Action of 22 August 1866
The action of 22 August 1866 occurred during the Chincha Islands War off the island of Madeira, and was the final engagement of the war between the Spanish Navy frigate and, a British-crewed screw corvette in Chilean service flying the Red Ensign.
Tornado had arrived in Madeira under the command of John McPherson, a British commander in service of the Chilean government, under British register and hoisting the British flag. The vessel was also manned by a 55-men British crew, plus five Portuguese sailors who were taken aboard at Funchal.
Background
Tornado was not still fully fitted as a man of war because its rendezvous with a resupply British ship also in Chilean service, the Greatham Hall, was thwarted by HMS Caledonia, when the British frigate captured the provisioning vessel on 11 July off Portland island. By then, Tornado had sailed from Hamburg on 10 July officially bounded for London.Tornado eventually arrived in Leith on 4 July. Spanish diplomats warned British authorities that the vessel was loading rifles and its crew was presumably hired either by the Peruvian or the Chilean governments.
The action
Tornado sailed toward Madeira on 10 August arriving in Funchal on 21 August to make provisions of charcoal and food supplements and to recruit sailors for its crew. Although the intent was to remain there until 23 August, at 14:00 hours on 22 August the watch aboard ship alerted the captain to the presence of an armed vessel, the Spanish frigate Gerona. Captain McPherson decided to leave all his supplies on the dock and got the ship underway 90 minutes after the first sighting of Gerona. In its haste, Tornado had not been inspected by or granted permission to leave port from the Portuguese authorities in Madeira. Two blank charges were fired to signal that Tornado should stop, but Tornado continued out of port, hugging the coast northward.Gerona had been sent from Cádiz under the command of Captain Benito Ruiz de la Escalera specifically to capture Tornado and its sister ship, Cyclone. A Spanish brigantine moored at Funchal warned Ruiz de la Escalera of the departure of Tornado via a lamp signal and Gerona gave chase. At 22:30, off Cape Tristao, Gerona fired a blank shot. Tornado continued to ignore the intent. Gerona followed up with four live shots; Tornado stopped its engines and struck its colors.
Aftermath
The crew of Tornado was transferred to Gerona. Tornado was manned by a prize crew commanded by Lieutenant Manuel de Bustillo y Pery. Tornado sailed for Cádiz, where she arrived on 26 August, while Gerona returned to Madeira in a fruitless search for Tornados sister ship Cyclone.The capture of the British crew triggered a diplomatic dispute between Britain and Spain about the status of the ship and protests by the British government for the harsh treatment of the British sailors as prisoners of war. Spanish and English diplomatic sources at consular level eventually agreed that Tornado was, by its construction and equipment, "a man-of-war, or rather a privateer".
The captured steamer was condemned by a Spanish court at Cádiz as a good prize and Tornado subsequently entered Spanish Navy service under the same name.