File No. 763.72111/994
The British Embassy to the Secretary of State
memorandum
The Norwegian steamer Gladstone, whose name has recently been changed to Chilean, left Norfolk, Virginia, on November 20, having taken on board there a full cargo of coal for Newport News. At Newport News she has been fitted with electric light and wireless telegraphy and she has also shipped large quantities of salt meat belonging to the Hamburg-American Steamship Company, together with 40 tons of provisions and a large number of barrels of oil. The Chilean is expected to sail on November 25. Her ostensible destination will probably be a port in South America but there are strong suspicions that her real intention is to supply German cruisers.
It is requested that enquiry may be made into the destination and intentions of this vessel as there is a presumption, which almost amounts to a certainty, that her voyage is not bona fide and that use is being made of the port of Newport News for clearing for a false destination with the direct intention of assisting in belligerent operations against peaceful commerce.
It is urged that special caution should be exercised by the United States authorities in the case of this vessel and that she should be detained pending an indication on the part of the consular representative of the nation concerned of the ports of call and the destination and pending assurances that the vessel is sailing for purely commercial purposes.