150 AVES ISLAND. 



Department of the United States, in whicli Philo S. Slielton and Samp- 

 son & Tappan are claimants against the republic of Venezuela, do de- 

 pose that I reside in Brooklyn, in said State, am of lawful age, and by 

 occupation I am a gunsmith ; that 1 went to Shelton's Isle or Aves 

 Island with Captain" N. P. G-ibbs, in the brigantine John E. Dow, 

 from Boston, in July, 1854; that I staid at said island till Christmas 

 of the same year, when the Venezuelans forced us away ; that I think 

 there was perhaps 200,000 tons of guano there; about one quarter of 

 it could not be called the best quality. Captain Gibbs and Captain 

 Wheeler staked off the island between them, and on Captain G-ibbs' s 

 part I should say there was 75,000 tons of pretty good guano, worth 

 twelve or fifteen dollars a ton to us, as we had everything ready for 

 loading it to any vessels that might come there. I understood freight 

 was from six to eight dollars a ton to the United States. We gathered 

 from July till we went away, after we got our wharf, houses, and other 

 things prepared. I cannot make an estimate of the cost of the wharf 

 and other structures we built there, but I have read Captain Gibbs's, 

 Captain Wheeler's, Eichard Thornell's, and John McCabe's deposi- 

 tions, and don't think any of them state their cost too high ; and I 

 agree with them as to their description of the property there, and also 

 as to that left when we were driven off, and that we brought away. I 

 came home in the bark Amazon with the other hands. Captain Gibbs 

 took possession of the isle when we landed in July, as he stated, in the 

 name of the United States, and hoisted the United States flag and fired 

 a salute. He said he claimed to be the discoverer of the guano on it 

 when out on a voyage of discovery the April before, when Captain 

 Wheeler was with him as his mate, both being in the John E. Dow, 

 in the employ of Mr. Shelton. Captain Wheeler went out in July in 

 the M. H. Comeroy for a Mr. Lang, and he and Captain Gibbs disputed 

 about his right to go on the isle and take guano for Mr. Lang, but 

 finally Captain Gibbs, rather than have a row, staked off to Wheeler 

 about half the island. Wheeler built some structures and a wharf, 

 but they were not as good or as costly as those put by Captain Gibbs. 

 Captain Dias, who said he belonged to the Venezuelan navy, came 

 down to the isle in an armed schooner some time near the middle of 

 December, and, with our aid, landed himself and some men. He said 

 he came there to take charge of the isle for his government, and that 

 the United States had consented they should have it. He wanted at 

 first to drive us all off at once, but he found that would not do, and then 

 he got Captain Gibbs and Charles Lang to agree to let some of his 

 soldiers stay there a few days, and to feed them while he went home 

 for further orders, and he promised, if they would do so, he would give 

 a paper ordering any other Venezuelan vessel that might come there 

 while he was away not to disturb us. He did give, I understood, a 

 paper in Spanish ; and I heard also that Captain Gibbs and C. Lang 

 gave a receipt for it or something of the kind ; and I have also heard 

 that it turned out to be a different paper from what we all understood 

 it was at the time. Captain Gibbs refused to sign anything for a long 

 time, and Dias blustered and coaxed and promised nearly half a day 

 to get it done. He said it was no acknowledgment of the title of any- 

 body, and he didn't want any. He threatened if it was not signed as 



