A VENEZUELAN RAID

Greymouth Evening Star, 5 December 1929, Page 9

A VENEZUELAN RAID

; ADVENTURES OF THE FALKE ? Soon to resume her prosaic role as a common cargo carrier, the steam- . ship Falke is now in port here, after . participating in the most remarkable ■ episode of gun running and insurrection of the last 20 years in these tropicaL waters, stated a New York “Herald Tribune” correspondent at Port of Spain, Trinidad, last month. As the autumn gales whip the North Atlantic the Falke will be plodding along to Europe filled with a cargo of asphalt, in strange contrast to her outward bound voyage last summer, when she sailed from the Baltic bound for Venezuela carrying millions of rounds of ammunition, thousands of rifles and several Venezuelan generals —embarked on an attempt to overthrow the Venezulan Government. For the first time the details of the Falke expedition, garnered by the correspondent Jrom members of the crew of the steamer and from Venezuelan revolutionists who participated in the battle of Cumana, are made public. The revolutionary expedition, after months of planning and an expenditure of several hundred thousand dollars —collected from enemies rof the present regime-in Venezuela —sailed from Gdingen, a Polish port, near Danzig. On board were the principal leaders, General Delgado Chalbaud, who was forced to flee from Venezuela years ago for activities against the administration of President Juan Vincente Gomez; General Linares Alcantara, a West Point trained officer, and 20 Venezuelans, mostly political outcasts. Stowed away in the hold were 54 cases of rifles and 1000 cases of ammunition reported to have been taken from a European ammunition dump. Captain Ernest Zipplitt was in command of the Falke, a salvage vessel capable of making 16 to 17 knots. As soon;as the Falke was well away from the land the cases of rifles were brought on deck and the crew set to work mounting and cleaning the weapons. They were not informed of the mission of the vessel until the coast of Venezuela w r as close by. Dropping anchor off the island of Blanquilla, near Venezuela, the Falke established communication with the leaders of the rebels on the mainland. I’he following day more than 300 Venezuelans came on board the Falke and were fitted with rifles and' ammunition. Many of these men landed the same day. Three large native boats, manned by 150 men, who also were supplied with arms and munitions by General Chalbaud, then accompanied the Falke to Cumana Point. At 4 a.m., August 11, the Falke came to anchor within a stone’s throw of the wharf of the town of Cumana, capital of the States of Sucre. As two of the native boats had been lost enroute, the ship’s boats were pressed into service, the crew being forced to row the revolutionists ashore.

TREASURY LOOTED BY REBELS. As the revolutionists reached the landing stage members of the local garrisop opened fire. Heated firing continued through the morning, the loyal forces gradually retiring through the streets of Cumana, until the rebels were finally in complete control of the town. Large sums of government funds were seized by the rebels who looted the treasury and Customs safes. More than 20,000 pesos, in silver; were reported to have been left on the beach, the rebels being unable to transport it because of the great weight. However, just as the venture appeared to be on the verge of success, tin leader, General Chalbaud, who, with the Venezuelan banner in one hand and a revolver in the other, was directing the attack, was shot and killed. number' of the rebels seeing their leader fall, became panic stricken and rushed to the boats and returned to the Falke. The rebels forced Captain Zinnlitt to weigh anchor immediately, Siring that all was lost. The Falke steamed out of the harbour, abandoning the several hundred rebels still on shore.

All arms and munitions remaining on the Falke were thrown overboard and the vessel arrived at Trinidad several days later without any evidence on board to connect her with the revolutionary attempt. The Falke was held for investigation on charges by the Venezuelan Government that the vessel engaged in an act. of piracy. While the investigation disclosed the vessel had not engaged in piracy, as the Falke was never armed, nor did any member of the crew fire a gun dui ing the entire voyage, the steamer is still lying at anchor in the Port ol Spain, awaiting a final decision by the board of inquiry. Captain Zipplitt has returned to Hamburg and a new skipper is expected from Germany to take over the command and to sail the vessel to Europe with a cargo of asphalt as soon as she is released from custody. (SS®*’