740.00112 European War 1939/63316/7
Memorandum by the Adviser on Political Relations (Murray) to the Assistant Secretary of State (Berle)
Mr. Berle: Although the two accord vessels have already sailed, the accompanying memoranda of conversations,23 which were prepared as a matter of record, may be of interest to you in that they bring out the fact that the departure of the ships from this side of the Atlantic was delayed for two days by Mr. Fagan, an official of the Board of Economic Warfare.
On August 5, the Naval Attaché of the French Embassy informed the Department that the Treasury declined to issue the necessary licenses to permit the fueling of the two accord vessels, the Ile de Noirmoutier and the Ile d’Ouessant, which had proceeded, in accordance with instructions issued by the Office of the Petroleum Adviser of the Department of State, to Curaçao, to take on bunkers for the round trip to Morocco. The salient feature in the conversations between the French Embassy, the Department, and the Treasury was that Mr. Fagan, an official in the Board of Economic Warfare, was solely responsible for the delay which resulted in the failure of the two accord vessels to leave Curaçao on the date set by this Government and by the French Admiralty for the simultaneous departure of these two ships and two vessels from Morocco. Consequently, the French Admiralty radioed to the Ile de Ré, which [Page 357] had already cleared for New Orleans, to return to Casablanca and the sailing of the Aldebaran was canceled.
Mr. A. U. Fox of the Treasury Department stated that Mr. Fagan had requested him not to take action on the French Line’s applications for licenses because it appeared to Mr. Fagan that the company had applied for more fuel oil than was necessary for the ships to make the round trip to Casablanca. It was Mr. Barry of the Office of the Petroleum Adviser of the Department of State, the competent authority on questions involving the fueling of vessels outside of the United States, who had determined, after consulting the Navy, the amount of bunkers which these vessels would require.
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