refused to continue as military and civil commander in the Falklands Islands. Governor Juan Rosas conferred upon Major Esteban Mestivier the appointment of interim military and civil commander on 10 September 1832. The announcement provoked a protest from the British minister in Buenos Aires, Henry Fox, on 28 September 1832, which like the protests of 1829 against Vernet's appointment, went unanswered apart from a brief acknowledgement. This, combined with the Lexington raid of 1831 spurred the British to send a naval patrol to re-assert sovereignty over the Falkland Islands. ARA Sarandí was tasked with taking Mestivier along with a garrison of twenty five men together with their wives and children. This small garrison included criminals sentenced to serve in the army. On 23 September 1832, the ARA Sarandí left for the Falkland Islands. Some of Vernet's men also took passage including William Dickson and Henry Metcalfe, Vernet's deputy Matthew Brisbane acted in the capacity of pilot for the Sarandí. On 10 October 1832, Mestivier performed a ceremony formally claiming the islands for the United Provinces. On 21 November 1832, Sarandí departed on patrol around the Falkland Islands, where she encountered the American sealer The Sun under the command of T.P.Trott on 7 December 1832. After firing on The Sun and boarding her, the captain was ordered to quit the Falklands. Trott returned to Montevideo and addressed the American legation there seeking protection from an American warship. In Montevideo, Trott was instructed to return to the islands and to ignore the warning, whilst the USS Lexington was prepared to return to the islands and if necessary seize the Sarandí. Mestivier was a harsh disciplinarian, which resulted in a mutiny against his authority whilst the Sarandí was absent on patrol. The exact circumstances of Mestivier's death are not certain. What is known is that on 21 November 1832, the Sarandí departed on patrol and on 30 November 1832 Mestivier was shot and then bayoneted to death by four of the mutineers. The mutiny was suppressed by armed sailors from the French whaler Jean Jacques, whilst Mestivier's widow was taken on board the Rapid (a British sealer). The Sarandí returned on 30 December 1832 and Pinedo took control. Pinedo's investigation of the mutiny was interrupted on 2 January 1833 by the arrival of HMS Clio under the command of Captain Onslow. Onslow had been sent to reassert British sovereignty over the islands and