46 mnmmu. nnronrna.
pating this blockade had been sent by the agent of the charterers by
letter dated March 20th, directing the vessel, in case Arica should
be found blockaded on arrival, to proceed to Callao. Callao is about
600 miles to the north of Arica, and had not then been blockaded.
The Spartan, accordingly, proceeded to Callao, and arrived there on
the tenth of April; but on the day before her arrival that port also
was blockaded, and the Spartan was boarded and ordered away. On
the 11th the captain was allowed to land for the purpose of obtain-
ing instructions from the agents, Grace & Uo., at Callao. They were
unable on that day to give any directions, but on the next day they
directed the ship to proceed to Ancon, which was about 10 miles to
the north of Callao, where the Spartan arrived on the evening of the
12th, and reported by telegraph. Ancon was first made a port of
entry by Peru upon the blockade of Callao. It had no adequate fa-
cilities for discharging such cargoes as that of the Spartan.i No sim-
ilar vessels or cargoes had discharged there before. On the 13th
the captain received a letter from Grace & Co., and wrote to them
the same day announcing his readiness to discharge. There was an
old, narrow mole there, with a railroad track connecting with a ware-
house about 300 yards from the beach. The Peruvian government
appropriated this warehouse, in part, for custom-house uses, and all
dutiable goods had to go into this warehouse. Other goods,-not du-
tiable, could be landed on the beach, except on days when the surf
rolled in too heavily, called "surf days." The Spartan came to anchor
about half a mile from the shore, and the cargo could only be dis-
charged in lighters, which had mostly to be brought from elsewhere.
Grace & Co. sent four from Callao; but three were lost on the way, by
capture or shipwreck, and only one came through, which arrived on
the afternoon of April 20th. The discharge was commenced on the
morning of the twentieth of April, in one of the three lighters previ-
ously at Ancon.
About the same time, or very shortly after the arrival of the Spar-
. tan on April 12th, a number of other sail-vessels came to Ancon to dis-
charge on account of the blockade of Callao. The steamers of the
Pacific Navigation Company also made Ancon their port instead of
Callao, and they had the preference in the use of the mole and of the
three lighters which were there at first. On May 11th notice of the
blockade of Ancon was given, and all vessels were required to leave
in eight days. On the 19th, the Spartan, having discharged 23 lighter
loads, or about one-half of her cargo, proceeded, by the captain’s de-
cision, and with the subsequent assent of Grace and Co., to Chancay,
18 miles north of Ancon, where she arrived on the same day. Chan-
cay had never before been a port of entry; there were less facilities
there than at Ancon, and landing_ on the beach was generally unsafe.
On the 27th the discharge of cargo was resumed at Chancay; but
Grace & C0. were unwilling to receive the lumber there on the beach,
and endeavors for a transhipment of it were mainly unsuccessful.