Agustin Arturo Prat Chacon (3 April 1848-21 May 1879) was a Chilean Navy captain who was hailed as a naval hero for his heroic death at the Battle of Iquique during the War of the Pacific.
Biography[]
Agustin Arturo Prat Chacon was born in Ninhue, Chile in 1848, and he entered the naval academy in 1858 and became a Chilean Navy sailor in 1860, serving aboard the Esmeralda. He fought in the Chincha Islands War before taking part in voyages to the Juan Fernandez Islands, Easter Island, Magallanes, and Peru. By the start of the War of the Pacific, he reached the rank of commander. He set aside his study of law and liberal politics to fight in the war, commanding the Esmeralda at the Battle of Iquique. Prat and the Esmeralda showed great courage during the battle, amazing the crew of the Peruvian ship Huascar, which Prat boarded. He was shot twice by Peruvian snipers and killed, and Huascar's grieving captain Miguel Grau honored Prat's legacy by sending Prat's possessions and a kind letter to Prat's widow,a ffirming his personal qualities and high moral values. Prat became a martyr for the Chilean cause, and his death led to the mobilization of the Chilean population to support the war effort.
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