No. 905.
Mr. Bayard to Mr. de Weckherlin.

Sir: Referring to previous correspondence, I have the honor to inform you that the Department has just received from the Commissioner of Navigation an announcement of his decision to refund the tonnage dues exacted from the Dutch steamers Schiedam and Leerdam at New York, where they arrived from Plymouth, England, with the cargo of the Dutch steamer P. Caland, which was compelled to put into that port in distress, and to have her cargo transhipped, while bound on a direct voyage from the Netherlands to the United States.

In the course of the decision the Commissioner says:

Had the P. Caland proceeded to New York, the calling of the vessel at Plymouth in distress would not have been considered by this office as causing tonnage dues to accrue, and it is not thought that the calling of the other two steamers at Plymouth with a view to relieving the distress of a sister vessel, and of receiving by transhipment merely her cargo and passengers under the exceptional circumstances of the present case, necessitated the collection of the tax.

Accept, etc.,

T. F. Bayard.