José de San Martín The navy sailed from Chile on 20 August 1820. It was composed of eight warships, eleven gunboats, 247 cannons and a crew of 1,600, most of them Chileans. There were 12 frigates, and a brig with the 4,000 soldiers of the Army of the Andes. San Martín was the leader of the military expedition. They landed in Paracas, 200 km to the south of Lima, on 7 September, and occupied the nearby city of Pisco, which was abandoned by the royalists. Peruvian viceroy Joaquín de la Pezuela had instructions from Spain to negotiate with the patriots. Under an armistice the
Army of the North and 9 artillery pieces could not deal with the 5,100 royalists and 23 artillery pieces and had to escape with about 1,000 casualties, while the royalists only counted 32 dead. Objectives were not met and the provinces were left surrounded by potential enemies. British and French could arrive by sea, Portuguese from the East and Spaniards from the North. Had they conquered Upper Perú, the biggest threat, the royalists, would have been ended. In January 1816, Lieutenant Colonel Gregorio Aráoz de Lamadrid was sent to the north, but on 31 January was defeated at Culpina. On 2 February he won