Life Of Captain Joseph Fry The Cuban Martyr

Hartford, CT: The J. B. Burr Publishing Co.. Good. 1875. 1st Edition; 1st Printing. Hardcover. B&W Illustrations; This book is in Good condition and was likely issued without a dust jacket. The book covers have bumping, rubbing, edge wear, spots of fraying and noticeable generalized biopredation (bugs nibbling on the sizing of the cloth ). The edges of the text block have gilding (A. E. G. ) but all edges are noticeably rubbed. There are a couple of small edge tears to the spine ends. The text pages have light spots of foxing and ground-in dirt. The front inner hinge has cracked and been repaired by a former owner. The rear endpapers have spots of biopredation (bug nibbles) and spots of dirt (detritus). "Captain Joseph Fry was made the new captain of Virginius from October 1873. Fry had served in the US Navy for 15 years, before joining the Confederacy during the Civil War. Fry was promoted to commodore in the Confederate Navy. However, after that position disappeared after the Union victory in 1865, Fry was underemployed. In 1873 he took the job as captain of Virginius. Virginius, moored in Kingston, Jamaica by this time needed repair, and the boilers were breaking down. As most of the previous crew had deserted, Fry recruited a new crew of 52 men, both American and British. Many were inexperienced and apparently did not understand that Virginius was supporting the Cuban rebellion. Three were very young recruits, no older than 13 years of age. Virginius took on 103 native Cuban soldiers that arrived on board a New York steamer. Fry had been warned by the US Consul at Kingston, Thomas H. Pearne, that he would be shot if captured. However, Fry did not believe the Spanish would shoot a blockade runner. In mid-October, Captain Fry, accompanied by four mercenaries, took Virginius to Haiti and loaded the ship with munitions. On October 30, Virginius sailed to Comito to pick up more weapons and then on the same day started toward Cuba. The Spanish had been warned when Virginius left Jamaica and sent out the warship Tornado to capture the vessel. " (from Wikipedia) .