Doctor Santiago Távara, doctor of Huáscar

During the naval campaign of 1879, doctor Santiago Távara was a doctor for Huáscar, born in Lima on September 8, 1840, although his family roots were from Piura. From a very young age he gave unequivocal signs of his vocation for medicine. After completing his school studies at the Santo Toribio Seminary, he entered the Faculty of San Fernando where the illustrious Cayetano Heredia had carried out important reforms.

In 1865, the university youth rejected the Vivanco-Pareja Treaty, which sought to solve the offending presence of the Spanish fleet in the Pacific that had seized the Chincha Islands, our richest guano emporium. Thus, Távara joined the revolutionary host of the north, led by Colonel José Balta, who was advancing on Lima to depose President Juan Antonio Pezet. Then came the intense preparations to repel the imminent attack by the Spanish fleet. Santiago Távara, who had graduated as a doctor-surgeon on February 19, 1866, was named surgeon of the army first class, immediately highlighting him to serve on the Tumbes ship, under the command of the ship’s captain Lizardo Montero. On the day of May 2, 1866, Tumbes was in the first line of fire and suffered seven casualties in her crew. Távara courageously complied with his obligations, standing out for his serenity that did not abandon him at any time. Due to his commendable performance, he was promoted to the class of major surgeon, also being awarded the denomination of Benemérito a la Patria in Heroic and Eminent Degree.

Having overcome the very serious displeasure that the presence of American Commodore John R. Tucker, who was entrusted with the command of the Peruvian navy, caused among the naval officers of our country, the government arranged for the foreign sailor to direct an Exploring Hydrographic Commission of the Montaña, which left Lima in 1867. Santiago Távara was the doctor there. The results of the expedition were very important and a large amount of news about its work can be found in the Travel Diary that Távara published in installments in El Comercio during July and August 1868, which the author later compiled in the book entitled ” Trip from Lima to Iquitos”.

Távara barely had a few days to recover from the hardships suffered in the jungle, since in August 1868 Lima was hit by a terrible epidemic of yellow fever. Also that year there was a catastrophic earthquake, followed by a tsunami, which destroyed Pisagua, Arica, Tacna, Iquique, Moquegua, and other cities. Santiago Távara joined the mission of doctors to help the innumerable victims. In both cases his performance was remarkable. In 1869 he was appointed chief physician of Callao and in 1878 he published an interesting clinical study on the population of said port.

When Chile declared war on us, Santiago Távara was appointed monitor Huáscar’s doctor, assisted by Dr. Miguel Rotalde and medical practitioner José Ignacio Canales. He made the entire naval campaign without missing a day. On October 8, 1879, in the waters of Angamos, while the solitary Huáscar fought against the Chilean squadron, Távara carried out his selfless mission healing the wounded and encouraging the dying. He also suffered a serious injury to one of his legs and a minor one to his face. Together with the other survivors of the legendary monitor, he was taken prisoner to Chile and when an exchange took place he was able to return to Peru at the end of the fateful 1879.

Despite his physical limitations, Santiago Távara returned to work, participating very actively in the preparations for the defense of Lima. After the misfortunes of San Juan and Miraflores, on January 13 and 15, 1881, the courageous doctor had to go to Panama, where he had relatives, practicing his profession there until his final return to Callao in March 1884. In the midst of a deep material and psychic prostration he resumed his tasks as head doctor of the first port with his recognized efficiency, generosity and bonhomie. Affable in his manner, accurate in his diagnoses, jovial in his conversation, Dr. Santiago Távara was loved and admired by all the Chalaco people. The illustrious doctor died in Lima, due to pneumonia, on August 22, 1897. The life of Távara, a distinguished figure of the Peruvian Navy, can be synthesized in four adjectives: good, honest, tenacious and patriotic.