740.0011 European War 1939/24606: Telegram
The Chargé in France (Tuck) to the Secretary of State
[Received October 1—5:50 p.m.]
1451. Reference Department’s 579, September 19, 8 p.m. and Embassy’s 1404 September 22, 5 p.m. When I saw Laval this afternoon he handed me a note dated September 30 which he informed me constitutes his Government’s reply to the aide-mémoire which I left with him on September 22 with regard to foreign ships held in French ports. The following is a close translation of the note in question.
“In reply to the aide-mémoire of September 22 from the Embassy of the United States of America with regard to foreign ships held in French ports after the Armistice, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has the honor to state as follows:
1. The French Government has always considered that the temporary requisition (angary) of foreign ships held in its ports in no way affected the ownership of these vessels and has declared that it will return them in due course to their legitimate owners.
By allowing them to be chartered at this time at the request of their owners, with crews of their own choosing, under their national flags, [Page 200] the French Government is only abiding by its original intention and the rules of private international maritime law.
It is not for the French Government to know or control the chartering contracts which may have been concluded between the owners and the German Government, any more than the relations established or the possible differences between these owners and their respective governments.
2. The French Government is astonished that the Government of the United States should be desirous of emphasizing the priority right which the French Government may have on foreign ships whose return is envisaged. If such a priority right exists, it is for France alone to estimate its value and to decide upon its relinquishment. It would be desirable that the principle which it is adopting in the premises should be applied in favor of legitimate French owners, both by the American and British Governments who hold between them, in addition to the vessels which sought refuge with confidence in England at the time of the Armistice, more than 350,000 tons of French shipping. Proposals with a view to an exchange have furthermore already been made in this respect to the Government of the United States.94 No response has ever been received to them.
3. By allowing their owners to resume possession of Greek, Norwegian and Danish ships which it holds the French Government therefore acts within the fullness of its rights.”
- Apparently reference is to French proposals to British Government through the intermediary of the United States relating to the exchange of British and Allied ships held in French ports for an equivalent amount of French merchant tonnage held in British ports.↩