[1][2][3][4][5] To counter the overwhelming Brazilian naval superiority, the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata resorted to giving away letters of marque, in order to harass the imperial trade and transport by sea.

This way, the Carmen de Patagones fort became a safe haven for corsairs, where they could land their spoils of war, repair ships, rest and stock up on food.

The Carmen de Patagones fort was the southernmost of the Argentine territory and its possession implied an important strategic advantage for the invading imperial forces.

The fort's commander, Martín Lacarra, had a hundred infantrymen, and managed to recruit about 80 men on horseback, mostly gauchos, plus the corsairs and an artillery picket from one of the ships under repair, the Chacabuco.

The Brazilian column began the march on the hot night of the 7th, having to do so through sandy terrain covered with thick thorny bushes, which forced the officers to be transported on their soldiers' shoulders.

The invading forces arrived at the Cerro de la Caballada at 6:30 a.m., completely exhausted and deprived of drinking water for a day, with the aggravation that the only food they could consume was salty meat.

On the Cerro de la Caballada, the republican militias led by Second Lieutenant Sebastián Olivera and the gauchos of the baqueano José Luis Molina caught up with them and immediately presented battle.

[1][2][3][4][5][6][7] Indeed, the flotilla of corsair ships under the command of Santiago Jorge Bynon opened fire on the Escudeiro, which resisted until the moment its hard-working captain fell mortally wounded.

Remains of her hull are still buried in the bed of the Negro river in that place, and her huge flag was exposed for more than one and a half century, being in recent years on one side of the atrium of the town's church.

In the 1990s, the Argentine government decided to return that flag belonging to the Itaparica to Brazil, as a sign of goodwill, but the "maragato" people (name of the inhabitants of Carmen de Patagones) strongly opposed.