Joaquim José Inácio, Viscount of Inhaúma (Portuguese: [iɲaˈũmɐ]; 1 August 1808 – 8 March 1869), was a naval officer, politician and monarchist of the Empire of Brazil.

Early in his career during the latter half of the 1820s, he participated in the subduing of secessionist rebellions: first the Confederation of the Equator, and then the Cisplatine War, which precipitated a long international armed conflict with the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata.

In 1849, after spending two years in Great Britain, Inhaúma was given command of the fleet that was instrumental in subduing the Praieira revolt, the last rebellion in imperial Brazil.

[3] Regardless, some biographers, including Joaquim Manuel de Macedo[4] and Carlos Guilherme Haring,[5] have persisted in citing the date mistakenly entered on the birth certificate.

[10] On 20 November 1822 at the age of 14, Joaquim Inácio was admitted as aspirante a guarda-marinha (aspiring midshipman or naval cadet) at the Navy Academy.

[13][14] On the night of 10 March 1826 and in the midst of the siege of Sacramento, Joaquim Inácio boarded a small, unarmed boat accompanied by a single army officer and passed unnoticed through a line of nineteen enemy ships under cover of darkness.

He reached the main Brazilian fleet on the morning of the next day and requested assistance from Vice-Admiral Rodrigo José Ferreira Lobo, the commander-in-chief of the naval forces operating in the war.

They encountered musket fire from the artillerymen, who then changed course for the nearby Ilha das Cobras (Island of the Snakes) in the face of strong opposition from the mainland.

Joaquim Inácio and his younger brother Bento José (who was also a navy officer) stayed afloat by holding onto a leather basket until reaching the shore.

He had been charged with delivering the prisoner Bento Gonçalves (leader of the rebellion known as the Ragamuffin War that had ravaged Rio Grande do Sul since 1835) to a military fortress.

[37] On 23 July 1840, Pedro II was declared of age and Joaquim Inácio was among the naval officers representing the armada in the delegation that greeted the young emperor.

[39][40] The Ragamuffin menace was halted when the government dispatched field marshal (present-day divisional general) Luís Alves de Lima e Silva (then Baron, later Duke of Caxias) in 1842.

[46] In August 1846, Joaquim Inácio sailed the Constituição to Devonport (then-known as Plymouth Dock) in the United Kingdom, where the ship was to undergo repairs.

[50] He played no role in the Platine War that pitted the Empire against the Argentine Confederation (the successor state of the United Provinces of the River Plate), which lasted from late 1851 until early 1852.

After being removed from the office of inspector on 8 November 1854, eleven days later he was named captain of the port of Rio de Janeiro (for both the city and province).

[51] From 1854 until 1860, he was appointed a member of various navy boards that dealt with matters ranging from promotions and equipment purchases to war spoils and standardization of naval uniforms.

[57] Freed from the demands of his former commissions, Joaquim Inácio spent his time translating Jean-Félicité-Théodore Ortolan's Et Diplomatie De La Mer (The Diplomacy of the Sea) from French into Portuguese.

[45] He was also accorded membership in other Brazilian lodges,[45] became an honorary member of Portuguese Freemasonry and was a representative of the Grand Orient de France in Brazil.

[63] Freemasonry opened new venues for Joaquim Inácio, providing him with connections and influence he had previously lacked and which were essential to advancing his political career.

[65] Although created by a decree of 1856 (following a suggestion made by Joaquim Inácio in 1851), the first professional firefighter corps in Brazil was effectively formed under his tenure at the head of the Ministry of Agriculture.

[68] In October 1865, Joaquim Inácio was sent to the north of Brazil, charged with recruiting volunteers, but soon resigned that commission and opted to devote his time to the Holy House of Mercy.

[75] Those landowners, including the Baron of Inhaúma, who produced coffee (the most valuable Brazilian export commodity) were the wealthiest and most influential people in Brazil's southeast.

They were owners of slaves, and many of them formed the core of the Conservative Party (the ultraconservative wing called saquarema) and were connected to each other through family and political ties.

[76] After Inhaúma had punched through the defenses at Curupayty, he encountered three large chains stretched across the river at Humaitá that prevented further progress upriver beyond the fortress.

The level of the river had fallen and as the encirclement on land had not been completed, even "if the Brazilian ships did manage to get past the batteries they could well become stranded, with little or no fuel and possibly no supporting Allied troops on the banks".

[78][79] After a year in Paraguay, Inhaúma had also become ill with a lingering disease (not positively identified, although malaria is suspected) and had fallen into depression, becoming what historian Francisco Doratioto themed "no more than a ghost of an admiral".

It was Inhaúma's son-in-law, Captain of Sea and War Delfim Carlos de Carvalho (soon Baron of Passagem) who volunteered to lead a squadron.

[85] Unknown to Inhaúma and only a few days before the fall of Humaitá, the Progressive cabinet in Rio de Janeiro had resigned following a political crisis.

During the Progressive administration, Inhaúma had developed a trusting friendship with the able, young Navy Minister Afonso Celso de Assis Figueiredo (later Viscount of Ouro Preto).

[2] Since 1870, no comprehensive biography of Inhaúma has been published, even though he, according to Francisco Eduardo Alves de Almeira, "is, and always will be, important to the navy of Brazil for his example as a modest and dedicated chief".