File No. 763.72111Z1/26
The Secretary of State to the British Ambassador (Spring Rice)
Excellency: I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of your excellency’s note of the 17th of February in regard to the action of the commander of H. M. S. Isis in boarding and searching the American steamer Zealandia in Mexican waters at the port of Progreso on the 5th of November last. It is noted that His Majesty’s Government maintain their view that the Zealandia, at the time when the search took place, was lying outside the three-mile limit from shore.
In reply to this the Government of the United States calls attention to the fact that the operation of finding the distance of the vessel from shore by the use of the sextant angle is a simple process which may be checked up by the data given in the entry in the log made by the Mexican port official. This entry, as reported by Commander Dismukes of the U. S. S. Kentucky and translated by a nautical expert in the Hydrographic Office, is as follows:
In compliance with the order No. 104 of the captain of the port and on request of C. Adolfo C. Fabricius, agent of the American Steamship Zealandia, I give the data of the position of the vessel: L. house bearing S 40 E mag.—correction 10°, sextant arc 22´, elevation of lighthouse 115 feet, resulting 2.7 miles.
As the lighthouse bearing was not normal to the coast line, the distance from the ship to the nearest point on the coast line was clearly less than three miles. This does not take into consideration the distance of the lighthouse from the shore. The captain of the Zealandia believes that his vessel was within the three-mile limit, as does the Mexican Government which has, as your excellency states, made a protest to His Majesty’s Government on account of this violation of Mexican jurisdiction.
It is true that your excellency states in an informal note of November 29, 1915,1 that “the distance was estimated by a range finder, while the local authorities measured the distance by sextant angle—which, in the opinion of British naval authorities gives less accurate results.” But attention is called to the admission that the distance was “estimated” by range finder and to the fact that no data are given in support of the estimate. The Government of the United States feels warranted therefore in maintaining the view that the American vessel Zealandia was boarded and searched within the territorial waters of a neutral country.
In this connection it is important to recall certain irregularities in the manner in which this search was carried out, which tend, in the [Page 683] view of this Government, to aggravate the circumstances of the case. In the first place the boarding officer from H. M. S. Isis refused, upon request of the captain of the Zealandia, to make an entry in the log of the Zealandia and refused to give the name of the vessel from which he came. The failure to make the entry in the log was subsequently recognized as a mistake, as the desire was expressed later to make the entry, which the captain of the Zealandia not improperly refused to allow. In addition to the refusal to make an entry in the log of the vessel may be mentioned the unnecessarily large number of armed men who, together with officers, boarded the ship and, according to the report of the captain, remained on board until after the search was completed and some of these until they received orders from the cruiser to return. Furthermore, the boarding officer demanded, contrary to the usual custom, that the captain send ashore for the papers properly on shore at the time in the custody of either the American Consul or the Mexican authorities. Finally, the boarding of the vessel by force was accomplished while the vessel was in the custody of Mexican authorities and under their rightful jurisdiction and control.
It is unnecessary to point out to your excellency that in this situation the procedure for obtaining information regarding her nationality and cargo, recognized by all maritime nations as considerate and regular, should have been to apply to the authorities of the port or the captain of the vessel.
In connection with these irregularities in the manner of conducting visit and search of the Zealandia, attention may be called to the instructions on this subject to commanders of Her Majesty’s Fleet, in Holland’s Manual of Naval Prize Law issued in 1888 by authority, of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. The pertinent paragraphs read as follows:
205. The only persons who should in the first instance go on board the Vessel are the Visiting Officer and the Officer by whom he is accompanied; none of the Crew should be allowed to quit the boat, unless expressly ordered. If found necessary, they should be ordered on board.
211. The Visiting Officer should enter on the Log book of the Vessel a Memorandum of the Visit. The Memorandum should specify the date and place of the Visit, and the name of Her Majesty’s Ship and of the Commander; and the Visiting Officer should sign the Memorandum, adding his rank in the Navy.
The supposed irregularities in the papers of the Zealandia it is not necessary to discuss, as these irregularities, if proven, would give no warrant for a belligerent to visit an American vessel flying an American flag and lying in a neutral port, and hence would have no bearing on the actual offense committed by the Isis.
In the circumstances as set forth above, I have the honor to request your excellency to lay this view of the incident before His Majesty’s Government with the request that they give the case careful reconsideration in the light of the facts herein stated, which the Government of the United States does not doubt are correct, and that they acknowledge the illegality of the course of their naval officers and the liability to make such amends as in all the circumstances may be just.
Accept [etc.]
- Not printed.↩