740.00111A.R.–N.C./79: Telegram
The Acting Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Brazil (Caffery)
92. Your 137, April 3, 3 p.m. For Fenwick from Duggan. I am of the opinion that it would be desirable for neutrals to differentiate the treatment accorded belligerent merchant vessels engaged in regular commerce from that of such vessels using neutral ports and waters for the purpose of temporary or permanent refuge from hostile forces.
There might be required from each belligerent merchant vessel, either upon entry into a neutral port or upon the coming into effect of this provision, a statement covering, among other details, the purpose of the visit, nature of cargo to be unloaded or loaded, length of time estimated to be necessary for the purpose and requesting permission from the appropriate neutral authorities for a stay of the number of days thus estimated. On the basis of this declaration, the neutral authorities would be able to determine the character of the vessel’s activities and either to grant permission for a stay of a reasonable number of days or decree the internment, for the duration of the war, of vessels obviously no longer engaged in “regular commerce”. Internment would also be applicable to vessels overstaying the period granted them except in cases of force majeure.
It is of interest in this connection that a decree of the Venezuelan Government dated September 23, 1939 provides that belligerent merchant vessels seeking refuge in Venezuelan ports, as well as their officers and men, shall be interned.
I am confident, of course, that the proposal regarding the treatment of belligerent mechant vessels will constitute only a part of the Committee’s recommendation relative to the implementation of the Declaration of Panama, and that the Committee’s recommendation regarding “vessels used as auxiliary transports of warships”, to which considerable importance attaches in this connection, will be re-emphasized and that consideration will also be given to the treatment [Page 295] to be accorded vessels of belligerents who have been guilty of hostile acts within the Security Zone.
You will recall that the protest of December 2354 refers to the “adoption of rules to prevent belligerent vessels from supplying themselves and repairing damages in American ports, when the said vessels have committed warlike acts within the Zone of Security established in the Declaration of Panama”. [Duggan.].
- See statement by the 21 American Republics to France, Great Britain, and Germany, Department of State Bulletin, December 23, 1939, p. 723. See also Foreign Relations, 1939, vol. v, pp. 85 ff.↩