PERIOD FROM 1871 TO 1905. 849 



[Inclosure No. 2.] 



CUSTOM-HOUSE, Shellmm.e, September 6, 1886. 



SIR: I have to acknowledge receipt of your telegram of 4th instant, 

 relative to schooner Rattler, and I wired an answer this morning, as 

 requested on the morning of the 4th ultimo. Chief officer of Terror, 

 accompanied by Capt. A. F. Cunningham, called at this office. Captain 

 Cunningham reported his vessel inwards as follows, viz: Schooner 

 Rattler of Gloucester, 93 tons register; 16 men from fishing bank, 

 with 465 barrels mackerel came in for shelter. I was afterwards 

 informed by the officers of cutter that they found the schooner the 

 evening before at anchor off Sandy Point, 5 miles down the harbor, 

 two men from cutter were put on board, and the master required to 

 report at customs in the morning. I was also informed that the 

 master, Captain Cunningham, made an attempt to put to sea in the 

 night, by hoisting sails, weighing anchor, &c., but was stopped by 

 officers from cutter. 

 I am, &c., 



W. W. ATTWOOD, Collector. 



The COMMISSIONER or CUSTOMS, Ottawa,. 



Mr. Bayard to Mr. Phelps. 



No. 452.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, 



Washington, November 6, 1886. 



SIR: On October 7, 1886, the United States fishing vessel, the 

 Marion Grimes, of Gloucester, Mass., Alexander Landry, a citizen of 

 the United States, being her captain, arrived shortly before midnight, 

 under stress of weather, at the outer harbor of Shelburne, Nova 

 Scotia. The night was stormy, with a strong head-wind against her, 

 and her sole object was temporary shelter. She remained at the spot 

 where she anchored, which was about seven miles from the port of 

 Shelburne, no one leaving her until 6 o'clock the next morning, when 

 she hoisted sail in order to put to sea. She had scarcely started, how- 

 ever, before she was arrested and boarded by a boat's crew from the 

 Canadian cruiser Terror. Captain Landry was compelled to proceed 

 to Shelburne, about seven miles distant, to report to the collector. 

 When the report was made, Captain Landry was informed that he 

 was fined $400 for not reporting on the previous night. He answered 

 that the custom-house was not open during the time that he was in 

 the outer harbor. He further insisted that it was obvious from the 

 storm that caused him to take shelter in that harbor, from the short- 

 ness of his stay, and from the circumstances that his equipments were 

 exclusively for deep-sea fishing, and that he had made no effort what- 

 ever to approach the shore, that his object was exclusively to find 

 shelter. The fine, however, being imposed principally through the 

 urgency of Captain Quigley, commanding the Terror, Captain Lan- 

 dry was informed that he was to be detained at the port of Shelburne 

 until a deposit to meet the fine was made. He consulted Mr. "White, 

 the United States consular agent at Shelburne, who at once tele- 

 graphed the facts to Mr. Phelan, United States consul-general at 

 Halifax, it being of great importance to Captain Landry, and to those 



92909 S. Doc. 870, 61-3, vol 3 15 



