Capt. Joseph Fry, The Cuban Martyr, Who Was Executed by th Spanish

This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 1/21/2024

Book "Life of Capt. Joseph Fry, The Cuban Martyr", published by The J.B. Burr Publishing Co, Hartford, 1875, first edition. Frontispiece portrait. 589 pp. including numerous full-page woodcuts. Fry was Captain of the S.S. Virginius, a Cuban blockade runner fraudulently flying US colors and carrying guns and 300 Cuban rebels, when, in 1873 it was seized by Spanish authorities Fry and over 50 U.S. and British citizens were executed as a result, nearly bringing on the war which erupted 1898 with the sinking of the Maine. Captain Joseph Fry was made the new captain of Virginius in 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 U.S. victory in 1865. Fry recruited a new crew of 52 American and British men. Many were inexperienced and 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. The US Consul at Kingston, Thomas H. Pearne, had warned Fry that he would be shot if captured. n October 30, 1873 Tornado spotted Virginius on open water 6 miles (9.7 km) from Cuba and gave chase. Virginius was heavily weighted, and the stress from the boilers caused the ship to take on water, significantly slowing any progress. As the chase continued, Tornado, a fast warship, fired on Virginius several times, damaging the top deck. Captain Fry surrendered Virginius, knowing that his ship's overworked boilers and leaking hull could not outrun Tornado on the open sea. The Spanish quickly boarded and secured the ship, taking the entire crew prisoner and sailing the ship to Santiago de Cuba. The Spanish immediately ordered the entire crew to be put on trial as pirates.

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