International Naval Journal

31-51

Authors: Ramón A. Rivero Blanco

To this moment, the international naval historiography, and especially the Venezuelan, has not accurately documented the true origin of the torpedo boat “Margarita”. Attributing her diverse origins: England, Ecuador or Spain, and manufacturers: Yarrow or Thornycroft. Simple questions like who; what; where; which means; why; how; when… have not been clearly answered so far. I’ve decided to solve these questions through the research of bibliography, bulletins, official archives, blueprints and photographs of that period of time. The result after such extensive and exhaustive research is that the "Margarita" was bought by the Venezuelan Government from a British shipyard, through agents of an allied third country, in order to hide its real end user, with the purpose of supporting the liberal revolution in Colombia, smuggling arms and troops, control rivers and coasts, seize private property, etc. as part of a Latin American liberal project with the ulterior ends of the restoration of Colombia, La Grande. During one of its revolutionary operations, it collided with another liberal war vessel and was left inoperative and its task force's commander a liberal Mexican mercenary brought it back towed to Venezuela, where it was "confiscated" by its real owner, the Venezuelan Government to avoid Colombian claims and then-after commission it to the Venezuelan Navy. first as a gunboat and later as a coastguard for the Customs Services until the end of the second decade of the twentieth century when it was quietly dismantled.