The little sloop was called the Alicran.

She was quickly provisioned and a crew shipped.

Before embarking on her, Don Nicholas sent for Boyton and commissioned him as Captain in the Peruvian Navy.

She was then sailed around to Chorrilos, as Paul considered that the best point from which to begin operations on the Chilean fleet.

There he made his headquarters at a hacienda which a wealthy Peruvian turned over to him and anchored the sloop close in shore under the shelter of the cliffs, and began the manufacture of torpedoes.