Moore (sometimes spelled
More in some texts) was born in
Lima, the son of John Moore, a Scottish sailor and of Dolores Ruiz, a Peruvian lady. He joined the British Navy as an
ensign in 1854. Later he returned to Peru and was commissioned in the
Peruvian Navy. He served in the frigates
Apurímac,
Izcuchaca and
Huaraz, as well as the
Guise and the pontoon
Iquique. In 1866, during the
Chincha Islands War, he was appointed commander of the
corvette Unión. A few months later,
Captain Moore took a
Peruvian Navy crew to the United States to bring the
ironclad Atahualpa to Peru. The monitor sailed from
New Orleans, La. in early January 1869 arriving in Peru in June 1870. As a reward, he was appointed as commander of the frigate
Independencia and in 1877, General Commander of the Southern Fleet. As such he directed the actions to recapture the
monitor Huáscar which had been captured by
Nicolás de Piérola and had rebelled against the central government. During the
War of the Pacific between
Chile and
Peru, he was appointed commander of the strongest unit of the Peruvian Navy, the
armoured frigate Independencia. As such, he participated in the
Battle of Punta Gruesa on 21 May 1879, when his ship crashed with a submarine rock while pursuing the
Chilean schooner
Covadonga, commanded by Captain
Carlos Condell. He was rescued from his sinking ship, imprisoned in
Arica and court martialled by his own comrades. He was dismissed from the navy and forbidden to ever wear his uniform again. He decided to continue the war as a simple civilian, in order to regain his lost honor. On 27 February 1880, during the
Naval Battle of Arica, while in command of the
Manco Capac, he successfully disabled the captured Huascar killing her commander Captain Manuel Thomson. During the siege of Arica, he was in charge of the batteries of the Cape, where he was killed during the
Battle of Arica. ==References==