852.00/5597: Telegram
The Consul General at Barcelona (Perkins) to the Secretary of State
[Received 10:30 p.m.]
Spanish steamer City of Barcelona was sunk May 30 very near the coast 30 miles north of Barcelona en route this city. It is reported that the ship was attacked by a submarine presumably Italian and that 50 passengers were drowned.
My private information is that the ship was bringing some 500 “foreign volunteers” from French port Vendres. This is circumstantially supported by the fact that first local press reports were heavily censored but contain among the injured several non-Spanish names. I am being constantly informed that small groups of volunteers still succeed in crossing the border from time to time and that war materials are being brought from France by truck and small coastal boats. Ambassador Bowers and Embassies, Paris, and Valencia informed.