The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-04-01
STORY OF THE BLOCKADE.
How An Expedition Went to the Aid
of Cuba.

now An EApeultiOh w cnt 10 the Alu
of Cuba.
New York, March 25-On the 18th of
February, under cover of the Maine ex
plosion, set sail for the island of Cuba,
the master of a big flibustering eXpedi-
ton.
/ am captain of the boat which l shall
call the Fearless, because it is making so
many successful expeditions to the Bloody
Isle, and with my good trustf crew 1
started out to make one more.
Cuba will be either free or annexed be-
fore the Fearless touches her shores again,
but now, the date of the expedition, Cuba
lay raclSed end bull6ted macheted and dy
Mantle blown devastated, wild and tear
full with the wings of war shrieking over
her head
Our craft was fruit schooner. Between
New York and Cuba there ply fruiting
schooners all the year round. These go
down laden with apples, potatoes ana New
Jersey vegetables. They come back tflll
of bananas, mangoes, guavas, pawpaws,
nuts and tropical products.
a fruit vessel cXcites no remark as it
plies its trade, although the trade has been
seriously injured of late.
1t used to be that you could put out from
the port of New York at any time of day
or night and follow the line of the fruit
But now 1t is different; you cannot get in
to Havana without your passport and you
cannot come back without inspection. The
| commerce between the United States and
Cuba is interrupted" If you want to be-
| lieve diplomatic language but if you are
captain of a fruit vessel your know mighty
well that your occupation IS gone
We got sour on the Spaniards the last six
months of the war. They hailed us like
iair fnC On lii out tie. 4
vowed TO get even with them. One time
we came in port with our Fruit think 1t
was load of Maine apples we had aboard
| destined for the biggest fruit dealer in Ha-
vana, and found them waiting for us.
| We stopped In the harbor of Havana and
| respectfully reported ourselves to the
| guardships as ready for inspection. In a
minute they leaped aboard and began rip
| ping through our cargo as though through
a suspected rag bag. They tore our beds
apart, looking for money for the insurgents
and they bit into our apples as though
! they were biting for gold pieces. When
| they cleared out the barrels ratified like
tin pals with penny milk money in them,
~and the small lot we had left would not
have paid man to take the trip across
| the Jersey ferry.
| l was red-hot and so was the wholesale
| fruit dealer of New York who had shipped
! by me, and within twelve hours after
had got back TO New York had turned in
| to a nibuster, and the Fearless had be-
come filibustering steamer.
We lay under the shadow of the statue
of Liberty that night vowing many things
! l had stopped over at the Cuban junta that
day TO offer my services and the junta had
made note of me- The junta people are
the finest men in this country and ! want
to say here and now that 1 do not believe
they have ever sent flibuster out. They
| didn't commission me, and when l left
| there had to go elsewhere to put myself
and the Fearless in the hands of people
who knew how to avenge a wrong.
! That night as we lay under the shadow
| of the Statue of Liberty we held a CONSUL
! tation. The Fearless is an ordinary
schooner 400 feet long. She carries a car
go of sixty tons and she ships with crew
! of twenty men. Our whole twenty were
! aboard that night. and before we turned
| into bunk we stood there under the electric
| light of the statue with our right hands
raised. vowing to get into Cuba with our
next cargo And 10 get there without in
| sDection.
We lay there three days, because a ves-
sci never puts out of the harbor In less
than three days and we did not want to
| do anything suspicious
The next day. which was the fourth day.
we sailed up the bay and anchored off che
Battery. Gradually we got dockage and
with a great deal of commotion we took
aboard our load of fruit. It was princi-
pally potatoes, for we wanted something
cheap 10 throw overheard afterward We
started away about o clock in the after
| noon, just as 1t was getting dark.
We went slowly. for we wanted to lie
| along the coast that night. We did not
know how long we would have to skirt
the coast, but we knew that It would be
at least three days. and maybe six.
Our instructions were these: We were
| to sail slowly south, keeping close to the
| Jersey shore until we came TO Atlantic
| City, and from there We were to go east
ward until we reached longitude 20. Strik-
ling south at the 10th longitude we were 70
| follow Il until on a parallel with Delaware
| bag. From there south, still following the
| 10th degree, we were to keep sharp look
| out.
We made slow time and daylight found
us on the Cape May parallel. That day
we scarcely moved. and once when some
pilots of the Delaware came out TO see
what delayed us, we made a pretense of
preparing some of the machinery, which
we said was unseaworthy. We put south
again at dusk, keeping a sharp lookout to-
ward the west. Pretty soon we saw COM
| ing north nom Chesapeake bay another
| fruit vessel. not unlike our own, and as L
came alongside we hailed it and it an
swered.