The Acting Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Great Britain ( Page )
Washington , October 31, 1914.
[Telegram]
433. Department is informed that American steamer Kroonland, which sailed October 15 from New York for Naples and Piraeus [Page 334] with consignments of copper and rubber shipped by American citizens, has been detained at Gibraltar and is awaiting orders from England. It appears from representations submitted to Department by shippers, extensively supported by affidavits, that, in accordance with usual practice of trade, bills of lading were made to order of shippers that the goods were not intended by the shippers for a belligerent government or its military or naval forces, and that there is not even evidence warranting the belief that they were destined ultimately for delivery in belligerent territory. Owners of cargoes and vessel allege they are suffering large losses because of the detention of the vessel and they call attention to the hardships imposed on the passengers.
This Government does not question the right of British authorities properly to visit and search neutral merchant vessels for the purpose of ascertaining if they are carrying contraband or performing unneutral services to a belligerent, but if such search does not disclose any offense on the part of a vessel she should be promptly released. Department understands the Kroonland was not stopped on the high seas but is detained at Gibraltar. Such detention appears equivalent to a seizure, and the Department cannot perceive that the vessel can be properly held awaiting orders from the British authorities at London regardless of what an examination of available evidence on the ship may show relative to her destination and destination of her cargo.
The Department, therefore, considers that, unless investigation on the part of the British authorities has disclosed facts in relation to detention of vessel and cargo other than those that have been represented by owners, both ship and cargo should be released at once. If British authorities are not prepared to take such action, the Department feels warranted in requesting that this Government be furnished promptly with a statement of the grounds for detention of the ship.
This Government is also seriously concerned regarding the reported detention at Gibraltar of American shipments of copper on board the Italian steamers San Giovanni and Regina d’Italia, which cargoes it is also represented to Department are not destined by the shippers for delivery in belligerent territory. The Department hopes they may be released at once. If this should not be done, this Government would also like to receive a statement from the British Government as soon as possible regarding the detention of the property.
The trade of this country has already suffered serious injury as a result of the detention and seizure by British authorities of American vessels and cargoes in cases where investigation has failed to show attempts to carry on illegal trade, and American shippers are bitterly complaining that their export trade is seriously menaced by unwarranted interference by British authorities with shipments to Europe.
Communicate with British Government in sense of the foregoing.