857.85/9–2242
Memorandum by Assistant Secretary of State (Long)8
Attached is a carbon of a memorandum from the Norwegian Embassy.9 I am acting on the original and am taking the matter up with the War Shipping Administration.
You will be particularly interested in the mariner in which shipping between the United States and South America may be affected, and you may have some opinions to express about policy in the matter.
Briefly, the situation is that the Norwegians are requesting ten vessels newly constructed here to be delivered to them immediately to sail under the Norwegian flag and to be manned by Norwegian sailors now “on the beach” in this country; these vessels to be under the operation of the War Shipping Administration through the Norwegian Shipping Commission.
It started out to be a Lend Lease transaction. It has since lost some of that character. It now becomes complicated by the desire of the War Shipping Administration to have all the ships (about 160) of Norwegian flag, sailing under the orders of the Maritime Commission, transferred to the British to join the other (about 400) Norwegian vessels under bareboat charter to the British and sailing under the British opposite number of the War Shipping Administration.
Of the 160 ships now sailing under the orders of the War Shipping Administration, nearly one-half, or approximately 70 of them, are on the regular prewar routes occupied by the lines owning these vessels. These lines run between United States Atlantic coast ports and respectively the east coast, the Caribbean, and the west coast of S[outh] A[merica]. One of the arguments of the Norwegians is that it will disrupt the service they are rendering inter-American trade.
It is conceivable that the War Shipping Administration would replace these ships with other ships if the ships now on those routes were transferred to British management.
It is probably inconceivable that those ships would continue on those particular runs if they were transferred to British management.
The consequence of the proposal is that it may affect the trade between the United States and South America.
Because of that fact I take it that you may have some particular interest and may care to direct some particular point of view to be presented to the Maritime Commission.
[Page 84]In doing this, however, you would be supporting the application of the Norwegians who have a particular desire that the vessels be not transferred to the British.
The President seems to have made some commitment to the Norwegian Ambassador and to have manifested some particular interest in the compensation to the Norwegians in the shape of new vessels for vessels already lost by the Norwegians in the service of the United Nations effort. Presently this compensation is disconnected from the ultimate postwar adjustment and now involves only ten vessels. However, the proposal of the Norwegians is not limited to ten vessels in future, and, having acquired ten vessels, they would immediately proceed to request ten more in continuation of the same program.
We are starting discussions with the War Shipping Administration, and I will be glad to have your reactions in the premises.