On August 17, the passengers and cargo were landed on the Cuban coast near Nuevitas.  The tug then proceeded to Navassa Island to meet the Laurada.  Half of the men and half of the cargo of the steamer were transferred to the tug, and all were safely landed in a little cove a few miles west of Santiago.  The landing was made in broad daylight.  There were a number of Spanish naval vessels in Santiago harbor, and the city itself was filled with Spanish troops.  The tug then returned for the remainder of the Laurada’s passengers and cargo, all of which were landed a few days later at the place of the earlier landing.  The Laurada went on to Jamaica and loaded with bananas, with which she sailed for Charleston.  Arrests were made as a result of the expedition, and the owner of the ship, Mr. John D. Hart, was convicted and sentenced to sixteen months in the penitentiary.  After serving four months of his term, a pardon was secured.  He is said to be the only one, out of all those engaged in the many expeditions, who was actually convicted, and his only offence was the chartering of his ships to the Cuban revolutionists.  The Dauntless was seized on her return to Jacksonville, but was soon released.  An effort was made to indict O’Brien, but there was too much sympathy for the Cubans in Florida, where the effort was made.  A number of minor expeditions were carried out in the next few months, by the Dauntless, the Three Friends, and the Commodore, the latter being wrecked in the last week in December.

In February, 1897, another complicated manoeuvre was successfully executed.  This involved the use of the Bermuda, the Laurada, and no less than seven smaller auxilliary vessels, tugs, lighters, and schooners.  Rut the Laurada landed the cargo on the north-eastern coast of the island.  As O’Brien tells the story, this successful expedition so angered Captain-General Weyler, then the ruler of the island, that he sent a message to the daring filibuster, through an American newspaper man, somewhat as follows:  “Tell O’Brien that we will get him, sooner or later, and when we do, instead of having him shot along with his Cuban companions, I am going to have him ignominiously hanged from the flag-pole at Cabana, in full view of the city.”  Cabana is the old fortress across the bay, visible from nearly all parts of Havana.  To this, O’Brien sent reply saying:  “To show my contempt for you and all who take orders from you, I will make a landing within plain sight of Havana on my next trip to Cuba.  I may even land an expedition inside of the harbor and take you away a prisoner.  If we should capture you, which is much more likely than that you will ever capture me, I will have you chopped up into small pieces and fed to the fires of the Dauntless.”  A few months later, this little Irishman, whom Weyler denounced as a “bloodthirsty, dare-devil,” and who may have been a dare-devil but was not bloodthirsty, actually carried out a part of this seemingly reckless threat.  He landed a cargo within a mile and a half of Morro Castle.