Jose Galvarino Riveros Cardenas was born in Curaco de Velez, northeast of Quincho island (Chiloe) on December 2nd, 1829. he was sent to Santiago and entered the Military Academy at the age of 13.
Then, he took a naval course and graduated as midshipman in 1848. Until 1859 he went on different excursions along the coast, and in 1866 he was promoted to commander.
When the Pacific war began, Riveros had the rank of captain. Although he was the head of a naval division during the first military actions of the war and was designated commander of armored ship Blanco, his protagonism would increase with the resignation of admiral Juan Williams Rebolledo. He recommended Riveros and selected him as the ideal person to lead the Chilean fleet.
The objective Galvarino Riveros had, to capture the Huascar, came true on October 8th, 1879, in front of Angamos point.
After an intense confrontation, the Chilean ships managed the surrender of the Peruvian crew and the capture of the monitor, cementing the country’s victory navy wise. This event also helped towards Galvarino’s promotion to rear admiral that very year.
Once the war was over, he continued to perform administrative duties for the Navy.
He died on January 11th, 1892, in the city of Santiago.
