Victoriano Sánchez Barcáiztegui

Victoriano Sánchez Barcáiztegui Acquaroni (23 April 1826 – 26 May 1875) was a Spanish Navy officer. He played a role in the First Italian War of Independence in 1849 and gained fame in Spain for his performance in the Battle of Callao in 1866. He was killed in action during the Third Carlist War.

Biography Early life Sánchez Barcáiztegui was born in Ferrol, Spain, on 23 April 1826. After completing his elementary school studies in the Ferrol naval department and passing the naval entrance exam, he enlisted in the Spanish Navy as a midshipman on 31 January 1839; While the crew tried to put the fire out, his officers advised him to flood the magazine. He wanted to continue fighting, and their recommendation prompted him to utter a phrase which immortalized him in the history of the Spanish Navy: "Today is not a day to wet the powder," adding "We'll all blow up first." By a Royal Order of 6 September 1872 he assumed additional duties as the commander of the Arsenal de Ferrol and second-in-command of the Ferrol naval department.

News of 's death spread quickly, and media outlets reported it as a momentous event. King Alfonso XII and the Government of Spain ordered that his body be embalmed and interred at the Panteón de Marinos Ilustres (Pantheon of Illustrious Mariners) in San Fernando, Spain. on either 14

Two Spanish Navy ships have borne name. The first, the screw — which the Spanish Navy classified at various times as an aviso, second-class cruiser, and third-class cruiser — was commissioned in 1877 and sunk in a collision in 1895. The second was the , which was commissioned in 1928, participated in the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) as part of the Spanish Republican Navy, and then served in the Spanish Navy until 1964.

has a street named after him in the Pacífico neighborhood of Madrid and another in the Magdalena neighborhood of Ferrol. A street in the Sampaloc neighborhood of Manila in the Philippines is named Calle Sánchez Barcáiztegui (Sanchez Barcaiztegui Street).