Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, Transmitted to Congress, With the Annual Message of the President, December 8, 1885
Mr. Scott to Mr. Bayard.
Caracas, October 14, 1885. (Received October 31.)
Sir: I have the honor to inform you that immediately on the receipt of your dispatch No. 22, dated Washington, September 3, 1885, I addressed a note to the minister of exterior relations, of which the inclosure is a copy.
I also accompanied said note with an exhibit, containing the protests, declarations, and affidavits of the persons mentioned in your said dispatch in support of the claim of the master of the Lanie Cobb. As soon as I am able to obtain an answer thereto I will forward the same to the Department of State, and will endeavor to keep you advised as to the progress of the case, as requested to do.
I am, &c.,
Mr. Scott to Mr. Lander.
Caracas, October 12, 1885.
Sir: I have the honor to inform you that I have received instructions from my Government to present and press the claim for damages of Capt. C. H. Cobb, master of the American schooner Lanie Cobb, of Bangor, Me., against the Venezuelan Government for being run into while lying at anchor in the harbor of La Guayra, by the Venezuelan schooner Ana Eulogia, February 21, 1885.
It appears that the schooner Lanie Cobb arrived at La Guayra February 15, 1885, from Savanah, Ga., laden with lumber, and that while lying safely at anchor in the harbor of La Guayra was “negligently and carelessly” run into by the Ana Eulogia, and considerably damaged.
To establish the above allegations you will find attached hereto an “exhibit” containing the sworn protests and declarations of Capt. C. H. Cobb, sustained by the affidavits of W. M. Wentworth, mate, and H. P. Baker, seaman, of the schooner Lanie Cobb, strongly sustained and corroborated by the sworn testimony of an impartial and disinterested witness, Capt. Benjamin F. Cushman, master of the American schooner Addie M. Bird, who witnessed the collision between the two vessels from the deck of his vessel, the Addie M. Bird, on the 21st of February, 1885.
Immediately after the occurrence of the collision between the two vessels, the Lanie Cobb and the Ana Eulogia, on the 21st of February, 1885, in the harbor of La Guayra, [Page 927] Captain Cobb, the master of the first-named vessel, on learning that the President of Venezuela was the owner of the Ana Eulogia, and from respect to the high official position of the owner, resolved to use every effort to have his claim for damages done his vessel by the Ana Eulogia quietly and amicably settled without resorting to legal measures. For this purpose he called on the United States consul at La Guayra and also procured the assistance of the United States consular agent at Caracas, and with them made every effort to have the matter in controversy satisfactorily adjusted without appealing to the legal tribunals of Venezuela. But no proposition lor adjustment was made to him by the parties from whom he had sustained so much wrong and damage, and all advances made by him for an amicable settlement were rejected, and all offers of compromise made on his part were peremptorily refused.
In the mean time, on the 23d day of February, 1885, Captain Cobb made application to the United States consul at La Guayra for a “survey” on the schooner Lanie Cobb, in consequence of having sustained damages and injuries on the 21st of February, 1885, by being run into by the schooner Ana Eulogia, whereby she was rendered unseaworthy, and in consequence of said application the United States consul at La Guayra granted the request, and appointed asa “board of survey” the following-named persons, namely, Messrs. Evan Jones, master of the brig Fleetwing, of Cardiff, Wales; Benjamin F. Cushman, master of the schooner Addie M. Bird, of Rockland, Me., and Charles J. Jackson, master ship-carpenter, of Maiqueta, Venezuela. This “board of survey,” on the 24th day of February, 1885, proceeded on board the schooner Lanie Cobb, lying then damaged in the harbor of La Guayra by reason of the collision with the schooner Ana Eulogia, and after a “minute and careful examination and survey made” a report.
While referring to the report of the “board of survey,” I deem it just and proper to state that while the full amount of damages ascertained by the “board of survey” aggregated $1,986 in American gold, that since this estimate was made the anchor and chain have been recovered and restored to its owner, and that said anchor and chain being valued at $828, deducting which from the total estimate of $1,986 leave a balance still due of $1,158 from the Venezuelan Government to C. H. Cobb, the master of the Lanie Cobb, and the amount of $1,158 is the amount which the Government of the United States believes that the said Cobb is equitably and legally entitled to receive from the Venezuelan Government in satisfaction of the injuries and damages that his vessel, the Lanie Cobb, sustained by the “carelessness and negligence” of the captain of the Venezuelan vessel the Ana Eulogia, in running intoher on the 21st of February, 1885, being at the time in the employ and under the control of the public authorities of the Venezuelan Government, as acknowledged and admitted by persons high in authority.
Having, your excellency, thus outlined and briefly summed up the salient points in the case of the Lanie Cobb, and having examined carefully all the facts involved in the controversy, I cannot conceive how any other conclusion can be arrived at than that the damages and injuries sustained by the Lanie Cobb by being run into on the 21st of February, 1885, in the harbor of La Guayra, by the schooner Ana Eulogia, were entirely attributable to the carelessness, mismanagement, or ignorance of the captain of the schooner Ana Eulogia, for the schooner Lanie Cobb, from all the evidence, was lying quietly at anchor and did not move an inch from her proper moorings until struck and run into by the Ana Eulogia, and that the captain of the Lanie Cobb did all in his power to avert the collision by slipping his anchor, which he actually lost in endeavoring to save his vessel, but afterwards recovered it as before stated.
If the Cobb had been under sail and in motion some doubts might arise as to which vessel was in fault and to be the most censurable for the collision; but it is an established, undeniable, and admitted fact that the Lanie Cobb was at anchor, and consequently motionless, and this circumstance alone precluded all suppositions even that by any action of hers was this collision caused and the consequent great injury and damage sustained whilst riding at anchor off La Guayra and being run into by the Ana Eulogia.
I do not hesitate in the belief that when your Government becomes acquainted and familiar with all the facts and evidence in this case that it will most readily and cheerfully make reparation for the wanton wrongs, damages, and injuries that the Lanie Cobb has sustained in Venezuelan waters from a vessel floating at her mast-head the Venezuelan flag, and commanded by a Venezuelan officer, who was in the service of your Government at the time the collision occurred.
My Government with extreme reluctance resorted to diplomatic measures to bring the case of the Lanie Cobb to the attention of your Government, and has deferred requesting reparation for the injuries sustained by the said vessel on account of the high esteem entertained for President Crespo, the alleged owner, and also from the strong hopes that the matter would be satisfactorily adjusted without resorting to diplomatic interference. And it is now from a stern sense of duty and in the performance of the high obligations that my Government owes to all her citizens to protect their lives, liberty, and property in every land and every clime that she instructs her minister and representative at the Republic of Venezuela to use every effort in his power to protect the lawful rights and just [Page 928] demands of Capt. C. H. Cobb, the master of the schooner Lanie Cobb, and to respectfully request that your Government make reparation for the injuries done and damages sustained on account of the collision of the Ana Eulogia with the Lanie Cobb in the harbor of La Guayra on the 21st of February, 1885, by paying to the said Cobb the sum of $1,158 in satisfaction of said damages.
In addressing your excellency on this subject I have strictly confined myself to a recital of the evidence, and made no reference to the law applicable and governing this case; for if the sworn testimony contained in the exhibit attached to this note be true, it establishes a case so emphatically just and so transparently meritorious that cibation to legal rules and precedents would be both trite and unnecessary, and I am willing to leave all law points pertinent and involved in this case to the “law officer” of your Government, having all confidence in his ability and fairness.
Trusting sincerely that after a full and fair investigation of this case the decisions of your Government will be such as to increase and strengthen the most friendly and cordial relations that now so happily exist between our two Governments,
I am, &c.,