File No. 763.72111F23/17
The Secretary of State to the British Ambassador (Spring Rice)
Excellency: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your notes of the 13th, 14th, and 17th instant in regard to the steamer KD–3, which entered the port of San Juan, Porto Rico, in the possession of a German prize crew, and to inform you in reply that, as stated to you informally at the Department, this Government, after a careful investigation of the case, determined to treat the steamer as a tender to a belligerent fleet, and on the 22d instant instructions were given that the vessel be ordered to leave port within twenty-four hours after notice to that effect, and upon failure to leave, that the vessel, together with the prize officers and crew, be interned, the British officers and crew and the Chinese seamen being released.
The Department is now advised that the vessel, together with the prize officers and crew, was interned on the 25th instant at San Juan.
I have [etc.]