300.115(39) City of Flint/154: Telegram
The Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Steinhardt) to the Secretary of State
[Received November 4—5:05 p.m.]
865. My 858, November 3, 5 p.m. The following informal memorandum was received this afternoon accompanied by Potemkin’s card.
“In view of the interest which the Embassy of the United States of America continues to manifest as to the circumstances connected with the arrival of the American steamer City of Flint in the port of Murmansk, its 5–day stay in that port, and finally its departure for the open sea, the People’s Commissariat for Foreign Affairs, now having at its disposal sufficiently full information concerning this matter is able to inform the Embassy as follows:
- 1.
- The City of Flint appeared at the entrance to the port of Murmansk at 2:40 p.m. on October 23rd without any warning to the port authorities.
- 2.
- On inquiry by the port authorities as to the purpose of the arrival of the City of Flint, the officer in command of the vessel declared that the machinery of the City of Flint was in a state of disrepair and that the ship required water, fuel, and provisioning. On these grounds the officer in command of the ship requested permission to enter the port for examination and repair of the machinery and to obtain the necessary supplies without which, according to the affirmation of the commanding officer, the City of Flint could not continue its voyage. The port authorities considered it possible to meet the above-mentioned request of the commander of the vessel.
- 3.
- In order to assure to the crew of the City of Flint the possibility of effecting without disturbance the repair of the ship’s machinery and to guard against any kind of misunderstanding between the American sailors and the German prize crew, the port authorities considered it expedient to put the latter crew ashore and to install them temporarily in the building of the port club. During the period of the following 3 days, the machinery of the City of Flint was put in order and the ship was supplied with fuel, water, and provisions. When all this had been completed the port authorities requested instructions from Moscow.
- 4.
- On October 27th the order came from Moscow—to request the City of Flint to leave the port without further delay with the same [Page 1011] personnel with which the vessel arrived in Murmansk on October 23rd. During the night of October 28–29 the City of Flint put to sea from Murmansk.
- 5.
- All of the information at the disposal of the Commissariat for Foreign Affairs concerning the visit of the City of Flint to the port of Murmansk was in good time communicated by it to the American Ambassador, Mr. Steinhardt. The Assistant People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs, Potemkin, had in this connection four meetings over a period of 4 days, that is October 24th, 25th, 26th, and 27th. This information was supplemented by subsequent reports received by the Soviet telegraph agency “Tass” from its correspondent in Murmansk and published in the Moscow morning newspapers.
- 6.
- The establishment of direct telephonic or telegraphic communication between the American Embassy and the crew of the City of Flint was not possible since the steamship lay at a distance of about 3 kilometres from the shore and no member of its crew came ashore. It was likewise impossible to effect the flight of anyone from the staff of the Embassy to Murmansk by airplane since this desire was expressed by the Embassy at a time when the order for the departure of the City of Flint from the port had already been given to Murmansk”.
As the Department will [observe?] the foregoing statement contains inaccuracies and distortions and falls short of Potemkin’s oral statement to me earlier in the day. However, as it is not to be expected that the Soviet Government would, in writing, confess its derelictions, this statement is probably the best face that the Commissariat for Foreign Affairs has ventured to put on the incident. I accordingly recommend that, unless the Department has compelling reasons for adopting another course, no answer be made to the statement.