893.00/3984
The Secretary of the Navy (Denby) to the Secretary of
State
Washington, July 27,
1921.
27403–340:1
Sir: I have to forward herewith for the
information of the Department of State, a copy of a letter dated 7 June,
1921, from the Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Asiatic Fleet, at Shanghai,
China, with attendant correspondence in regard to the placing of armed
guards on vessels operating in the Yangtze River.
Respectfully,
[Enclosure]
The Commander in Chief of the Asiatic Fleet
(Strauss) to the Chief of Naval
Operations (Coontz)
Shanghai, June 7,
1921.
03–ng
2104–3–21
- 1.
- Inclosures (A) to (J)20a are explanatory of recent operations in the
upper reaches of the Yangtze River.
- 2.
- It will be noted that the practice of sending armed-guards on
board Chinese junks to convoy Standard Oil Company’s freight
carried in other Chinese junks was authorized by the Commander
[Page 525]
Yangtze Patrol. It
seems that these junks, owned by Chinese, frequently hoisted the
American flag. As a result of this practice a junk with an armed
guard of three enlisted men from the Monocacy was attacked in the night by robbers. The
armed guard resisted the attack and repelled the robbers, but
Everett Conley, a fireman second class, was wounded in the knee
so badly that his leg had to be amputated.
- 3.
- The Commander in Chief has disapproved the practice of sending
detachments of the crews of our gunboats to be quartered on
board foreign-owned vessels to protect them, notwithstanding the
fact that they are carrying American-owned goods. Apart from the
illegality of such practice, the obvious result of weakening the
influence of the United States flag as a protective agency would
undoubtedly follow and probably lead to international
complications. Subsequent to issuing the necessary orders (copy
inclosed, marked (I)21), the Commander in Chief was furnished a
letter from the Department of State22 by the Peking
Legation which fully sustained this view. The British evidently
hold the same opinion as will be noted in the last sentence of
the despatch from H.M.S. Widgeon to the
Senior British Naval Officer, Yangtze.21
- 4.
- While the Commander in Chief feels that the disturbed
conditions in the interior of China releases us from too strict
an application of international law, nevertheless he desires to
avoid wounding the susceptibilities of the authorities of a
friendly nation unnecessarily. The indiscriminate hoisting of
the United States flag should receive no countenance on our
part.
- 5.
- The Commander in Chief has been informed by an official of the
Standard Oil Company at Shanghai that they will address a letter
to the State Department requesting a relaxation of the rule.
This will no doubt be referred to the Navy Department, and
pending any decision in the matter, the existing rule will be
observed until modified by the Navy Department.
