amount, possibly after a rigged bid, on 11 April 1868. Atahualpa Catawba was renamed Atahualpa, after the Emperor Atahualpa, the last ruler of the Inca Empire. To prepare the ship for her lengthy voyage to Peru, around Cape Horn, Swift & Co. added a breakwater on the bow, stepped two masts with a fore-and-aft rig, to supplement her engine, and provided closures to make vents and deck openings water tight. While this was going on, the United States was negotiating with Great Britain over compensation for losses inflicted by British ships knowingly sold to the Confederacy during the Civil War (the Alabama Claims). Peru had been involved in an undeclared war with Spain, (the Chincha Islands War) in 1864–1866, and the US was not willing to prejudice its claims against the United Kingdom, by performing a similar action for a belligerent power. Negotiations over the issue delayed the departure of the two monitors until January 1869, after Peru bought two steamers, Reyes and Marañon to tow the monitors. They had only reached Pensacola, Florida, before machinery breakdowns forced them to wait 30 days for repairs to be completed. En route from Key West to the Bahamas, the ships were separated in heavy weather. Atahualpa reached Great Inagua, in the Bahamas, and was able to resupply, although her officers had to pay for themselves. The ships finally reunited at St. Thomas, in the Virgin Islands, and had to wait for Pachitea to arrive from Peru, to tow Oneota, which had been renamed Manco Cápac, as the monitor had accidentally rammed and sunk Reyes during the storm. While entering Rio de Janeiro, on the night of 15 September, Manco Cápac ran aground; she was refloated the following day, but the damage required three months to repair. The ships were joined by the steam corvette during this time. They reached the Strait of Magellan, on 29 January 1870, and Callao, on 11 May. Atahualpa was towed from Callao to Iquique, then part of Peru, from 11–22 May 1877, to defend that port from the rebel ironclad during the Peruvian Civil War. When the War of the Pacific with Chile began in 1879, Atahualpa was stationed in Callao. On 11 December 1880, the Chilean fleet started firing at Callao, at ranges of up to . Atahualpa, escorted by a tug, sortied to fight a long-range battle with the Chilean fleet, but failed to inflict