Grants

He was in Gijon on the 9^th of August in 1816.

He studied at Jovellanos Secondary School in Gijon, where he obtained the title of Pilot. He joined the Navy as a student of the Marine Guards School in Ferrol in 1835 and fought in several battles in the Cantabrian Sea during the First Carlist War.

In 1844 he was promoted to Navy Lieutenant and was assigned to various ships in Spain and Overseas.

In 1855 he was promoted to Frigate Captain and was assigned to Santander as Commander of the Stronghold. This period of almost 3 years was the only one in his career that he spent disembarked.

In 1861 he was promoted to Navy Captain and he was assigned the leadership of the helix frigate “Villa de Madrid”. The 20^th of December 1864 he joined the Pacific Ocean Fleet, composed of six frigates. Five of them were wooden frigates and were in a gloomy state.

On the 7^th of February 1866 they found a Peruan-Chilean fleet in the Chilean isle of Abtao and they began a naval fight where the American fleet suffered more damages. Then they bombarded the city of Valparaiso and on the 2^nd of May 1866, the fleet, with few coal and food left and a tired crew, got close to the port of Callao with battle orders. The port was defended by 90 cannons and 3 armored towers. After 5 hours of bombard by the Spanish fleet all the defense weapons with the exception of three were dismantled. The action was declared ended with the nightfall fog and it is considered the last achievement of the Spanish Navy in the Pacific Ocean. The frigate “Villa de Madrid” under the control of Mr. Claudio was the first one in the fleet to arrive a Spanish Port.

In June 1866 he was promoted to Brigadier and on December he ended the direction at “Villa de Madrid” frigate.

With a highly marked liberal ideology with preference of Monarchy as form of government, after the revolution in 1868, he requested the retirement, as a man of honor, in order to maintain his oaths and promises and not to break with his political ideals. With the restored monarchy in 1874 he returned to the active service until his definitive retirement at the retirement age.

He passed the rest of his life in Gijon as a respected and loved man by his citizens. He spent the rest of his life with his own business, collaborating with local newspapers and involved in the social life in Gijon.

He passed away at the age of 80 on the 21^st of August 1896.