about three o'clock in the afternoon
The obnoxious tax was to come into force on the following day , if Bolivia adhered to her original resolution ; and Admiral Williams had orders that , should such prove to be the case , he was to seize the Custom House , invest the town , and in the event of resistance being offered , to bombard it . Chili did not intend to submit tamely to the high-handed action of Bolivia , which constituted a serious and intolerable infraction of treaty . Immediately the squadron came to an anchor , therefore , every gun was trained upon the town , in readiness for action , should such become necessary ; and early on the following morning Admiral Williams had his gig piped away , and , accompanied by his flag-captain , he was pulled ashore to ascertain the intentions of the Bolivian authorities , and to warn all the Chilian inhabitants of the place that it would be bombarded should the President of the Republic not prove amenable to reason , so that they might leave the town , with their belongings , before his ships opened fire . The Admiral was ashore until about three o'clock in the afternoon ; and when he returned to the _ Blanco Encalada _ it soon became known that the Bolivians had refused to relinquish their demands , and that therefore Antofagasta was to be invested . He believed , however , that it would not be necessary to bombard the town , as he thought it was hardly likely that the inhabitants would be so unwise as to offer armed resistance to the landing of the Chilian troops . The soldiers were therefore to be landed at once under cover of the guns of the squadron , while a naval force , composed of men from the _ Blanco Encalada _ and the _ Almirante Cochrane _ , were at the same time instructed to land at the northern part of the seaport and seize the Custom House . The Chilian troops , under Colonel Sotomayor , were therefore put into boats belonging to the warships , which were then taken in tow by the small steam craft and conveyed to the wharves at the south end of the town , their landing being unopposed , except for a few stray shots which were fired from the cover of some closed shops , and which a few volleys from the soldiers promptly checked .