File No. 656.119/207

The Ambassador in Great Britain ( Page ) to the Secretary of State

[Telegram]

8951. From Sheldon, for your information and that of War Trade Board.

No. 246. Following is paraphrase of telegram sent by Foreign Office to British Minister at The Hague last night:

Grave shipping situation confronts the Allies at present. Discussion with Dutch delegates of proposals for employment of Dutch tonnage has led Allied Governments to hope that when these proposals came into force, they would secure for Allied service outside the danger zone a large quantity of Dutch tonnage. If these hopes had been justified at the time, arrangements could have been made to withdraw other tonnage from the danger zone and replace it by Dutch vessels provided under the agreement. Continued delay of the Netherlands Government in coming to an agreement has produced a situation in which this can no longer be done consistently with securing the most suitable employment of shipping during the forthcoming critical period. Although the terms of the genera] agreement were agreed upon ad referendum in January last by British and Dutch delegates in London, no further communication has yet been received from Government of the Netherlands and the [Page 1407] situation which has arisen renders it impossible for His Majesty’s Government to await longer the conclusion of the general agreement. The importance to the Allies of obtaining the employment of Dutch vessels without restriction as to the waters in which they may sail is so great that I am compelled to ask you to inform Minister for Foreign Affairs that owing to the long delay of the Netherlands Government in replying to our proposals, the necessity has arisen of requiring a modification in the original tonnage proposals, for the purpose of insuring that the employment of Dutch vessels shall be without restriction. In making this communication you are authorized to intimate unofficially that, in order that the request now put forward may be rendered acceptable, we hope to see our way to propose to the Netherlands Government on behalf of the Allied Governments that at the termination of the war any Dutch vessels lost in the existing danger zone through enemy attack, while on charter to the Allies, shall be replaced. It is also hoped that it may be found possible to make arrangements to place in a United States port 50,000 tons of wheat before April 15 next, for the use of the Netherlands Government, and to supplement this consignment by a similar quantity at a port on the South American Atlantic seaboard. It is earnestly hoped that the Netherlands Government will see their way to accept these terms. The Allied Governments attach so much importance to a speedy termination of a state of affairs in which the German submarine campaign is receiving direct support by the idleness of the large number of Dutch vessels, that in the event of the Netherlands Government being unable to accept the present proposal they will be constrained to accept other steps in order to bring these vessels into service.

Moreover, in view of the increasing urgency of the matter, His Majesty’s Government must ask to be favored with a reply on March 18 at the latest. I have spoken to Mr. Van Vollenhoven in the above sense.

Copy has been sent to Garrett and also handed to Shipping Mission here.

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