Juan Bautista Azopardo
Encyclopedia
Juan Bautista Azopardo was a Maltese
Privateer
and military man who fought under the flags of The Netherlands
, Spain
and Argentina
.
As a young man he studied naval architecture at the French arsenal in Toulon
. He then served with the French and the British fleets, the latter under the command of Admiral John Jervis
. He captained the tartan
San Antonio e I'Anime del Porgatorio. He later served as a privateer with a Letter of marque
from The Netherlands, and later yet with a Letter of marque from Spain against England
.
Azopardo arrived in the Río de La Plata
area on the first years of the 19th century.
During the war between England and Holland, he served in the schooner
The Hoop and took part in the capture of the British
frigate
HMS Neptune which had arrived at the port of Montevideo
as a prize on 21 January 1804. It carried 256 slaves on board. The prize Captain was the Frenchman
Hipólite Mordeille.
He served as second in command of the privateer frigate Dromedario with a Letter of marque from Montevideo, captained by Mordeille.
(1806) to Buenos Aires.
Along his captain and the rest of the Dromedario crew, they fought on the final assault to the Brisith fortress in Buenos Aires where the remnants of the British forces under general Beresford were.
During the second British invasion (1807) of Buenos Aires they transported artillery pieces on the Paraná River
, to the city for its defense. For his valor and gallantry, the Spanish Royal government made him a Lieutenant Colonel of the urban Militias.
On 17 November 1807, Santiago de Liniers
gives him in Buenos Aires a Letter of marque for his schooner La Mosca, built by Anselmo Saénz Valiente. The Letter of marque expired in 1808, with Azopardo retiring from the privateering business.
of 1810. He was given back the rank the Spanish viceroy had taken from him.
After the poor results of the Paraguay
campaign, Manuel Belgrano
requested reinforcements from Buenos Aires in order to maintain his fight in the region. The Junta could not send them by land through Entre Ríos Province, as the rivers were controlled by the royalist navy under Gaspar de Vigodet
.
At the end of 1810 the government gave Lieutenant Colonel Azopardo, command of the first national navy, comprising three vessels, whose mission was to protect the advance of the reinforcements to Belgrano's force.
The ships of this small squadron were the schooner Invencible, the brigantine
25 de Mayo and the sloop
América. His second in command was captain Hipólito Bouchard.
At the Battle of San Nicolás
, on 2 March 1811, he was forced to confront a superior royalist navy with seven ships to his three. Azopardo was wounded and made prisoner, with his ships being captured. Belgrano would have to do without reinforcements and be forced to sign a document abandoning Paraguay.
Imprisoned by the Spaniards, he was moved to Ceuta
, where he shared a prison with the Inca Juan Bautista Túpac Amaru. The revolution of General Riego (1820) ended with the liberals taking power in Spain, and ordering the freedom of all political prisoners. Azopardo is freed and returns to Argentina where he is received as a hero. He was given the post of Buenos Aires Harbor Master.
He spent his last years with his wife Maria Sandalia Perez Rico and his son Luis Alberto.
Azopardo died on 23 October 1848 in Buenos Aires.
with a height of 26 metres (85.3 ft), covered in marble
, was made with federal funds to pay homage to the Naval Battle of San Nicolás. Azopardo's remains are buried there.
Malta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
Privateer
Privateer
A privateer is a private person or ship authorized by a government by letters of marque to attack foreign shipping during wartime. Privateering was a way of mobilizing armed ships and sailors without having to spend public money or commit naval officers...
and military man who fought under the flags of The Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
and Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
.
Early life
Juan Bautista Azopardo was born in Senglea, Malta, son of Rosina (née Romano) and Salvatore Azopardo.As a young man he studied naval architecture at the French arsenal in Toulon
Toulon
Toulon is a town in southern France and a large military harbor on the Mediterranean coast, with a major French naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur region, Toulon is the capital of the Var department in the former province of Provence....
. He then served with the French and the British fleets, the latter under the command of Admiral John Jervis
John Jervis
John Jervis may refer to:* John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent , Royal Navy admiral* Sir John Jervis , British politician, Solicitor General, Attorney General and Privy Counsellor...
. He captained the tartan
Tartan
Tartan is a pattern consisting of criss-crossed horizontal and vertical bands in multiple colours. Tartans originated in woven wool, but now they are made in many other materials. Tartan is particularly associated with Scotland. Scottish kilts almost always have tartan patterns...
San Antonio e I'Anime del Porgatorio. He later served as a privateer with a Letter of marque
Letter of marque
In the days of fighting sail, a Letter of Marque and Reprisal was a government licence authorizing a person to attack and capture enemy vessels, and bring them before admiralty courts for condemnation and sale...
from The Netherlands, and later yet with a Letter of marque from Spain against England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
Azopardo arrived in the Río 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...
area on the first years of the 19th century.
During the war between England and Holland, he served in the schooner
Schooner
A schooner is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts with the forward mast being no taller than the rear masts....
The Hoop and took part in the capture of the British
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
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"...
HMS Neptune which had arrived at the port of Montevideo
Montevideo
Montevideo is the largest city, the capital, and the chief port of Uruguay. The settlement was established in 1726 by Bruno Mauricio de Zabala, as a strategic move amidst a Spanish-Portuguese dispute over the platine region, and as a counter to the Portuguese colony at Colonia del Sacramento...
as a prize on 21 January 1804. It carried 256 slaves on board. The prize Captain was the Frenchman
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
Hipólite Mordeille.
He served as second in command of the privateer frigate Dromedario with a Letter of marque from Montevideo, captained by Mordeille.
British Invasions (1806 - 1807)
This vessel transported part of the troops which fought against the first British InvasionBritish invasions of the Río de la Plata
The British invasions of the Río de la Plata were a series of unsuccessful British attempts to seize control of the Spanish colonies located around the La Plata Basin in South America . The invasions took place between 1806 and 1807, as part of the Napoleonic Wars, when Spain was an ally of...
(1806) to Buenos Aires.
Along his captain and the rest of the Dromedario crew, they fought on the final assault to the Brisith fortress in Buenos Aires where the remnants of the British forces under general Beresford were.
During the second British invasion (1807) of Buenos Aires they transported artillery pieces on the Paraná River
Paraná River
The Paraná River is a river in south Central South America, running through Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina for some . It is second in length only to the Amazon River among South American rivers. The name Paraná is an abbreviation of the phrase "para rehe onáva", which comes from the Tupi language...
, to the city for its defense. For his valor and gallantry, the Spanish Royal government made him a Lieutenant Colonel of the urban Militias.
On 17 November 1807, Santiago de Liniers
Santiago de Liniers
Jacques de Liniers was a French officer in the Spanish military service, and a viceroy of the Spanish colonies of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata. He is more widely known by the Spanish form of his name, Santiago de Liniers...
gives him in Buenos Aires a Letter of marque for his schooner La Mosca, built by Anselmo Saénz Valiente. The Letter of marque expired in 1808, with Azopardo retiring from the privateering business.
Argentine independence
Azopardo joined the revolutionary forces on the May RevolutionMay Revolution
The May Revolution was a week-long series of events that took place from May 18 to 25, 1810, in Buenos Aires, capital of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, a Spanish colony that included roughly the territories of present-day Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay...
of 1810. He was given back the rank the Spanish viceroy had taken from him.
After the poor results of the Paraguay
Paraguay
Paraguay , officially the Republic of Paraguay , is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to the east and northeast, and Bolivia to the northwest. Paraguay lies on both banks of the Paraguay River, which runs through the center of the...
campaign, Manuel Belgrano
Manuel Belgrano
Manuel José Joaquín del Corazón de Jesús Belgrano , usually referred to as Manuel Belgrano, was an Argentine economist, lawyer, politician, and military leader. He took part in the Argentine Wars of Independence and created the Flag of Argentina...
requested reinforcements from Buenos Aires in order to maintain his fight in the region. The Junta could not send them by land through Entre Ríos Province, as the rivers were controlled by the royalist navy under Gaspar de Vigodet
Gaspar de Vigodet
Gaspar de Vigodet was a Spanish military with French roots and last Royalist Governor of Montevideo....
.
At the end of 1810 the government gave Lieutenant Colonel Azopardo, command of the first national navy, comprising three vessels, whose mission was to protect the advance of the reinforcements to Belgrano's force.
The ships of this small squadron were the schooner Invencible, the brigantine
Brigantine
In sailing, a brigantine or hermaphrodite brig is a vessel with two masts, only the forward of which is square rigged.-Origins of the term:...
25 de Mayo and the sloop
Sloop
A sloop is a sail boat with a fore-and-aft rig and a single mast farther forward than the mast of a cutter....
América. His second in command was captain Hipólito Bouchard.
At the Battle of San Nicolás
Battle of San Nicolás
The Battle of San Nicolás was a naval engagement on 2 March 1811 on the Paraná River between the Spanish royalists from Montevideo, and the first flotilla created by the revolutionary government of Buenos Aires. It was the first engagement between the two fleets in the River Plate region since the...
, on 2 March 1811, he was forced to confront a superior royalist navy with seven ships to his three. Azopardo was wounded and made prisoner, with his ships being captured. Belgrano would have to do without reinforcements and be forced to sign a document abandoning Paraguay.
Imprisoned by the Spaniards, he was moved to Ceuta
Ceuta
Ceuta is an autonomous city of Spain and an exclave located on the north coast of North Africa surrounded by Morocco. Separated from the Iberian peninsula by the Strait of Gibraltar, Ceuta lies on the border of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Ceuta along with the other Spanish...
, where he shared a prison with the Inca Juan Bautista Túpac Amaru. The revolution of General Riego (1820) ended with the liberals taking power in Spain, and ordering the freedom of all political prisoners. Azopardo is freed and returns to Argentina where he is received as a hero. He was given the post of Buenos Aires Harbor Master.
War with Brazil
Returning to Buenos Aires he was given command of the brigantine General Belgrano, as second in command to admiral Guillermo Brown, to fight against the naval forces of Pedro I of Brazil who had declared war on Argentina at the end of 1825.Last years of service
He returned to the post of Buenos Aires Harbor Master until 1826. On 3 February 1827 he requested and obtained his retirement.He spent his last years with his wife Maria Sandalia Perez Rico and his son Luis Alberto.
Azopardo died on 23 October 1848 in Buenos Aires.
Azopardo Monument
An obeliskObelisk
An obelisk is a tall, four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape at the top, and is said to resemble a petrified ray of the sun-disk. A pair of obelisks usually stood in front of a pylon...
with a height of 26 metres (85.3 ft), covered in marble
Marble
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite.Geologists use the term "marble" to refer to metamorphosed limestone; however stonemasons use the term more broadly to encompass unmetamorphosed limestone.Marble is commonly used for...
, was made with federal funds to pay homage to the Naval Battle of San Nicolás. Azopardo's remains are buried there.
Legacy and honors
- Four vessels of the Argentine NavyArgentine NavyThe Navy of the Argentine Republic or Armada of the Argentine Republic is the navy of Argentina. It is one of the three branches of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic, together with the Army and the Air Force....
carried his name: Tug Boat (1885), Tug Boat (1923), Frigate (1958), Coast Guard Cutter (1962), Coast Guard Cutter GC 25 (1983). - A street in Buenos Aires is named after him.
- Several schools in Argentina are named Azopardo.
- On 16 June 2001 a bust commemorating Azopardo was unveiled on Senglea's waterfront.
- Part of the Senglea Marina was also named after him.