File No. 763.72111/4048
Memorandum of the Acting Secretary of State
The British Ambassador called and left a memorandum in regard to the submarine merchant ship Deutschland. I told him that in my opinion they were making entirely too much of the incident; that we would do everything in our power to make sure that the hospitality of our ports was not being abused. He expressed great concern as to the possibility of an accident arising from the maneuvers of our submarines around British cruisers.
He admitted that he had absolutely no right to make any request or representation on the subject, but in view of the long-standing friendship between the two nations, he hoped that the suggestion would not be taken amiss.
I told him that an accident would be most unfortunate and I felt sure that our officers would not go out of their way to disturb the British cruisers. He said that he was very sorry to see this discussion in regard to the possibility of an embargo on nickel as the result of the shipment on the submarine.