Founded in 1532 as a Spanish colonial port, Paita sits at 5 degrees south latitude. From that date, it was used primarily as a gateway for Spanish gold and silver shipments to Panama or Acapulco. This of course attracted the attention of fortune seekers, with Drake visiting in 1586, and along with a few others, invaded the town, terrorised the townspeople, took what they could find, and burnt down as much as they could.
In September 1741, Commodore Anson’s fleet has suffiicently regrouped and recovered at Juan Fernandez Islands (200 miles west of Chile) to undertake their main mission, which was to “harass and annoy” the Spanish on the west coast of South America. Of course, the element of surprise was important as no English man-of-war had ever cruised these waters, so his presence was at that time unexpected. With his fleet of four ships (Centurion, Gloucester, Tryal and Anna Pink) cruised off of the coast of modern day Peru and Chile intercepting coastal merchantmen, taking whatever cargo was felt of interest, and on some occasions the ships themselves. At one point they were spotted by a ship that got away, so they knew their presence would soon be known up and down the coast so they headed for Paita, a coastal port town that they knew had interest to them.
The town was still lightly defended and they landed with 60 sailors and marines. They took the town with hardly a shot being fired. All the residents had fled to the hills behind the town while Anson’s men cleared out the contents of the customs house, and systematically set about burning the town to the ground, with the notable exception being the two churches. The total prize money was £30,000 which is today’s money is more like £500,000. They then set sail further north to Acapulco, where they hoped to intercept the “Prize of all the Oceans” the Manila galleon that set sail each year laden with gold and silver to Canton.
Today, Paita is a town of around 100,000 with fishing and mining being its two main industries. It was surprisingly bustling and busy, but has a very weary and worn feel to it. We walked around, visiting the church where the statue of the Virgin Mary has a cut to its throat, supposedly put there by Anson’s men. There is also the first firestation in Peru (still operational) and the house where Simon Bolivar’s girlfriend and muse lived (now a wreck). We were just about the only non-native visitors on a Friday, so had quite a few long looks at us by the locals. But I doubt any of them knew that George Anson had returned to Paita 279 years later.
And when the oxygen masks deploy 20 minutes after take-off, you just have to take the pilot’s word for it when he says “it’s nothing to worry about”.