File No. 763.72112/407a
The Secretary of State to the Argentine Legation
Memorandum
In compliance with an oral request from the Minister of the Argentine Republic to be furnished with a memorandum regarding the detention by British authorities of certain American vessels and cargoes and regarding the representations which have been made to [Page 439] the Government of Great Britain by the Government of the United States in instances where such detention has taken place, the Department of State has the honor to furnish the Minister with the following information in relation to these matters:
The American tank steamer John D. Rockefeller, owned by the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey, left Philadelphia September 26 last for Copenhagen with a cargo of illuminating oil and was detained by the British authorities at Kirkwall, Orkney Islands. The Department instructed the American Ambassador at London to bring to the attention of the British Government the facts regarding the ownership of the vessel and cargo and regarding their destination and to request that, if the facts were as represented to the Department, the vessel be released at once and allowed to proceed to her destination. Both ship and cargo were released after a brief detention.
The American tank steamer Brindilla, now owned by the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey and formerly owned by the Deutsch-Amerikanische Petroleum Gesellschaft, a subsidiary of the Standard Oil Company, sailed from New York October 13 last with a cargo of oil owned by Americans, on a voyage, as the Department was informed, to Alexandria, Egypt, and was taken into port at Halifax by the British cruiser Caronia. The Ambassador was instructed to acquaint the British Government with the Department’s information in relation to the ownership, cargo, and destination of this vessel, and to state that this Government found difficulty in seeing cause for the detention of an American vessel with a cargo of petroleum bound for the port of Alexandria, Egypt, and therefore requested that the vessel and cargo be released immediately. Under date of October 22, 1914, the Ambassador reported that he had been informed by the British Foreign Office that orders had been given for the release of the vessel, the British authorities having received information that the ship’s cargo was expected at Alexandria.
The American steamer Platuria left New York October 5 with a cargo of illuminating oil for Aarhus, Denmark, and was taken into port at Stornoway by a British vessel. The Ambassador at London was instructed to say in his communication to the British Government regarding this case that the Government of the United States did not perceive that there could be any justification for the seizure and detention of this American vessel bound, according to this Government’s information, for a neutral port with a neutral cargo of petroleum, and therefore requested that vessel and cargo be immediately released. Under date of November 3, 1914, the Department was informed by the American Consul General that the master of the ship had received notice of her release.
The steamer Chr. Knudsen, a tank steamer, flying the flag of Norway, which vessel for some years has been chartered by the Interocean Transport Company of New York, an American corporation, left New York October 7 last for Copenhagen with a cargo of gas oil consigned to Det Danske Petroleum Aktieselskab, a Danish corporation, and on October 23 was brought into port at Kirkwall by British authorities. The owners of the cargo represented to the Department that there was no question as to the neutral destination of the cargo. The Ambassador at London was [Page 440] instructed to bring these facts to the attention of the Foreign Office and to use his good offices with a view to effecting the immediate release of the vessel and her cargo. On November 3, 1914, the Ambassador reported that orders were being given for her release.
The American Steamer Kroonland, which sailed October 15 from New York for Naples and Piraeus with consignments of copper, rubber and other articles shipped by American citizens, was detained at Gibraltar, where she had entered the port and was held, as the Department was advised, awaiting orders from England. It appeared from representations submitted to the Department by shippers, extensively supported by affidavits, that, in accordance with the usual practice of trade, bills of lading were made “to order” of the shippers; that the goods were not intended by the shippers for a belligerent government or its military or naval forces; and that there was not even evidence warranting the belief that they were destined ultimately for delivery in belligerent territory.
The Department instructed the Ambassador at London to inform the British Government that the Department considered that, unless investigation on the part of the British authorities had disclosed facts in relation to the detention of the vessel and her cargo other than those that had been represented by the owners, both ship and cargo should be released at once, and that if the British authorities were not prepared to take such action, the Department felt warranted in requesting that this Government be furnished promptly with a statement of the grounds for the detention of the ship.
The Ambassador was further instructed to say that this Government did 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 did not disclose any offense on the part of a vessel she should be promptly released; that the detention of the vessel appeared to be equivalent to a seizure; and that the Department could not perceive that the vessel could be properly held awaiting orders from the British authorities at London regardless of what any available evidence on the ship might show relative to her destination and the destination of her cargo.
The Ambassador subsequently reported that he had been informed by the British Foreign Office that the Kroonland had been detained at Gibraltar on the ground that her cargo of copper, while ostensibly destined for Naples, was really destined for Germany and was therefore seizable as contraband.
The Department, having later been informed that the vessel would be released but that the cargo would be held for adjudication by the prize court, instructed the Ambassador at London to point out to the British Government that copper was listed by the British authorities as conditional contraband up to October 29, nearly two weeks after the Kroonland sailed from America, and to say that this Government could not admit that shipments of copper on the vessel were legally subject to seizure and confiscation in the absence of evidence showing them to be destined for the armed forces of government of a belligerent country. The Ambassador was further directed to say that, if the copper was held on the ground that it was [Page 441] shipped under bills of lading drawn to order of shippers, which is the usual practice of the trade, the Department deemed it necessary to state that it could not acquiesce in the detention of the shipments in question on this ground.
As bearing on the general question as to the proper manner of the exercise of the right of search and of seizure, attention may be called to the fact that, in reply to communications from the British Government to the effect that the steamers Platuria and Chr. Knudsen had been detained pending the receipt of guarantees from Denmark against the reexportation of the Cargoes of these vessel, and that orders were given for the release of the vessels on the receipt of satisfactory guarantees, the Department informed the British Government that it appeared to the Government of the United States that the detention of the vessels carrying cargoes for neutral destinations until assurances had been obtained that the cargoes would not be exported from a neutral country after having arrived there, was legally unjustifiable; that under existing rules of international law and usage a neutral owner of articles on a neutral vessel bound to a neutral port, which articles under certain conditions might acquire the character of contraband, is not responsible for their future disposition by the Government of the neutral port of their destination, or by the persons to whom they are bona fide consigned in the ordinary course of trade; and that, in the opinion of this Government, the belligerent right of visit and search requires that the search should be made on the high seas at the time of visit and that the conclusion of the search should rest upon the evidence found on the ship under investigation and not on circumstances ascertained from external sources.