The Shipment
The manifest obtained by the United States Justice Department following the departure of the SS Brinkhorn lists the large amount of ordnance that was on board the ship. The cargo included: 10,000 cases of 30-caliber cartridges; 4,000 cases of 7-millimeter cartridges; 250 cases of 44-caliber cartridges; 250,000 carbine rifles; 1000 cases of 14/30 carbines; twenty rapid fire machine guns. The total value of the 15,770 cases is recorded at US$607,000. Rasst shipped the arms to Odessa but did not appear there in time to clear it through customs. As a result the Russian government seized the consignment. Rasst with the help of the Russian embassy in Washington was able to get the shipment released and sent to Hamburg. However, there Rasst could not pay for the freight charges resulting in the German government to impound the shipment. Money from the American financier and Huerta supporter John Wesley De Kay finally achieved a release. The arms now went to Havanna with German-made Mauser rifles and cartridges added to it. The arms on the "Ypiranga" required "three trains of ten cars each" to unload.
Read more about this topic: Ypiranga Incident