857.85/9–1842
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Assistant Secretary of State (Long)
The Norwegian Ambassador3 came in this afternoon with Mr. Acheson.4 He had discussed with Mr. Acheson on previous occasions the same question on the basis of Lend Lease. The situation having changed and Lend Lease no longer being involved, Mr. Acheson Asked the Ambassador to take it up with me.
The Ambassador presented the thought that he had been in negotiation with the Maritime Commission and the War Shipping Administration [Page 80] for the lease of these ten vessels5 upon which he desired to put a number of Norwegian sailors who are now in this country awaiting berths on ships and who number as many as 600. He approached the subject from two different angles.
- (a)
- He desired ten ships to be leased to him to be operated under the orders of the Norwegian Shipping Mission and the War Shipping Administration; and
- (b)
- He wanted also to enter into the later agreement that these same vessels would be made over to Norway at the end of the war in compensation for tonnage lost in the service of the Allies.
The Ambassador did not limit the proposal to ten vessels except that he had made the specific proposal involving ten vessels. That having been decided, he would then proceed to increase the number from time to time as circumstances developed and as it was considered he might be justified in doing.
Mr. Acheson suggested that the matter had become involved with the lease by Norway to the British of all the Norwegian ships now being operated under the orders of the War Shipping Administration. There were about 200 vessels under that operation and more than 400 in the service of the British. (The figures are approximate only.)
The Norwegian Ambassador stated that it would be unacceptable to them to lease all their ships to the British, and that the linking of the two was very unsatisfactory.
I told the Ambassador that there was very little on the files of the Department on this matter and no communication from him to the Department. If he would submit a memorandum in concrete form, the Department would view it generously and would immediately proceed to take it up with the Maritime authorities and try to get some decision for him before the contingencies mentioned in his conversation which would probably transpire within ten days or two weeks
The Ambassador said he would submit a memorandum on Monday.