Martin Guise

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Martin Guise was a Royal Navy Admiral and veteran of the Battle of Trafalgar who later assumed command of the Peruvian Navy, in whose service he was killed in action in 1829.

Guise was a restless, adventure-loving man. Like Lord Cochrane he had been in the Royal Navy — taking part in one of Britain's greatest naval victories, the Battle of Trafalgar, in 1805. When Guise heard of the South American wars of independence he resigned from the Navy, bought his own ship, the "Hecate", and set sail never to return to Britain.

He arrived in Buenos Aires and quickly came to an agreement with Cochrane. Guise's role in the battles that followed was significant, in spite of frequent, bitter disagreements with Cochrane. It was his contribution to the attack on the "Esmeralda" that made its capture possible.

After the war and in poor health, he retired to Miraflores where he married the young Limenian, Juana Valle Riestra. But his peaceful life was short. When war broke out against Colombia in 1829 he was asked to take command of the Peruvian Navy. His fleet captured Guayaquil but he was killed by a sniper during the battle.

His body was brought to Callao in honour and he was buried there in the clothes of a Franciscan monk. In 1926 his remains were transferred to the Panteon de los Proceres.^[1]

The Blue House in Markham College is named after him.