Below, Peruvian Captain Juan Guillermo Moore, commander of the ironclad Independence, sunk at Punta Gruesa after colliding with a submarine rock while trying to ram the Covadonga. The Peruvian victory at Iquique was shadowed with this unfortunate incident. The son of Sir John Moore, a member of the Scottish nobility and the Peruvian lady Dolores Ruiz, Juan Guillermo was born in Lima in 1836 and was sent to England to complete his education when he was only 9 years old. At seventeen, he joined the Royal Navy as a cadet. Few years later, in 1854, Peruvian Commander Jose Maria Salcedo, who was supervising the construction in British Shipyards of the the war steamers Apurimac, Loa and Tumbes, became acquainted with the young officer and offer him the chance to go home and join the Peruvian Navy. Moore did not think it twice and after few months was in his own country, starting a brilliant naval career. During the war with Chile he was a Frigate Captain, commanding the biggest of the Peruvian warships. After Punta Gruesa, Moore almost killed himself, for he had lost the ship that the nation had conferred upon him. He found an hero's death 14 months later, during the battle of Arica, commanding the batteries of the garrison.
