of them were frustrated through efforts of the Department;
that five were frustrated by the United States Navy; four by Spain; two
wrecked; one driven back by storm; one failed through a combination of
causes; and seventeen that may be regarded as successful expeditions. The
records of the Cuban _junta_ very materially increase the number in the
latter class. The despatch of these expeditions was a three-cornered battle
of wits. The groups engaged were the officials of the United States, the
representatives of Spain, and the agents of the revolution. The United
States employed the revenue service and the navy, aided on land by the
Customs Service, the Secret Service, and other Federal officers. The
official representatives of Spain employed scores of detectives and Spanish
spies. The Cuban group sought to outwit them all, and succeeded remarkably
well in doing so. A part of the story has been told, with general
correctness, in a little volume entitled _A Captain Unafraid_, described
as _The Strange Adventures of Dynamite Johnny O'Brien_. This man, really a
remarkable man in his special line, was born in New York, in 1837, and, at
the time this is written, is still living. He was born and grew to boyhood
in the shadow of the numerous shipyards then in active operation along the
East River. The yards were his playground. At thirteen years of age, he ran
away and went to see as cook on a fishing sloop. He admits that he could
not then "cook a pot of water without burning it," but claims that he
could catch cod-fish where no one else could find them. From fisherman,
sailing-master on private yachts, schooner captain, and officer in the
United States Navy in the Civil War, he became a licensed East River pilot
in New York. He became what might be called a professional filibuster
at the time of the revolution in Colombia, in 1885, following that with
similar experience in a revolt in Honduras two years later. The Cubans
landed a few expeditions in 1895, but a greater number were blocked.
In March, 1896, they applied to O'Brien and engaged him to command the
_Bermuda_, then lying in New York and ready to sail. Captain O'Brien
reports that her cargo included "2,500 rifles, a 12-pounder Hotchkiss
field-gun, 1,500 revolvers, 200 short carbines, 1000 pounds of dynamite,
1,200 _machetes_, and an abundance of ammunition." All was packed in boxes
marked "codfish," and "medicines."

The _Bermuda_ sailed the next morning, March 15, with