EXHIBIT S.
Asiatic Department,
October 12, 1895.
Mr. Chargé d’Affaires: The Imperial Ministry of Foreign Affairs has had the honor to receive the letter you had the goodness to address to it on September 27/October 9, of the current year, requesting information regarding the matter of the seizure for unlawful hunting in Russian waters, of the following-named American vessels: The Cape Horn Pigeon, arrested on September 10, 1892; the James Hamilton Lewis, August 2, 1891, and the C. H. White, July 15, 1892.
I hasten to communicate to you in my turn the following answer:
1. As regards the Cape Horn Pigeon, I believe I must refer to the ministerial note of June 12, 1893, No. 2187, in which was exposed the point of view of our marine ministry on the matter of the request of indemnity presented by the captain of the American vessel in question, and which amounted to $49,500. Putting aside first of all from this total, as being absolutely exaggerated, the sum of $45,000, representing, [Page 51] according to the statement of the claimant, the price of the whales which he could have killed during the time of his detention, the Marine Ministry has, moreover, raised objections against another point of the claim. It was the one indicated under the title of minor expenses—charges for telegraph, hire of the boats and cabs, and remuneration of the clerks. The captain requesting an indemnity of $3,400 on this account; the Marine Ministry found that sum much too high and required that the claimant, if he considers that he has a right to it, should produce at least vouchers confirming this part of the claim.
I must inform you, Mr. Chargé d’Affaires, that the documents transferred by the legation of the United States in its subsequent note of June 2, 1894, do not offer the character of vouchers to the claim in question. We find, indeed, in the Appendix No. 1 particularly a simple reproduction of the primitive request of the captain with regard to these $3,400, but without indorsing this request with any proof, nor even specifying it in detail, which naturally deprives it of its value from the legal point of view. Consequently, before it will be able to decide in regard to the claim of the captain of the Cape Horn Pigeon, it is reasonable to expect the production of formal evidence, already claimed in the above-mentioned ministerial note.
2. As to the case regarding the American schooner James Hamilton Lewis, the Imperial Ministry of Marine, with which the Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not fail to enter into communication on this subject, in consequence of the note of the United States Legation of June 30/July 11, 1894, has made known that it has taken the necessary measures to dispatch to St. Petersburg certain documents, which have remained in Petropavlovsk, the examination of which was indispensable, with a view to arriving at a decision. I have, however, renewed our request to the Ministry of Marine in order to hasten the solution of this case, and I shall not fail to inform you of the result of our proceedings.
3. Regarding the case of the American schooner C. H. White, the Ministry of Marine has sent us the communication, the tenor of which is as follows, and which serves as an answer to the allegations of the captain of the said vessel, reproduced in the note of the legation of December 12/24, 1894:
The Ministry of Marine insists that the assertion of the captain that he was captured at the point of intersection of 54° 18’ latitude north and 167° 15’ longitude west is found to be contradicted by the protocol of the capture. Moreover, the captain acknowledged himself, in a memorandum made in his own hand on the protocol, that it was at this last point that he found himself on the day of the arrest. And what proves that the captain understood what he signed and did not suffer in this respect any pressure, is that he accompanied his signature with observations relative to other points of the protocol—as, for example, to the point in regard to the absence of signal lights on the schooner, which he did not find correct. It results, therefore, according to the protocol, that the vessel was arrested at a distance of 23 miles from the nearest Russian coast, and not 80 miles, as is assured hereby by Captain Furman.
The Ministry of Marine states, moreover, that at the moment of the arrest the journal of the vessel was found not kept for two days, and the visit discovered instruments for fishing seals, as well as five seals freshly killed and not yet skinned.
As to the assertions of Captain Furman relative to the conditions under which he arrived in our waters and sailed the previous days, they are contradicted by the journal of the schooner, which shows that during the fifteen days which preceded the capture the vessel remained in the neighborhood of the Commodor Islands—as, for example, on the 18(30) June—when Captain Furman pretends to have hunted at 40 miles from the southern shores of Agatou Island, it is proved in reality that he was at a distance of 11 miles from the isle of Medny (Copper).
Similarly with regard to the declarations of the captain, as well as of the Pilot Ronning and Mr. Wolfgang, concerning the treatment that they had undergone at the same time as the rest of the crew, the inquest established that the treatment, far from giving place to complaints, provoked, on the contrary, from the part of the several persons in question, thanks addressed to the commander of the Zabiaca. At Petropavlovsk the crew in question, as well as the others belonging to other captured vessels, were, in want of other premises belonging to the State and to be disposed of in the town, boarded in buildings dependent on the administration of the local police, and each man received the alimentary allowance prescribed by the law.
Finally, it has been established that the captain and the crew of the C. H. White were allowed to keep their own clothes as they did not belong to the outfit of the schooner, and that the return to their country on board the Majestic of the said crew, together with the others who were in the same case, was executed by order of the commander of the Zabiaca.
It follows from all these statements that the capture in question was made under perfectly regular conditions.
[Page 52]The note of the Legation of the United States of September 27 (October 9), mentioning at the same time the case of arrest of the man Robert Ohman, of the American schooner Emma, toward which it has the goodness to draw the attention of the Imperial Ministry, I can not but refer to the note that your predecessor addressed to us on July 19 (31), of the present year, informing us that the American citizen in question had already returned to the United States and the case should therefore be considered at an end.
Please to receive, Mr. Chargé d’Affaires, the assurance of my distinguished consideration.
To Mr. Peirce, Chargé d’Affaires, etc.