031.11 Ellsworth Antarctic Expedition/95
The Vice Consul at Capetown (Richards) to the Secretary of State
[Received December 7.]
Sir: I have the honor to refer to the Department’s telegraphic instruction of October 22, 1938, and to previous correspondence relative to the Lincoln Ellsworth Expedition to the Antarctic and to report the results of Mr. Ellsworth’s last few visits to the Consulate General.
Acting upon the authorization contained therein, Mr. Ellsworth was fully acquainted with the context of the Department’s telegram of October 22, 1938, and was handed a paraphrase typewritten on plain paper of the substance of the third paragraph of the Department’s instruction of August 30, 1938. A copy of this paraphrase is enclosed.4
Mr. Ellsworth, although apparently at first somewhat disappointed over what he considered an absence of enthusiastic and concrete support on the part of the Department, expressed his appreciation of [Page 975] the activities of the Department and of the Consulate General in his behalf and stated that he was fully aware of the reasons for the reluctance of the United States Government to take a more definite stand. He was informed of the Department’s appreciation of his willingness to cooperate in carrying out the suggestions contained in the Department’s instruction of August 13 [30], 1938, and he left having given the assurance that he would do all that he could to further American claims in any territory he might visit.
The Wyatt Earp sailed from Capetown during the afternoon of October 27, 1938, and the American Minister, representatives from the Consulate General, and a large number of other persons were on hand to see off Mr. Ellsworth and his companions.
Respectfully yours,
- Not printed; the memorandum furnished to Mr. Ellsworth also contained the substance of the fourth paragraph of the Department’s instruction under reference including the quoted passages verbatim.↩