECEIVING SHIP
_Pennsylvania_--ORDNANCE OFFICER AT THE NORFOLK NAVY
YARD--RESIGNS ON THE SECESSION OF VIRGINIA 19

PART II.

APPOINTED A COMMANDER IN THE VIRGINIA NAVY--IN CHARGE OF THE
DEFENSES OF JAMES RIVER--TRANSFERRED TO THE CONFEDERATE
STATES NAVY--PLACED IN COMMAND OF THE _Patrick
Henry_--FITTING OUT UNDER DIFFICULTIES--FIRST PARTIALLY
ARMORED AMERICAN VESSEL. LIEUTENANT POWELL'S PLAN FOR
ARMORED GUNBOATS--OFFICERS OF THE _Patrick Henry_--GUARDING
JAMES RIVER--SCALING THE GUNS--"NAVAL SKIRMISH"--A FLAG
WHICH WAS NOT PRESENTED--BATTLE OF HAMPTON ROADS. SINKING OF
THE _Cumberland_; AN AMERICAN _Vengeur_--BURNING OF THE
_Congress_--COMBAT BETWEEN THE _Virginia_ AND THE
_Monitor_--FLAG-OFFICER TATNALL TAKES COMMAND OF THE
CONFEDERATE SQUADRON--SALLY INTO HAMPTON ROADS--PLAN FOR
CARRYING THE _Monitor_ BY BOARDING--EVACUATION OF
NORFOLK--TOWING UNFINISHED GUNBOATS TO RICHMOND--FEDERAL
SQUADRON ENTERS JAMES RIVER--CREWS OF THE _Patrick Henry_,
_Jamestown_ AND _Virginia_ MAN THE NAVAL BATTERIES AT
DREWRY'S BLUFF--ACTION AT DREWRY'S BLUFF--THE _Galena_; A
WELL-FOUGHT VESSEL. REPULSE OF THE FEDERAL SQUADRON--TUCKER
ORDERED TO COMMAND THE IRON-CLAD STEAMER _Chicora_ AT
CHARLESTON--SUCCESSFUL ATTACK ON THE BLOCKADING
SQUADRON--TUCKER POSTED AND APPOINTED FLAG-OFFICER OF THE
CHARLESTON SQUADRON--COMMANDING OFFICERS OF THE CHARLESTON
SQUADRON--DUPONT'S ATTACK ON CHARLESTON--CONFEDERATE
TORPEDO-BOATS AT CHARLESTON; DAMAGE DONE BY THEM--CHARLESTON
NAVAL BATTALION SERVING WITH THE ARMY--EVACUATION OF
CHARLESTON--ONE BATTALION OF THE CHARLESTON SQUADRON SERVES
WITH THE ARMY AT WILMINGTON--TUCKER, WITH THE CHARLESTON
SQUADRON BRIGADE, MARCHES THROUGH NORTH CAROLINA AND ARRIVES
AT RICHMOND--TUCKER ORDERED TO COMMAND AT DREWRY'S
BLUFF--CONFEDERACY AT ITS LAST GASP--EVACUATION OF
RICHMOND--TUCKER NOT INFORMED OF THE INTENTION TO EVACUATE
RICHMOND--SUCCEEDS IN JOINING HIS BRIGADE OF SAILORS TO
MAJOR-GEN. CUSTIS LEE'S DIVISION--ACTION AT SAYLOR'S CREEK;
DIDN'T KNOW THEY WERE WHIPPED, THOUGHT THE FIGHT HAD JUST
BEGUN--SURRENDER--PRISONER OF WAR--RELEASED ON
PAROLE--EMPLOYED BY THE SOUTHERN EXPRESS COMPANY 23

PART III.

TUCKER OFFERED THE COMMAND OF THE PERUVIAN FLEET, WITH THE RANK
OF REAR ADMIRAL--ARRIVES IN LIMA--NO PRECEDENT FOR THE
RETURN OF MONEY--COMMISSIONED A REAR ADMIRAL IN THE NAVY OF
PERU--COMMANDS THE ALLIED FLEETS OF PERU AND CHILE--SPANISH
WAR--TUCKER'S PLAN FOR A NAVAL CAMPAIGN; PROJECTED
EXPEDITION AGAINST MANILA--CESSATION OF HOSTILITIES--TUCKER
RETIRES FROM THE COMMAND OF THE FLEET, AND IS APPOINTED
PRESIDENT OF THE PERUVIAN HYDROGRAPHICAL COMMISSION OF THE
AMAZON--CROSSES THE ANDES AND REACHES THE AMAZON--EXPLORES
THE YAVARI RIVER--ORDERED TO THE UNITED STATES TO
SUPERINTEND THE BUILDING OF AN EXPLORING STEAMER--RETURNS TO
THE AMAZON WITH STEAMER _Tambo_. EXPEDITION UP THE UCAYALI
AND EXPLORATION OF THE TAMBO RIVER--ORDERED TO THE UNITED
STATES TO PROCURE A STEAMER OF LIGHT DRAUGHT OF
WATER--RETURNS TO THE AMAZON WITH STEAMER _Mairo_--SECOND
EXPEDITION UP THE UCAYALI--CANOE EXPEDITION UP THE PACHITEA
AND EXPLORATION OF THE PICHIS RIVER--EXPEDITION UP THE
AMAZON AND HUALLAGA RIVERS--ORDERED TO LIMA. ORDERED TO NEW
YORK TO SUPERINTEND THE CHARTS MADE BY THE HYDROGRAPHICAL
COMMISSION--PUBLICATION OF CHARTS ABANDONED ON ACCOUNT OF
THE FINANCIAL CONDITION OF PERU--LETTER FROM PRESIDENT
PARDO--LETTER FROM MINISTER FREYRE--TUCKER RETIRES TO HIS
HOME IN PETERSBURG, VIRGINIA--OCCUPATIONS AND AMUSEMENTS OF
OLD AGE--DEATH--CHARACTER AND QUALITIES--CONCLUSION 55

NAVIGATION OF THE UPPER AMAZON 81

CONCLUSION 112

Life of Rear Admiral John Randolph Tucker

A SKETCH OF THE AUTHOR.

JAMES HENRY ROCHELLE, the author of the following pages, and the
subject of this sketch, was of French-English and Celtic, or
Scotch-Irish, extraction--English through his paternal
great-grandmother, who was the daughter of Hinchia Gilliam, and his
wife (née) Harrison; Scotch-Irish through his maternal ancestry. The
name itself proclaims its French (Huguenot) origin.

It is well known that when Louis XIV revoked the edict of Nantes many
French Protestants, called Huguenots, fled from their homes to escape
persecutions worse than death. About forty thousand took refuge in
England, and in 1690 William III sent a number of them to America. A
party of them made their way up the James river and made a settlement,
which they called Mannakintown, or "Manacan," because the lands
formerly belonged to the Manacan Indians. Feeling that they no longer
had to defend themselves against oppression and cruelty, and that in a
free country their religion was no stigma, the characteristics of the
race came out. With order and work Manacan became a flourishing town.
Among those who had made a temporary home there was John Rochelle,
who came with the other Huguenot exiles, and, if Pope be right, he
soon enjoyed

"All the joys of sense--
_Health, peace and competence._"

But in a few years the spirit of discord entered among these exiles,
who had found peace, liberty and homes. The three Rochelle brothers
sought other homes; William settled in North Carolina, James went to
South Carolina, and John bought of William and Jonas Longbottom two
hundred and twelve acres of land on the south side of the Nottoway
river in the then parish of Albemarle. Here he lived, and married Mary
Gilliam, daughter of Hinchia Gilliam and his wife (née) Harrison. They
had issue four sons--John, Levi, Hinchia and Nathaniel. John, the
oldest son, married his cousin, Judith Gilliam, famed for her beauty,
and they became the parents of nine children--Benjamin, John, Willis,
Clements, Elizabeth (who will live in history as the mother of the
famous soldier, George Henry Thomas), James, Lucy, and Mary.

James was born in the year 1786. At an early age he entered the
clerk's office of his county as deputy to the then clerk, Samuel
Kello. In 1815 he was chosen clerk and held the office until his
death.

On the 19th of April, 1817, he married Martha (Hines) Gray, widow of
Dr. Henry Mills Gray. Many children were born unto them, but only
three lived beyond the early years of infancy--John, Martha and James
Henry.

James Henry Rochelle was born at his father's home, near the
Courthouse, on the 1st day of November, 1826. His boyhood was passed
in the refining influence of a Virginia home, of the period when
Virginia was the garden spot of America, when her daughters were the
"mothers of Presidents" and her sons were statesmen, "_Sans peur et
sans reproche_."

On the 9th of September, 1841, he was appointed acting midshipman in
the United States Navy; served six months at sea, and then received
his warrant as midshipman. During the war with Mexico, young Rochelle
served on both the _Falmouth_ and _Decatur_, in the gulf. He was with
Commodore Perry, and participated in all the brilliant exploits of the
naval forces, and remained on the Mexican coast until there was added
to the United States a territory as large as Germany, France and
Spain, all three added together.

In September, 1847, he reported at Annapolis, the Naval School, and
was one of the 245 midshipman belonging to the famous "Classe 41,"
which passed in 1848. He was at once ordered to the frigate
_Constitution_, then in Boston harbor, ready to sail to the blue
waters of the Mediterranean and the sunny coast of Italy. On this
cruise he paid a visit to the beautiful and historical Island of
Malta, and here, in the very cradle of Free Masonry, he became a
member of that ancient institution. He saw three years' sea service
before returning home.

In 1852 the United States Government sent a naval force, under the
command of Perry, to open intercourse with Japan and her then unknown
people. Rochelle received orders to report for duty on the ship
_Southampton_. Perry sailed from Norfolk on the 24th of November,
1852. With great judgment and ability he rendered his mission a
success, and sailed for home from Linada, in Japan, on the 1st of
October, 1854, and after an eventful voyage reached New York in the
spring of 1855.

After a home leave of some months, Rochelle was promoted on the 14th
of September to master, and on the next day was commissioned
lieutenant and assigned to duty on the Coast Survey Squadron. He
assisted in the survey of New York harbor, Casco bay and the Florida
reefs.

His next cruise was in the expedition to Paraguay. Unfortunately, few
of his many letters home were preserved. We give one written in 1859:

U.S. STEAMER _Southern Star_,
MONTEVIDEO, REPUBLIC OF URUGUAY,
March 11, 1859.

_My Dear Mother_:

The steamer _Harriet Lane_, one of the vessels of the Paraguay
expedition, will sail for New York on tomorrow morning, and as
she is very fast I have determined to write by her, although
it will not be long before we follow her to the United States.
We are preparing for sea now and expect to sail on the 17th of
this month for Norfolk, touching at Pernambuco and Barbadoes
for coal. We will be at home, I think, by the 20th of May or
1st of June, though it is possible that we may be detained
longer than I expect on the way.

I sincerely trust that I shall find you all well at home, and
that I will have a long leave to spend with you. I wrote you
in my letter that we had no difficulty in settling our affairs
with Paraguay. Lopez acceded at once to all the demands which
were made upon him, and expressed himself gratified at their
moderation. The health of the squadron is excellent and the
cruise has been a pleasant one. No accident or circumstances
have occurred to mar its efficiency or concord. If another
vessel should leave in time to get home much before we do, I
will write again, but I doubt if such an opportunity will
occur. You must not, of course, write to me again. Give my
best love to Sister, Jimmy, Letitia and Mattie, and my
affectionate regards to Mr. Edwards and Major Shands.

Ever your affectionate son,
J.H. ROCHELLE.

To follow Rochelle through all of his naval life would take more space
than we now have and would be to repeat scenes and events already
dealt with by him in the following pages. When the war came on he was
serving on the sloop-of-war _Cumberland_. Captain Scharf very
correctly says: "It required no sacrifice and entailed no
inconvenience to remain loyal to the Union, but to resign from that
service involved every consideration which might deter a man not
actuated by exalted principles." It was "exalted principles" which
caused Rochelle to resign his commission in the Navy, where he had
served with honor and advancement for twenty years, and to offer his
sword to his native State. From the columns of the Richmond _Dispatch_
we quote:

"All know how hot and furious the war was. The Anglo-Saxon race, the
first and foremost people on earth, are wise in counsel and fierce in
war. Fighting commenced at once. Captain Rochelle was placed under the
command of Captain Tucker, on the James river, on the war steamer
_Patrick Henry_, and with the _Merrimac_ fought the _Monitor_ and
wooden fleet of the North in Hampton Roads, the first naval battle in
which armored ships were used. That engagement covered the new and
little Confederate Navy with glory. When Norfolk was evacuated, and
our little wooden fleet fell back to Richmond after the destruction of
the _Merrimac_, which could not be carried up the James river on
account of its great draught of water, the heavy guns of the _Patrick
Henry_ were carried by Tucker and Rochelle with great difficulty up on
Drewry's Bluff, and aided very much in repulsing the attack of the
_Galena_ and other Northern gunboats, who hoped to carry Richmond by a
_coup de main_. After the evacuation of Norfolk and the peninsula
between the York and James rivers, the siege of Charleston, S.C.,
having commenced, he was sent there and soon after placed in command
of one of the largest iron-clad steamers in the Confederate Navy. Here
he remained during the remainder of the siege and until the advance of
Sherman through South Carolina and in the rear of Charleston forced
the evacuation of that vital point in the Confederacy. His ship, along
with others, was destroyed, and he returned to Richmond with a small
body of seamen, where the Southerners made their last stand around
Richmond and Petersburg _pro ara et pro forcis_. On reaching Richmond
he, along with Captain Parker, distinguished alike in arms and
letters, were placed in command of the Naval Academy and cadets which
the Confederates had established there--an arduous, important and
distinguished position. He remained in that position until the
evacuation of Richmond, when he marched the cadets in a body to
Washington, in Georgia, where they were disbanded after the capture of
President Davis and the dissolution of the Confederacy.

"The war being ended, he returned to his ancestral home in
Southampton. His old comrade-in-arms, Tucker, who had been at one time
Admiral in the Peruvian Navy, and was then about to make a survey of
the upper Amazon river for the Peruvians, sent for him, and he
accepted a position under that Government to make a hydrographic
survey of that vast fluvial system in the mountains of Peru east of
the Andes. He remained in Iquitos three years and then returned home,
where he devoted his time to reading, letters, and the society of his
friends. He was a doughty warrior and soldier, and from the beginning
loved a career of arms. He sorrowed over the rupture of the
Government, but when his State went out he nobly stood by her; went to
the front, and never grounded his arms until there was nothing left
to fight for. He knew to win would bring honor and safety, and failure
would make him a rebel, and while success on the Northern side gave to
many of his old comrades in arms on that side marble and bronze
statues in the new Pantheon at Washington, yet with the courage of his
convictions, in disaster his only regret was that he did not win. Of
such stern stuff are the cavaliers of Virginia made, and such as these
are yet to lift her from the dust and crown their old mother again
with glory."

"DEATH OF CAPT. JAMES H. ROCHELLE.

"COURTLAND, SOUTHAMPTON COUNTY,
"April 3, 1889.

"On the morning of the 31st of March, after an illness of only one
day, this county, and his many friends, met with a heavy loss in the
death of Capt. James Henry Rochelle. This distinguished soldier was a
veteran of two wars. Euripides, I think it was, said no man should be
called fortunate or happy until he had been placed with his good name
by death beyond the reach of accident or change. Then, indeed, is this
noble soldier happy, for he lived without reproach and died without
fear. Another noble son of Virginia has gone down below the horizon of
time, but his name will be held in sweet remembrance by his old
comrades and his memory cherished and honored by his kinsmen."

Life of Rear Admiral John Randolph Tucker

BY JAMES HENRY ROCHELLE.

PREFATORY NOTE.

In writing this biographical sketch I have performed not a task, but a
labor of love, for I was, during many years, both in times of peace
and of war, intimately associated with the distinguished sailor whose
career I have attempted to trace.

The appendix was added in consequence of letters I received asking for
information in regard to the navigation of the upper Amazon river and
its tributaries, a highway for commerce destined to be much better
known in the near future than it is at present.

J.H.R.
COURTLAND, VIRGINIA,
_July 1, 1888._

PART I.

THE TUCKERS--BIRTH OF JOHN RANDOLPH TUCKER.
BOYHOOD--APPOINTED A MIDSHIPMAN IN THE UNITED STATES
NAVY--FIRST CRUISE--"THE ROARING LADS OF THE
BRANDYWINE"--PASSES EXAMINATION FOR PROMOTION--APPOINTED
A PAST MIDSHIPMAN--PROMOTED TO THE RANK OF
LIEUTENANT--MARRIAGE--MEXICAN WAR. CAPTURE OF
TOBASCO--COMMANDS UNITED STATES BOMB-BRIG
_Stromboli_--MADE A COMMANDER--COMMANDS UNITED STATES
RECEIVING SHIP _Pennsylvania_--ORDNANCE OFFICER AT THE
NORFOLK NAVY YARD--RESIGNS ON THE SECESSION OF VIRGINIA

During the first years of the present century John Tucker, of the
Island of Bermuda, came to Virginia, where resided many of his
kinsmen, a branch of the Tucker family having settled in Virginia
prior to the War of the Revolution. The family has produced a number
of gifted men who have been honorably prominent in the political and
social life of the State, but no member of it has been more
distinguished or more esteemed than the subject of the present sketch.

John Randolph Tucker was born on the 31st day of January, 1812, at
Alexandria, near Washington, on the Virginia side of the Potomac
river, in which city his father had made his home and had there
married Miss Susan Douglas, the daughter of Dr. Charles Douglas, an
English physician, who emigrated to America soon after the Revolution.

Young Tucker received his early education in the good private schools
of his native city, which he continued to attend until he entered the
United States Navy as a midshipman on the 1st of June, 1826, being
then in the fifteenth year of his age.

The profession upon which he entered was one for which he was by
nature peculiarly adapted, and to the end of his days he loved the sea
and all that was connected with the life of a sailor. It has been said
of a great admiral that he could perform with his own hands the duties
of every station on board a ship-of-war, from seaman-gunner to
admiral, and the same may be, without exaggeration, said of Tucker.

He was fortunate in beginning his naval career on the Mediterranean
Station, where he made his first cruise in the frigate _Brandywine_.
Before the establishment of the Naval Academy at Annapolis the best
school for training a cadet in the etiquette, spirit and, perhaps,
even in the seamanship of the service, was a smart frigate of the
Mediterranean Squadron. If we may trust the traditions which have been
handed down to us in song and story about "the roaring lads of the
_Brandywine_," the training on board the ship in which Tucker first
served was well calculated to develop all that was dashing and daring
in the young gentlemen of her steerage mess.

After six years' service as a midshipman, Tucker passed the requisite
examination for promotion, but he had to wait for his turn to fill a
vacancy, and, consequently, was not promoted to the rank of lieutenant
until the 20th of December, 1837. As a lieutenant, he made a good deck
officer and a very excellent executive or first-lieutenant. In the
latter capacity he served on board the bomb-brig _Stromboli_, in the
Gulf of Mexico, during the war between Mexico and the United States.
The _Stromboli_ was actively employed, and Tucker participated in the
capture of Tobasco and other naval operations against the enemy.
During the latter part of the war Tucker succeeded to the command of
the _Stromboli_ as Lieutenant-Commanding, retaining the command until
the cessation of hostilities.

His last cruise whilst belonging to the United States Navy was made as
executive officer of the frigate _Cumberland_, the flag-ship of
Flag-Officer Stringham, on the Mediterranean Station, thus ending his
active service in the United States Navy where it began, after an
interval of thirty years.

Soon after his promotion to a lieutenancy Tucker was married, at
Norfolk, Virginia, on the 7th of June, 1838, to Virginia, daughter of
Captain Thomas Tarleton Webb, of the United States Navy. This union
was, uninterruptedly, most happy and harmonious until it was dissolved
by the death of Mrs. Tucker in 1858. She left several children, three
of whom--Randolph Tucker, of Richmond, Virginia; Tarleton Webb Tucker,
of Memphis, Tennessee; and Virginius Tucker, of Norfolk,
Virginia--are now living and prospering.

On September 14th, 1855, Tucker received his commission as a
Commander, and at the same time was ordered to command the
_Pennsylvania_, an old three-decker ship-of-the-line which was in
commission as receiving-ship at Norfolk. His next duty was as Ordnance
Officer of the Norfolk Navy Yard, and it was whilst he was employed on
this duty that the secession of Virginia caused him to forward his
resignation to the Secretary of the Navy.

There is no intention of discussing in this biographical sketch the
questions which were in controversy between the Northern and Southern
States until they were finally settled by the arbitrament of arms; it
is sufficient to say that nothing but the sincerest conviction that
the highest duty required the sacrifice could have induced an officer
in Tucker's position to leave an established and an illustrious navy
to enter the service of a people who had neither ships nor sailors.

PART II.

APPOINTED A COMMANDER IN THE VIRGINIA NAVY--IN CHARGE OF THE
DEFENSES OF JAMES RIVER--TRANSFERRED TO THE CONFEDERATE
STATES NAVY--PLACED IN COMMAND OF THE _Patrick
Henry_--FITTING OUT UNDER DIFFICULTIES--FIRST PARTIALLY
ARMORED AMERICAN VESSEL. LIEUTENANT POWELL'S PLAN FOR
ARMORED GUNBOATS--OFFICERS OF THE _Patrick
Henry_--GUARDING JAMES RIVER--SCALING THE GUNS--"NAVAL
SKIRMISH"--A FLAG WHICH WAS NOT PRESENTED--BATTLE OF
HAMPTON ROADS. SINKING OF THE _Cumberland_; AN AMERICAN
_Vengeur_--BURNING OF THE _Congress_--COMBAT BETWEEN THE
_Virginia_ AND THE _Monitor_--FLAG-OFFICER TATNALL TAKES
COMMAND OF THE CONFEDERATE SQUADRON--SALLY INTO HAMPTON
ROADS--PLAN FOR CARRYING THE _Monitor_ BY
BOARDING--EVACUATION OF NORFOLK--TOWING UNFINISHED
GUNBOATS TO RICHMOND--FEDERAL SQUADRON ENTERS JAMES
RIVER--CREWS OF THE _Patrick Henry_, _Jamestown_ AND
_Virginia_ MAN THE NAVAL BATTERIES AT DREWRY'S
BLUFF--ACTION AT DREWRY'S BLUFF--THE _Galena_; A
WELL-FOUGHT VESSEL. REPULSE OF THE FEDERAL
SQUADRON--TUCKER ORDERED TO COMMAND THE IRON-CLAD
STEAMER _Chicora_ AT CHARLESTON--SUCCESSFUL ATTACK ON
THE BLOCKADING SQUADRON--TUCKER POSTED AND APPOINTED
FLAG-OFFICER OF THE CHARLESTON SQUADRON--COMMANDING
OFFICERS OF THE CHARLESTON SQUADRON--DUPONT'S ATTACK ON
CHARLESTON--CONFEDERATE TORPEDO-BOATS AT CHARLESTON;
DAMAGE DONE BY THEM--CHARLESTON NAVAL BATTALION SERVING
WITH THE ARMY--EVACUATION OF CHARLESTON--ONE BATTALION OF
THE CHARLESTON SQUADRON SERVES WITH THE ARMY AT
WILMINGTON--TUCKER, WITH THE CHARLESTON SQUADRON BRIGADE,
MARCHES THROUGH NORTH CAROLINA AND ARRIVES AT
RICHMOND--TUCKER ORDERED TO COMMAND AT DREWRY'S
BLUFF--CONFEDERACY AT ITS LAST GASP--EVACUATION OF
RICHMOND--TUCKER NOT INFORMED OF THE INTENTION TO
EVACUATE RICHMOND--SUCCEEDS IN JOINING HIS BRIGADE OF
SAILORS TO MAJOR-GEN. CUSTIS LEE'S DIVISION--ACTION AT
SAYLOR'S CREEK; DIDN'T KNOW THEY WERE WHIPPED, THOUGHT
THE FIGHT HAD JUST BEGUN--SURRENDER--PRISONER OF
WAR--RELEASED ON PAROLE--EMPLOYED BY THE SOUTHERN EXPRESS
COMPANY

Tucker was appointed a Commander in the Virginia Navy, with rank from
the date of the commission in the United States Navy which he had
resigned. He was at first assigned by the Governor to the defense of
James river, but in a short time was ordered to assume command of the
steamer _Patrick Henry_.

When Virginia became one of the Confederate States, all the officers
of the Virginia Navy were transferred to the Confederate States Navy,
with the same rank they had held in the United States Navy. The
_Patrick Henry_ was also transferred by the State of Virginia to the
Confederate States. This vessel was a paddle-wheel steamer of about
1,400 tons burthen; she was called the _Yorktown_ before the war, and
was one of a line of steamers running between Richmond and New York;
she was reputed to be a fast boat, and deserved the reputation.

When Virginia seceded this vessel was in James river, and, together
with her sister steamer _Jamestown_, of the same line, was seized by
the authorities of the State, taken up to the Rockett's wharf, at
Richmond, and the command conferred, as has been said, upon Commander
Tucker; this assignment of duty being afterwards confirmed by the
Secretary of the Confederate States Navy. Naval Constructor Joseph
Pearse, with a number of mechanics from the Norfolk Navy Yard, who had
been brought to Richmond for the purpose, commenced the necessary
alterations, which had previously been determined upon, and in a short
time the passenger steamer _Yorktown_ was converted into the very
creditable man-of-war _Patrick Henry_, of 12 guns and one hundred and
fifty officers and men. Lieutenant William Llewellyn Powell, who soon
afterwards resigned from the Navy, entered the Army as Colonel of
Artillery, and died a Brigadier-General at Fort Morgan before its
fall, was her executive officer while she was being fitted out, and to
him, as well as to Constructor Joseph Pearse, much credit is due for
having made her as serviceable as she was for purposes of war. Her
spar-deck cabins were removed, and her deck strengthened so as to
enable it to bear a battery. Her boilers were slightly protected by
iron plates one inch in thickness. V-shaped iron shields on the
spar-deck, forward and aft of her engines, afforded some protection to
the machinery, but none to the walking beams, which rose far above the
hurricane-deck. It is probable that Lieutenant Powell suggested the
first American attempt to protect steamers with iron armor, unless the
Stevens floating-battery, which was so long building at Hoboken for
the United States, was such an attempt. It is known that Powell
forwarded, during the summer of 1861, plans to the Confederate Navy
Department for converting river craft and canal boats into iron-clad
gunboats.

The armament of the _Patrick Henry_ consisted of ten medium
32-pounders in broadside, one ten-inch shell gun pivoted forward, and
one eight-inch solid-shot gun pivoted aft. The eight-inch solid-shot
gun was the most effective gun on board, and did good service both at
the battle of Hampton Roads and the repulse of the Federal squadron at
Drewry's Bluff. The captain of this gun was an excellent seaman-gunner
named Smith, who was afterwards promoted to be a boatswain in the
C.S. Navy. A few weeks before the battle of Hampton Roads two of the
medium 32-pounders were exchanged for two six-inch guns, banded and
rifled, a gun much used in the Confederate Navy, and effective, though
far inferior to the six-inch rifled guns of the present day.

The _Patrick Henry_ was rigged as a brigantine, square yards to the
foremast and fore-and-aft sails alone to the mainmast. At Norfolk,
when she was about to be employed in running by the batteries of
Newport News at night, it was thought best to take both of her masts
out in order to make her less liable to be discovered by the enemy.
Signal poles, carrying no sails, were substituted in their place.

No list of the officers of the _Patrick Henry_ at the time she went
into commission can now be given, but the following is a list of those
on board at the battle of Hampton Roads, so far as can be ascertained:

Commander John Randolph Tucker, commander; Lieutenant James Henry
Rochelle, executive officer; Lieutenants William Sharp and Francis
Lyell Hoge; Surgeon John T. Mason; Paymaster Thomas Richmond Ware;
Passed Assistant Surgeon Frederick Garretson; Acting Master Lewis
Parrish; Chief Engineer Hugh Clark; Lieutenant of Marines Richard T.
Henderson; Midshipmen John Tyler Walker, Alexander McComb Mason, and
M.P. Goodwyn.

The vessel, being properly equipped, so far as the limited resources
at hand could be used, proceeded down James river and took a position
off Mulberry Island, on which point rested the right of the Army of
the Peninsula, under Magruder. The time passed wearily and drearily
enough whilst the _Patrick Henry_ lay at anchor off Mulberry Island.
The officers and crew very rarely went on shore, the steamer being
kept always with banked fires, prepared to repel an attack, which
might have been made at any moment, the Federal batteries at Newport
News and the vessels stationed there, the frigate _Savannah_, sloop
_Cumberland_, and steamer _Louisiana_, being about fourteen miles
distant.

To relieve the monotony of the irksome duty on which the _Patrick
Henry_ was employed, Tucker determined to take her down the river,
feel of the enemy, and warn him of what might be expected if boat
expeditions should attempt to ascend the river. On the afternoon of
Friday, September 13th, 1861, the _Patrick Henry_ weighed her anchor
at Mulberry Island, and steamed down James river towards Newport News.
Choosing her distance from that point, she opened fire upon the
Federal squadron, which was promptly returned, principally by the
_Savannah_, _Louisiana_, and a battery of light artillery, which had
been moved up the left bank of the river. After giving the crew a good
exercise at their guns, the _Patrick Henry_ was steamed back to her
anchorage off Mulberry Island.

About the last of November, Tucker received information that one or
two of the Federal gunboats came up the river every night and anchored
about a mile and a half above their squadron at Newport News. Hoping
to be able to surprise and capture these boats, the commander of the
_Patrick Henry_ got her underway at 4 o'clock A.M. on December 2d,
1861. The morning was dark and suitable for the enterprise, and all
lights on board the _Patrick Henry_ were either extinguished or
carefully concealed. No vessel of the enemy was met with in the river,
but at daylight four steamers were discovered, lying at anchor near
the frigate _Congress_ and sloop _Cumberland_, off the batteries of
Newport News. As the _Patrick Henry_ could not have returned unseen,
Tucker took a position about a mile distant from the batteries, and
opened on the Federal vessels with his port battery and pivot guns.
The fire was promptly returned, many of the shots from the rifled guns
passing over the _Patrick Henry_, and one, going through her
pilot-house and lodging in the starboard hammock-netting, did some
injury to the vessel, besides wounding slightly one of the pilots and
a seaman by the splinters it caused. The skirmish, if such a term can
be applied to a naval operation, lasted about two hours, during which
time the _Patrick Henry_ fired twenty-eight shells and thirteen solid
shots, but with what effect on the enemy is not known. From this best
kind of drill practice, the Confederate steamer returned to her
anchorage off Mulberry Island, continued her guard of the river, and
waited for some opportunity for more active employment.

In February, 1862, the ladies of Charles City, a county bordering on
James river, desired to present to the _Patrick Henry_ a flag which
they had made for her as an evidence of their appreciation of her
services in keeping boat expeditions and the enemy's small steamers
from ascending the river. But the presentation of this flag did not
take place; the C.S. steamers _Jamestown_, 2, and _Teaser_, v, had
reinforced the _Patrick Henry_, and such incessant preparations were
going on that no time could be spared for the ceremony. The occasion
of these preparations was the expectation of being soon engaged in the
attack which it was understood that the Confederate iron-clad
_Virginia_ was about to make on the Federal batteries and men-of-war
at Newport News. No care or preparation could make the _Patrick Henry_
as well fitted for war as a vessel of the same size built especially
for the military marine service; but the best that could be done to
make her efficient was done, and not without success, as the part the
vessel took in the closely following battle of Hampton Roads
conclusively demonstrates.

On the 7th of March, 1862, the James river squadron, consisting of the
_Patrick Henry_, 12, Commander J.R. Tucker; _Jamestown_, 2, Lieutenant
Commanding J.N. Barney, and _Teaser_, 1, Lieutenant Commanding W.A.
Webb, proceeded down the river, and anchored at nightfall off Day's
Neck Point, some six miles distant from Newport News. This movement
was effected in order to be near at hand when the _Virginia_ made her
expected attack on the Federal forces.

The 8th of March, 1862, was a bright, placid, beautiful day--more like
a May than a March day. About 1 o'clock in the afternoon, the
_Virginia_ came steaming out from behind Craney Island, attended by
the gunboats _Beaufort_ and _Raleigh_. As soon as the _Virginia_ was
seen, the James river squadron got underway under all the steam the
boilers would bear, and proceeded to join her in her attack on the
enemy. As Tucker's small squadron approached the Newport News
batteries he formed it in line ahead, the _Patrick Henry_, 12,
leading; next the _Jamestown_, 2, and lastly the _Teaser_, 1; this
order being maintained until the batteries were passed. The batteries
were run with less loss than was anticipated; the enemy probably
expected the Confederate vessels to pass in the usual channel, about
eight hundred yards from the guns of the Federal works, but by
Tucker's directions the _Patrick Henry_ was run by much nearer the
batteries, and the _Jamestown_ and _Teaser_ followed her closely.
Probably in consequence of this deviation from the middle of the
channel the Federal guns were not well aimed, and most of the shot
from the batteries passed over the Confederate vessels. As the James
river squadron ranged up abreast of the first battery, the vessels
delivered their fire, and the flash from their guns had scarcely
vanished when the Federal works were wrapped in smoke, and their
projectiles came hissing through the air. The _Patrick Henry_ was
struck several times during the passage; one shot passing through the
crew of No. 3 gun, wounding two men and killing one, a volunteer from
the army, who had come on board to serve only for the fight. His last
words as he fell were, "Never mind me, boys!"

Whilst the James river squadron was passing the batteries, the
_Virginia_ had rammed and sunk the _Cumberland_, a ship which was
fought most gallantly to the bitter end, going down with her colors
flying and her guns firing, like the celebrated French ship _Vengeur_.

Having run by the batteries with no material damage, the James river
squadron joined the _Virginia_ and afforded her valuable aid in the
battle she was waging. Whilst the forward guns of the _Patrick Henry_
were engaging one enemy, the after guns were firing at another, and
the situation of the Confederate wooden vessels at this time seemed
well nigh desperate. The Newport News batteries were on one side, on
the other the frigates _Minnesota_, _St. Lawrence_ and _Roanoke_ were
coming up from Old Point Comfort, and in front the beach was lined
with field batteries and sharpshooters. Fortunately for the wooden
vessels, both Confederate and Federal, the _Minnesota_, _St. Lawrence_
and _Roanoke_ grounded, and the smaller vessels which accompanied them
returned to Old Point Comfort. The _Minnesota_, though aground, was
near enough to take part in the action, and opened a heavy fire on
the Confederate squadron.

The frigate _Congress_, early in the action, had been run aground,
with a white flag flying. Tucker, as soon as he saw that the
_Congress_ had shown a white flag, gave orders that no shot should be
fired at her from the _Patrick Henry_, and he steadily refused to let
any gun be aimed at her, notwithstanding that the Confederate gunboats
_Raleigh_, _Teaser_ and _Beaufort_ had attempted to take possession of
the surrendered vessel, and had been driven off by a heavy artillery
and infantry fire from the Federal troops on the beach. After the
Confederate gunboats had been forced to retire from the _Congress_,
Flag-Officer Buchanan hailed the _Patrick Henry_ and directed
Commander Tucker to burn that frigate. The pilots of the _Patrick
Henry_ declared they could not take her alongside of the _Congress_ on
account of an intervening shoal, which determined Tucker to approach
as near as the shoal would permit and then send his boats to burn the
Federal frigate. The boats were prepared for the service, and the
boats' crews and officers held ready whilst the _Patrick Henry_
steamed in towards the _Congress_.

This movement of the _Patrick Henry_ placed her in the most imminent
peril; she was brought under the continuous and concentrated fire of
three points; on her port quarters were the batteries of Newport News,
on her port bow the field batteries and sharpshooters on the beach,
and on her starboard bow the _Minnesota_. It soon became evident that
no wooden vessel could long float under such a fire; several shots
struck the hull, and a piece of the walking-beam was shot away. As the
sponge of the after pivot gun was being inserted in the muzzle of the
piece, the handle was cut in two by a shot from the enemy; half in
prayer and half in despair at being unable to perform his duty, the
sponger exclaimed, "Oh, Lord! how is the gun to be sponged?" He was
much relieved when the quarter-gunner of his division handed him a
spare sponge. This state of things could not last long; a shot from a
rifled gun of one of the field batteries on the beach penetrated the
steam-chest, the engine-room and fire-room were filled with steam,
four of the firemen were scalded to death and several others severely
injured; the engineers and firemen were driven up on deck, and the
engines stopped working: the vessel was enveloped in a cloud of
escaped steam, and the enemy, seeing that some disaster to the boiler
had occurred, increased his fire. At the moment, until the chief
engineer made his report, no one on the spar-deck knew exactly what
had happened, the general impression being that the boilers had
exploded. It is an unmistakable evidence of the courage and discipline
of the crew that the fire from the _Patrick Henry_ did not slacken,
but went on as regularly as if nothing unusual had occurred. As the
vessel was drifting towards the enemy in her disabled condition, the
jib was hoisted to pay her head around, and the _Jamestown_,
Lieutenant Commanding Barney, gallantly and promptly came to her
assistance and towed her out of action.

The engineers soon got one boiler in working order. The other was so
badly damaged that they were unable to repair it for immediate use,
and with steam on one boiler alone the _Patrick Henry_ was again taken
into action. The closing in of night put an end to the conflict, as in
the dark it was impossible to distinguish friend from foe. The victory
remained without dispute with the Confederate squadron, and was
witnessed, as was the combat between the _Virginia_ and the _Monitor_
on the day following, by multitudes of spectators from Norfolk and the
neighboring camps of the Confederate troops, as well as by many on the
Federal side of the Roads.

It has been stated that the total Federal loss in this battle was
nearly four hundred. The numerical strength of the Confederate force
engaged was about six hundred, of which the total loss was about
sixty. The loss on board the _Patrick Henry_ being five killed and
nine wounded.

The part taken by the _Patrick Henry_ in this battle--it was a battle
and not a combat--seems to have been lost sight of in consequence of
the great power, as a new force in naval warfare, displayed by the
_Virginia_, but the Federal commanders bear witness to the efficient
service done by the Confederate wooden vessels. Lieutenant Commanding
Pendergrast, of the _Congress_, reported that "the _Patrick Henry_ and
_Thomas Jefferson_ (_Jamestown_), rebel steamers, approached us from
up the James river, firing with precision and doing us great damage,"
and Captain Van Brunt, of the _Minnesota_, reported that the _Patrick
Henry_ and _Jamestown_ "took their positions on my port bow and stern
and their fire did most damage in killing and wounding men, insomuch
as they fired with rifled guns."

The closing in of night having put an end to hostilities until
morning, the Confederate squadrons anchored under Sewell's Point, at
the mouth of the harbor of Norfolk. The crews were kept busy until a
late hour of the night, making such repairs and preparations as were
necessary for resuming operations in the morning. Soon after midnight
a column of fire ascended in the darkness, followed by a terrific
explosion--the Federal frigate _Congress_, which had been on fire all
the evening, had blown up, the fire having reached her magazine.

Flag Officer Buchanan, having been wounded in the action, was sent to
the Naval Hospital at Norfolk on the morning of the 9th, just prior to
the getting under way of the squadron. The command ought, in
conformity with military and naval usage, to have been formally
transferred to the next senior officer of the squadron, who was
Commander J.R. Tucker, of the _Patrick Henry_; but this obviously
proper course was not followed, and Flag Officer Buchanan's flag was
kept flying on board the _Virginia_, though he himself, in point of
fact, was not and could not be in command of that vessel, or the
Confederate squadron, since he was not within signal distance of
either, being laid up in bed at the Norfolk Naval Hospital. Tucker
did not assume command of the squadron, but simply continued to
command the _Patrick Henry_.

At the first peep of dawn, on the morning of the 9th of March, the
Confederate squadron was under way, having in view for its first
object the destruction of the _Minnesota_, that frigate being still
aground near Newport News. As the daylight increased, the _Minnesota_
was discovered in her old position, but no longer alone and
unsupported. Close alongside of her there lay such a craft as the eyes
of a seaman does not delight to look upon; no masts, no smokestack, no
guns--at least nothing of the sort could be seen about her. And yet
the thing had a grim, pugnacious look, as if there was tremendous
power of some sort inherent in her, and ready to be manifested
whenever the occasion required it. The _Monitor_ (for it was that
famous vessel) promptly steamed out to meet the _Virginia_, as the
latter vessel bore down on the _Minnesota_, and the celebrated combat
between these iron-clads was joined immediately. It was the first
action that had ever been fought between armored vessels, and as such
will ever be remembered and commented upon. The combat resulted in a
drawn fight as far as the _Virginia_ and _Monitor_ was concerned, but
it established the power of iron-clad steamers as engines of war, and
completely revolutionized the construction of the navies of the world.

That the combat between the _Virginia_ and the _Monitor_ was an
indecisive action is clear. The _Monitor_ received the most damage in
the fight, and was the first to retire from it into shoal water,
though the fight was afterwards renewed. On the other hand, the
_Virginia_ did not accomplish her object, which was the destruction of
the _Minnesota_, and she did not accomplish it in consequence of the
resistance offered by the _Monitor_. The two vessels held each other
in check, the _Virginia_ protecting Norfolk, and the _Monitor_ doing
the same for the Federal wooden fleet in Hampton Roads and the
Chesapeake waters. The injuries received by the _Virginia_ in ramming
the _Cumberland_, on the previous day, were probably greater than
those inflicted on her by the _Monitor_; in neither case were they
severe enough to disable or force her to withdraw from action.

On her return to Norfolk harbor, the _Virginia_ was accompanied by the
_Patrick Henry_ and the other vessels of the Confederate squadron. The
Confederate wooden steamers had taken no part in the action between
the _Virginia_ and the _Monitor_, except to fire an occasional shot at
the _Monitor_, as she passed, at very long range; no wooden vessel
could have floated a quarter of an hour in an engagement at close
quarters with either of the two iron-clads.

Flag Officer Tatnall having relieved Flag Officer Buchanan, who was
incapacitated from command on account of severe wounds received in the
first day's fight in Hampton Roads, and all the vessels of the
squadron having been refitted, on the 13th of April the squadron again
sallied out to attack the enemy. It was expected that the _Monitor_
would be eager to renew the combat with the _Virginia_, and it was
agreed upon that, in case the _Virginia_ failed to capture or destroy
the Federal iron-clad, an attempt should be made to carry the latter
by boarding. This duty was assigned to the gunboats _Beaufort_ and
_Raleigh_ and two other small steamers. One of these small steamers
was the tender of the Norfolk Navy Yard; she was manned for the
occasion by officers and men from the _Patrick Henry_, under the
command of the executive-officer of that vessel, and was christened by
the men _Patrick Henry, Junior_.

The Confederate squadron steamed about in Hampton Roads for two days,
but the _Monitor_ did not leave her anchorage at Fortress Monroe, her
passiveness being due, it seems, to orders from Washington not to
engage the _Virginia_ unless she attempted to pass Old Point Comfort.

General J. Bankhead Magruder, commanding the Confederate Army of the
Peninsula, was urgent in demanding the return of the James river
squadron, and consequently the _Patrick Henry_ and _Jamestown_ were
ordered to run by the Newport News batteries at night, and resume
their old duty in James river. The _Jamestown_ ran up the river on the
19th and the _Patrick Henry_ on the 20th of April; the _Beaufort_,
_Raleigh_ and _Teaser_ were also sent up the river; the headquarters
of this detached squadron, of which Tucker was the senior officer, was
at Mulberry Island, on which point rested the right flank of the
Confederate Army of the Peninsula.

Up to this time the _Patrick Henry_ was brigantine rigged, but to fit
her better for running by batteries without being discovered, both of
her masts were now taken out and short signal poles substituted for
them.

When the Confederate authorities determined upon the evacuation of
Norfolk, the James river squadron was employed to remove what public
property could be saved from the Navy Yard to Richmond. The hulls of
several uncompleted vessels were towed past the Federal batteries at
Newport News. The running past the batteries was always done at night,
moonless nights being chosen whenever it was practicable to select the
time of making the trip. So far as known, the vessels employed on this
service were never detected by the enemy; at least they were never
fired upon.

Soon after the evacuation of Norfolk, whilst the Confederate forces
were retiring from the Peninsula to the lines around Richmond, a
Federal squadron, consisting of the _Monitor_, _Galena_, _Naugatuck_,
_Aroostook_ and _Port Royal_, entered James river. The _Monitor_ alone
could with ease and without serious injury to herself have destroyed
in fight all the Confederate vessels in James river, and no course was
open to Tucker but to take his squadron up the river and make a stand
at the place below Richmond best adapted for defense. The place most
wisely selected was Drewry's Bluff, where the river had been
obstructed by rows of piles, and the piles defended by four army guns
mounted in a breastwork on the crest of the bluff, about two hundred
feet above the river. When the Confederate squadron arrived at
Drewry's Bluff, the defenses which had been constructed at the place
were not in a condition to have prevented the Federal squadron from
passing on to Richmond; but in the day which the Federal vessels
wasted in silencing the fire of the half-deserted Confederate
batteries on the lower river, the works at Drewry's Bluff were
materially strengthened. The _Jamestown_ and several smaller vessels
were sunk in the river channel, the two rifled guns of the _Jamestown_
having been previously landed and mounted in pits dug in the brow of
the bluff. The eight-inch solid-shot gun of the _Patrick Henry_ and
her two six-inch rifles were also landed, thus forming a formidable
naval battery countersunk on the brow of the hill, consisting of one
eight-inch solid-shot gun and four six-inch rifles. Besides the naval
battery, there were several army guns mounted in a breastwork and
served by a battalion of Artillery, under the command of Major A.
Drewry, who was the owner of the bluff, and from whom the place took
its name.

The naval guns were manned by the crews of the _Patrick Henry_,
_Jamestown_ and _Virginia_--the crew of the _Virginia_ arriving at the
bluff soon after she had been destroyed by Flag Officer Tatnall, to
prevent her from falling into the hands of the enemy. It is not always
possible for a sea captain to preserve the vessel he commands; but it
is always possible to act with firmness, skill and judgment under
trying and adverse circumstances, and this Flag Officer Tatnall seems
to have done. A court-martial, composed of officers of high
professional attainments and acknowledged personal merit, acquitted
him of all blame for the loss of the _Virginia_.

The following naval officers may be named as participating in the
engagement of Drewry's Bluff, though there were others whose names are
not at this time procurable: Of the _Patrick Henry_, Commander John
Randolph Tucker, Lieutenant James Henry Rochelle, Lieutenant Francis
Lyell Hoge, and others; of the _Jamestown_, Lieutenant Commanding J.
Nicholas Barney, Acting Master Samuel Barron, Jr., and others; of the
_Virginia_, Lieutenant Catesby Roger Jones, Lieutenant Hunter
Davidson, Lieutenant John Taylor Wood, Lieutenant Walter Raleigh Butt,
and others. Commander E. Farrand was the ranking and commanding
officer present, having been sent down from Richmond to command the
station.

It was on the 15th of May, 1862, that the Federal vessels _Galena_,
_Monitor_, _Naugatuck_, _Aroostook_, and _Port Royal_ made the
well-known attack on the Confederate batteries at Drewry's Bluff,
which was the only obstacle barring the way to Richmond, the capital
of the Confederate States.

The _Galena_ and _Monitor_ engaged the batteries at short distance,
the other three Federal vessels keeping just within long range of the
Confederate guns. The _Monitor_, after the action commenced, finding
that her position was too near the bluff to allow of her guns being
elevated sufficiently to throw their shot to the crest of the cliff,
retired to a more favorable position. The Confederates wasted but few
shot on her, knowing they would not pierce her armor.

The _Galena_ was managed and fought with great skill and daring.
Approaching to within about six hundred yards of the Confederate
batteries, she was deliberately moored, her battery sprung and a
well-directed fire opened upon the Confederate works. From half past
six o'clock in the morning until about eleven, when the action ceased,
she kept this position, receiving nearly the whole of the Confederate
fire. The most effective gun on the Bluff was the eight-inch solid
shot gun of the _Patrick Henry_. Knowing by previous experience the
power of the gun, Tucker gave it his personal supervision. At 11
o'clock A.M. a shot from this gun passed into one of the bow posts of
the _Galena_, and was followed by an immediate gushing forth of smoke,
showing that the vessel was on fire or had sustained some serious
damage, a conclusion confirmed by her moving off down the river,
accompanied by the other four vessels of the Federal squadron. It was
at Drewry's Bluff that Midshipman Carroll, of Maryland, was killed. He
was struck by a projectile whilst standing by Tucker's side, whose
aide he was.

For some days it was expected that another attack on the Confederate
position would be made, but no other effort to capture Richmond with
iron-clads was attempted. A half a dozen armored vessels, built
expressly for being forced through obstructions and by batteries,
could have passed Drewry's Bluff and captured Richmond, but the force
with which the attempt was actually made was neither well adapted for
the undertaking nor sufficiently strong for success.

The _Galena's_ loss was thirteen killed and eleven wounded, and one
officer and two men were wounded on board the other Federal vessels.
On the Confederate side the loss, including the battalion of
Artillery, as well as the force of sailors, was eleven killed and nine
wounded.

After the Federal repulse at Drewry's Bluff, the officers and crew of
the _Patrick Henry_, _Virginia_ and _Jamestown_ were permanently
attached to the naval batteries at that place, Tucker continuing to
command his men on shore.

In August, 1862, Tucker was ordered to command the iron-clad steamer
_Chicora_, which vessel had just been launched at Charleston. She was
a casemate iron-clad, with armor four inches in thickness, and carried
a battery of two nine-inch smooth-bore shell guns, and two six-inch
Brooks rifles, throwing a projectile weighing sixty pounds. Flag
Officer Duncan N. Ingraham commanded the Charleston squadron, and flew
his flag on board the _Palmetto State_, Lieutenant Commanding John
Rutledge. The _Palmetto State_ was an iron-clad, similar to the
_Chicora_ in build and armor, carrying a battery of one seven-inch
rifled gun forward, one six-inch rifled gun aft, and one eight-inch
shell gun on each broadside.

On the night of January 31st, 1863, the two Confederate iron-clads
made a successful attack on the Federal blockading squadron off
Charleston. Passing the bar of Charleston harbor at early dawn, the
Confederate iron-clads quickly drove the blockading vessels out to
sea, and the blockade was broken, at least for some hours. In his
official report of this action Flag Officer Ingraham says, "I cannot
speak in too high terms of the conduct of Commander Tucker and
Lieutenant Commanding Rutledge; the former handled his vessel in a
beautiful manner and did the enemy much damage. I refer you to his
official report."

The official report to which Flag Officer Ingraham refers the
Confederate Secretary of the Navy is as follows:

"CONFEDERATE STATES STEAMER _Chicora_,
"January 31st, 1863.

"_Sir_--In obedience to your order, I got under way at 11.30
P.M. yesterday, and stood down the harbor in company with the
Confederate States steamer _Palmetto State_, bearing your
flag. We crossed the bar at 4.40 A.M., and commenced the
action at 5.20 A.M. by firing into a schooner-rigged
propeller, which we set on fire and have every reason to
believe sunk, as she was nowhere to be seen at daylight. We
then engaged a large sidewheel steamer, twice our length from
us on the port bow, firing three shots into her with telling
effect, when she made a run for it. This vessel was supposed
to be the _Quaker City_. We then engaged a schooner-rigged
propeller and a large sidewheel steamer, partially crippling
both, and setting the latter on fire, causing her to strike
her flag; at this time the latter vessel, supposed to be the
_Keystone State_, was completely at my mercy, I having taken
position astern, distant some two hundred yards. I at once
gave the order to cease firing upon her, and directed
Lieutenant Bier, First Lieutenant of the _Chicora_, to man a
boat and take charge of the prize, if possible to save her; if
that was not possible, to rescue her crew. While the boat was
in the act of being manned, I discovered that she was
endeavoring to make her escape by working her starboard wheel,
the other being disabled, her colors being down. I at once
started in pursuit and renewed the engagement. Owing to her
superior steaming qualities she soon widened the distance to
some two hundred yards. She then hoisted her flag and
commenced firing her rifled guns; her commander, by this
faithless act, placing himself beyond the pale of civilized
and honorable warfare.[1] We next engaged two schooners, one
brig, and one bark-rigged propeller, but not having the
requisite speed were unable to bring them to close quarters.
We pursued them six or seven miles seaward. During the latter
part of the combat, I was engaged at long range with a
bark-rigged steam sloop-of-war; but in spite of all our
efforts, was unable to bring her to close quarters, owing to
her superior steaming qualities. At 7.30 A.M., in obedience to
your orders, we stood in shore, leaving the partially crippled
and fleeing enemy about _seven miles clear of the bar_,
standing to the southward and eastward. At 8 A.M., in
obedience to signal, we anchored in four fathoms waters off
the Beach Channel."

"It gives me pleasure to testify to the good conduct and
efficiency of the officers and crew of the _Chicora_. I am
particularly indebted to the pilots, Messrs. Payne and Aldert,
for the skillful pilotage of the vessel."

"It gives me pleasure to report that I have no injuries or
casualties."

"Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

"J.R. TUCKER, _Commander, C.S.N._
"_Flag Officer_ D.N. INGRAHAM, C.S.N.,
"_Commanding Station, Charleston, S.C._"

The result of this engagement was a complete demonstration of the
futility of any attempt on the part of wooden vessels to contend with
iron-clads. The Federal squadron consisted of the _Housatonic_,
_Meresdita_, _Keystone State_, _Quaker City_, _Augusta_, _Flag_,
_Memphis_, _Stettin_, _Ottawa_, and _Unadilla_, ten vessels, all of
them unarmored, and three, the _Housatonic_, _Ottawa_ and _Unadilla_,
built for war service, the other seven being merchant steamers
converted into men-of-war. The Confederate squadron consisted of only
two vessels, both iron-clads, the _Palmetto State_ and _Chicora_,
which received no damage whatever during the engagement, either to
their hulls, machinery, or crew, whilst several of the ten Federal
wooden vessels were seriously injured, though none of them were sunk,
their escape from capture or destruction being due to the swiftness of
their flight. Their loss was twenty-five killed and twenty-two
wounded.

The blockade of Charleston harbor was soon, indeed immediately,
re-established, and kept up by the armored frigate _New Ironsides_ and
a number of heavy "Monitors." There was, from the end of this battle
to the evacuation of Charleston by the Confederates, no time when
there would have been the least probability of the success of another
dash by the Confederate vessels in the harbor upon the Federal
squadron blockading.

In the month of February, 1863, Tucker was promoted to the rank of
Captain in the Provisional Navy of the Confederate States, and in
March following was appointed Flag Officer of the Confederate Forces
Afloat at Charleston, the _Chicora_ bearing his flag.

On the 7th of April, 1863, Admiral Dupont made his attack on
Charleston, with a squadron consisting of the armored frigate _New
Ironsides_ and eight "Monitors." Tucker, with his usual good judgment,
held the _Chicora_ and _Palmetto State_, aided by a number of rowboats
armed with torpedoes, ready to make a desperate and final assault upon
the Federal squadron if it should succeed in passing the Confederate
forts guarding the entrance to the harbor. Admiral Dupont's squadron
was repulsed by the forts, and the Confederate squadron was not
engaged.

The Confederate naval forces afloat at Charleston did not possess
either the strength or swiftness necessary for an attack on the
Federal blockading squadron with any reasonable prospect of success,
and Tucker therefore turned his attention to attacks by means of
torpedo-boats fitted out from his squadron. On the 5th of October,
1863, Lieutenant W.T. Glassell, with a small double-ender steam
torpedo-boat, made an attempt to sink the _New Ironsides_, lying off
Morris' Island. The _New Ironsides_ was not sunk, but she was
seriously damaged and was sent North for repairs. The torpedo-boat was
filled with water, and her commander, pilot, and engineer, all that
were on board of her, were thrown overboard by the shock of the
striking and exploding of the torpedo against the bottom of the
iron-clad. The torpedo-boat was finally taken back into Charleston
harbor by the pilot and engineer, but Lieutenant Glassell was made
prisoner after having been in the water about an hour. A torpedo-boat
commanded by Lieutenant Dixon of the Confederate Army, and manned by
six volunteers from Tucker's squadron and one from the army, attacked
and sunk, on the night of February 17th, 1864, the United States
steamer _Housatonic_ lying in the North Channel. The torpedo-boat with
all on board went to the bottom, but most of the crew of the
_Housatonic_ were saved by taking refuge in the rigging, which was not
submerged when the vessel rested on the bottom.

The boat attack on Fort Sumter, made by the Federals on September 8th,
1863, was easily repulsed, and the Charleston squadron materially
aided in the repulse.

A battalion of sailors from the recruits on board the receiving-ship
_Indian Chief_, under the command of Lieutenant Commanding William
Galliard Dozier, was detached by Tucker to co-operate with the army on
James' Island in August, 1864. This battalion rendered good service,
and upon its return to the squadron was kept organized and ready to
respond whenever a call for assistance was made upon the Navy by the
Army.

Early in 1864 some changes were made in the commanding officers of the
squadron; Commander Isaac Newton Brown was ordered to the
_Charleston_, Commander Thomas T. Hunter to the _Chicora_, and
Lieutenant Commanding James Henry Rochelle to the _Palmetto State_. No
other changes were made in the commands of the squadron while it
existed.

The three iron-clads under Tucker's command at Charleston were all
slow vessels, with imperfect engines, which required frequent
repairing; for that day, and considering the paucity of naval
resources in the South, they were fairly officered, manned and armed.
All of them were clad with armor four inches thick, and they were all
of the type of the _Virginia_, or _Merrimac_, as that vessel is
frequently but erroneously called. The commander of the vessels were
all formerly officers of the United States Navy, who were citizens of
the Southern States and had resigned their commissions in the Federal
service when their States seceded from the Union. The lieutenants and
other officers were appointed from civil life, but they were competent
to perform the duties required of them, and conducted themselves well
at all times and under all circumstances. The crews of each vessel
numbered from one hundred and twenty to one hundred and sixty men,
some of them able-seamen, and most of them efficient and reliable men.
Each vessel carried a torpedo, fitted to the end of a spar some
fifteen or twenty feet long projecting from the bows in a line with
the keel, and so arranged that it could be carried either triced up
clear of the water or submerged five or six feet below the surface.
The squadron was in a good state of discipline and drill, and, so far
as the personnel was concerned, in a very efficient condition.

Every night one or two of the iron-clads anchored in the channel near
Fort Sumter for the purpose of resisting a night attack on that place
or a dash into the harbor by the Federal squadron.

Not long before the evacuation of Charleston an iron-clad named the
_Columbia_ was launched there. She had a thickness of six inches of
iron on her casemate, and was otherwise superior to the other three
iron-clads of the squadron. Unfortunately, she was run aground whilst
coming out of dock, and so much injured as not to be able to render
any service whatever.

Charleston was evacuated by the Confederate forces on the 18th of
February, 1865. Several days previous to the evacuation a detachment
from the squadron of about three hundred men, under the command of
Lieutenant Commanding James Henry Rochelle, consisting of the officers
and crews of the _Palmetto State_, _Columbia_, and the recruits from
the receiving-ship _Indian Chief_, were dispatched by rail to
Wilmington, which the detachment reached only a few days before it
was, in turn, abandoned by the Confederate Army. The Charleston naval
detachment was ordered to co-operate with the Army as a body of
infantry, and was assigned to duty with General Hoke's division, of
which it formed the extreme right, resting on Cape Fear river. The
position was exposed to an annoying fire from the Federal gunboats in
the river, to which no reply could be made, but from which some loss
was suffered. The evacuation of Wilmington took place on the 22d of
February, 1865, and the Charleston squadron's naval battalion marched
out with Hoke's division, to which it remained attached until
somewhere in the interior of North Carolina it reunited with Tucker's
command.

With the officers and crews of the _Charleston_ and _Chicora_, Tucker
left Charleston on the 18th of February, 1865, the day of the
evacuation of the city by the Confederate Army. As far as Florence in
South Carolina the Charleston naval brigade traveled by rail, but at
that point Tucker received a telegram informing him that the Federal
forces were about cutting the railway communication between Florence
and Wilmington. This was the last message that came over the wires,
and Tucker, knowing that the enemy had succeeded in seizing the
railroad, abandoned his intention of making for Wilmington, and
marched his command across the country to Fayetteville, where he
received orders from the Navy Department to bring his force to
Richmond. On the way from Fayetteville to Richmond the detached
Charleston naval battalion was reunited to the main body under
Tucker, and the whole brigade proceeded together to Richmond, and from
Richmond it was sent to garrison the Confederate batteries at Drewry's
Bluff, of which place Tucker was ordered to assume command, the naval
forces afloat in James river being under the command of Rear Admiral
Raphael Semmes.

When Tucker took command at Drewry's Bluff the Confederate cause was
at its last gasp. Richmond was evacuated by the Confederate Army and
Government on the night of the 2d of April, 1865. Strange to relate,
Tucker received no orders to retire with his command, and he held his
post steadily until, early on the morning of the 3d, the Confederate
iron-clads in James river were burnt by their own commanders. When he
knew the troops were marching out of Richmond and saw the Confederate
iron-clads burning in the river, Tucker thought it was not only
justifiable but necessary for him to act without orders, and he
retired with his command from Drewry's Bluff. General R.E. Lee told
Tucker, when they met, that of all the mistakes committed by the
Richmond authorities he regretted none more than the neglect to
apprise the naval force at Drewry's Bluff of the intended evacuation
of the city.

The naval brigade from Drewry's Bluff, under Flag Officer Tucker,
joined the rear guard of the Confederate Army, and was attached to
General Custis Lee's division of General Ewell's corps, with which it
marched until the battle of Saylor's Creek on the 16th of April, 1865.
The naval brigade held the right of the line at that battle, and
easily repulsed all the assaults made upon it. A flag of truce was
sent by the Federal General commanding at that point to inform Tucker
that the Confederate troops on his right and left had surrendered, and
that further resistance was useless and could only end in the
destruction of the sailors. Tucker, believing that the battle had only
commenced, refused to surrender, and held his position until reliable
information, which he could not doubt, reached him of the surrender of
General Ewell and his army corps. The naval brigade surrendered by
Tucker numbered some three hundred sailors, who, the opposing force
said, did not know when they were whipped. Tucker's sword, which he
rendered to General Keifer, was returned to him some years after the
war by that gentleman, then a prominent member of Congress.

Tucker was sent North and confined as a prisoner of war until the
entire cessation of hostilities, when he was released on parole. On
his return to Virginia he found that both the Confederate and State
Governments were things of the past, and that he would have to mend
his broken fortunes, if mend them he could, by engaging in the
business pursuits of civil life. He succeeded, not without difficulty,
in obtaining employment as an agent of the Southern Express Company,
and was stationed at Raleigh, North Carolina, to take charge of the
business matters of the Company in that city.

[1] The _Keystone State_ did not surrender, rescue or no rescue, and
her escape ought probably to be regarded as a rescue.

PART III.

TUCKER OFFERED THE COMMAND OF THE PERUVIAN FLEET, WITH THE
RANK OF REAR ADMIRAL--ARRIVES IN LIMA--NO PRECEDENT FOR
THE RETURN OF MONEY--COMMISSIONED A REAR ADMIRAL IN THE
NAVY OF PERU--COMMANDS THE ALLIED FLEETS OF PERU AND
CHILE--SPANISH WAR--TUCKER'S PLAN FOR A NAVAL CAMPAIGN;
PROJECTED EXPEDITION AGAINST MANILA--CESSATION OF
HOSTILITIES--TUCKER RETIRES FROM THE COMMAND OF THE
FLEET, AND IS APPOINTED PRESIDENT OF THE PERUVIAN
HYDROGRAPHICAL COMMISSION OF THE AMAZON--CROSSES THE
ANDES AND REACHES THE AMAZON--EXPLORES THE YAVARI
RIVER--ORDERED TO THE UNITED STATES TO SUPERINTEND THE
BUILDING OF AN EXPLORING STEAMER--RETURNS TO THE AMAZON
WITH STEAMER _Tambo_. EXPEDITION UP THE UCAYALI AND
EXPLORATION OF THE TAMBO RIVER--ORDERED TO THE UNITED
STATES TO PROCURE A STEAMER OF LIGHT DRAUGHT OF
WATER--RETURNS TO THE AMAZON WITH STEAMER
_Mairo_--SECOND EXPEDITION UP THE UCAYALI--CANOE
EXPEDITION UP THE PACHITEA AND EXPLORATION OF THE PICHIS
RIVER--EXPEDITION UP THE AMAZON AND HUALLAGA
RIVERS--ORDERED TO LIMA. ORDERED TO NEW YORK TO
SUPERINTEND THE CHARTS MADE BY THE HYDROGRAPHICAL
COMMISSION--PUBLICATION OF CHARTS ABANDONED ON ACCOUNT OF
THE FINANCIAL CONDITION OF PERU--LETTER FROM PRESIDENT
PARDO--LETTER FROM MINISTER FREYRE--TUCKER RETIRES TO HIS
HOME IN PETERSBURG, VIRGINIA--OCCUPATIONS AND AMUSEMENTS
OF OLD AGE--DEATH--CHARACTER AND QUALITIES--CONCLUSION.

While residing in Raleigh, North Carolina, Tucker received a letter
from the Peruvian Minister to the United States, requesting an
interview on affairs of importance. Going to Washington, Tucker saw
the Minister, and the result of the interview was that he accepted a
proposition to go to Peru and enter the Navy of that Republic as a
rear-admiral, his commission to be dated from the time of his arrival
at Lima. He was allowed to take with him two staff officers, one with
the rank of captain and the other with that of commander.

When Tucker entered the Navy of Peru, that Republic was engaged in a
war with Spain. Spain had never recognized the independence of her
former South American colonies, and thinking a favorable opportunity
had arisen for asserting her dormant claims, the Spanish Government
sent an iron-clad frigate, accompanied by several smaller vessels, to
attack the Chilean and Peruvian seaport cities on the Pacific coast.
The attack upon Valparaiso, the chief port of Chile, was successful,
but the Spanish squadron was beaten off at Callao by the Peruvian
batteries. Whilst preparing for the defense of Callao, the Peruvian
Government determined to place its naval establishment on such a
footing that it would be able to meet any force Spain could send to
the Pacific. Tucker had, and most deservedly, the reputation of being
a hard fighter, a thorough disciplinarian, and a splendid seaman;
hence the Peruvian Government of President Prado directed its Minister
at Washington to engage his services if possible. The cause was one
which enlisted all Tucker's sympathies, and he agreed to take command
of the Peruvian fleet. Tucker became much attached to Peru, and served
the Republic zealously and faithfully. He had many warm friends in
Lima, and no matter what party held the Government, the trust and
confidence reposed in him by the authorities in Lima was always
implicit.

Tucker arrived in Lima accompanied by his personal staff, David Porter
McCorkle, captain of the fleet, and Walter Raleigh Butt, commander and
aide. Just before their leaving New York the Peruvian Minister handed
Tucker a bag of gold, with which he was told to pay all the traveling
expenses of himself and staff; this was done, but when the party
arrived at Lima the bag was still half full. Tucker insisted on
returning this surplus to the Government, but there was no precedent
for such a thing, and it was not without some difficulty that there
could be found an officer of the treasury authorized to receive and
receipt for the unexpected money.

The appointment of a foreigner to command their fleet was distasteful
to some of the Peruvian officers, and this fact coming to Tucker's
knowledge, he informed General Prado, the President of the Republic,
that he had no wish that any officer should be forced to serve
unwillingly under his command, and preferred resigning if the
dissatisfaction at the appointment of a stranger to command the fleet
was general or deep-seated. The officers who were dissatisfied were
relieved from duty, and others were easily found who were not only
willing but anxious to serve under Tucker.

The Peruvian squadron was lying at Valparaiso when Tucker hoisted his
flag on board the frigate _Independencia_. The Chilean squadron was
also lying at Valparaiso, and Tucker, as senior officer present, was
in command of the allied fleets of both Peru and Chile.

An efficient state of drill and discipline was soon established in the
fleets. A feeble attempt at mutiny broke out on one occasion during
the temporary absence of Tucker, but it was easily quelled without
bloodshed, and no similar attempt was ever again made whilst Tucker
was in command. Officers of the Peruvian Navy, who were themselves
opposed to giving foreigners high rank in their service, admitted that
the fleet had never been in so good a condition for effective service
as whilst it was under Tucker.

The Spanish squadron had retired from the coast, but was expected to
return as soon as it had been refitted and revictualed, but no
apprehension was felt as to the result of another attack by the
Spanish, for the allied fleets were believed to be fully equal to the
task of protecting the coasts and ports of the Republics.

Tucker's plan of naval operations was to sail with a small squadron,
composed of the most efficient vessels under his command, for Manila,
a most important dependency of Spain in the East Indies. He expected
to take the Spaniards entirely by surprise, to capture all Spanish
vessels in port, and to hold Manila and the other ports of the
Philippine Islands until peace was established.

In order to provide for the reappearance of the Spanish fleet on the
coast during his absence, Tucker advised the allied Governments to
enroll as a naval reserve all the Peruvian and Chilean masters, mates
and crews of merchant vessels, pilots and mariners engaged in
employments on shore. A part of his plan was that all merchant
steamers carrying the flags of the Republics, which could be made
available for war purposes, should be inspected and held ready for
active service in the Navy and manned by the naval reserve whenever
the Government should think it necessary to employ them. This force,
with the harbor defense iron-clads, and the forts and batteries on
shore, Tucker thought would be a sufficient protection for the coast,
whilst his squadron of the most efficient sea-going vessels was absent
in the East Indies, where the capture of Manila would have dealt a
heavy blow to Spain, and rendered an honorable peace, carrying with it
an acknowledgment of the independence of Peru and Chile, a matter of
easy attainment.

This plan, which would probably have been entirely successful if
carried out with skill, daring and judgment, as it would have been by
Tucker, was favorably considered by the Governments of the allied
Republics, but it was not carried out, probably on account of the
financial embarrassments under which the Republics labored, and which
rendered it exceedingly difficult to find the funds required to fit
out the expedition.

The Manila expedition having been abandoned, and the Spanish fleet
which had been employed on the Pacific coast having returned home,
Tucker requested permission to visit Lima, in order that he might lay
before General Prado, President of the Republic, a plan for making an
exploration and survey of the Peruvian or Upper Amazon River and its
tributaries. The President heartily approved of the enterprise, for
the Government was at that very time considering the practicability of
opening better communications between the west coast and the eastern
part of the country, and of finding an outlet by the waters of the
Amazon for the rich productions of the interior.

Tucker resigned his commission as rear-admiral in the Navy of the
Republic, and was immediately appointed President of the Peruvian
Hydrographical Commission of the Amazon. He left Lima with a full
corps of assistants, and made his way across the mountains to the head
of navigation on the Palcazu river, where the party was received on
board a Government steamer that had been dispatched from Iquitos to
meet them. The headquarters of the Commission was established at
Iquitos, the principal settlement on the Upper Amazon river, and the
place where the Government factories and magazines were located.

In the small steamer _Naps_, belonging to the Government, Tucker made
an exploring expedition of two hundred and fifty miles up Yavari, the
river which forms the boundary between Peru and Brazil.

None of the Peruvian steamers on the Amazon being suitable for
exploring and surveying purposes, the Government at Lima ordered
Tucker to proceed to the United States and procure such a vessel as
was required for the duty pertaining to his Commission. In obedience
to this order Tucker spent some months in the United States, and had a
steamer built by Messrs. Pusey, Jones & Co., of Wilmington, Delaware,
expressly adapted to the navigation of the shoals and rapids of the
Upper Amazon. This vessel, named the _Tambo_, was delivered to Tucker
at Para, the Brazilian city at the mouth of the Lower Amazon.
Embarking on board the _Tambo_, Tucker took the steamer up the river
to Iquitos, where supplies were taken on board sufficient to last for
several months. He then proceeded to make an important expedition up
the Upper Amazon, the Ucayali and the Tambo rivers. The Tambo river
had never been explored, and it was thought that it presented a
feasible route for navigation to San Ramon, a military station in the
heart of the interior, only about thirty miles distant from the large
and important city of Tarmo, which is connected by railway with Lima.

Leaving Iquitos, the _Tambo_, with the Commission on board, passed up
the Amazon to the mouth of the Ucayali river, up the Ucayali past the
rapids of the "Devil's Leap," and entered the Tambo river. The Tambo
was found to be a narrow stream, full of rocks and rapids and not
practicable for navigation by steamers. When the steamer _Tambo_ could
ascend no higher, Tucker fitted out a small boat and pulled some
twenty miles farther up the river, but everywhere found such
obstructions as rendered it an impracticable route to the interior. It
is, perhaps, to be regretted that time did not allow of an examination
of the other affluents of the Usayali trending towards San Ramon and
Tarmo.

On his return to Iquitos, Tucker was again dispatched to the United
States to procure another and smaller exploring steamer. During his
absence Captain James Henry Rochelle was directed by the Government at
Lima to take charge of the Hydrographical Commission as its acting
president.

After an absence of some months, Tucker returned to Iquitos with the
new steamer, which was named the _Mayro_, and was little more than a
large steam launch, intended for use where a vessel of greater draught
of water could not be employed.

The next expedition decided upon was for the exploration of the water
route towards Huanaco, by way of the entirely unknown river Pichis.
Most of the tributaries of the Ucayali had been traveled more or less
by the Jesuit priests from the College of Ocopa, but none of them had
attempted the route of the Pichis, the banks of which were in
possession of roving tribes of Indians, who permitted no stranger to
pass through their country. It was thought possible, and even
probable, from the stories told by the natives, that the head of the
Pichis river would be found well suited for being the eastern terminus
of the trans-Andean railway.

In February, 1873, the _Mayro_, with a detachment of the Commission on
board, was dispatched from Iquitos, with orders to await at the mouth
of the Pachitea river the coming of the _Tambo_. Tucker embarked on
board the _Tambo_ on the 1st of April with the main body of the
Commission, and arrived at the confluence of the Pachitea and Ucayali,
seven hundred and sixty-five miles from Iquitos, on the 13th of May.
The river had commenced to fall, which rendered it prudent not to
ascend the Pachitea in steamers, for had one of them got aground
whilst the water was falling, it would probably have remained in that
situation until the next annual rise of the river.

The water of the Amazon, and the same may be said of all its
tributaries, begins to rise about October, and continues to increase
its flood until December. In December there is a short period of no
rise, or perhaps even a slight fall, after which the river again
continues to rise until May, when the permanent fall commences and
continues until the following October, when the annual flood again
sets in. Sand bars are constantly forming and shifting in the channel
of the river, and for a steamer to run on one of them whilst the water
is falling endangers the detention of the vessel until she is floated
off by the annual rise in October.

The annual fall of the river having set in when the _Tambo_ reached
the mouth of the Pachitea, Tucker determined to continue the
expedition in canoes. Six of the largest and best canoes that could be
procured from the Indians were fitted out, and the whole Commission
embarked in them, accompanied by its escort of a dozen Peruvian
soldiers under the command of Major Ramon Herrera.

From the 19th to the 30th of May the Commission prosecuted its survey
of the Pachitea without interruption, but on the 30th, at a place
called Cherrecles Chingana, fifteen or twenty Cashibo Indians came
down to the left or north bank of the river, and by signs and gestures
signified a desire for friendly communication. The canoes were paddled
in to them, and some few presents of such articles as could be spared
were distributed among them, and, apparently, received most
thankfully. But the Cashibos did not let the occasion pass without
showing the treachery for which they are notorious. When the interview
was ended, seemingly in the most amicable manner, and as the canoes of
the Commission were paddling off, a flight of arrows was discharged at
them by a party of Cashibos who had been lying in ambush during the
interview. A few volleys from the Remington rifles, with which all
the members of the Commission were armed, soon dispersed the savages
and drove them to the jungle.

Of all the savage tribes that roam about the head waters of the
Ucayali, the Cashibos alone are cannibals. They are brave, cunning and
treacherous, and are only surpassed by the Campas in their hatred of
the white man. The Campas inhabit the spurs and hills at the foot of
the eastern Cordilleras, where the Ucayali and Pichis rivers have
their origin. They are a fierce, proud and numerous tribe, and are
held in great fear by their lowland neighbors. They permit no
strangers, especially no whites, to enter their country, and the
members of the expedition under Tucker were the first white men who
ever ascended the Pichis into the regions of this warlike tribe.

The canoes of the expedition entered the mouth of the Pichis on the
6th of June. Being an unknown river, it became necessary to give names
to the prominent points as they were discovered; and these names were
used subsequently in making the charts of the surveys of the
Commission.

The navigation of the Pichis was found to be clear and unobstructed
from its mouth for a distance of fifteen miles up to Rochelle Island,
which is in latitude 9° 57' 11" south, longitude 75° 2' 0" west of
Greenwich, and three thousand one hundred miles from the Atlantic
coast, following the course of the Amazon river. Rochelle Island was
reached on the 7th of June, and was named after Captain James Henry
Rochelle, the senior member of the Commission. Any steamer which can
navigate the Pachitea can ascend the Pichis this far without
difficulty, but above Rochelle Island the navigation becomes more
difficult, and probably impracticable for any but steamers of very
light draught and strong steam power.

On the 15th of June the expedition arrived at the head of canoe
navigation on the Pichis. The point was named Port Tucker, after the
president of the Commission. Port Tucker is in latitude 10° 22' 55"
south, longitude 74° 49' 0" west of Greenwich, distant three thousand
one hundred and sixty-seven miles from the mouth of the Amazon,
following the course of the river, and one hundred and ninety miles in
a direct line from the Pacific coast. The lofty mountains so plainly
in sight from Port Tucker are the eastern spurs of the Andes, the
chosen land of the savage and numerous Campas Indians.

Several days before the expedition reached the shoals which terminate
the navigation of the Pichis, the tom-toms or drums of the Campas were
heard night and day beating the assembly of the warriors. The purpose
for which the braves were to be assembled was not a matter about which
there was the least doubt, but probably sufficient numbers were not
got together in time to execute their intentions, for no attack was
made on the Commission whilst it was in the Campas country.

During this expedition the Palcazu river was also ascended to Port
Prado, or Puerto del Mairo, the head of navigation for steamers of
light draught. Port Prado is in latitude 9° 55' 22" south, longitude
75° 17' 45" west of Greenwich, distant three thousand one hundred and
nineteen miles from the mouth of the Amazon, following the river, and
only about forty miles from the important interior city of Huanaco, to
which place it is in contemplation to extend the trans-Andean railway.
If the road were continued from Huanaco to Port Prado there would be a
complete trans-continental line of communication by railway and
steamboats from Lima in Peru to the mouth of the Amazon.

Two new rivers were discovered by the Commission flowing into the
Pichis. One of them was named the Trinidad, from having been
discovered on Trinity Sunday, and the other was called Herrera-yacu,
after Major Ramon Herrera, of the Peruvian Army, who commanded the
escort of the Commission. The supplies of the expedition were running
too short to allow of any but a cursory examination of these two
rivers. The Trinidad, trending to the westward, can only be of value
as affording a water route to the plains lying between the Pichis and
the Ucayali, but it is possible that the Herrera-yacu may furnish a
nearer water route to Cerro de Pasco than any yet known.

Whilst the canoes of the Commission were descending the Pachitea, they
were attacked by the Cashibos, who assembled on the banks of the
river, and, waiting until the leading canoes had passed, let fly
flights of arrows at the canoe which brought up the rear. The Cashibos
were dispersed by a few rounds from the Remington rifles of the
Commission, and the explorers met with no further forcible opposition
on the way to the steamers awaiting them at the mouth of the Pachitea,
where they arrived after a canoe voyage of forty-one days, during
which many difficulties and some dangers were encountered and
overcome. Not a single person under Tucker's command was killed, or
died from sickness, during this expedition, and, singular to relate,
after all the hardships and exposure endured the explorers were in
much better health when they returned to their steamers than when they
left them at the beginning of the expedition.

On the 15th of July, 1873, the steamers _Tambo_ and _Mayro_,
comprising the exploring squadron, reached Iquitos after an absence of
three months and ten days. From the 15th of July to the 18th of
September the Hydrographical Commission was on shore at Iquitos,
employed making charts of the surveys of the late expedition, whilst
the steamers were being refitted for further service.

On the 18th of September the Commission again embarked and proceeded
to the mouth of the Yavari river, which forms the boundary between
Peru and Brazil. The greatest pains were taken to properly establish
this point. On a small island in the middle of the river, and very
near its confluence with the Amazon, many astronomical observations
were taken, resulting in giving the latitude 4° 18' 45" south,
longitude 69° 53' 10" west of Greenwich, the distance from the
Atlantic coast by the courses of the Amazon being one thousand eight
hundred and eleven miles. From the Brazilian frontier the main stream
of the Amazon was surveyed and its tributaries examined by the
Commission up to Borja, where the river rushes from a narrow gorge of
the mountains and leaps into the lowlands. Borja is in latitude 4° 31'
37" south, longitude 77° 29' 43" west of Greenwich. From the Atlantic
coast to Borja, a distance of two thousand six hundred and sixty
miles, the Amazon is navigable, without serious obstruction or
difficulty, for either river or sea-going steamers of several hundred
tons burthen.

It would take many long years to make a thorough survey of the waters
of the Amazon, which is, in fact, more of an inland sea than a river,
with hundreds of branches forming a network of communicating channels
extending for sixty or seventy miles on each side of the main stream.
At the height of the annual floods the whole country, with the
exception of the highest land, on which the towns are invariably
built, is covered with water, forming a vast swamp and jungle,
traversed in every direction by navigable channels, which at the
season of low waters become rivers or natural canals.

The principal object for which the Commission presided over by Tucker
had been instituted was accomplished when the main channels of the
river and of its affluents was traced from the Peruvian and Brazilian
frontiers to the head of navigation of the main river and of its
tributaries, so as to show the nearest approach by water
communication to the eastern terminus of the trans-Andean railway.
This duty having been executed, Tucker was ordered to proceed to Lima
for conference with the Government as to the results of the
explorations and surveys he had made.

After consultation with Tucker, Señor Pardo, the President of the
Republic, directed that charts of the surveys made by the
Hydrographical Commission should be published in New York, and that
Tucker and two members of the Commission should be detailed to prepare
the work for the press and superintend the engraving of the plates.
The other members of the Commission returned to their homes, having
completed the duty for which they were engaged.

There were some changes from time to time in the Peruvian
Hydrographical Commission of the Amazon, but the following list of its
members may be taken as correct:

President--John Randolph Tucker. Members--James Henry Rochelle, David
Porter McCorkle, Walter Raleigh Butt. Secretaries--Timotéo Smith,
Maurice Mesnier. Surgeon--Francis Land Galt. Civil Engineers--Manuel
Charron, Manuel Rosas, Thomas Wing Sparrow, Nelson Berkeley Noland.
Steam Engineers--John W. Durfey, David W. Bains.

On arriving in the United States, Tucker established an office in New
York, and, assisted by Captain Rochelle and Mr. Sparrow, soon had the
charts and plans, with explanatory notes, ready for the hands of the
printers and engravers; but in consequence of the financial
difficulties into which Peru had fallen, the publication was delayed
from time to time and finally abandoned altogether, as is shown by the
following letter from Señor Pardo, President of the Republic:

LIMA, Marzo 13, 1877.
"_Sr. J.R. Tucker._
"_39 Broadway, New York City._

"_Estimado amigo_:--He recibido su apreciable carta de 10 del
pasado, que me es grato contestar manifestándole que las
graves dificultades ecónomicas porgue hoi atravissa la
República, oblejan el Gobierno á dar por terminada la comiseon
de que fué ud encargado para la publicacion de los Mapas y
Cartas topográficas de las regiones Amazonicas.

"En esta virtud, se sirvirá ud. entregar al señor Freyre,
Ministro del Perú en Washington, las reforidas Cartos, Mapas,
y todas las demas útiles pertenecientes al Gobierno del Perú,
que hoi existen en poder de la Comision que ud. preside; todo
bajo de inuentario y con las formalidades necesarias.

"En cuanto al pagar de sus suldos y los de los Senñores que
forman parte de esa Comision, he ordinado al Ministro de
Hacienda disponga lo conveniente para su pronto abono, y juzgo
que asi-luego les servan completamente satisfechos.

"Deseandole a ud. la mejor conservacion, me as grato
reiterarle las expresiones de mi amistad y particular estima."

"Su afrino S.S.
"PARDO."

[TRANSLATION.]

"LIMA, March 13, 1877.
"_J.R. Tucker, Esq._
"_39 Broadway, New York City._

"_Esteemed Friend_:--I have received and answer with pleasure
your appreciated letter of the 10th ultimo, apprising you that
the grave economical difficulties which at present afflict the
Republic, obliges the Government to order the termination of
the commission with which you are charged for the publication
of the maps and charts of the Amazonian regions.

"For this reason, you will be pleased to deliver to Mr.
Freyre, Minister of Peru in Washington, the referred to
charts, maps and all other articles belonging to the
Government of Peru, which now remain in charge of the
Commission over which you preside; all to be delivered under
inventories and with the necessary forms.

"In regard to the payment of the salaries of yourself and the
other gentlemen who form part of the Commission, I have
ordered the Minister of the Treasury to take measures for the
prompt disbursement of what may be due, and I judge that in a
short times these claims will be completely satisfied.

"With my best wishes, it gives me pleasure to repeat the
expression of my friendship and particular esteem.

"Truly your faithful Servt.,
"PARDO."

In compliance with the directions of President Pardo, the charts made
by the Commission were delivered to the Peruvian Legation at
Washington. These charts were all ready for publication, and had they
been published would have afforded much valuable information in regard
to the Upper Amazon and its tributaries, water courses which are daily
becoming more and more important to commerce, and which are destined
in the not distant future to be navigated by lines of ocean as well as
by lines of river steamers.

The following letter from Colonel Manuel Freyre, Peruvian Minister at
Washington, describes the charts and plans which Tucker delivered to
the Legation, and which it is to be hoped are still preserved:

"_Legacion del Peru._
"WASHINGTON, Marzo 22 de 1877.
"_Senor Don Juan R. Tucker, Ex-Presidente de la
Comision Hidrografica del Amazonas._

"La caja que dijó le. depositada en poder del Cónsul Tracy, ha
sido recibida en esta Legacion, y contiene los siguientes
planos; à saber:

"1st. Un plano del Rio Amazonas Peruano, desde lo boca del rio
Yavari hasta Borja, termino de la navegacion á vapor, dibujado
sobre diez pliegos y en una escala de una pulgada por cada das
millas. Los rios Ytaya y Pastaza están incluidos en esta
Plano, que cuenta 848 millas del rio Peruano Amazonas, 45
millas del rio Ytaya, y 7 millas del rio Pastaza."

"2d. Un plano del rio Yavari desde su boca hasta la
confluencia de los rios Yacarana y Yavarasina, dibujado,
sobre das pliegos y en una escala de una pulgada por cada dos
millas. Este plano cuenta 220 millas del rio Yavari.

"3d. Un plano del rio Nanay desde su boca hasta el término de
la navegacion para vapores de poco calado debujado sobre dos
pliegos. Este plano contiene 160 millas del rio Nanay.

"4th. Un plano del rio Tigre-Yacu desde su boca hasta un punto
111 millas aniba de la boca, dibujado sobre dos pliegos y en
una escala de una pulgada por cada dos millas."

"5th. Un plano del rio Huallaga desde la boca hasta
Rumi-Callirina, el têrmino de la navegacion para vapores,
dibujado sobre dos pliegos y en una escala de una pulgada por
cada dos millas. Este plano cuenta 169 millas del rio
Huallaga.

"6th. Un plano del rio Morona desde su boca hasta un punto 37
millas arriba de dicha boca, dibujado sobre un pliego y en una
escala de una pulgada por cada dos millas."

"7th. Un plano del rio Potro desde la boca hasta el término de
la navegacion para vapores de poco calada, dibujada sobre un
pliego y en una escala de una pulgada por cada dos millas.
Este plano contiene 64 millas del rio Potro.

"8th. Un plano del rio Ucayali desde la boca hasta la
confluencia de los rios Urubamba y Tambo, dibujado sobre nueve
pliegos y en una escala de una pulgada por cada das millas.
Los rios Urubamba y Tambo, desde sus bocas hasta el mas alto
punto donde espracticable la navegacion á vapor, están
incluidos en este plano, que contiene 885 millas del rio
Ucayali, 24 millas del rio Urubamba, y 53 millas del rio
Tambo."

"9th. Un plano del rio Pachitea desde su boca hasta la
confluencia de los rios Palcazu y Pichis, dibujado sobre dos
pliegos y en una escala de una pulgada por cada dos millas.
Este plano contiene 191 millas del rio Pachitea."

"10th. Un plano del rio Palcazu desde la boca hasta el puerto
del Mairo, dibujado sobre un pliego y en una escala de una
pulgada por cada dos millas. Estate plano contiene 37 millas
del rio Palcazu.

"11th. Un plano del rio Pichis desde la boca hasta el término
de navegacion en canoas, dibujado sobre un pliego y en una
escala de una pulgada por cada dos millas. Una parte del rio
Herrera-yacu y otro parte del rio Trinidad se hallan en este
plano, que contiene 85 millas del rio Pichis, 4 millas del rio
Trinidad, y 5 millas del rio Herrera-yacu.

"12th. Un plano del rio Amazonas Peruano y sus afluentes,
dibujados sobre un pliego y en una escala de una pulgada por
cada quince millas. Este plana contiene 1661 millas del rio
Amazonas Peruano y sus afluentes.

"13th. Todas las mencionadas planos están dibujados sobre
treinta y cinco pliegos, siendo cada pliego treinta pulgados
de largo por quince pulgada de ancho.

"14th. Un plano del rio Amazonas Peruano y sus afluentes,
dibujado sabre un pliego y en una escala de una pulgada por
cada diez millas, siendo el pliego cines piés de largo por
cinco piés de ancho. Este plano contiene en un solo pliego
todos los reconocimientos verificados por la Comision
Hidrografica del Amazonas, que son por todo 2945 millas.

"Loo demas planos dán los mismos reconocimientos mas
detalladamenente.

"15th. Un plano del pueblo de Yquitos, dibujado sobre un
pliego.

"Dios que á le.
"MANL. FREYRE."

[TRANSLATION.]

"_Legation of Peru._
"WASHINGTON, March 22d, 1877.
"_John R. Tucker, Esq., Ex-President of the Hydrographical
Commission of the Amazon._

"The box deposited by you with Consul Tracy has been received
at this Legation, and contains the following charts, to wit:

"1st. A chart of the Peruvian Amazon river, from the mouth of
the River Yavari to Borja, the termination of steam
navigation, drawn upon ten sheets, and on a scale of one inch
to each two miles. The Rivers Itaya and Pastaza are included
in this chart, which contains 848 miles of the Peruvian Amazon
river, 45 miles of the Itaya river, and 7 miles of the Pastaza
river.

"2d. A chart of the Yavari river from its mouth to the
confluence of the Rivers Yacarana and Yavarasino, drawn upon
two sheets and on a scale of one inch for each two miles. This
chart comprises 220 miles of the Yavari river.

"3d. A chart of the River Nanay from its mouth to the
termination of navigation for steamers of light draught,
drawn upon two sheets and on a scale of one inch for each two
miles. This chart contains 160 miles of the River Nanay.

"4th. A chart of the River Tigre-yacu, from its mouth to a
point 111 miles above its mouth, drawn upon two sheets and on
a scale of one inch for each two miles.

"5th. A chart of the River Huallaga, from its mouth to
Rumi-Callirina, the termination of steamer navigation, drawn
upon two sheets and on a scale of one inch for each two miles.
This chart comprises 169 miles of the Huallaga river.

"6th. A chart of the River Morona, from its mouth to a point
37 miles above its mouth, drawn upon one sheet and on a scale
of one inch for each two miles.

"7th. A chart of the River Patro, from its mouth to the
termination of navigation for steamers of small draught, drawn
upon one sheet and on a scale of one inch for each two miles.
This chart contains 64 miles of the Patro river.

"8th. A chart of the River Ucayali, from its mouth to the
confluence of the Rivers Urubamba and Tambo, drawn upon nine
sheets and on a scale of one inch for each two miles. The
Rivers Urubamba and Tambo, from their mouths to the highest
point to which steamer navigation is practicable, are included
in this chart, which contains 885 miles of the River Ucayali,
24 miles of the River Urubamba, and 53 miles of the River
Tambo.

"9th. A chart of the River Pachitea, from its mouth to the
confluence of the Rivers Palcazu and Pichis, drawn upon two
sheets and on a scale of one inch for each two miles. This
chart contains 191 miles of the River Pachitea.

"10th. A chart of the River Palcazu, from its mouth to Port
Mairo, drawn upon one sheet and on a scale of one inch each
for two miles. This chart contains 37 miles of the River
Palcazu.

"11th. A chart of the Pechis river, from its mouth to the
termination of canoe navigation, drawn upon one sheet and on a
scale of one inch for each two miles. A part of the River
Herrera-yacu, and also a part of the River Trinidad, are
included in this chart, which contains 85 miles of the River
Pichis, 4 miles of the River Trinidad, and 5 miles of the
River Herrera-yacu.

"12th. A chart of the Peruvian Amazon river and its affluents,
drawn upon one sheet and on a scale of one inch for each 15
miles. This chart contains 1661 miles of the Peruvian Amazon
river and its affluents.

"13th. A chart of the River Ucayali and its affluents, drawn
upon one sheet and on a scale of one inch for each 15 miles.
This chart contains 1284 miles of the River Ucayali and its
affluents.

"All the above mentioned charts are drawn upon 35 sheets, each
sheet being 30 inches long and 15 inches broad.

"14th. A chart of the Peruvian Amazon river and its affluents,
drawn upon one sheet and on a scale of one inch for each ten
miles, the sheet being 5 feet long by 5 feet broad. This chart
contains, on one single sheet, all the surveys made by the
Hydrographical Commission of the Amazon. The other charts give
the same surveys more in detail.

"15th. A plan of the town of Iquitos, drawn upon one sheet.

"May God guard you.
"MANL. FREYRE."

Tucker was in the sixty-seventh year of his age when he retired to his
home in the City of Petersburg, Virginia, where he had purchased a
comfortable house with a lawn and garden attached. Here he passed the
evening of an active life in the enjoyment of a private fortune,
which, though not large, was sufficient to supply all his moderate
wants and simple tastes. Relatives and friends frequently visited him;
he read much, and books, especially the older English classics, were a
source of much pleasure to him; the improvement of his lawn and garden
was a pursuit which afforded him unfailing interest and occupation.

On the 12th of June, 1883, he was apparently in his usual good health.
In the course of the morning a friend called on him, and they
conversed together for some time, seated in the shade of a tree on the
lawn. His friend having taken his departure, Tucker reseated himself
for a few minutes in his chair, suddenly arose, straightened up his
tall form to its full height, and fell forward--dead. Physicians were
immediately summoned, but all the efforts to revive him were
ineffectual. He had died from disease of the heart; passing away from
this world without a struggle or a sigh, and going where souls as pure
as his have nothing to fear.

His remains were taken to Norfolk, Virginia, where they were received
by old friends and comrades, who knew and loved him well, and
interred by the side of his wife's grave, in a beautiful private
cemetery near the city.

Admiral Tucker possessed many of the qualities of a great commander.
His judgment was excellent, and it was very rarely the case that he
was mistaken as to what it was possible for the force at his disposal
to accomplish. He always commanded the respect and confidence, as well
as the good will, of his men. A strict disciplinarian, the prompt and
unhesitating obedience to orders he exacted was cheerfully rendered by
his subordinates. His plans were coolly and deliberately formed, and,
having been once determined upon, were carried out with energy and
resolution. In the ordinary intercourse of private life he was so
gentle, generous and genial that his friends and associates felt for
him a regard approaching affection. In youth he was an eminently
handsome man and in maturer years his presence was imposing. Sailors
and Indians are fond of giving personally descriptive names to those
with whom they are thrown in contact; when Tucker was a lieutenant he
was called "Handsome Jack" by the men-before-the-mast, and the
warriors of the savage tribes that wander about the head waters of the
Amazon knew him as the "Apo," the meaning of the word being "High
Chief."

In concluding this sketch of the eventful life of John Randolph
Tucker, it is but doing justice to his memory to say that the
sea-service never produced a more thorough and accomplished sailor,
and that there never was bred to the profession of arms a more
honorable and gallant gentleman.

* * * * *

[Illustration: JAMES HENRY ROCHELLE]

NOTES

ON THE

Navigation of the Upper Amazon

AND ITS

PRINCIPAL TRIBUTARIES

CAPTAIN JAMES HENRY ROCHELLE

Member of the late Peruvian Hydrographical Commission of
the Amazon.

NOTES.

THE AMAZON.

Springing from Lake Laracocha, in the heart of the Andes, the Amazon
winds its way through the eastern Cordillera of Peru, a rapid and
turbulent stream, until, passing through a narrow gorge in the
mountains at the pongo de Manseriche, it leaps into the lowlands and
flows for two thousand six hundred and sixty miles in a direction
nearly east through the vast plains of Peru and Brazil, fed on its way
by tributaries which are themselves great rivers, and finally pouring
its immense volume of water into the Atlantic ocean. From the Atlantic
up to the Peruvian frontier the river is known as the Lower or
Brazilian Amazon, and sometimes as the Solimoens; above the Brazilian
frontier the river lies wholly in Peruvian territory and takes the
name of the Peruvian Amazon or Marañon, but is commonly spoken of as
the Upper Amazon. It is of the navigation of the Upper Amazon that
these notes will treat.

RISE AND FALL OF THE RIVER.

The waters of the Upper Amazon and its tributaries begins to rise
annually in October, remains stationary for a short time in December,
then continues to rise until May, when it commences to fall. November,
December, January, February, March and April are considered the
months of high water, and June, July, August and September comprise
the low-water season. October and May are sometimes months of high and
sometimes of low water.

DEPTH OF WATER.

During the season of low water a minimum depth of twenty-four feet is
found in the channel of the Upper Amazon, from the Brazilian frontier
to the mouth of the Ucayali river at Nanta, eighteen feet from the
mouth of the Ucayali to the mouth of the Huallaga river, and twelve
feet from the mouth of the Huallaga to Borja, where further navigation
is rendered impracticable by the rapids and falls of the pongo de
Manseriche.

CURRENT.

From the Brazilian frontier to the mouth of the Ucayali river the
current of the Amazon is three miles per hour; from the mouth of the
Ucayali to the mouth of the Potro river three and one-fourth miles per
hour; from the mouth of the Potro to the mouth of the Morona river
three and a-half miles per hour; and from the mouth of the Morona to
Borja, at the head of steamer navigation, the current is three and
three-fourths miles per hour. This is the usual and average current to
be met with, but it increases or diminishes with the rise and fall of
the river and, also, with the narrowing or broadening of the channel.

PILOTS.

In order to prevent running upon sand-bars, which are constantly
forming and shifting and frequently changing the bed of the channel,
the services of experienced pilots are indispensable to the safe
navigation of the Upper Amazon and its tributaries. It is not
difficult to obtain such pilots, and they are frequently expert
hunters and fishermen as well as pilots.

BEST TIME FOR NAVIGATING THE RIVER.

When a steamer on the Upper Amazon runs aground, it is almost always
in consequence either of the ignorance of the pilot or of the
unskillful handling of the vessel. To get aground when the water is
falling endangers the detention of the vessel until she is floated off
by the next rise of the river, which may not occur for months; getting
aground when the water is rising usually necessitates a delay of only
a few hours, as the rising water soon floats the vessel off. Hence it
is, of course, that the navigation of the Amazon is attended with much
less difficulty when the waters of the river are rising than when they
are falling.

FUEL.

Coal is not to be found on the Upper Amazon; the steamers burn wood,
which is abundant, cheap and makes good fuel. Wood should be ordered
in advance at certain points, but in case a steamer gives out of fuel
all that has to be done is to haul in to the bank, send the crew on
shore with axes, and cut as much wood as is required.

DISCHARGING AND RECEIVING CARGO.

In the absence of wharves on the Upper Amazon and its tributaries,
vessels lay alongside of the banks whilst discharging or receiving
cargo. The banks at the usual stopping places afford good landings;
wharves are not needed and it would be difficult to construct them so
that they could be used at all stages of the water.

IMPORTS.

It may be well to say a word about the trade of the Upper Amazon.
There are no import or export duties for this part of Peru, nor are
any duties paid on goods passing up the Brazilian Amazon to Peru.
Coarse cotton cloth is worn by nine-tenths of the inhabitants who are
civilized enough to wear clothes at all. The demand for this cloth is
large and will grow from year to year, and of all coarse cotton cloth
in the market the American is preferred. The plantain is the native
substitute for bread, but wheat flour is used by the mercantile and
official classes; there is a steady demand for Baltimore and Richmond
flour, which brands are supposed, probably with reason, to stand the
climate better than flour manufactured elsewhere. Bacon hams sell for
one dollar per pound, but the demand for them is small and the article
is soon spoiled by the climate. Axes, hoes, spades and machettes are
much in demand, and there is a limited demand for improved firearms;
ready made clothing, and articles of household furniture for the
houses of the richer persons of the community, are usually imported
from Europe.

EXPORTS.

The exports of the region of the Upper Amazon are not as valuable as
they are destined to become when the productions of the rich valleys
of eastern Peru find an outlet to market by way of the river. Among
the principal articles of export may be enumerated, hats, from
Mayubamba (Panama hats); rum, made from the sugar cane (cachaça);
dried fish (payshi); and Indian rubber (jebe). The Indian-rubber tree
abounds in the forests of the Upper Amazon, and the gathering of the
gum is a profitable industry. Specimens of gold have been obtained
from the natives about the pongo de Manseriche, and rich deposits of
the precious metal will without doubt be discovered at some future
time, but no search even can be made for it until the fierce and cruel
savages, who have undisputed possession of the country beyond Borja,
shall have been subdued.

MOUTH OF THE YAVARI RIVER.

Commencing at the Yavari river, which forms the boundary between Peru
and Brazil on the south side of the Amazon river, and following the
Upper Amazon and its principal tributaries up to the head of
navigation, the first place to be noted is the mouth of the Yavari
river:[2] Latitude 4° 18' 45" south; longitude, 69° 53' 10" west of
Greenwich; magnetic variation, 5° 38' 54" east; thermometer
(Fahrenheit), 76°; elevation above sea-level, 266 feet; distance from
the Atlantic ocean, following the course of the river, 1811 miles;
current, in the Amazon, 4-1/2 miles per hour; width of the Yavari
river at its mouth, 500 yards; width of the Amazon, 1200 yards; depth
of water in the channel of the Amazon, 36 feet. As the Yavari river
marks the boundary between Peru and Brazil on the south side of the
Amazon, special pains were taken to ascertain correctly the latitude
and longitude of its mouth; the observations for the latitude and
longitude were taken on a small islet, probably overflowed at high
water, in the middle of the lower mouth of the river.

It was said in Iquitos that, in 1874, Captain Guillermo Black,
President of the Peruvian Boundary Commission, ascended the Yavari in
a small steamer a distance of 500 miles from its mouth, and 300 miles
farther in canoes to a point where there was barely two feet of water
in the channel, at which point the latitude was determined to be 7° 1'
22" south, and the longitude 74° 8' 25" west of Greenwich; elevation
above the sea-level, 800 feet.

TABATINGA (BRAZIL).

Distance from the Atlantic, 1825 miles; current, 4-1/2 miles per hour;
depth of water, 36 feet; width of river, 800 yards.

Tabatinga is the Brazilian frontier post on the north side of the
Amazon. Captain Azevedo, of the Brazilian Navy, gives the latitude of
this place as 4° 14' 30" south; longitude, 70° 2' 24" west of
Greenwich; magnetic variation, 6° 35' 10" east.

LETITIA.

Latitude, 4° 10' 57" south; longitude, 69° 59' 21" west of Greenwich;
magnetic variation, 5° 57' 40" east; elevation above sea-level, 274
feet; distance from the Atlantic, 1828 miles.

Letitia is the Peruvian frontier post on the north bank of the Amazon.
A fort, intended to command the passage of the river, was projected
but not erected at this point. It is probable that the passage of
steamers up the Amazon cannot be stopped by forts and batteries at any
point on the river below Tamshiyacu.

LORETO.

Latitude, 3° 54' 20" south; longitude, 70° 7' 45" west of Greenwich;
magnetic variation, 5° 11' 24" east; thermometer, 78°; elevation above
sea-level, 286 feet; distance from the Atlantic, 1865 miles; current,
3 miles per hour; width of river, 1300 yards.

Loreto is the most eastern Peruvian town of any importance on the
Amazon. It is situated on the north or left bank of the river. Near
it resides a tribe of Indians, partly civilized, called the Ticunas.

CAMACHEROS.

Situated on the right or south bank of the river; current 2-1/4 miles
per hour; width of river, 1800 yards.

MAUCALLACTA.

Situated on the right or south bank of the river; width of river, 2500
yards.

PEBAS.

One mile from the Amazon, on the left or north bank, and one mile up
the River Ambiyacu. The current of the Amazon at Pebas is 2-1/2 miles
per hour; distance from the Atlantic, 2009 miles.

ORAM.

On south or right bank of the river; current, 2-1/2 miles per hour;
width of river, 1000 yards; depth of water, 36 feet.

IQUITOS.

Latitude, 3° 44' 15" south; longitude, 73° 7' 30" west of Greenwich;
magnetic variation, 5° 55' east; thermometer, 78°; elevation above
sea-level, 295 feet; distance from the Atlantic, 2126 miles; current,
3 miles per hour; depth of water, 36 feet.

Iquitos is on the north bank of the Amazon, at a point where the river
is divided by an island into two channels; from the town to the island
the river is 1800 yards wide, and the channel on the other side of
the island has about the same width. The Government buildings and
works are situated at this place, and it is the largest and most
important town on the Upper Amazon. It is a place of considerable
trade, and in it are established several mercantile houses which
import their goods directly from Europe and the United States by way
of Para. The anchorage is good at all times, and vessels, whilst
discharging or receiving cargo, can lay in security alongside the high
bank that lines the whole front of the town. This is an advantage not
to be underrated when it is remembered that there are no wharves on
the Upper Amazon.

TAMSHIYACU.

Situated on a high bank on the south side of the river, distant 2146
miles from the Atlantic; thermometer, 76°. At this place the river is
narrow, has only one channel, and the current is strong. It is
probably the only position on the Amazon, below the mouth of the
Ucayali, where vessels could be prevented from passing, up or down, by
heavy guns mounted in forts or batteries.

MOUTH OF THE UCAYALI RIVER.

Latitude, 4° 28' 30" south; longitude, 73° 21' 30" west of Greenwich;
magnetic variation, 7° 2' east; thermometer, 80°; elevation above
sea-level, 318 feet; distance from the Atlantic, 2189 miles; current
in the Amazon, 3 miles per hour; depth of water in the channel of the
Amazon, 30 feet; width of the Amazon, 1300 yards. Unfortunately,
immediately at the month of the Ucayali neither the banks of that
river nor those of the Amazon afford a place suitable for the
location of a town. Nauta, on the north bank of the Amazon, seven
miles above the mouth of the Ucayali, is the nearest place at which it
is practicable to build houses not liable to be swept away by the
annual floods.

NAUTA.

Latitude, 4° 31' 30" south; longitude, 73° 27' west of Greenwich;
magnetic variation, 7° 2' east; thermometer, 78°; elevation above
sea-level, 320 feet; distance from the Atlantic, 2195 miles; current
3-1/4 miles per hour; depth of water, 30 feet; width of river, 1200
yards. Situated on the north bank of the Amazon, near the confluence
of that river and the Ucayali, Nauta is well located for grasping the
trade of both rivers, and ought to become a place of importance. Of
course, the six or seven miles that vessels have to ascend the Amazon
to reach the place after leaving the Ucayali constitutes a drawback,
especially in the case of vessels not propelled by steam; but no
desirable place can be found below and near the mouth of the Ucayali
where buildings could be erected and vessels could load and unload
with facility at the season of high water. Below and adjoining Nauta
the banks are high and present a better site for a town than the one
on which it stands.

SAN REGIS.

Distant from the Atlantic 2230 miles; current, 3-1/3 miles per hour;
average current between Nauta and San Regis, 3-1/4 miles per hour.

MOUTH OF THE TIGREYACU RIVER.

Distance from the Atlantic, 2245 miles; current, 3-1/2 miles per hour;
average current between San Regis and the mouth of the Tigreyacu,
3-1/4 miles per hour. The Tigreyacu can be navigated by steamers of
considerable size for some distance; its waters are dark and clear,
and those tributaries of the Amazon having dark and clear waters are
usually unhealthy, whilst those having muddy and discolored waters
have always been found to be healthy.

SANTA CRUZ DE PARINARI.

Latitude, 4° 36' 30" south; longitude 74° 6' 30" west of Greenwich;
magnetic variation, 7° 27' 20" east; thermometer, 78°; elevation above
sea-level, 351 feet; distance from the Atlantic, 2273 miles; current,
3-1/4 miles per hour.

PARANARI.

Distance from the Atlantic, 2293 miles; current, 3-1/4 miles per hour.

VACA MARINA.

Distance from the Atlantic, 2334 miles; current, 3-1/4 miles per hour.

ELVIRA.

Distance from the Atlantic, 2352 miles; current, 3-1/4 miles per hour.

SAN PEDRO.

Distance from the Atlantic, 2393 miles; current, 3-1/4 miles per
hour.

FONTEVERA.

Distance from the Atlantic, 2408 miles; current, 3-1/4 miles per hour.

MOUTH OF THE HUALLAGA RIVER.

Distance from the Atlantic, 2430 miles; current in Amazon, 3-1/4 miles
per hour. One hundred and twenty-three miles up the Huallaga is the
town of Yurimaguas, a centre of trade, to which steamers from Para
frequently ascend.

CEDRO ISLA.

Distant from the Atlantic 2445 miles; current, 3-1/4 miles per hour.

MOUTH OF THE PASTAGA RIVER.

Distance from the Atlantic, 2514 miles; current in the Amazon, 3-1/4
miles per hour. The Pastaga has a rapid current and is full of
obstructions to navigation; it is with much difficulty that canoes
even can be forced up the river for any distance. On its head waters
the Indians wash a considerable quantity of gold from the sand of the
bed of the channel.

BARRANCA.

Latitude, 4° 59' 53" south; longitude, 76° 38' 38" west of Greenwich;
magnetic variation, 7° 46' 26" east; thermometer, 78°; elevation above
sea-level, 453 feet; distance from the Atlantic, 2545 miles; current,
3-1/4 miles per hour. Barranca is situated on a red clay bluff, about
seventy feet high, on the north or left bank of the river, which is
here narrow. Communication is kept up between Barranca and Moyabamba
by way of the Aypena river to its head and thence by land. Barranca
has been used as, but is not well adapted to be, a military post;
gunboats could lay out of sight below, around a bend of the river, and
shell it without being themselves exposed to its fire.

MOUTH OF THE POTRO RIVER.

Distance from the Atlantic, 2564 miles; current, 3-1/4 miles per hour.
The Potro is navigable for small steamers a distance of sixty miles
from its mouth, and is of importance as a link in the projected route
from Chachapoyas to Limon on the Amazon.

MOUTH OF THE MORONA RIVER.

Distance from the Atlantic, 2576 miles; current, 3-1/2 miles per hour.
Steamers ascend the Morona 300 miles, and at some stages of the water
a greater distance.

LIMON.

Distance from the Atlantic, 2588 miles; current, 3-3/4 miles per hour.
Limon is the terminus of a projected route from Chachapoyas to the
Amazon; it is a place of no importance whatever in any other respect.

PUNTA ACHUAL.

Latitude, 4° 15' 27" south; longitude 77° 1' 28" west of Greenwich;
magnetic variation, 8° 18' 18" east; thermometer, 80°; elevation above
sea-level, 509 feet; distance from the Atlantic, 2612 miles; current,
3-3/4 miles per hour. Two miles above Punta Achual, at the Vuelta
Calentura, or Calentura passage, the first serious difficulty is
encountered in navigating the Upper Amazon; the difficulty there
encountered is a strong current combined with a whirlpool in the
channel of the river, but, with full heads of steam on, steamers are
able to pass the vuelta and proceed on to Borja. At Vuelta Calentura
the course of the river is from N.N.W. to S.S.E.

BORJA.

Latitude, 4° 31' 37" south; longitude, 77° 29' 43" west of Greenwich;
thermometer, 76°; elevation above sea-level, 516 feet; distance from
the Atlantic, 2660 miles; current, 3-3/4 miles per hour. At Borja the
navigation of the Upper Amazon ends; the river in its whole course
from Laracocha to Borja, a distance of 500 miles, is a mountain
torrent, impracticable for navigation even by canoes. The length of
the Amazon, from its source at Laracocha to the Atlantic ocean, is
3160 miles, but the distance from the Atlantic to the source of the
Ucayali is still greater. It usually takes a steamer 69 steaming hours
to ascend the river from Iquitos to Borja, and 35 steaming hours to
descend from Borja to Iquitos.

DISTANCES.

In the following list of distances between places on the Amazon, from
its mouth to its source in Lake Laracocha, the distances for the Lower
Amazon are taken from the best Brazilian authorities that could be
consulted; the distances for the Upper Amazon, from the Brazilian
frontier to the head of steamer navigation at Borja, were measured by
the Peruvian Hydrographical Commission of the Amazon; and the
distance from Borja, the head of navigation, to the source of the
river in Lake Laracocha, is given as estimated by the best Peruvian
authorities.

LIST OF DISTANCES ON THE AMAZON.

Lower
Amazon.
Miles.
Atlantic ocean to Para 75
Para to Breves 146
Breves to Garupa 123
Garupa to Porto de Moz 48
Porto de Moz to Prainha 96
Prainha to Monte Alegre 44
Monte Alegre to Santarem 60
Santarem to Obidos 68
Obidos to Villa Bella 95
Villa Bella to Serpa 137
Serpa to Manaos 110
From the Atlantic to Manaos, 1002 miles.
Manaos to Cudajos 155
Cudajos to Coary 84
Coary to Tefé (Ega) 107
Tefé (Ega) to Fonte Boa 133
Fonte Boa to Tonantius 140
Tonantius to San Paulo 95
San Paulo, mouth of the Yavari river 90
The mouth of the Yavari marks the boundary line
between Peru and Brazil on the south side of the
Amazon.
Mouth of the Yavari to Tabatinga 14
Brazilian frontier port on the north side of the
Amazon. From the Atlantic to Tabatinga,
1825 miles.
Tabatinga to Letitia 3
Peruvian frontier post.

Upper
Amazon.
Miles.
Letitia to Loreto 37
Loreto to Pebas 144
Pebas to Iquitos 117
Iquitos to Tamshiyacu 20
Tamshiyacu to mouth of the Ucayali river 43
Mouth of the Ucayali river to Nauta 6
Nauta to San Regis 50
San Regis to Santa Cruz de Parinari 28
Santa Cruz de Parinari to Parinari 20
Parinari to Vaca Marina 41
Vaca Marina to Elvira 18
Elvira to San Pedro 41
San Pedro to Fontevera 15
Fontevera to mouth of the Huallaga river 22
Mouth of the Huallaga river to Cedro Isla 15
Cedro Isla to mouth of the Pastaza river 69
Mouth of the Pastaza river to Barranca 31
Barranca to Mouth of the Potro river 19
Mouth of the Potro river to mouth of the Morona river 12
Mouth of the Morona river to Limon 12
Limon to Punta Achual 24
Punta Achual to Borja 48
From the Atlantic to Borja, the head of navigation,
2660 miles.
Borja to Lake Laracocha 500
Source of the Amazon.
Length of the Amazon river from its source to its
mouth, 3160 miles.

HUALLAGA RIVER.

The Huallaga has its source in Lake Chiquicoba, flows by the important
central city of Huanaco, and thence in a direction nearly north, for
450 miles, until its confluence with the Amazon. The mouth of the
Huallaga is 2430 miles distant from the Atlantic, and its current is
about 3 miles per hour. Eighteen feet of water can usually be carried
up to Yurimaguas, and steamers ascend 40 miles higher to a place
called Rumicallarina; above Rumicallarina the river is navigable for a
great distance by canoes. About 8 miles below Yurimaguas the river is
divided by an island, on each side of which there are sand-bars that
steamers drawing more than 11 feet of water are sometimes unable to
pass during the months of June, July and August.

LAGUNA.

Distance from the Atlantic, 2447 miles; current, 3 miles per hour.

SANTA LUCIA.

Distance from the Atlantic, 2473 miles; current, 3 miles per hour.

SANTA MARIA.

Distance from the Atlantic, 2528 miles; current, 3 miles per hour.

YURIMAGUAS.

Latitude, 5° 5' 55" south; longitude, 75° 59' 58" west of Greenwich;
magnetic variation, 7° 47' east; thermometer, 77°; elevation above
sea-level, 440 feet; distance from the Atlantic, 2554 miles; current,
3-1/4 miles per hour.

The advantage which Yurimaguas possesses over all the other river
ports on the Upper Amazon is that of its being the point where
travelers from Lima and articles of export from Moyubamba, a city of
10,000 inhabitants, meet the steamers from Para. Canoes ascend the
Huallaga from Yurimaguas to Chasuta in eight days and make the return
trip in three; from Chasuta there is a mule road to Moyubamba,
Chachapoyas and Cajamarca, and from the latter place a railway runs to
Lima. This is the best route from the Amazon to the Pacific coast, and
the only one which does not involve long marches on foot. Steamers
drawing five or six feet of water could make regular trips to Chasuta
at any season of the year, even at lowest water, and meeting larger
steamers at Yurimaguas would establish better communication with the
rich country of the interior. On the Huallaga, above Yurimaguas and a
little back from the river, are to be found the best locations for
colonies. Thirty miles above Yurimaguas, on the right bank of the
river, is situated Shucushiyacu, a place well known as commanding a
fine view of mountain and river scenery.

CAINARACHI.

Distance from the Atlantic, 2592 miles; current, 3-1/4 miles per
hour.

RUMICALLARINA.

Latitude, 5° 58' 32" south; longitude, 75° 47' 32" west of Greenwich;
magnetic variation, 8° 8' 10" east; thermometer, 77°; elevation above
sea-level, 486 feet; distance from the Atlantic, 2600 miles; current,
3-1/2 miles per hour; depth of water, 36 feet; width of river, 200
yards.

Rumicallarina is at the head of navigation for steamers on the
Huallaga. Any steamer which can ascend the river to Yurimaguas can
continue on to Rumicallarina, beyond which place only five or six
feet, at the season of low water, can be carried to Chasuta.

LIST OF DISTANCES ON THE HUALLAGA.

Atlantic ocean to mouth of the Huallaga, 2430 miles By the Amazon
river.

Huallaga
River.
Miles.
Mouth of the Huallaga to Laguna 17
Laguna to Santa Lucia 26
Santa Lucia to Santa Maria 55
Santa Maria to Yurimaguas 26
Yurimaguas to Cainarachi 38
Cainarachi to Rumicallarina 8
Rumicallarina to Chasuta 50
Chasuta to Lake Chiquicoba 300
---
Length of the Huallaga river 520
Distance from the source of the Huallaga to the
mouth of the Amazon 2950

UCAYALI RIVER.

The Ucayali river has its origin in the Andean region, about Lake
Titicaca, and flows, under various names, in a direction nearly north
until it mingles its waters with those of the Amazon, to which river
it bears the same relation that the Missouri does to the Mississippi;
that is to say, like the Missouri, its length and volume of water
entitles it to be considered a continuation and not a tributary of the
main river. During the season of low water 24 feet can be carried from
Nauta, at the mouth of the river, to Sarayacu; 18 feet from Sarayacu
to the mouth of the Pachitea river; and 12 feet from the mouth of the
Pachitea to the confluence of the Tambo and Urubamba. The average
current from the mouth of the river to Pucacura is 2 miles per hour,
and from Pucacura to the confluence of the Tambo and Urubamba 3 miles
per hour. The Tambo is probably navigable for steamers drawing eight
or ten feet of water to the confluence of the Ene and Perene, and
thence the Perene would afford communication, at least by canoes, to
San Ramon, a Peruvian military post; from San Ramon to Tarma, and from
Tarma to Lima, would, of course, be the continuation of the route to
the Pacific slope. The first step towards the opening of this most
desirable of all the routes between the Pacific coast and the Amazon
would be the establishment of a battalion post at the confluence of
the Ene and Perene, communicating at regular and stated intervals with
San Ramon. The distance between the two posts would be about 60 miles
of canoe navigation, and would soon become a traveled route forming
the connecting link between eastern and western Peru.

MOUTH OF THE UCAYALI.

PUCACURA.

Latitude, 6° 4' 45" south; longitude, 75° 1' west of Greenwich;
magnetic variation, 7° 22' 10" east; thermometer, 79°; elevation above
sea-level, 377 feet; distance from the Atlantic, 2482 miles; current,
3 miles per hour.

SARAYOCU.

Latitude, 6° 35' 15" south; longitude, 74° 58' 30" west of Greenwich;
magnetic variation, 7° 52' 8" east; thermometer, 79°; elevation above
sea-level, 410 feet; distance from the Atlantic, 2578 miles; current,
3 miles per hour; depth of water, 20 feet.

The town of Sarayacu is situated on a small creek, about three miles
from the place on the river which is called the Puerto del Sarayacu.
Between Pucacura and Sarayacu is Esquina, a small settlement built on
high land, which extends along the river for a mile or more. This
place (Esquina) and Pucacura are about the only places on the banks
of the Ucayali, below Sarayacu, that are not overflowed at high water.
The floods of the Ucayali, which regularly recur every year at certain
seasons, render the banks of the river an undesirable, perhaps even an
impracticable, location for an agricultural population. It is possible
that a crop might be raised and gathered during the dry season, but
the farms would have to be abandoned whenever the river rose to its
maximum height. At Paca, about twelve miles above Sarayacu, the banks
on both sides of the river are high; such places are much more
frequently met with above than below Sarayacu, but still they are the
exception to the general character of the country near the river,
which continues to be low and subject to overflow until the highlands
are reached near the confluence of the Tambo and Urubamba.

PACAMASHI.

Latitude, 7° 53' 15" south; longitude, 74° 40' 45" west of Greenwich;
magnetic variation, 7° 51' 38" east; thermometer, 77°; elevation above
sea-level, 435 feet; distance from the Atlantic, 2733 miles; current,
3 miles per hour; width of the river, 600 yards.

YARINACOCHA.

Latitude, 8° 15' south; longitude, 74° 31' 30" west of Greenwich;
magnetic variation, 7° 38' 30" east; thermometer, 79°; elevation above
sea-level, 447 feet; distance from the Atlantic, 2800 miles; current,
3 miles per hour; width of river, 1200 yards.

MOUTH OF THE PACHITEA RIVER.

Latitude, 8° 43' 30" south; longitude, 74° 32' 30" west of Greenwich;
magnetic variation, 8° 45' 40" east; thermometer, 75°; elevation above
sea-level, 508 feet; distance from the Atlantic, 2891 miles; current,
3 miles per hour; width of the river, 600 yards.

VUELTA DEL DIABLO.

Distance from the Atlantic, 3091 miles. This strait is the first
serious difficulty encountered in ascending the Ucayali; the current
dashes with much violence against the trunks of large trees which
lodge in, and almost block up, the passage.

CONFLUENCE OF THE TAMBO AND URABAMBA RIVERS.

Latitude, 10° 41' south; longitude, 73° 41' west of Greenwich;
elevation above sea-level, 661 feet; distance from the Atlantic, 3142
miles; depth of water, 12 feet.

ESPERANZA.

Esperanza is situated on the Perene river about 11 miles above the
junction of the Ene and Perene, which form the Tambo. The navigation
for steamers drawing 10 feet of water terminates at the junction of
the Perene and Ene. From thence to Fort San Ramon, a distance of sixty
miles, canoes could navigate, but with some difficulty, owing to the
swiftness of the current, which at San Ramon runs at the rate of 6
miles per hour. Small stern-wheel, flat-bottomed steamers, such as are
in use on the swift, narrow and shallow rivers west of the
Mississippi, could probably be employed with success in establishing
communication between Fort San Ramon and the Ucayali.

LIST OF DISTANCES ON THE UCAYALI RIVER.

Ucayali
River.
Miles.
Atlantic ocean to mouth of the Ucayali 2189
(Amazon River.)
Mouth of the Ucayali to Pucacura 293
Pucacura to Sarayacu 96
Sarayacu to Pacamashi 155
Pacamashi to Yarinacocha 67
Yarinacocha to mouth of the Pachitea river 91
Mouth of the Pachitea to Vuelta del Diablo 200
Vuelta del Diablo to confluence of the Tambo
and Urubamba 51
Confluence of the Tambo and Urubamba to the
Ucayali, source of the Urubamba river, a
continuation of the Ucayali 375
Ucayali river, from its source to the Atlantic 3517
Distance from the Atlantic to the head of
steamer navigation on the Ucayali 3142

PACHITEA RIVER.

The banks of the Ucayali and Pachitea, at their confluence, are low,
subject to overflow and unsuitable for settlement. About nine miles
above its mouth we come to the first Indian village on the Pachitea, a
male Conebo hamlet, with nothing to recommend it except that it is
situated on ground a little higher than the flats which surround it.
On the left bank of the Ucayali a few miles below the mouth of the
Pachitea, there is a place called Hoje, which is not subject to
overflow at high water, but in other respects it is not an eligible
position for a town or post. The Pachitea is navigable at low water
for steamers drawing nine feet of water to the confluence of the
Palcazu and Pichis rivers.

MOUTH OF THE PACHITEA.

CUÑUYACU.

Latitude, 9° 5' 52" south; longitude, 74° 48' 15" west of Greenwich;
magnetic variation, 8° 59' 26" east; elevation above sea-level, 557
feet; distance from the Atlantic, 2951 miles; current, 2-1/2 miles per
hour; width of the river, 400 yards.

Cuñuyacu means hot water, and is descriptive of the place, for there
are here several thermal springs welling up from the sand beach. At
Chunta Isla, between the mouth of the Pachitea and Cuñuyacu, the
Cashibo Indians frequently attack from ambush strangers who are
ascending the river.

INCA ROCA.

Latitude, 9° 9' 4" south; longitude, 74° 55' 45" west of Greenwich;
magnetic variation, 8° 6' 26" east; distance from the Atlantic, 2963
miles; current, 2-1/2 miles per hour.

Inca Roca is a rocky beach overhung by sandstone cliffs sixty-five
feet high; on the face of the cliffs are carved numerous figures,
amongst them the figure of the sun and of the Llama are conspicuous,
hence the place was named Inca Roca.

CONFLUENCE OF THE PALCAZU AND PICHIS RIVERS.

Latitude, 9° 54' 9" south; longitude, 74° 58' 45" west of Greenwich;
magnetic variation, 7° 34' 4" east; elevation above sea-level, 518
feet; distance from the Atlantic, 3082 miles; current, 2-3/4 miles per
hour.

At the junction of the Palcazu and Pichis, the two rivers forming the
Pachitea, there is high land suitable for a town or post.

LIST OF DISTANCES ON THE PACHITEA RIVER.

Miles.
Mouth of the Pachitea to Cuñuyacu 60
Cuñuyacu to Inca Roca 12
Inca Roca to confluence of the Pichis and Palacazu 119
From the confluence of the Pichis and Palacazu,
forming the Pachitea river, to the Atlantic 3082

PALACAZU RIVER.

The Palacazu is a somewhat narrow stream, with a current of 3-1/4
miles per hour and a depth which at low water will permit a steamer
drawing seven feet of water to ascend to Puerto del Mairo.

PUERTO DEL MAIRO.

Latitude, 9° 55' 22" south; longitude, 75° 17' 45" west of Greenwich;
thermometer, 75°; elevation above sea-level, 795 feet; distance from
the Atlantic, 3119 miles; current, 3-1/2 miles per hour.

Puerto del Mairo is 45 miles distant from the large city of Huanaco,
which has constant communication and trade with Lima. At present the
route between Huanaco and Puerto del Mairo is only a footpath through
the forest, but it is probable that a good road for pack-mules could
be constructed at little expense, and that a railway is not
impracticable.

PICHIS RIVER.

The Pichis is a branch of the Pachitea river. The Cashibos and Campas
Indians inhabiting its banks are warlike tribes and fiercely oppose
all attempts to examine their country. Nothing was known of the river,
above its mouth, until it was explored and surveyed, in 1873, by the
Peruvian Hydrographical Commission of the Amazon, accompanied by a
military escort. It was necessary for the Commission to bestow names
on notable places as they proceeded to discover them, and these names
were afterwards used in making the chart of the river.

MOUTH OF THE PICHIS.

Latitude, 9° 54' 9" south; longitude, 74° 58' 45" west of Greenwich;
magnetic variation, 7° 34' 4" east; elevation above sea-level, 618
feet; distance from the Atlantic, 3082 miles; current, 2-1/2 miles per
hour.

ROCHELLE ISLA.

Latitude, 9° 57' 11" south; longitude, 75° 2' west of Greenwich;
magnetic variation, 8° 35' 36" east; elevation above the sea-level,
630 feet; distance from the Atlantic, 3100 miles; current, 2-1/2 miles
per hour.

Up to Rochelle Isla, named after the senior member of the Peruvian
Hydrographical Commission, navigation is clear and unobstructed for
any steamer that can ascend the Pachitea; that is, for any steamer not
drawing more than nine feet of water. Beyond this island the
navigation of the river becomes much more difficult, though not
altogether impracticable. The River Trinidad, so named on account of
its having been discovered on Trinity Sunday, empties itself into the
Pichis ten miles above Rochelle Isla; it is a fine, large river,
flowing from the eastward, with deep water and a current of 3 miles
per hour at its mouth.

TEMPESTAD PLAYA.

Latitude, 10° 5' 6" south; longitude, 74° 55' 45" west of Greenwich;
magnetic variation, 7° 46' east; distance from the Atlantic, 3123
miles. Tempestad Playa received its name in consequence of a violent
tempest which was there encountered by the namers.

MOUTH OF THE HERRERAYACU RIVER.

Latitude, 10° 20' 3" south; longitude, 74° 54' west of Greenwich;
magnetic variation, 7° 59' 26" east; distance from the Atlantic, 3156
miles.

The Herrerayacu river was named after the major who commanded the
escort of soldiers accompanying the Hydrographical Commission; it has
a current of 3-1/2 miles per hour, and is navigable for canoes a
distance of four or five miles, up to Terminacion Playa in latitude
10° 22' 33" south; longitude, 74° 54' west of Greenwich. Mountain
ranges are plainly in sight from Terminacion Playa, which is 3160
miles distant from the Atlantic.

PUERTO TUCKER.

Latitude, 10° 22' 55" south; longitude, 74° 49' west of Greenwich;
magnetic variation, 9° 7' 30" east; elevation above sea-level, 700
feet; distance from the Atlantic, 3167 miles; current, 3-1/2 miles per
hour.

Puerto Tucker was named after the President of the Hydrographical
Commission. It is at the head of canoe navigation, not far from the
source, of the Pichis river; from it a range of lofty mountains,
distant some twenty or thirty miles, bears from S. to S.W. This range
must be the eastern Cordillera of Peru.

LIST OF DISTANCES ON THE PICHIS RIVER.

Miles.
Mouth of the Pichis to the Atlantic ocean 3082
Mouth of the Pichis to Rochelle Isla 18
Rochelle Isla to mouth of Trinidad river 10
Mouth of Trinidad river to Tempestad Playa 13
Tempestad Playa to mouth of the Herrerayacu 33
Mouth of the Herrerayacu to Puerto Tucker 11
Puerto Tucker to Atlantic ocean 3167

[2] The latitudes, longitudes and other data given in these notes are
taken from the journal of the Peruvian Hydrographical Commission of
the Amazon. Some of them have been published, by permission, in the
third edition of Professor Orton's "Andes and the Amazon."

CONCLUSION.

The Upper Amazon river is destined to become much better known than it
is at present; it cannot be long before commerce takes possession of
such an inviting field. Ocean steamers run regularly to Mañaos, a
thousand miles from the mouth of the river, and they might extend
their voyage, certainly during nine months in the year, to Nauta at
the mouth of the Ucayali; from Nauta smaller steamers could ascend the
Amazon to Borja, the Huallaga to Yurimaguas, and the Ucayali to the
confluence of the Tambo and Urubamba. A road is projected from Limon,
near Borja, to Chachapoyas, where it would connect with the route to
Lima. From Yurimaguas to Mayubamba, and thence on to Lima, there is
already established a much traveled route. From Esperanza, near the
confluence of the Tambo and Urubamba; it is probable that
flat-bottomed, stern-wheel steamers, such as are used on the Nicaragua
route across Central America, could ascend the Tambo to Fort San
Ramon, a place which it is to be hoped will be connected by railway
with Tarma and Lima. When this latter route is opened, as it is
destined to be sooner or later, it will become the great artery of
communication between the Pacific and Atlantic coasts of South
America.

* * * * *

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| Page 108: Inco Roca replaced with Inca Roca |
| |
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* * * * *

*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "Life of Rear Admiral John Randolph Tucker" ***

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