195.95/84
The Consul General at Hankow (Lockhart) to the Minister in China (Johnson)88
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the Legation’s instruction of March 27, 1930, enclosing a copy of the Department’s instruction No. 17 of March 1, 1930, addressed to the Legation,89 requesting reports as to the naval protection, including the use of armed guards, afforded to American merchant vessels in Chinese waters.
In connection with this subject, I beg to state that several cases coming within the scope of the above mentioned instruction have recently been brought to the attention of the Legation by this Consulate General by telegraph and by mail despatch. Following the attack on the American vessels referred to in my telegram of February 11, 3 p.m.,90 and in my despatch No. 915 of February 17, 1930,91 Rear Admiral Craven, Commander of the Yangtze Patrol, United States Navy, directed that armed guards should be placed on American steamers plying the river between Hankow and Ichang. These guards were to be supplied by the U.S.S. Panay and the U.S.S. Oahu, and since that time these and other American naval vessels have supplied guards, when available, and are still so doing, for American vessels on the river between the two above-named points and also between Ichang and Chungking. Specific instances of protection afforded by these guards in cases in which the vessels on which they were doing duty have been attacked were reported in my telegrams of March 15, [Page 103] 12 noon, and March 25, 11 a.m.92 Such protection has been afforded principally to the vessels of the Yangtze Rapid Steamship Company, although guards have also been provided in at least one instance, if not more, to vessels of the Standard Oil Company of New York The vessels of both these companies endeavor, as far as possible, to sail at approximately the same time so that guards on one or the other of the vessels may afford protection to more than one vessel on the same voyage. This, I believe, is particularly true on the river between Ichang and Chungking, although recently no Standard Oil vessels have been plying the river above Ichang due to the pilots’ strike. The most serious attack on American merchant vessels from ashore was that reported in my telegram of March 15, 12 noon. It will be recalled that the engagement between the forces ashore, who fired at close range, and the armed naval guard on the S.S. Chi Ping of the Yangtze Rapid Steamship Company resulted in a number of casualties among the Chinese soldiers and the wounding of Lieutenant C. M. Winslow, officer in charge of the naval guard.
I have [etc.]
- Copy transmitted to the Department by the Consul General in his despatch No. 1380, April 19, 1930; received May 22.↩
- Neither printed.↩
- See telegram No. 124, February 12, 5 p.m., from the Minister in China, p. 88.↩
- Not printed.↩
- See telegrams No. 198, March 16, 3 p.m., and No. 222, March 26, 11 a.m., from the Minister in China, pp. 94 and 97.↩