340.1115A/874: Telegram
The Chargé in Germany (Heath) to the Secretary of State
[Received June 12—8:51 a.m.]
1814. My 1812, June 12, 6 p.m.92 Since the published DNB communiqué now received necessitates certain corrections in the two announcements as transmitted in my telegram under reference the full text thereof is quoted below:
“A German submarine operating in the Atlantic encountered at dawn on June 11 a steamer93 proceeding on a northerly course. The German U-boat commander took the steamer for a Greek vessel which had already been stopped by him and had been provided with course instructions in accordance with prize laws and which had evidently not followed this course and sought to escape. He ordered the steamer to stop. There then took place an exchange of flashlight signals during the course of which the U-boat commander ascertained that it was not the supposed Greek steamer but the United States steamer. The U-boat thereupon after the customary exchange of greetings left the steamer free to proceed.
“In this connection the State Department in Washington has announced that the course for Ireland which the American ship was following at the moment of the encounter with the U-boat had been notified before to the belligerent countries.94 In this respect the American State Department is in error as far as Germany is concerned. The German Government has been informed by the American Embassy in Berlin only of the vessels voyage to Bordeaux, Lisbon and back. The German Government was first notified that the steamer would proceed to Ireland on the afternoon of June 11, that is to say after the encounter.”