File No. 763.72112/2367
The British Ambassador (Spring Rice) to the Secretary of State 2
[Handed to the Acting Secretary by the Ambassador, March 13.]
Sir: I have the honour, in accordance with instructions received from His Majesty’s Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, to inform you that in consequence of the use of the neutral flag and neutral distinguishing marks, to which the German naval authorities have resorted in order to conceal the identity of certain of their vessels, it has become necessary for His Majesty’s Government to adopt the procedure described below in exercising the right of visit and search.
The German Government have made several attempts to despatch raiding cruisers into the Atlantic. These cruisers, as in the recent case of the Moewe, are disguised as ordinary trading vessels and not only fly neutral colours, but also, in order to render themselves indistinguishable from neutral merchant ships, have neutral flags painted [Page 681] on their sides. When the raiding cruisers disguised in this manner are met with by a warship, they stop on being given a signal to do so, and when the warship has approached near with a view to sending a boarding officer on board, open fire on her with guns and torpedoes. This practice makes it essential to take certain precautions, and any orders or signals given to a merchant vessel by a warship should therefore be implicitly and instantly obeyed. Any disregard of such orders will necessarily excite suspicion, and may lead to vessels being fired on.
When it is the intention of the commander of a warship to send an officer on board a merchant ship by day, the following procedure will be adopted. A long pennant will be hoisted by the warship exercising the right of visit and search. The hoisting of this pennant will be accompanied by the firing of a rocket. This will signify that the merchant ship is to close the boat lowered by the warship, whether the warship remains near the boat or not. The procedure to be followed by night will be the same as that by day, except that two red Very’s lights will be the signal for the merchant ship to close the boat, which, where possible, will be illuminated by a searchlight. When the weather precludes boarding, the ship of war will fire two green Very’s lights, which will be the signal for the merchant ship to lie to until daylight.
His Majesty’s Government feel assured that the United States Government will recognize the necessity for the procedure decided upon, and will inform merchant shipping in American ports accordingly. The new arrangements will come into force immediately, and will not be confined to any particular geographical area. Pending the lapse of a reasonable time for the new signals to become generally known, His Majesty’s ships will communicate with merchant ships in the usual code in cases where it is found that the meaning of the signals is not understood.
I have [etc.]
- Filed without acknowledgment. Copy forwarded to the Secretary of the Navy on March 14, 1916, with a request for the views of his Department as to the procedure to be followed.↩