Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1898-04-06


HOW | RAN THE BLOCKADE,
On the 18th of February. under cover
OF the Maine explosion, [ set sail for the
island of Cuba, the master of a big fill
clustering expedition.
| am captain of the boat which I shall
cal the Fearless. because it is making
SO many successful expeditions to the
bloody isle. and with my good, trusty
crew [ 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 racked and bulleted, macheted
and dynamite-blOWn, devastated. wild and
fearful with the wings of war shrieking
over her head.
Oar craft was a fruit schooner. Be
tween New York and Cuba there ply
These go down laden with apples, pota
toes and New Jersey vegetables. They
come back full of bananas. mangoes,
gUavas, paWpawS, nuts and tropical prod
uctS.
4 fruit vessel excites no remark as it
plies its trade, although the trade has
been seriously injured Of late.
L 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 vessels as they put for Havana
harbor. But now it is different: you can
not get into Havana without your pass
port. and you cannot come back without
inspection. The commerce between the
United States and Cuba is interrupted
If You want to believe diplomatic Ian
guage, but if you are captain of a fruit
vessel you know mighty well that your
Ing0
We got sour on the Spaniards the last
six months Of the war. They hailed us
like pirates and kicked us out like dogs.
We vowed to get even with them. One
time we came in port with our fruit
think il was a load of Maine apples we
had ab0ard-dCstined for the biggest fruit
dealer IN Havana, and found them wait
ing for us.
We stopped in the harbor of Havana
and respectfully reported ourselves to the
guardships as ready for inspection. IN q
minute they leaped aboard and began
ripping through our cargo rs though
through a suspected ragbag. They tore
our beds apart, looking for money for the
insurgents, and they bit into our apples
Us though they were biting for gold
pieces. When they cleared out, the bar
re,s ratified like tin pals with a penny
milk money il them, and the small lot
we had left would not have paid Il man
to take the trip across the Jersey ferry.
/ was redhOt 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 I had
turned into q tiiibuster. and the Fearless
had become flibusrering steamer.
We lay under the shadow Of the statue
Of Liberty that night vowing many
things. | had stopped over at the Cuban
.Junta that day to offer my services and
the Junta had made a note Of me. The
gT--1- I,O 49,
country and [ want to say here and now
that | do not believe they have ever sent
fIbuster out. They didn't commission
me. and when / left there I had to go
elsewhere to put myself and the Fear
less in the hands of people who knew
how to avenge wrong.
That night as we lay under the shadow
Of the statue of Liberty we held a con-
sultation. The Fearless is an ordinary
schooner 300 feet long. She carries
cargo of sixty tons and she ships with
Il crew of twenty men. Our whole TWEEN
r. were aboard that night, and before
we turned into bunk we stood there
under the electric light of the statue with
our right hand raised, vowing to get into
Cuba with our next cargo. And to get
there without inspection.
We lay there three days, because a yes
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 the Battery. Gradually we got dock
age and with great deal of cOmmOtion
we took aboard our load of fruit. 1t was
principally potatoes, for we wanted some
thing cheap to throw overheard after
ward. We started away about 3 o'clock
in the afternoon, just as it was getting
dusk
We went slowly. for we wanted to lie
Jlono tho II fhat niUbI Mo hid no
know how long we would have to skirt
the coast, but we knew that it would be
ut least three days, and maybe six.
Our instructions We're 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 90 east
ward until we reached longitude 10.
Striking south at the 10th longitude, we
were to follow it until on a parallel with
Delaware bay. From there south. still
following the 10Th degree, we were to
keep sharp lookout.
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 unsea worthy. We put south
again at dusk. keeping a sharp lookout
toward the west. Pretty soon we saw
coming north from Chesapeake bay an
other fruit vessel, not unlike our own,
and as it came alongside we hailed it and
it answered.
It took only a little while to transfer
the cargo of that vessel into our own
schooner. The vessel that had come
alongside of Us was the Platte. It had
brought a full cargo of ammunition.
ne Platte had sailed from Washington
down the Potomac into Chesapeake
bay, and down the bay to the ocean.
1t took only three hours to throw our
cargo of potatoes overheard and to take
had left Washington almost openly with
the merest pretense of fruit spread over
her ammunition. We took all aboard
and started south for Cuba
It's q mighty ticklish thing taking
flibustering expedition into the heart of
warning country. especially when
you've got foes on all sides of you.
The Montgomery lay off North Caro-
lima ard the Indiana was down off Sa-
Il.