Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, 1918, Supplement 1, The World War, Volume II

File No. 763.72112Sa/90

The Chargé in Great Britain ( Laughlin ) to the Secretary of State

[Telegram]

London , October 16, 1918, 8 p.m.
[Received October 17, 6 p.m.]

2865. War Trade Board [from Sheldon]:

No. 1683. As a result of conference with the Foreign Office, British Admiralty, and the United States Navy representatives, the following memorandum was drawn up as a suggestion for a plan of examination of northern neutral vessels with a view of eliminating the call at Halifax. If you are prepared to approve the same and arrange for staff to examine cargoes at the ports mentioned in paragraph 12, the British will furnish representatives to work in conjunction with our staff at these ports in the same way as they now cooperate in the work at the port of New York. If this plan is agreed to,¹ I suggest that whatever facts in connection therewith are communicated to shipowners should be in the nature of an expression of the Associated Governments’ desire to facilitate the movement of their ships, which would be in the nature of a concession, rather than any announcement or intimation be made that new rules were being issued to control neutral ships which might make such action seem comparable with the German safe-conduct system. The memorandum which has the approval of the United States Navy and the British Admiralty is as follows:

[1.] The question of examination of neutral vessels proceeding across the Atlantic to and from Scandinavian and Dutch ports has been receiving consideration and it is felt that the establishment of the United States Examination Service has in most cases rendered the call at a British examination port unnecessary as long as certain modifications are introduced in order to maintain the present procedure designed to control cargoes and passengers.

[2.] The present position is as follows:

(a) Westbound vessels, i. e., vessels from Holland and Scandinavia bound direct to the United States whose first port of call is New York are not required to call at Halifax as the Joint Examination Service in New York is considered to be sufficient.

(b) Westbound vessels not proceeding direct to New York are required to call at Halifax as before.

(c) Eastbound vessels which load entirely at United States [ports] are not required to call at Halifax.

(d) Eastbound vessels which load at other than United States ports are required to call at Halifax before proceeding to Europe.

[3.] If the vessels referred to in paragraphs 2(b) and 2(d) above are not to be required to call at Halifax in the future, it is considered necessary in order that the present machinery of the blockade should not be thrown out of gear that cooperation should be established between the Allied Blockade Committee, the Enemy Export Committee, and the Admiralty in London and the authorities charged with examination service in the United States ports. The general proposals are as follows, but before any steps taken the concurrence of the United States authorities is necessary.

4. The new system which it is necessary to introduce is as follows:

(a) Westbound ships, steam or motor, to Atlantic ports other than United States, to call at Kingston, Jamaica, or United States examination port;

(b) To West Indies, must call at Kingston unless calling at a United States examination port;

(c) To the Pacific via Panama Canal, examination to be carried out at Panama or Colon;

(d) To the Pacific via Cape Horn, must call at a United States examination port or Kingston, as in the case of vessels bound to Atlantic ports other than to United States;

(e) To the United States, proceed direct to examination port;

(f) Eastbound ships, steam or motor, from Pacific via Panama Canal, examination to be carried out at Colon, Kingston, or at a United States examination port;

(g) From Atlantic port south of United States, or West Indies, or Pacific via Cape Horn, to call at a United States examination port or Kingston;

(h) From United States in cases where the entire cargo has been loaded in the United States, to proceed direct from examination port.

In all cases last port of call must be an examination port. A list of the examination ports is given in paragraph 12. Sailing ships to call at Kingston, Halifax, or a named United States examination port, as they select.

5. In order that the present system of control of cargoes and passengers should be maintained it is proposed that at each of the examination ports a British officer should be appointed who would work in conjunction with the United States examination authorities, and these jointly would be charged with the duty of furnishing to the Allied Blockade Committee, the Enemy Exports Committee, and the Admiralty, the information these bodies require for blockade purposes.

6. The following procedure is proposed in the case of eastbound vessels [not?] wholly loaded in United States ports. It is considered desirable for statistical purposes that a copy of the manifest should be forwarded to London in case of eastbound vessels loading at other than United States ports. It is desired that any doubted points arising in connection with the examination should be referred to London and that in any case the vessel should not be cleared without concurrence from London.

7. The Allied Blockade Committee would then be able to arrange, as at present, that the cargo or item of the cargo should be withheld from delivery pending consideration of the manifests.

8. In cases where consideration is necessary, it may often be possible to release a vessel from examination [port] and allow her to proceed to United States bunkering port or to Halifax while her case is being considered.

9. In the case of all ships clearing from United States ports to Scandinavia and Holland, it is important that their names and date of sailing should be communicated to London in order that the patrols may be warned.

10. In case of westbound vessels, their names should be supplied by the Foreign Office to the representative of the War Trade Board in London, who will inform the United States authorities. The receipt of this information will imply that their cargo is in order, and on arrival all that is desired is that the manifests shall be checked by arrival certificates of origin and bills of lading and that a copy of the manifests and the original certificates of origin shall be returned to the secretary of the Allied Blockade Committee, London, so that it may be ascertained that the actual cargo agrees with that approved. As regards passengers, the British officer should communicate with Admiralty concerning any cases about which there is any doubt, and he will [be] able to furnish the United States examination officers with any information available here for the purpose of preserving the British control over passengers.

[11.] The examination base at Halifax will still be maintained, and ships engaged in the trans-Atlantic trade may, at any time, be ordered to call at that port and for such purposes diverted from their course, if necessary, without prejudice to the general provisions of this scheme.

12. Examination ports. The following are the United States ports at which it is proposed that the joint examination service should be introduced: New York, joint examination service already in existence; Philadelphia to cover Baltimore; Norfolk to cover Newport News; New Orleans to cover Gulf ports; Colon for vessels passing through Panama Canal.

Laughlin

1. In considering this plan, the War Trade Board considered also a plan for examining in a port of Porto Rico or of the United States, Spanish vessels proceeding to or from Spain (War Trade Board Files).