Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1901-03-05
NAVY OF ONE SHIP
GOULD'S YACHT ATLANTA NOW
OWNED BY VENEZUELA.
HARD PLIGHT OF THE CREW.
Burned Furniture and Provisions
When Their Coal Ran Out at
Sea.

New York March 5.-The ships COM
rany chat lex his port on January a.
i'm Jay GJuld's former yacht. Atlanta.
transformed into the Gunboat keStau-
radyr. under Venezuelan colors. and
equipped With snowy naval uniforms
and hone OF attaining Venezuelan COM
missions. have returned home on the
iine- Philadelphia. They were gone
little over a IN nth, although they were
expected to deliver the boat to the
Venezuelan government in ten days
The Yacht Mas sold to the Venezuelan
government early in January. and con-
Stitutes the entire \enezuetan navy.
Her armament consisted, when she
sailed. of four siN-pounder HotchKisS
guns. a three-pounaer and two two
'rounders. and she was loaded with am
munition. Capt. jeremiah Merihew was
in command Under him We're As men.
The first hight at sea the ship ran into
"a storm which damaged her consider
ably and ragged four days. Ii was de-
cided t. run into san Juan. lu- the
coal had given completely out before
that port Was reached. The cabin fur
ntshngs. Which had been in the yacht
since the days Of Jay Gould. were
dumped into the furnaces. fancy wood
paneingS. portieres. chairs and tables.
and finally the provsions-such as
would burn raad!y-went into the fires.
AT San Juan the gunbooat lay from
January % 10 February g. being re-
paired and reti:ted. After departure
from San Juan. according to the story
of one of the crew, the vessel was or
.dered to lombard the town of Caru-
rano, held by the rebels. The guns had
been trained on the town, when it was
Learned from a flag that the town had
been recaptured by the government.
Shortly after this a number of prisoners
were placed on board the little gunboat
Among the prisoners was the lnSurSent
general commanding in that part of the
country. He had been sentenced to be
shot. but it had been decided to send
hi MO La Guayara and thence 10 Car
acas where the sentence was to be car.
ried out. He was hopelessly crushed
and spoke to nobody. AS long as the
boat was visible from the town, his
wlfe and daughters stood upon a high
lea.; of rocks. gazing after him.
The vessel ran aground on the island
of Cocha. in the Straits of Margarita.
She stayed there until carry on the
morning OF the 18th. She was pulled
off by a tug and German and a Dutch
steamer that happened along. On the
same day the vessel touched at three
other small ports. Wanda and Cum
ana, being two of them. and took on
more prisoners and soldiers.
The ship got into La Guyara on Feb
ruary - The ship was no sooner in
port and the prisoners and soldiers dis
charged than the government put the
skipper his officers and most Of the
men ashore. They were paid in VeneZ-
uehan silver, which was eventually ex.
changed by the authorities at so cents
on the dollar into American gold
Capt. Merithew said that Presiden
Castro inquired of him abou. Johr
Jacob Astor's steam yacht Nourmahal
and that he learned afterwards from
the minister of finance that negotia
tions We're in progress for the purchase
of the yacht. Mr. Astor could not b.
seen last night about Capt. Merl thew
story. 1t has already been announced
that the Venezuelan government re
gently purchased James Gordon Ben
nets yacht Namouna for 100000