340.1115A/2321
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Assistant Secretary of State (Long)
Sir Ronald Campbell came in this afternoon at his own request to give me the response of the British Government to the exceptions I took to their notification in acceptance of the formula I proposed for the exchange of British citizens for German and Italian citizens. The British Government had originally taken the position that they would require rigid examination and search at Bermuda. Sir Ronald [Page 427] advised me this afternoon that the British Government had receded from its position and would not insist on an examination or search provided we did attend to that but they would require that the boat touch at Bermuda.
He also advised that the British Government had not made a full examination of the number of persons in Sweden whom they would like to repatriate but that on their best figures he thought there were about 120 volunteers including the firemen and 75 merchant seamen. He had no knowledge of naval ratings.
I told him that I was very glad to receive the favorable response of his Government and advised him further that there were about 1,000 Italians in this country and 800 Germans, all under detention. Of the Italians 400 were seamen, 125 were cooks and chefs and related personnel from the World’s Fair Italian Buildings, and the rest made up of persons of nonmilitary age or occupation. Of the Germans there were approximately 450 of the crew of the Columbus,41 about 350 who had been taken off the Standard Oil boats, plus 120 more who were taken off other boats but were not in the profession of seamen. They were waiters and other members of the crew. I also told Sir Ronald that I had not heard from the Germans or from the Italians in response to the proposal but that as soon as I had heard I would communicate with him.
- German ship scuttled by its crew on December 19, 1939, to avoid capture by the British. The survivors were picked up by the United States cruiser Tuscaloosa and taken to New York. See memorandum by the Acting Liaison Officer, December 19, 1939, and later papers, Foreign Relations, 1939, vol. v, pp. 109 ff., passim.↩