File No. No. 195.2/1176

The Chairman of the Shipping Board ( Hurley) to the Secretary of State

Dear Mr. Secretary: The Shipping Board desires that the Department of State communicate to the American Consul at Cartagena, Colombia, the information that the Albingia and the Virginia, two vessels of the Hamburg-American Line, now lying there, have been purchased by Edward F. Geer of New York City, an American citizen. The conditions of the contract of sale have been approved by the Department of Justice. Mr. Georg F. Dusterdieck is the agent of the Hamburg-American Line to deliver the ships at Cartagena [Page 423] to the representatives of the purchaser. I am informed that he is now on his way there for this purpose.

The conditions prescribed by the Department of Justice are these: that the purchase money be deposited in trust until the passage of the Trading with the Enemy Act, and after the passage of that act administered by the proper authorities, according to the terms of that act. These conditions have been made known to the Hamburg-American Line and are part of the contract of sale.

I will appreciate your instructing our Consul at Cartagena, so that he may understand the transaction and assist the representatives of the purchaser to secure the vessels.

Yours very truly,

Edward N. Hurley