Hero of Argentina

Giovanni Battista Azopardo was born in Senglea, the son of Salvatore Giuseppe Azopardo, owner of a large mercantile fleet, and Rosa née Romano. Giovanni Battista was baptised by Archpriest Salvatore Bonnici the day after he was born at the church of the Nativity of Our Lady.

He was still a boy when Grand Master De Rohan perceived his interest in the sea and sent him to Toulon to study naval architecture for six years. His family opted to leave Malta for France because of his father’s Republican sentiments. In point of fact, Azopardo took part in the colonial wars of France, mainly in Guadalupe and Martinique and was eventually promoted to a first-class Lieutenant in the French Navy.

For some unknown reasons, Azopardo also offered his service to Britain. In October 1796, Azopardo’s ship the San Antonio dell’Anime del Purgatorio on which he had taken part in actions against Holland was issued with a free passage by the British Vice Admiral Jervis.

In 1803 Azopardo went to Buenos Aires and in April 1806 he was appointed second-in-command of the Spanish corvette Reina Luisa, with 20 guns and 240 men, operating from Montevideo.

Azopardi's life was full of adventure by this time when British forces had occupied the Dutch Cape colony and prepared for an expedition across the Atlantic against Buenos Aires. In June 1806, Azopardo was on the forefront of the fighting when the British Forces besieged the city under the command of Santiago de Liniers, the Commandant General of the Army. Azopardo was given command of a number of ships to guard the coast and he engaged many British warships.

In the following year, Azopardo was then in command of the coastal batteries at Los Olivos when the British troops attacked Bueonos Aires. He immediately moved his battalion and cavalry to the centre of the city setting up the defence of the Plaza Mayor. On 16 February 1808, Azopardo was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel of the urban militia soon after the British Forces capitulated.

On 1 January 1809, Azopardo was at the centre of the scene of widespread riots in Buenos Aires. He was a supporter of Viceroy de Liniers so that he was stripped of his rank by the Spanish Viceroy Cisneros. Azopardo returned to arms following the revolution of 25 May 1810. He formed another group of liberation fighters who, although they caused devastation among the Spanish forces, were unable to continue the battle alone. Azopardo was given the command of the corps of grenadiers by the junta's President Saaverda. Azopardo regained his former fame and was made commander of the Argentinian First Naval Squadron in August 1810. Azopardi at the behest of the fleet on the Invincible, fought and devastated the army and the remaining few ships that were still loyal to Spain along the Parana and Uruguay rivers.

Between February and March 1811, Azopardi was one of the principal revolutionaries who waged a fierce battle against a Spanish naval squadron but lost owing to their dwindling numbers and shortage of weapons. His squadron suffered many casualities, including their Argentinian colonel. Azopardo was taken as prisoner together with a host of others. He was accused in Montevideo of being one of the leaders of the rebellion against the Viceroy. On 18 March 1811 he was condemned to imprisonment in exile to Spain. On 1 July, the frigate Efigenia arrived in Cadiz, with Azopardo on board in chains. He was first imprisoned in the fortress of San Sebastian where he met Maria Sandalia Perez Rico, a woman 12 years his junior, who frequently accompanied her parents when they visited another of the prisoners. They were soon married.

On 24 November 1815, he was transferred to a prison in Cueta in Morocco, sharing a cell with three others; here the conditions were particularly unpleasant. Between 1811 and 1820 Giovanni Battista Azopardo was condemned to death on three separate pccasions, but was reprieved every time. Often he was often kept in solitary confinement.

In 1820 Azopardo was miraculously saved in the course of the revoluton by General Riego when all political prisoners were freed. Azopardo, who was then given a passport to proceed to Algeciras from where he made his way to Gibraltar. After several days, he boarded a British ship bound to Bueno Aires where he arrived to a hero’s welcome on 26 August 1820.

On 15 February 1821 he was promoted by order of a proclamation to the rank of lieutenant in the army with special attachment to the Navy. He fought a group of anarchists who were repelled to the province of Entro Rios. His fame soon won him recognition and he was promoted to commander of the Port of Buenos Aires. On 7 May 1824 Azopardo was promoted to colonel of the Argentinian fleet and in February 1826 commander of the national squadron under Admiral Brown as the captain of General Belgrano. He took an active part in the battle of Los Pozos on the Rio de la Plata, against a superior number of Brazilian ships when the Argentinians lost a considerable number of ships.

Azopardo subsequently retired from active service at the age of 55, having spent most of his life in military service for Argentina. He spent the next 21 years with his Spanish wife, Maria Sandalia Pérez Rigo and his son Luis Alberto Maria de los Angeles, who himself had a long career in the Argentinian military. Azopardo lived in the house he had bought in the suburb of Buenos Aires where he had the pleasure of receiving his first grandchildren.

He died in Buenos Aires on 23 October 1848, aged 76, and was buried in the Cemeterio de la Recoleta. Azopardo’s remains were entrusted by his family to the care of the Argentinian Navy and in 1878 they were removed to the pantheon of the naval command in the Eastern Cemetery. His remains were re-laid in a coffin of bronze and wood with an inscription: ‘Here lies in the eternal bosom of the navy the venerable remains of Juan Bautista Azopardo, the first commander of the patriotic squadron and heroic captain of the Invincible in the waters of San Nicolàs.’

Azopardo is still regarded as one of the most revered heroes of Argentina. His gallantry was recognised by the town of San Nicolas when it erected a monument in gratitude of his heroic actions. On 3 October 1858, Azopardo’s remains were transferred to this monument on the centenary of his demise. He was commemorated when a street was named after him in Buenos Aires, near the Casa Rosada, the Presidential Palace. He had a number of other streets named in his honour in the seventeen municipalities known as Gran Buenos Aires.

His prominent figure in the history of Argentina was also commemorated in the navy by christening a number of its ships. They called after him too the Naval Dockyard in Azul in the province of Buenos Aires. Furthermore, his name is borne by 16 primary and secondary schools which pay him homage as a great man during the scholastic year. His portrait lies at the Museo Naval de la Nacion at Tigre, near Buenos Aires.

In February 1999, his birthplace Senglea renamed its marina in his honour on the occasion of his 250th anniversary since his birth when Felix Juan Borgonove, the Argentinian Ambassador to Malta, unveiled a plaque. His portrait forms part of the Wickman Maritime Museum at Xgħajra, and a street in Naxxar, ‘Triq Juan B. Azopardo’ is also named after him.  A bust of Juan Batista Azopardo was unveiled by President Guido de Marco on 16 June 2001 at  the Senglea Marina.

This biography is part of the collection created by Michael Schiavone over a 30-year period. Read more about Schiavone and his initiative here.