1104 | ~ , FOREIGN RELATIONS. ~

_ Was provisioned beyond what was necessary for her own crew and the passengers we
took: on board, I. mean with respect to the staple articles, such as bread and meat.
_ We had about 100 barrels of bread, I think, and: about a dozen barrels of pork.. We
put these into the fore peak, separate from the ship’s provisions. We reached Cura-
goa about the 12th or 13th of October. While in that port we took on board nothing
of a warlike character; did not add to our equipment in any way. When we took’on

board supplies from the Billy Butts, we took no ship’s guns—no guns except the four _

brass howitzers mentioned in the annexed depositions. After getting these goods on
board, the men demanded to know the object.of the voyage. I consulted with Quesada,

and then informed them that the ultimate object was to land men and armsonthe |

island of Cuba. These were the only specified objects of the voyage. I told them we
were going to Laguayra before reaching Cuba, and that they could be discharged there
and sent home if they so wished. We first went to Laguayra after leaving Curagoa,

_ and there General Quesada and a portion of his staff left us. We then went to Porto

Cabello, which is about fifty miles from Laguayra. About three weeks after arrivin g

at Porto Cabello I resigned command and left the vessel. At the time of resigning I.
wrote a letter to the consul at that place, stating what is contained in the copy of a

letter hereto annexed, marked A. The statements contained in that letter were all
_true. From Porto Cabello Ireturned to New York. Here I met Mr. Patterson, the
owner of the vessel. He complained thatI had not protected his rights in not bring-

ing the vessel home to the United States. My reason for leaving the vessel was that it
was intimated to me by General Quesada that she was to go into the Venezuelan ser-.

vice, and from the preparations ordered by him to be made such was clearly indicated.
At Porto Cabello the voyage ended, Quesada insisting on a new enterprise, and one
not contemplated by the owners or myself before we left New York, and the character
of which Quesada refused to divulge to me. I therefore left the vessel and also the
seamen, leaving on board the firemen and engineers... _ as |
oo cone pera _ PF. E. SHEPPERD.

Subscribed and sworn to before me this 2d day of May, A. D. 1872.

7 -. JOSEPH GUTMAN, Jr,
United States Commissioner, Southern District of New York.

ee

- Exurerr A—J. G., Ire
: | PUERTO CABELLO, VENEZUELA,
a na December 9, 1870,
SiR : For your own satisfaction, as well as for the information of whom it may concern,
T beg to state that during the time I commanded the steamer Virginius she violated no

law or custom of commerce, and never exhibited any other than the American flag ;

that she cleared and entered regularly at each port, and, so far as I know, she is in-
tended as nothing else than an ordinary merchant-vessel. |
' Yours, very respectfully,
a | : FP. E. SHEPPERD.
Dr. A. LACOMBE, | —
United States Consul, Puerto Cabello.

eet

SouTHERN District or Nuw York, se: a 7
Thomas Anderson, being duly sworn, deposes anid says: ©
1. That he is a seaman by profession, aged about thirty-two years.

2. That on the 3d of October, 1870, in the city of New York, he shipped as a seaman.

on board the steamship Virgin, and signed articles for a voyage to the coast of Florida,
the Caribbean Sea, and the Gulf of Mexico; that Frank E. Shepperd was captain, and
there were also on board two mates, a carpenter, four seamen, three engineers, two
oilers, and fifteen firemen and coal-passers; the said ship left the port of New York on
her voyage on the 4th day of October, 1870. ,

3. That, in the afternoon of that day, the steamer proceeded down the bay of New

York, and when three or four miles outside, and abréast of Sandy Hook, met the steam-
tug Virginia Seymour, and took. therefrom eighteen passengers, whom this deponent
judged, by their appearance, to be Cubans, together with General Quesada, Mr. Mora,
and Eloy Camacho. There were also taken on board'a few boxes, some of which this
_deponent saw open, containing ammunition, revolvers, military trumpets, and flags,
and, after shipping the before-mentioned persons and - things, the steam-tug Seymour
_ deft, taking with her the pilot of the Virgin, whom, as he was going on board the tug,
this deponent heard the captain of the vessel tell not to say anything about it.