The War of the Pacific (1879–1883) fundamentally reshaped South America, pitting Chile against the joint forces of Bolivia and Peru over nitrate-rich territories. By 1883, the Treaty of Ancón was drafted to end the bloody conflict. However, because international diplomacy at the time relied heavily on neutral observers from Great Britain and France, naval commanders relied on translated copies of the armistice to coordinate the cessation of hostilities.
In the hastily produced English and French translations of the treaty articles concerning naval blockades and prize ships, key Spanish legal terms were transposed incorrectly. Specifically, clauses regarding the immediate surrender of remaining naval vessels and the timeline for ending wartime maritime searches were translated using ambiguous passive voice phrasing. This mistranslation implied that naval forces were permitted to maintain defensive blockades and enforce contraband seizures until ratification exchange occurred, rather than stopping hostile naval operations upon the signature of the provisional cease-fire.
Consequently, isolated Chilean and Peruvian naval detachments—along with foreign warships observing the conflict—received conflicting orders. Captains at sea continued to patrol aggressively, intercept merchant shipping, and engage in brief standoffs off the Peruvian coast weeks after the diplomats in Lima had signed the peace accord. It took urgent land-based telegraph dispatches and revised official translations delivered directly by diplomatic couriers to finally halt unnecessary naval maneuvers.