Commodore John Charles Pritz (Portuguese: João Carlos Pedro Pritz) was a Danish

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

 mariner who had a career with the Brazilian Imperial Navy

Brazilian Empire

The Empire of Brazil was a 19th-century state that broadly comprised the territories which form modern Brazil. Its government was a representative parliamentary constitutional monarchy under the rule of Emperors Dom Pedro I and his son Dom Pedro II, both members of the House of Braganza—a...

 during the Argentina-Brazil War

Argentina-Brazil War

The Cisplatine War or the Argentine–Brazilian War was an armed conflict over an area known as Banda Oriental or "Eastern Shore" in the 1820s between the United Provinces of River Plate and the Empire of Brazil in the aftermath of the United Provinces' emancipation from Spain.-Background:Led by...

.

Biography

Pritz was part of the First Division, also called División Bloqueo, of the Brazilian navy operating in the waters of the Rio de la Plata

Río de la Plata

The Río de la Plata —sometimes rendered River Plate in British English and the Commonwealth, and occasionally rendered [La] Plata River in other English-speaking countries—is the river and estuary formed by the confluence of the Uruguay River and the Paraná River on the border between Argentina and...

 during the Argentina-Brazil War. The mission of this squadron, initially commanded by James Norton but eventually taken over by Pritz, was to blockade the primary Argentine port of Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...

. Although the squadron had superior resources compared to the Argentine navy, commanded by William Brown

William Brown (admiral)

Admiral William Brown was an Irish-born Argentine Admiral. Brown's victories in the Independence War, the Argentina-Brazil War, and the Anglo-French blockade of the Río de la Plata earned the respect and appreciation of the Argentine people, and today he is regarded as one of Argentina's national...

, it was unable to stop the Argentines from routinely escaping.

While in command of the frigate

Frigate

A frigate is any of several types of warship, the term having been used for ships of various sizes and roles over the last few centuries.In the 17th century, the term was used for any warship built for speed and maneuverability, the description often used being "frigate-built"...

 Dona Paula

Dona Paula

Dona Paula is a former village, and tourist destination, in the suburbs of Panaji, Goa, India. It is today home to the National Institute of Oceanography, and just alongside it lie the Goa University and the International Centre Goa...

, Pritz participated in the naval battles of Los Pozos on June 11, 1826 and of Quilmes on June 30, 1826.

On April 8, 1827, Pritz—by that time a comodore—was one of the participants in the Battle of Monte Santiago, in which the superior firepower of the Brazilians forced two grounded Argentine brigs to rely on the support of a schooner.