Baron of Jaceguai | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | (1843-05-26)26 May 1843 |
| Died | 6 June 1914(1914-06-06) (aged 71) |
| Allegiance |  Empire of Brazil First Brazilian Republic |
| Branch |  Imperial Brazilian Navy Brazilian Navy |
| Rank | Admiral |
| Battles / wars | |
Artur Silveira da Mota, Baron of Jaceguai[a] (26 May 1843 — 6 June 1914) was a Brazilian admiral, noble and writer. Mota fought in theParaguayan War. He was animmortal of theBrazilian Academy of Letters.[1]
The son of José Inácio Siqueira da Mota, Mota was born inSão Paulo on 26 May 1843. At the age of fourteen he moved toRio de Janeiro with his father who had just been appointed senator for theGoiás province. In Rio de Janeiro he joined theColégio Vitória to later join theNaval School, which he did on 4 March 1858, as an aspirant ofguarda-marinha, completing the course in 1860.[2]
After the notorious wreck of the BraziliancorvetteIsabel near thecape Spartel in 1860 that killed most of its crew, his father tried to persuade him into joining thearmy and even managed to get into contact with the Minister of War in order to facilitate the process, but Mota refused, continuing his career in thenavy.[3]
In 1851 he went on his first training trip aboard the corvetteBaiana under the command of captain José Maria Rodrigues. On that occasion, he visitedEngland,France,Spain, the coast ofAfrica and theUnited States.[3] On 2 December 1852, he was promoted to 2nd lieutenant, being appointedhydrography instructor of the class ofguarda-marinhas, who were on their long-haul instruction trip aboard thefrigateConstituição.[4][5] Mota was promoted to 1st Lieutenant when he returned to Brazil from that trip on 28 December 1863.[6]
On 20 February 1865 Mota headed south to join theRío de la Plata fleet to begin naval operations in the ongoingParaguayan War. There, on the 27th, theViscount of Tamandaré, commander-in-chief of the Brazilian naval forces in the Río de la Plata, appointed him as his personal secretary andaide-de-camp.[6]
About this appointment, senatorFrancisco Otaviano would later say in a speech in the Senate's tribune:[7]
"When I had the honor of going on a diplomatic commission to the Río de la Plata, in times of war, I saw the proven and praiseworthy admiral Tamandaré accompany himself to the theater of operations of a very young lieutenant, taking him as secretary. This surprised me; but for the time ahead, communicating enough with this young officer, I recognized that the noble admiral had had a happy eye.
It did not surprise me that this young man had bravery and loyalty, which are qualities of the noble profession of the man of the sea. No wonder he, so unripe from the years (he was no more than 20 years old), when others were looking to have fun, had dedicated himself to the study of all the scientific fields that today are necessary for the naval officer commanding a ship, and much more for who, trusting himself, was already preparing for the higher positions of the fleet.
But what amazed me about this young officer was the discretion, the good advice with which he rendered services on critical occasions so relevant to me and the admiral, services that do not appear on the official reports, but that we, public men, know how to recognize. Two years later he was chosen by theMarquis of Caxias and theViscount of Inhaúma for the most honorable and most brilliant mission that a Brazilian naval officer has ever had, I dare say, the vanguard post in thepassage of Humaitá".
On 13 July 1867 he assumed command of thegunboatIvaí. The Marquis of Caxias sent him to Rio de Janeiro on a private and special mission to theEmperor. Mota did his job with discretion and finesse and, on his return to the theater of war, was appointed commander of theironcladBarroso. He took a prominent part in thebattle of Curupayty. The trust Caxias and Inhaúma had for him put him on some of the most risky and difficult missions. In one of them, in Humaitá, Mota accomplished the greatest feat of his life forcing the very dangerous passage of the river, under the relentless fire of Paraguayan batteries.[4]
When the Paraguayan War ended in 1870 Mota was 26 years old and was already captain at sea. He was appointed commander of the armoured corvetteNichteroy, then the largest ship in the Brazilian fleet, and set out on a long-distance instruction trip, commandingguarda-marinhas and officers, along the northern coast of Brazil.[4]
A student of naval issues, Mota was concerned with the system to be adopted in the Brazilian navy. He was a supporter of the Armstrong system, which opposed the Whitworth, and at public conferences, some of which were attended by the emperor Pedro II, he defended his point of view. After experimenting on the subject, according to Mota's indications, the Brazilian Navy adopted the Armstrong system.[4]
In 1873, after leaving the command of the corvetteNichteroy, Mota was sent to command a permanent scientific commission, with the purpose not only of completing a general survey of the coast of Brazil and of the Platine republics, but also of providing theoretical and practical exercises to officers who were still inexperienced. Later he was appointed naval attaché to the Brazilian legations in all European courts, receiving the particular task of studying the naval organization of these countries. In December 1878, he was promoted to the post of head-of-division and, in the following year, he was appointed Extraordinary Envoy and Plenipotentiary Minister on a special mission in China. He went aboard the corvetteVital de Oliveira. Upon his return, he was chosen to remodel theRio de Janeiro navy shipyard. In 1882 he was promoted to chief-of-squadron of theEsquadra de Evoluções, a post that corresponds to today's rear admiral, and received the title of Baron de Jaceguai.[4]
In 1887 he asked for retirement, an act that provoked vehement appeals from his comrades and friends. Away from active service, he did not completely abandon the profession he loved so much. In 1897, he was appointed director of the Navy Library, Museum and Archive, and editor of theRevista Marítima Brasileira magazine. In 1900 he was appointed director of the Naval School, where he carried out a major program of administration.[1]
Mota applied for the Brazilian Academy of Letters in 1907, encouraged byJoaquim Nabuco, with the idea that the academy should represent, in its roster, the entirety of Brazilian intellectuals and not just aspects of national literary activity. In his inaugural speech, Mota did not praise his predecessor, Teixeira de Melo, claiming he "had not known the man or his work". Goulart de Andrade, who succeeded him at the academy, believed to have found another explanation for this silence: in the national Ephemerides, when reporting the passage of Humaitá in the Brazilian squadron, Teixeira de Melo mentioned the name of the commander of the division,Delfim Carlos de Carvalho, later Baron of Passagem, omitting that of theBarroso commander, Artur Silveira da Mota.[1][8]
Mota finally retired on 15 February 1911. He died three years later, suffering witharteriosclerosis, on 6 June 1914.[8]