Several reasons / favourable preconditions led to an "iron gunboat being hauled up to Lake Titicaca" and assembled on a new slipway at Puno (1863-1870). * The need for a putative(?) defense against Bolivia / extension of Chilean influence towards Lake Titicaca. * The reputation for steam (maritime) engineering established by the early adoption of steam by the PSNC and reinforced by the success of (Cornish) steam pumps in colonial mines (from 1800) and the Callao-Lima railway (1850). * The support for and efficient handling of the project by the Peruvian Navy. * Available finance from the boom in the export of Guano fertiliser. * President Ramon Castilla's energetic enthusiasm for nation building a la Lincoln (Peru the brave, free the slave, let the train .. take the strai