HISTORY OF THE ORINOCO STEAMERS 3^ 



' Hero,' one of the steamers of Mr. Hancox's line, was 

 seized at Guayana la Vieja, the United States flag was 

 hauled down, the captain imprisoned, and the steamship 

 used as a man-of-war and transport for troops. The 

 revolutionists having seized the ' Hero,' the Government 

 promptly took possession of the ' Nutrias,' deposed her 

 captain, and against his protest manned and armed her 

 and engaged her in a naval combat with her sister ship 

 the ' Hero.' 



Out of this incident and others of a similar nature 

 there arose a claim which lasted for quite a number of 

 years before Mr. Hancox succeeded in squeezing some- 

 thing out of the Venezuelan government. 



From the above description of the 1871 incident, it 

 will be seen that whenever civil war breaks out in Vene- 

 zuela, the rival factions vie with each other in obtaining 

 possession of and transforming into men-of-war the 

 steamers trading on the Orinoco, which are generally the 

 property of foreigners. As a rule these buccaneering 

 operations are carried out in Venezuelan v/aters, but in 

 November 1888, during what was known as the Crespo 

 revolution, an attempt was made to seize the steamer 

 * Bolivar ' while in British waters in the harbour of Port 

 of Spain. The following is the account given by a local 

 paper of this daring act : 



'On Saturday evening last ^ the s.s. "Bolivar," which 

 flies the Venezuelan flag and trades between this city and 

 Ciudad-Bolivar, was about starting, the anchor having 

 been raised, when pistol and gun shots and shouts were 

 heard on board, and the steamer was first seen to drift 

 and then to be heading towards the St. Vincent jetty. 

 This created a great excitement amongst the persons wha 



' November 17, 1888. 



