After they had gone, the rebel man-of-war _Esmeralda_, which must not be confounded with the wooden vessel of that name, opened fire on the town while the inhabitants for and against the Government were having a pitched battle in the streets. The Government forces got the worst of the fight, and the _Esmeralda_ took in a supply of coal and provisions, and steamed away to join other insurgent vessels. This _Esmeralda_ was designed and built by Armstrong, at Newcastle, in 1884, for the Chilian Government, and is of more than ordinary interest, as she was the first example of the modern protected cruiser class. She was framed on the ordinary transverse system, and had three decks; the upper, or gun deck, was 11 feet above water, the main deck about 5 feet, and the lower, or arched protective deck, which was of 1-inch steel and extended from stem to stern, was at the middle 1 foot below water-level, and at the side 5 feet. It protected the engines, boilers, magazines, and all the vital parts. Minute sub-divisions of the hold space below the protective deck and of the space between it and the main deck were effected by means of transverse and longitudinal bulkheads and of horizontal flats or platforms; cork was also packed in the cellular spaces to ensure sufficient buoyancy and trim in case the water-line region should be riddled. Her twin screws were driven by two independent sets of 2-stage expansion engines, developing 6,500 h.p., which gave her a speed of 18.25 knots. She had four double-ended boilers, 13 feet diameter and 18½ feet long, working at 90 lb. pressure, each with six furnaces supplied with forced draught. Her bunker capacity was 600 tons, sufficient for eight thousand knots at a speed of eight knots, or six thousand knots at ten knots. Her armament was two 25-ton 10-inch breechloading rifle guns, protected by steel screens, and having a training arc of 120 degrees on either side of the keel; six 4-ton 6-inch breechloading rifle guns; two 6-pounder quick-firers, and a number of machine guns, as well as three torpedo tubes. Her two military masts had a Gardner gun in each. Her displacement was 3,000 tons, her length 270 feet, her breadth 42 feet, and her draught of water 18.5 feet.