But the seizure of so large a number as six thousand rifles at a time
when the political situation looked like moving towards a crisis in the
near future, made necessary a bolder attempt to procure the necessary
arms. When General Sir George Richardson took command of the U.V.F. in
July 1913 he placed Captain (afterwards Lieut.-Colonel) Wilfrid Bliss
Spender on his staff, and soon afterwards appointed him A.Q.M.G. of the
Forces. Captain Spender's duties comprised the supply of equipment,
arms, and ammunition, the organisation of transport, and the supervision
of communications. He was now requested to confer with Major Fred
Crawford with a view to preparing a scheme for procuring arms and
ammunition, to be submitted to a special sub-committee appointed to deal
with this matter, of which Captain James Craig was chairman. Spender
gave his attention mainly to the difficulties that would attend the
landing and distribution of arms if they reached Ulster in safety;
Crawford said he could undertake to purchase and bring them from a
foreign port. Crawford's proposed _modus operandi_ may be given in his
own words:

"I would immediately go to Hamburg and see B.S. [the Hebrew dealer
in firearms with whom he had been in communication for some six or
seven years, and whom he had found perfectly honest, and not at all
grasping], and consult him as to what he had to offer. I would
purchase 25,000 to 30,000 rifles, modern weapons if possible, and
not the Italian Vetteli rifles we had been getting, all to take the
same ammunition and fitted with bayonets. I would purchase a
suitable steamer of 600 tons in some foreign port and load her up
with the arms, and either bring her in direct or transfer the cargo
to a local steamer in some estuary or bay on the Scottish coast. I
felt confident, though I knew the difficulties in front of me,