File No. 351.622a/53
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Germany (Gerard)
2968. Your 3745, April 13, 2 p. m.1 Reply to Foreign Office that American-Hawaiian Steamship Company, owners of the Missourian, state that master of this vessel, just previous to sailing from St. Nazaire, France, on June 16, found a German stowaway on board who was sent ashore, and that on the morning after sailing, another German stowaway was discovered whom on June 20 he turned over to the steamer Principello, bound back to St. Nazaire. As obviously a stowaway is allowed to remain on board at the sufferance of the captain, it is not perceived upon what ground this Government could reprimand the captain for his action in turning the German stowaway over to a British ship for transportation back to port, nor in the circumstances does this Government believe that it should take such steps to require the surrender of the German as have been taken in the case of the S. S. China and other cases in which Germans were seized from American vessels on the high seas.