San Martín was initiated in the Lodge of Rational Knights in 1811. They met at the house of Carlos María de Alvear, other members were José Miguel Carrera, Aldao, Blanco Encalada and other criollos, American-born Spaniards. They agreed to return to their homelands and join the local revolutionary movements. San Martín asked for his retirement from the military and moved to Britain. He stayed in the country for a short time. He met many other South Americans at a lodge held at the house of Venezuelan general Francisco de Miranda at 27 Grafton Street (now 58 Grafton Way), Bloomsbury, London (the house now has a blue plaque with Miranda’s name). Then he sailed to Buenos Aires aboard the British ship George Canning, the South Americans Alvear, Francisco José de Vera, Matías Zapiola, and the Spaniards Francisco Chilavert and Eduardo Kaulitz. They arrived on 9 March 1812 to serve under the First Triumvirate.