Page:The History of San Martin (1893).djvu/236

206 the South, he met Miller, who, in spite of his wounds, had taken command of the marines on the O'Higgins, and asked him—

"What would they say if with this one ship I took Valdivia?"

As Miller made no answer, he added—

"They would call me a lunatic."

Lunatic or not, this was the exploit he had determined on attempting, and he further explained himself.

"Operations which the enemy does not expect are almost certain to succeed if well carried out. Victory is always an answer to a charge of rashness."

Valdivia from its fortifications and from its natural strength, was looked upon as the Gibraltar of America. The bay of Valdivia is an estuary into which the river Valdivia falls by two channels, forming an island known as the Isla del Rey. This estuary, which runs nearly due east and west, is about seven miles long, and its width at the mouth is about three miles, gradually diminishing until the width is little more than one mile, when the bay itself opens out in a magnificent sheet of water. In the centre of this bay and in front of the western point of the Isla del Rey stands a small island called the Mancera. On this bay there are several landing-places, but only one port, the Corral, and the coasts on both sides are fringed with steep or perpendicular rocks, and covered with dense brushwood. The bay has thus two coasts, one to the south the other to the north, which are separated by a wide space of open water, by the river Valdivia, and by the Isla del Rey. The northern part is inaccessible from the ocean, but at the western extremity of the southern part there is a landing-place where ships were accustomed to take in water.

At this time Valdivia was defended by nine forts and batteries, distributed on both sides of the bay, and armed with 128 guns. Two of these forts stood on the islands, and commanded both mouths of the river. On the north