Get Ready for the Anarchy!
This is the 3rd part of a story, so please read my 2 previous posts of the saga to know what´s about:
Part 1: https://steemit.com/history/@wolfenlord/a-story-of-two-isles
Part 2: https://steemit.com/history/@wolfenlord/a-story-of-two-isles-part-2
So, in light of the situation, England whispered in consul Slacum´s ear, assuring him that Argentina had no rights over the archipelago, and that England didn´t resign its sovereignty(remember the lead plaque?). That gave England just the legal excuse to come into the fight, with a flying kick.
Just imagine Argentina is the white shirt dude...
USA didn´t recognize Vernet´s authority so he was charged with piracy for confiscating the Harriet´s cargo. And between december 27th and 28th of 1831, the frigate Lexington(probably regretting not arriving in time to deliver the attack as a christmas present) entered the "Bahia de la Anunciación"(Announcement Bay) using a french flag. Yes, you read right, using a french flag to trick the Argentinians into believing the raid that was about to take place came from the baguette people. Vernet´s second in command, Matthew Brisbane, went to the beach to greet the "french" warship, probably with his WTF face on, when he was met by a boat coming from the ship, inviting him onboard to talk, in the most courteous way. He accepted of course, and got into the boat. When he arrived to the Lexington however, Captain Davidson of the Harriet was waiting on board for him, with a sinister grin on his face. The next thing he knew, Brisbane was arrested.
Captain Davidson of the Lexington proceeded then to capture the small argentinian schooner that defended the bay, the Aguila(Eagle), disembarked his forces stealthily next to the settlement and then they raided the island´s warehouses and installations, stole all leathers and tools, detained the people who participated in the confiscation of the Harriet, disabled the islands´ fortifications and artillery defenses, nailed the cannons, destroyed all guns and blew the powder and set the argentinian flag on fire. At the time of the attack, there were 124 villagers in the settlement. No deaths were reported but the conditions in the islands were a lot less than livable from there onwards.(they even salted the orchards)
Meanwhile, in Buenos Aires, the United States ambassador declared that the islands were an area "free of any administrative power"(res nullius).
After the attack, the Lexington sailed to Montevideo with its prisoners, amongst which was Brisbane, and released the prisoners, cautioning them never to come back to the islands. The attack was never registered on the Lexingtons´ log.
With its food sources depleted, its crops salted, and its guns gone, the islands fell into a state of deep anarchy. The prisoners roamed freely and international pirates regularly attacked the bays.
United States president Andrew Jackson commended Captain Duncan for his raid and destruction of the civilian settlement, not in those words of course, and Argentina learned about the details of the attack. That produced indignation in the Argentinian government, which asked USA to remove consul Slacum. He was removed, but Francis Baylies, an ambassador with identical style and agenda as his predecessor was appointed. Baylies communicated Henry Fox, his british pair, that Washington was prepared to recognize british sovereignty over the isles in return that the british guaranteed american´s security and right to fish and hunt around the isles. Baylies´ plot was discovered and the relations between Argentina and USA were severed completely for the next 11 following years.
In desperation, Argentina sent a schooner to try to rebuild and secure the settlement in the isles. A lone schooner was all it could spare, since from 1832 to 1838 it descended into civil war(akin to america´s own civil war). That lone schooner´s name was Sarandí and its commander José María Pinedo patrolled the coasts for a while. But the crew was uneasy, the knew that the americans, and probably the british would be back, almost surely in force, and its green crew rioted because they didn´t wanna hold off an armada by their own. Controlling the rebellion aboard the ship was hard, but finally Pinedo managed to do it, not before Esteban Mestivier, the gunnery sargent tasked to rebuild the fort was killed in the riot.
In August 1832, news about Argentinas´ fragile position on the islands reached England and Lord Palmerston, the british prime minister ordered the naval command to retake them. On December 20th, 1832, Captain John Onslow arrived to Port Egmont with the corvette HMS Clio and a few accompanying ships. He took posession of the ruined settlement and a few days later he proceeded towards the Argentinian settlement, Puerto Soledad. Onslow informed Pinedo that he intended to take the island, and ordered him to surrender and take down the argentinian flag.
Pinedo asessed the situation: his ship was far inferior, so combat in the sea was out of the question. His crew consisted of several former british soldiers(naturalized argentinians) and the rest of the lot were green mutineers argentinian troops. Furthermore, british law demanded the penalty of death for each former british officer that raised arms against the crown. I bet that Pinedo considered both the lives of his crew and the attachment his head had to his neck before deciding to surrender, but in the end, on January 3, 1833, the argentinian flag was taken down and the british flag was raised on the isles.
We know that the Falklands are still in posession of the British nowadays, but if you wanna read about all the blood that was shed trying to retake them, stay tuned for my next post, the 4th installment of this saga!