File No. 841.857/57
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Great Britain (Page)
Sir: Referring to your despatch No. 2184, of September 21, 1915,1 in which you transmit a copy of Lieutenant Tower’s report on the Hesperian and Arabic cases and state that you are forwarding to the Department the piece of metal and copies of the Admiralty charts referred to in that report, the Department returns herewith the fragment of metal in question, in accordance with the request of the Admiralty.
For your information the Department gives the following excerpt from the report of the Secretary of the Navy:
This fragment of metal has been compared with the drawings of torpedoes and corresponds to the construction of various types of torpedoes, and in the opinion of the Department is a part of a joint ring and shell of a torpedo.
The Department has no knowledge of any type of mine whose construction is similar to the fragment of metal referred to.
I am [etc.]