Office of the Historian

393.115 Dollar Wharf and Warehouse Company/4: Telegram

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

Shanghai, June 3, 1938—6 p.m.
[Received June 3—1:45 p.m.]

761. Your 344, May 26, 7 p.m.37

1.
The incidents referred to in my 692, May 20, 1 p.m.; and 703, May 21, 1 p.m.,38 were orally protested on May 23, and written protests were also lodged covering the two incidents. There have been no further boardings of American flag vessels except in the case of a Standard Vacuum Oil launch, Mei Foov, between 8:00 and 9:00 p.m. on May 20, at which time the Japanese remained on board but a short while and did no harm to either the members of the crew or to the launch. This incident was also brought to the attention of the Japanese Consul General along with the other two incidents.
2.
On the occasion of a call on the Japanese Consul General yesterday, I again brought up these cases and was informed that an investigation had been made and that the incidents grew out of the refusal of the Texas Company and Dollar launches to stop on first being hailed and because the Chinese crew were reluctant to give the Japanese military patrol information as regards the destination of the launches, whence they sailed and the reason for being on the river at the time hailed. Consul General Hidaka stated that this reluctance exasperated the Japanese patrol and that this led to their assault upon the [Page 338] crews of the two vessels. I asked Mr. Hidaka to put his statement in writing in the form of a reply to my two letters on the subject and he agreed to do so. He stated that the military were not warranted in boarding the vessels, I stated that this was certainly correct and that the military patrol by exercising more patience could have obtained all the information it desired by remaining alongside the launches. A mail report will be sent to the Department.

Repeated to Hankow and Peiping. Code text by mail to Tokyo.

Lockhart
  1. Not printed; see note of May 30, from the American Ambassador in Japan to the Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs, Foreign Relations, Japan, 1931–1941 vol. i, p. 591.↩
  2. Neither printed.↩