United States or Cyprus ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
"I consider myself very highly complimented by the selection." "Now to the point: I have information that a fast steamer, intended to carry eight guns, called the Ovidio, sailed from the other side of the ocean some time since, and she is to be a vessel in the Confederate navy. Her first port will be Nassau, New Providence."
Gilfleur his visit to that port to obtain reliable information in regard to her, as well as incidentally to look into the methods of fitting out vessels for running the blockade. Captain Chantor was expecting to fall in with the Ovidio, even before the return of his two passengers.
The writer of it says he has just addressed a letter to 'our friend in New York, directing him, if it is not too late, to send the steamer with the machinery and other merchandise to the Bermudas, where the cargo will be transferred to the Dornoch; for the Ovidio had been obliged to sail without her armament, and the cargo was too valuable to be risked without protection."
South of Great Abaco Island, this channel, from thirty to forty miles wide, divides into the North-east and North-west Channels, and all vessels of any great draught can safely get out to sea only through one of them. It was evident enough to Captain Chantor, who was familiar with the navigation of these seas, that the Ovidio must come out through one of the channels indicated.
The commander and the Frenchman went below, and seated themselves in the cabin of the former. "Mr. Passford has already informed me that the Ovidio is at Nassau, but that she has been seized by a British gunboat for violation of the neutrality laws," said the captain. "That is quite true, and it is not probable that the case will be settled for a month to come," replied Mr. Gilfleur.
The principal mission in these waters of the Chateaugay was to look up the Ovidio, of which Captain Passford in New York had obtained some information through his agents. This vessel was not simply a blockade-runner, but was intended for a cruiser, though she had sailed from Scotland without an armament. It was known that she would proceed to Nassau, and this fact had suggested to Mr.
George's harbor, and she may not come out for a month." "Why should she wait all that time?" asked Christy. "Her commander knew nothing about the Ionian, that she was to take in a valuable cargo for her, and she will not wait for her." "That is true; but I am afraid we shall miss the Ovidio if we remain too long in these waters."
"I expect to find the Ovidio at Nassau; and, like the Dornoch, she is intended for a man-of-war. Mr. Passford and I will do the best we can." "How long do you mean to be absent on this business?" "About three days, as well as I can judge, though I have not had a chance to look over the ground. I have no doubt there are blockade-runners there, and we shall ascertain what we can in regard to them."
At the same time, Carmen Calero left on a mysterious mission to Puebla on November 12, 1937, with a letter from Escobar to J. Trinidad Mata, publisher of the local paper Avance. She carried still another letter addressed to their "distinguished comrades," without mentioning names, and signed by both Escobar and Ovidio Pedrero Valenzuela, President of the Accion Civica Nacionalista.
He gave the names of all the intending blockade-runners in the harbor of Nassau; but the captain declared that he could not capture them on any such evidence as the detective had been able to obtain, for it would not prove the intention. "The Ovidio may not come out of Nassau for two months to come, and then she will proceed to Green Cay," said Captain Chantor.
Word Of The Day