811.114 Median/12
The Secretary of State to the British Ambassador (Howard)
Excellency: I have the honor to refer to your note No. 201, of May 7, 1928, regarding the boarding and searching of vessels in Delaware Bay and the Delaware River, and requesting information concerning those cases in which it is known that liquor has been illegally discharged from British vessels, in view of the fact that the allegations regarding these vessels are not borne out by the information at the disposal of His Majesty’s Consul General at Philadelphia.
In reply I have the honor to inform you that I am now in receipt of a letter from the appropriate authority of this Government69 in which it is stated that no action was taken against several vessels which had unladen illegally in the Delaware Bay and the Delaware River, owing to the lack of incontrovertible proof of such violations, and, hence, no report was made to the Consul General. The vessels in question were permitted to proceed unmolested with the exception of the Charles Edward, which was seized by the United States Coast Guard on November 10, 1927, in Delaware Bay with a cargo of 120 cases of contraband liquor and 275 kegs of Islay malt.
In addition, the British steamship Lairg entered the Delaware with 3,372 cases and 192 kegs of contraband liquor, and was seized on September 10, 1927, at Philadelphia by the customs authorities.
Also, the British steamship Clackamas was seized on February 23, 1927, by the United States Coast Guard after having discharged a large cargo of liquor in the Delaware River.
Accept [etc.]
- Not printed.↩