Office of the Historian

393.115 Standard Vacuum Oil Company/81: Telegram

The Consul General at Shanghai (Gauss) to the Secretary of State

Shanghai, December 22, 1938—1 p.m.
[Received December 22—12:40 p.m.]

1491. [My] 1478, December 16, 2 p.m., regarding Japanese refusal to permit Standard Vacuum Oil Company’s Meiyun to proceed from Kiukiang to Shanghai for overhaul.

1.
Yesterday afternoon Kawahara of the Japanese Consulate and Commander Mitunobu of the Japanese Naval Special Service Section acknowledged and handed in a written reply to my request of December 12 which, after reciting the fact that arrangements made for foreign naval vessels to proceed down river did not include commercial vessels and that a similar request made in connection with a British commercial vessel had been refused, concluded as follows: “I should like to add that the Japanese naval authorities are considering the possibility of arranging for the Meiyun to sail down the river in due course of time.”
2.
In connection with the “possibility” referred to above, Commander Mitunobu said they were anxious to make some special arrangement in the case of the Meiyun and he tentatively suggested as a possible solution that the Meiyun be chartered to the Japanese naval authorities for a “short time” and then turned over to the Standard Vacuum Oil Company at Shanghai. Mitunobu added charter fees would also be paid to the company here. This suggestion has been communicated to the Standard Vacuum Oil Company who state that they would be agreeable to chartering the vessel only for the trip to Shanghai provided I do not seriously object to such an arrangement.
3.
I do not look with much favor upon the chartering of an American vessel to the Japanese naval authorities particularly as this arrangement is an obvious usurpation. On the other hand I appreciate the anxiety of the company to get the Meiyun to Shanghai. However, before taking any action I request the Department’s instructions.

Repeated to Tokyo and Hankow, by mail to Peiping.

Gauss