File No. 341.115Am319/273a
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Great Britain (Page)
3980. Walter S. Field, attorney for American Transatlantic Company, has returned from London and reports that all negotiations with British officials for a settlement of the cases of the Hocking and the Genesee and the other ships of that company failed. He has submitted to Department a statement, which is fortified by documents and correspondence, containing specific allegations that although British officials suggested as a possible plan of settlement the sale or charter by the American Transatlantic Company of all of its ships to a company that would be acceptable to the British Government, they finally blocked a deal for their sale at $8,000,000 by interposing an objection to a price beyond $7,500,000; that the ships of Albert Jensen, which had been seized by the British authorities, were released from prize proceedings under an arrangement with Jensen, but that the Wagner ships are dealt with more severely notwithstanding the ground upon which the latter were seized and are held consists, so the Department understands, in the part which Jensen is alleged to have taken in their purchase. Mr. Field contends that the terms and conditions upon which the Jensen ships were discharged involve a tacit admission that Jensen’s activities in the matter of purchasing ships did not involve in reality an enemy ownership of them. He also reports that the proceedings through which the Hocking and Genesee were requisitioned for use by the British Government have now been dismissed or non-suited and that other proceedings have been or will be begun by the British Government to the same end.
You will present these matters to the Foreign Office in a note stating that the Department is deeply concerned over the seizure of the ships in question and the proceedings which have been taken thereunder; that the course of the British authorities can not be regarded otherwise than as wanting in legality and as constituting an infringement of the rights of the American Transatlantic Company, as was set forth in previous representations; and that, in the light of the proceedings and incidents as reported by Mr. Field, the Department is being driven to the conclusion that British officials having charge of the matter are inclined to regard the seizure of these ships lightly and to trifle with the large American interests involved. If the report made by Mr. Field and the documents and correspondence submitted by him are to be accepted, there are strong grounds for believing that the legal aspects of the seizures and detentions are being subordinated to other considerations by British officials.
You will renew the insistence that the ships of this company which have been seized shall be released and that the others shall not be denied a place on the British white list.