857.85/10–2642
Memorandum of Telephone Conversation, by the Assistant Secretary of State (Long)
Mr. Douglas called me on the telephone. He said that he had been talking to Mr. Lorentzen of the Norwegian Shipping Mission. He was offering Mr. Lorentzen five ships for the period of the war with provisional transfer of registry. The vessels were to be from 9,000 to 11,000 tons each. However, they were not new ships. They were old ships. The Norwegians were objecting because they insisted that the tonnage to be transferred to them should be newly constructed tonnage. Mr. Douglas wanted to know if his proposed action in allocating these five old ships was in keeping with our understanding. I told him that as far as I knew there was no obligation on our part to give the Norwegians new vessels. We had obligated Ourselves to transfer to them tonnage in compensation for some of their losses incurred in Allied trade.
Mr. Douglas said that was his understanding. He further said that this was simply a beginning. In the future, other vessels as it became possible would be transferred to Norwegian registry. Among them might be new vessels. That was not the subject for present consideration, however. He was happy to be assured that his interpretation of our obligation was similar to ours and said he would proceed along that line.
He added that these vessels were of diesel engine propulsion and that the Norwegian seamen were familiar with diesel engines and that was one of the inducements.