The times., 1899-09-10

here Captain Lewis was sent to make ar
rangements for securing another vessel, the
Emperador, and a crew TO join the expedi-
tion. Meanwhile Miranda was occupied in
instructing his men in their coming duties.
He disclosed to them the object of the yoy-
age. and told them they were to form the
nucleus of his Colombian army which
was TO overthrow Spanish despotism in
South America Certain of the men were
selected by him to be officers of different
ranks, and commissions were written out on
the spot. Captain Lewis returned from his
mission, reporting that he could not get
the Emperador and a search was made Tor
something to take her place. Two small
schooners, the Baco and the Abeja. were
secured, and the little fleet set sail, after
delay at Haiti OF six weeks.
On the 9th of April the three vessels
lay off the Venezuelan coast, near the
town of Ocumare. not far from Puerto
Cabello In the distance two Spanish
coast guard ships were visible. and trou-
BILE was at once anticipated. At midnight
signals were noticed passing between the
fort at Puerto Cabello and the guard ships.
Captain Lewis beat to quarters, and kept
his men at their guns until daylight, but
there was no immediate attack. In the
morning the position of Miranda's vessels
found the Leandro six or eight miles from
shore, the Abeja further in and the Baco
nearest OF all, being only about mile
from the land The story of what happened
that day is thus told by man named Sner-
man, one of the Americans in the expedi-
ton:
''At about 8 o'clock in the morning Pow
els Donohue and two others, tempted by
the beautiful aspect Of the shore, took a
boat and two sailors and went on shore
to recruit themselves. In the course of
an hour the wind rose and we Immediately
saw the Spanish schooner bear down on
the Baco. The men who were on shore, on
observing this, hastened to return to the
ship. but on entering the boat. were cap
sized by the violence of the waves. The
schooner now within cannon shot of the
Baco, opened fire on her; in this situation
the only recourse left to the Baco was to
cut her cable and escape from the Span
lard. The Leandro and the Abeja
came to her assistance. The Le-
andre opened fire on the Span
ish ships, which replied The Abeja received
orders from the Leandro to approach the
Baco in order soon to board the enemy
(the Leandro on the starboard and the
schooners on the larboard side). In con-
formity with this order the Abeja ap-
preached the Baco, whose captain, eager.
obeyed the orders of Hurdle. The two
schooners together hoisted sail to execute
this order. when, TO the surprise of all. the
Leandro was seen to tack and fee.
tAt the beginning, we belived that this
was a feint to deceive the Spaniards, but
on seeing the ship steadily deserting US
we lost all hope. Abandoned and with
only six cannon to defend ourselves with
texcept a howitzer. which we threw into
the water) we tried to follow the Leandro.
The enemy pursued us. But the
Baco, with the Spaniard on the weather
shore, changed her course and escaped the
enemy then followed up the Abeja, which
could only surrender without resistance,
after several broadsides from the Span
iards. The Spanish brigantine
then went in pursuit of the Baco, which
also surrendered.
There is nothing left TO be said concern
ing the conduct of the Leandro. The pub
lie has judged 1t and condemned Il as cow
ardly and treacherous. If the Leandro had
done her duty and boarded the enemy ac-
cording to the orders given to the Abeja
and by her to the Baco, victory would have
been ours"
So far as can be learned the discreditable
action of the Leandro has never been sat-
isfactorily explained. 1t may have been that
Miranda, put to the choice between sacri-
ficing his comrades without a struggle and
exposing himself, and consequently his en-
terprise, to great peril. deliberately chose
the former as the less important evil yet It
is hard TO believe that the man who had
fought bravely in both the American and
French revolutions would have shown this
overcaptious spirit. II is known that MI
randa and the Leandro's skipper. Captain
Lewis, were on exceedingly bad terms.