underlying such regulations, and shall be glad to have an immediate report on the subject from you. Ambassador W. H. Page to the Secretary of State. [Telegram.] BRYAN. AMERICAN EMBASSY, London, June 5, 1915. Following reply received to-day from Foreign Office: I did not fail to refer to the proper department of His Majesty's Government the notes which Your Excellency was good enough to address to me on the 22nd and 29th ultimo enquiring as to the Admiralty announcement canceling the notice on navigation in the North Sea of November 30, 1914. I have the honour to state in reply that the notice on navigation in the North Sea dated 15th May introduced no new regulations with regard to the northabout route. The notice was merely intended to summarize existing practice which has been evolved with the object of ensuring that trade passing northabout shall be limited in amount and reputable in character. Many applications for vessels to use the northabout route have been received through the Legations of the Scandinavian Powers in London and permission has been granted. I have the honour to add that any similar applications which may be made on behalf of United States vessels would of course receive equal treatment. PAGE. The Secretary of State ad interim to Ambassador W. H. Page. [Telegram-Paraphrase.] No. 1721.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, June 16, 1915. Mr. Lansing states that the inquiry in Department's May 20th is not fully answered in the note of June 5th from the British Foreign Office. The Department is at a loss to understand the British Government's object in regulating foreign vessel's courses on the high seas as for example in paragraphs 10, 11, and 12 of the general instructions of the fifteenth of May enclosed in despatch of May 19 from Consul General appears to be the case. Mr. Page is directed to press the British Foreign Office for a further explanation. Consul General Skinner to the Secretary of State. [Telegram.] AMERICAN CONSULATE GENERAL, Hydrographic Department, Admiralty issue notice 525, warning mariners danger passing through Pas de Calais between Le Colbart (the ridge) and French coast. Vessels from North must wait off Calais for pilot or instructions, vessels from South must wait off Boulogne. Vessels not conforming above do so at their own peril. SKINNER. Ambassador W. H. Page to the Secretary of State. [Telegram.] No. 2517.] AMERICAN EMBASSY, London, July 23, 1915. Your 1721, June 16. Following note received from Foreign Office, dated July 22: I did not fail to refer to the proper Department of his majesty's government the note which your excellency was so good as to address to me on the 18th ultimo regarding the Admiralty announcement canceling the notice on navigation in the North Sea on the 30th November, 1914. I have now the honour to inform your excellency that the action of His Majesty's Government in indicating routes to be followed by neutral merchant vessels in the vicinity of the British Isles and in the North Sea is based upon the fact that merchant vessels passing through the North Sea run very grave risk unless they act in strict accordance with the directions of the Admiralty. Before issuing such special directions to a neutral vessel the Admiralty desires to be assured that the vessel's voyage is undertaken with the knowledge and consent of the government of the country whose flag she flies, and for this reason it is necessary that the application by a neutral vessel for advice as to special routes should be supported by the diplomatic representative of the government in question. If such support to the application is not given neutral vessels will not receive the special instructions as to the northabout route and will be advised to go southabout where they can be supplied with the latest warnings and obtain the services of pilots where necessary. PAGE. The Secretary of State to Ambassador W. H. Page. [Telegram.] No. 1908.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, July 26, 1915. Your 2517, July 23. Department understands requirement in Admiralty Notice May 15 that neutral vessels bound to North Sea by northabout route must obtain from Admiralty special directions through their diplomatic representatives applies only to vessels sailing from British ports and not to vessels sailing direct from American or other neutral ports. Ascertain and report whether this understanding is correct. Have any American owned or chartered vessels applied for such directions through Embassy or been interfered with for failure to apply. Also notify Consul General. LANSING. Ambassador W. H. Page to the Secretary of State. [Telegram.] AMERICAN EMBASSY, London, August 17, 1915. I am in receipt of a note from Sir Edward Grey in reply to my representations based on the Department's instructions which reads as follows: I have the honor to inform Your Excellency in reply that in principle His Majesty's Government would desire that neutral vessels passing northabout from one neutral port to another should sail with the knowledge and consent of the Government of the country whose flag they fly and should follow a track similar as far as possible to that used by vessels sailing from British ports. The difficulty of ensuring this is however so considerable and the responsibility of His Majesty's Government in the matter is so slight that no endeavor is being made in practice to secure any such limitation of sailings. PAGE. Consul General Skinner to the Secretary of State. [Telegram.] AMERICAN CONSULATE GENERAL, London, September 3, 1915. Admiralty Order 764. Traffic in Straits Dover between Varne Shoal and Folkestone must pass between light vessels mooredfirst 21⁄2 miles 140 degrees south 26 degrees east magnitude (?) from Folkestone pierhead latitude 51 degrees 02 minutes 40 seconds north longitude 1 degree 14 minutes 10 seconds east; second 5 cables 150 degrees south 16 degrees east magnitude (?) from first. Ships disregarding this warning do so at own peril. SKINNER. Ambassador W. H. Page to the Secretary of State. area of the British minefield off the Belgian coast, notified on the twenty-second October, 1914, so as to include the waters south of latitude fifty-one degrees, forty minutes north, as far as the Meridian of three degrees, twenty minutes east, instead of three degrees east as previously notified. Sir E. Grey would remind Dr. Page that the danger area as notified on the second October, 1914, comprised that situated between latitude fifty-one degrees, fifteen minutes and fifty-one degrees, forty minutes north, and longitude one degree, thirty-five minutes east, and three degrees east. PAGE. Ambassador W. H. Page to the Secretary of State. [Telegram.] AMERICAN EMBASSY, London, May 29, 1916. Respecting mine field off Belgian coast. Foreign Office inform me under date May twenty-seventh that the Eastern limit of the danger area of the British mine field off the Belgian coast should be defined as the meridian of three degrees eighteen minutes east instead of three degrees twenty minutes east as previously notified in error. PAGE. No. 193.] The British Ambassador to the Secretary of State. BRITISH EMBASSY, Washington, July 1, 1916. SIR: I have the honour, in accordance with instructions received from His Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, to transmit to you herewith copy of an Admiralty Notice to Mariners, No. 618 of 1916, relative to the necessity for the exercise of caution in navigating on account of certain mined areas in the North Sea. I am instructed to invite the attention of the United States Gov |