Manuel de la Cámara

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Spanish name, the first or paternal surname
is de la Cámara and the second or maternal family name is Livermoore.
Manuel de la Cámara
Born(1836-05-07)7 May 1836
Málaga, Province of Málaga, Spain
Died4 January 1920(1920-01-04) (aged 83)
Málaga, Province of Málaga, Spain
Buried
Cemetery of San Miguel, Málaga, Province of Málaga, Spain
Allegiance Spain
Service/branch Spanish Navy
Years of service1852–1903
Rank Almirante
Commands held
Battles/wars
Awards

Philippine Islands during the Spanish–American War
.

Early life

Cámara was born at

merchant mariner and sea captain,[3] and his mother was English.[3]
He had five brothers and six sisters.

Having an English mother, Cámara learned

naval academy in San Fernando in July 1850.[1] He completed his course of study there in 1852.[1]

Tragedy struck the Cámara family on 28 March 1856 when one of Cámara′s sisters, Matilde de la Cámara Livermore, who had boarded the Spanish

transport ship Minden.[4][5][6][7][note 2]

Naval career

Early career

After graduation from the naval academy, Cámara entered the

Hispano-Moroccan War of 1859–1860, in which his superiors noted that he displayed fine qualities as an officer.[3]

In 1861, Spain concluded the

Vice Admiral Edmond Jurien de La Gravière.[3] Cámara returned to Spain in 1863 and was assigned to duty aboard the paddle steamer Piles, based at Cádiz.[1]

Chincha Islands War

Valparaiso, Chile
, on 31 March 1866.
An 1867 painting of the Battle of Callao on 2 May 1866.

In 1864, Cámara became

Apurímac and corvettes América and Unión and the Chilean Navy schooner Covadonga.[1] Villa de Madrid also participated in the bombardment of Valparaíso, Chile, on 31 March 1866 and the blockade of the Chorrillos squadron in April 1866.[1]

Aboard Villa de Madrid, Cámara took part in the lone major naval action of the Chincha Islands War, the

Spanish Marine Corps.[1]

Misfortune again struck Cámara's family when Cámara's younger brother Ricardo de la Cámara Livermore, born in 1839, who also participated in the Chincha Islands War with the rank of alférez de navío, developed a psychological trauma diagnosed as "

senile dementia," leading to Ricardo′s admittance to a mental sanatorium.[12]

After the Chincha Islands War ended in 1866, Cámara received rapid promotion.

armored frigates Vitoria and Arapiles.[1] In 1868 he was promoted to teniente de navío de 1.ª clase (ship-of-the-line lieutenant 1st class) and began a tour in the Department of the Philippines in command of the gunboat Prueba.[1] During his tour in command, Prueba supported the Hydrographic Commission of the Archipelago in conducting hydrographic surveys in the Philippines.[1] In 1870, he relinquished command of Prueba and returned to Spain.[1]

Ten Years' War

In 1872, Cámara was assigned to the Maritime Department of Havana in Cuba,

Cross of Military Merit and a second award of the Cross of Naval Merit.[1] He also commanded the paddle steamer Don Álvaro de Bazán and the sloop-of-war Favorita during the war.[1]

After the Spanish

steam corvette Tornado captured the American sidewheel paddle steamer Virginius — which was transporting men, munitions, and supplies to Cuban rebels — off Cuba on 30 October 1873 and Spanish authorities subsequently executed many of her passengers and crew, the resulting crisis with the United States, known as the Virginius Affair, almost led to war. Spain eventually agreed to return Virginius to the United States. Cámara, in command of Favorita at the time, played a role in the final resolution of the affair, boarding the United States Navy steamer USS Despatch off Bahia Honda, Cuba, on 16 December 1873 and making arrangements with U.S. Navy Captain W. D. Whiting for Virginius′s return, which took place without incident the next day under Cámara′s supervision from aboard Favorita.[13][14]

Promoted to capitán de fragata (

embassy in Spain.[1]

In 1885, Cámara was appointed head of the Spanish Navy commission in the United States at

ship-of-the-line captain) in 1888.[1] In his next assignments, he successively commanded the unprotected cruisers Reina Mercedes and Castilla.[1]

1890s

Cámara as a capitán de navío on 7 May 1890.

On 7 March 1890, Cámara took command of the Philippine Division, a naval force composed of Castilla and the unprotected cruisers

Gulf of Lyons, but otherwise enjoyed good weather during its voyage.[17] It called at Barcelona, Port Said, Suez, Aden, and Colombo before arriving at Singapore on 2 June 1890.[17] The three cruisers resumed their voyage the next day and arrived at Manila on 17 June 1890. In the Philippines, the division became known as the "Black Squadron" because its ships were painted black instead of white, as other Asiatic Squadron ships were. Although a captain, Cámara commanded the division with the title of "commodore" of the division[17] until December 1890, when illness forced him to relinquish command.[1]

Cámara returned to Spain in 1891.

First Rif War broke out in Melilla in 1893, and the conflict made it necessary to send a large number of Spanish Army
troops to Morocco. The Spanish Navy did not have enough ships to transport them all, so it ordered Cámara to organize their transportation. Cámara showed great skill in finding and hiring suitable ships in various Spanish ports, and received numerous commendations for his work during the war.

In April 1894, the month the First Rif War War ended, Cámara was promoted to capitán de navío de 1.ª clase (ship-of-the-line captain first class).[1] In 1895 he was appointed head of the Spanish Navy commission to the United Kingdom in London, serving as naval attaché at the Spanish embassy there.[1][15][9][16] In April 1897, he was promoted to rear admiral and returned to Spain,[1] where he became commander of the Reserve Squadron. He represented the Spanish Navy at the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria in the United Kingdom in June 1897.[3]

Spanish–American War

Shortly after the Spanish–American War began in April 1898, the Spanish Navy ordered major units of its fleet to concentrate at Cádiz to form the 2nd Squadron, under Cámara′s command.[18] Two of Spain's most powerful warships, the battleship Pelayo and the brand-new armored cruiser Emperador Carlos V, were not available when the war began, the former undergoing reconstruction in a French shipyard and the latter not yet delivered from her builders. However, both were rushed into service and assigned to Cámara's squadron.[19] One mission of the squadron, in the absence of any other direction, was to guard the Spanish coast against raids by the U.S. Navy.

During a meeting of senior Spanish naval officers in

Patricio Montojo y Pasaron in the Battle of Manila Bay
on 1 May 1898.

Cámara's squadron lay idle at Cádiz while the Spanish Ministry of Marine considered options for redressing the situation in the Caribbean and the Philippines. In late May 1898, Spanish Minister of Marine

United States East Coast, after which the squadron was to head for the Caribbean and make port in Puerto Rico at San Juan or in Cuba at either Havana or Santiago de Cuba.[15] Meanwhile, U.S. intelligence reported rumors as early as 15 May 1898 that Spain also was considering sending Cámara's squadron to the Philippines to destroy Dewey's squadron and reinforce the Spanish forces there with fresh troops.[20] Pelayo and Emperador Carlos V each were individually more powerful than any of Dewey's ships, and the possibility of their arrival in the Philippines was of great concern to the United States, which hastily arranged to dispatch 10,000 additional U.S. Army troops to the Philippines and send two U.S. Navy monitors to reinforce Dewey.[20]

A caricature of Cámara in an 1898 cartoon by Joaquín Xaudaró.
Cámara's squadron in the Suez Canal in July 1898. His flagship, the battleship Pelayo, can be seen in the foreground.

On 15 June 1898, Cámara finally received his orders: Plans to raid the U.S. East Coast were cancelled, and instead he was to depart immediately for the Philippines, escorting a convoy carrying 4,000 Spanish Army troops for reinforcement of the Philippines, and destroy Dewey's squadron there.

Balabac, Jolo, Basilan, and Zamboanga) or concentrate his squadron as best he saw fit to ensure the safe arrival of the troops. Then he was to deal with Dewey's squadron.[15][22]

Cámara sortied from Cádiz on 16 June 1898,[23] passed Gibraltar on 17 June 1898[24] (first detaching Alfonso XII and Antonio Lopez for their independent voyages to the Caribbean as ordered), and arrived at Port Said on 26 June 1898.[25] There he requested permission to transship coal.[25] However, intelligence operatives in Spain had made the United States aware of Cámara's itinerary, and the U.S. acting vice consul to Egypt in Cairo, diplomat Ethelbert Watts, had acquired a lien on all coal available in Suez.[26] Further complicating matters for Cámara, the British government, which effectively controlled Egypt at the time, informed him on 29 June that his squadron was not permitted to coal in Egyptian waters, on the grounds that it had enough coal to return to Spain and that any coaling activity it undertook in Egypt would violate Egyptian and British neutrality, and that he would have to return to sea within 24 hours. Cámara complied.[15]

Ordered to continue its voyage,[9] Cámara's squadron passed through the Suez Canal on 5–6 July 1898. By that time, a United States Department of the Navy bulletin released on 27 June 1898 had announced that U.S. Navy Commodore John C. Watson would "take under his command an armored squadron with cruisers and proceed at once to the Spanish coast"[9] and Cervera's squadron in the Caribbean had been annihilated in the Battle of Santiago de Cuba on 3 July, freeing up the U.S. Navy's heavy forces from the blockade of Santiago de Cuba. Although Watson′s squadron had barely begun to assemble,[9] the Spanish Ministry of Marine, fearful for the security of the Spanish coast, recalled Cámara's squadron, which by then had reached the Red Sea, on 7 July 1898.[27] On the return voyage, Cámara's squadron departed Suez on 11 July 1898 for Spain, where it arrived at Cartagena, Spain, on 23 July and then made its way back to Cádiz.[15] The 2nd Squadron was dissolved on 25 July 1898.[18]

The Spanish–American War ended on 12 August 1898 in a decisive defeat of Spain without Cámara or his ships having had a chance to see combat.

Later career

After returning from his abortive voyage to the Philippines and the dissolution of the 2nd Squadron, Cámara resumed his command of the Reserve Squadron. It was renamed the Instructional Squadron in January 1899,

Merchant Marine Board.[1]

During his career, Cámara twice served as Director of Materiel at the Spanish Ministry of Marine.[3][28]

In August 1903, at his own request, Cámara was transferred to the reserve list and retired from the navy.[1][9][15] The Spanish Navy changed its rank structure on 10 January 1912, with senior ranks each increasing by one grade.[29] Thus in retirement Cámara′s rank became admiral on that date.[30]

Honors and awards

Awards Cámara received include:

Personal life

Cámara married Emma Díaz Gayen (1857–1935)[2] in the Church of Santa María del Sagrario in Málaga on 1 August 1878.[2] They had three sons — Manuel de la Cámara Díaz (1879–1959), Carlos de la Cámara Díaz (1881–1948), and Enrique de la Cámara Díaz (1884–1951) — and a daughter, Emma de la Cámara Díaz (1880–1970).[2]

In his personal demeanor, Cámara was modest, soft-spoken, reserved and reticent, with an air of dignified gravity and even melancholy.[3] Professionally, he was deliberate, determined, and strong-willed, but he was kind, gentle, attentive, and generous toward his acquaintances.[3] He was personally wealthy and lived a refined life, but quietly and with little ostentation.[3] A deeply religious man,[3] he often read prayers and provided religious instruction to sailors under his command,[3] and at least some of his associates believed that he cared little about the secular affairs of the world.[3] Politically, he was a staunch Royalist in good favor with the Spanish royal family, but he rarely resided in Madrid because he disliked the pomp and circumstance of the royal court and the socializing it demanded.[3]

Because of his English mother, Cámara was sympathetic toward the United Kingdom.[3] During periods of leave from the navy, he often spent one or two months at a time living quietly in London.[3]

Death

Cámara died in Málaga on 4 January 1920.[15][38] He is buried in the Cemetery of San Miguel in Málaga.[39]

Notes

  1. ISBN 978-1-85109-951-1, p. 85. One source places his birth on 30 May 1835 and his baptism on that day as well (see geneatnet.org Manuel de la Cámara Livermore Family Tree by Fernando Francisco
    ).
  2. ^ Only 21 of the 115 people aboard Miño survived the sinking.

References

Citations

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq ar as at au Real Academia de la Historia: Manuel de la Cámara y Livermoore (in Spanish) Retrieved 8 May 2020
  2. ^ a b c d geneatnet.org Manuel de la Cámara Livermore Family Tree by Fernando Francisco
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Anonymous, "Upon This Man Spain′s Fading Hopes Depend," Brooklyn Daily Eagle, June 19, 1898, p. 9.
  4. ^ Martín Heredia Escolar (2010). "Hundimiento del Miño, 29 de marzo de 1856" (in Spanish). Retrieved 19 February 2018.
  5. ^ Lucas Martín (2015). "El Miño: el Titanic de la burguesía malagueña". La Opinión de Málaga (in Spanish). Retrieved 19 February 2018.
  6. ^ "Liverpool, Monday". The Times. No. 22336. London. 8 April 1856. col C, p. 5.
  7. ^ "The Recent Collision at Gibraltar". The Times. No. 22338. London. 10 April 1856. col E, p. 5.
  8. ^ "Parte Oficial, Resoluciones tomadas por el Ministerio de Marina". El Lloyd Español (in Spanish). 23 October 1862. p. 1. Retrieved 19 February 2018. cuatro meses de licencia para la Península y el extranjero al alférez de navío don Manuel de la Cámara y Livermore
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l The Encyclopedia Americana, New York: The Americana Corporation, 1925, p. 243 Retrieved 6 May 2020
  10. ^ de Novo y Colson, Pedro (1882). Historía de la guerra de España en el Pacífico (in Spanish). Impr. de Fortanet., p. 453.
  11. ISBN 978-84-95088-90-1
    ., p. 95.
  12. ^ Cristina Romero Mancera (December 2012). El Avisador Malagueño, "José de la Cámara de la Cámara" (PDF) (in Spanish). pp. 23–25.
  13. ISBN 0870810804
    , pp. 109–111.
  14. ^ The Spanish–American War Centennial Website: "The Virginius Affair" by Jonathan Ault Retrieved 7 May 2020
  15. ^
    ISBN 978-1-85109-951-1
    , p. 85.
  16. ^ a b "Firma de Marina". La Unión Católica (in Spanish). 31 March 1897. p. 1. Retrieved 19 February 2018. cese en el cargo de jefe de la Comisión de Marina en Londres, el contraalmirante D. Manuel de la Cámara y Livermore
  17. ^ a b c d e Anonymous, "Three Spanish War Vessels at Singapore," Straits Times, 3 June 1890 Retrieved 7 May 2020
  18. ^ a b The Spanish–American War Centennial Website: Pelayo
  19. ^ Nofi, p. 58
  20. ^
    ISBN 0-393-30304-7
    , p. 222
  21. ^ Nofi. p.168
  22. ^ Cervera's papers, p. 151-154
  23. ^ Nofi, p. 273
  24. ^ Nofi, p. 168
  25. ^ a b Cervera's papers, p. 154.
  26. ^ French Ensor Chadwick, "The relations of the United States and Spain: the Spanish–American War," Volume 2, p. 388 (1911).
  27. ^ Nofi, p. 283
  28. ^ "Apostadero de la Habana" (in Spanish). Armed Forces. 1868–1900. 579234. Retrieved February 19, 2018.
  29. ^ Gaceta de Madrid (14 January 1912). Real Decreto (PDF) (in Spanish). p. 114. Retrieved 20 February 2018.
  30. ^ Ministerio de la Guerra (1 September 1919). Diario Oficial del Ministerio de la Guerra (in Spanish). Biblioteca Nacional. pp. 604–605. Retrieved 19 February 2018.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  31. ^ "Real Decreto". Diario Oficial de Avisos de Madrid (in Spanish). 21 November 1901. p. 1. Retrieved 19 February 2018. Queriendo dar una señalada prueba de Mi Real aprecio a vos D. Manuel de la Cámara y Livermore, de acuerdo con el parecer de Mi Consejo de Ministros; En nombre de Mi Augusto Hijo el Rey D. Alfonso XIII, y como Reina Regente del Reino, Vengo en concederle la Gran Cruz de la Real y distinguida Orden de Carlos III (...)-MARIA CRISTINA
  32. ^ "Información Oficial de Hoy". El Correo Español (in Spanish). 19 November 1901. p. 2. Retrieved 19 February 2018. Decreto concediendo a D. Manuel de la Cámara y Livermore la gran cruz de la Orden de Carlos III.
  33. El Heraldo de Madrid
    (in Spanish). 19 November 1901. p. 3. Retrieved 19 February 2018. Decreto concediendo a D. Manuel de la Cámara y Livermore la gran cruz de la Orden de Carlos III.
  34. ^ "Noticias Oficiales". La Correspondencia Militar (in Spanish). 5 August 1902. p. 2. Retrieved 19 February 2018.
  35. ^ Estado Español (1919). Guía Oficial de España 1919 (in Spanish). Biblioteca Nacional. pp. 570–571. Retrieved 19 February 2018.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  36. ^ "Lista Condecorados Orden del Merito Naval". Guía Oficial de España (in Spanish). 1910. p. 489. Retrieved 19 February 2018. 1903 D. Manuel De la Cámara y Livermore
  37. ^ Anuario Militar de España 1919 (in Spanish). Biblioteca Nacional. 1919. p. 10. Retrieved 19 February 2018.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  38. ^ Diario Oficial del Ministerio de Marina (in Spanish). Biblioteca de Defensa. 19 July 1919. p. 1905. Retrieved 19 February 2018. Pensión de orfandad para su hija Emma De la Cámara Díaz{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  39. ^ "Personajes ilustres del Cementerio de San Miguel" (in Spanish). Retrieved 20 February 2018.

Bibliography

  • Cervera Y Topete, Pascual. Office of Naval Intelligence War Notes No. VII: Information From Abroad: The Spanish–American War: A Collection of Documents Relative to the Squadron Operations in the West Indies, Translated From the Spanish. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1899.
  • ISBN 0-938289-57-8
    .

External links
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