From a seafaring family in Bristol, England, his father had immigrated to Chile at the age of 27 to serve in its recently formed navy under the command of Lord Cochrane.

After rising quite fast through the ranks, in 1855 he was appointed General Commandant of the Arsenals and Maritime Governor of Atacama, then the northernmost province of Chile.

During this war, he became a national hero after he captured the Spanish schooner Covadonga at the Naval Battle of Papudo on 26 November 1865.

The government plan was to attack the Peruvian navy immediately, as it was undergoing repairs in the port of Callao and was thus virtually defenseless.

At the end, his constant political infighting with Rafael Sotomayor, Chilean minister of war, and with General Justo Arteaga, Commander-in-Chief of the Army, caused him to lose important support within the administration.

After he failed to capture the Huascar in a naval action, he resigned his position in August 1879, and was replaced by Captain Galvarino Riveros.