Office of the Historian

740.00112 European War 1939/31: Telegram

The Chargé in Germany (Kirk) to the Secretary of State

Berlin, September 8, 1939—4 p.m.
[Received 9:10 p.m.]

1143. Embassy’s 1075, September 5, 1 p.m.4 An examination of the prize law code promulgated in the Reichsgesetzblatt dated September 3 indicates that the code is in general based on the Declaration of Paris 1856,5 the several pertinent Hague Conventions,6 and the Declaration of London 1909.7

The following appear to be the principal provisions in the code not found in the foregoing declarations and conventions:

Article 14 among other things provides that a neutral vessel is liable to capture if it offers passive resistance. In this connection article 35 provides that “if after stoppage of a vessel the visit or search cannot be properly carried out because of the behaviour of the master or crew (passive resistance) the vessel is liable to capture.”

Article 40 (2) provides that if a vessel equipped with wireless telegraphy sends messages regarding the forces or military operations which are of service to the enemy the “vessel can be captured and condemned for giving aid to the enemy within one year of the time when the message is sent.”

Respecting the visit and search of vessels, article 57 (2) provides that “if by reason of special circumstances the sending of a boarding party is not possible the requirement may, by way of exception, be made that the ship’s papers be brought on board the warship for examination.”

There is a section entitled “Instructions as to Course” which consists of the following articles:

  • Article 60. “Instructions as to course consist of the order to a vessel to proceed to a specified place for the carrying out of visit and search.”
  • Article 61. “Instructions as to course for the purpose of visit are admission [admissible] if (1) there are strong reasons for suspicion and (2) visit cannot be carried out at once because of the condition of the sea, the danger of enemy action or the nature of the vessel which is to perform the visit or of the vessel to be visited.”
  • Article 62. “Instructions as to course for the purpose of search are admissible if (1) there are still strong reasons for suspicion after the visit has been made and (2) the searching of the vessel on the spot is impossible or inexpedient.[”]
  • Article 63. “(1) A vessel which does not obey the instructions as to course can be compelled to do so by force. (2) It is liable to capture.”

[Page 722]

In connection with the destruction of vessels, article 74 (2) provides that “ship’s boats are not to be regarded as a place of safety unless the safety of passengers and crew under the existing conditions of the sea and the weather is assured by the proximity of land or the presence of another vessel which is able to take them on board.”

Full text and translation of prize law code will be transmitted by mail.8 Report on prize courts follows.9

Please inform Navy.

Kirk
  1. Not printed.↩
  2. British and Foreign State Papers, vol. xlvi, p. 8.↩
  3. For texts of the 1907 conventions, see Foreign Relations, 1907, pt. 2, pp. 1181–1283.↩
  4. Ibid., 1909, p. 318.↩
  5. Not printed.↩
  6. Telegram No. 1172, September 9, 6 p.m., not printed.↩