The Spanish had expected little resistance from…
December 1864 CE
The Spanish had expected little resistance from Peru, believing its military prowess to be negligible.
Even a proposal to exchange the Chincha Islands with the British for Gibraltar had been considered for a time.
During this blockade, the Spanish have lost the Triunfo after an accidental fire destroyed it.
The recently appointed Spanish Prime Minister, Ramón María Narváez, had not approved of the unilateral position of Admiral Pinzón and had replaced him with Vice Admiral Juan Manuel Pareja, ex-Minister of the Navy.
Admiral Pareja had been born in Peru and his father, Brigadier Antonio Pareja, had died in Chile on 1813, fighting for the King during the Chilean War of Independence.
Very soon though, Narváez's opinion had changed and he had sent another four warships to strengthen their Pacific fleet.
Admiral Pareja arrives in Peru in December 1864, and immediately opens negotiations with General Manuel Ignacio de Vivanco, the special representative of Peruvian Presidente Juan Antonio Pezet.