UNCLASSIFIED
ET
Officerhould bein iho "TO" column. Under eachine should be drawn acrowandcomment numbered Io correspond with the number in tho "TO" column, Each officer should initial (check mark Insufficient) belore lurtho- routine. This Routine and Record Sheet should bo returned to Registry.
fRQy:
wen moo
REVIEW PROGRAM RELEASE AS SANITIZED
UNCLASSIFIED
or the record
of Cargo of the SS WuTFSDROOK in San Juan,
Puerto Rico
the request of thelew to San Juanayto observe the inspection being carried out by
the United States Custons authorities of the cargo of the SS VJULFSBROOK.
Tho SS0 gross tons,iesel-powored merchant vessel builtU, owned by, Kiel, and chartered to the Royal Netherlands Steamship Lines (Koninklijke tfeder-landsche StoomboottvSN). Sheeneral cargo of numerous miscell aneous iters of export frora Europe, totaling0 tons. She loaded at Hamburg, Bremen, Antwerp, and Amsterdam, sailed from5 Apriland first stopped atitre, Guadeloupeay, where sheS tons of cargo. At San Juan she discharged 6lC tons leaving on boardons destined for Port-au-Prince, Haiti} Santiago, Cuba; Kingston,ela and Puerto Cortes, Honduras; Puerto Barrios, Guatemala; and Belize, British Honduras.
In view of our intelligence reports from Antwerpertain shipment5 kilos of "Merchandises Diverses" from Gernany to Kingston had been given extra security protection andons "Contents Unknown" had been consigned to Puerto Barrios from Antwerp, it had been decided to inspect thoroughly the entire cargo consigned to those two ports, amounting toons.
Lw Upon arrival in San Juan on Mondayay, the ship was moored at the ALCOA Steamship Company'j dock where thereonvenient United States Customs authorities, under the direction of Benjamin Murphy, Agent-in-charge, and Rafael Torrens, hi3 assistant, proceeded to carryecurity search and check of the ship's manifest. wenty-four hour watch by Coast Guard personnel was thrown around the ship, dock, and warehouse. tevedores were engaged to unload the ship and transfer the suspect cargo to the warehouse, and aboutustons personnel were put to work opening and resealing the carRo containers. The cargo
was stowed
was stowed in five holdsustoms inspector was on duty In each hold at all tines, checking all items against the loading slips and manifest as they were unloaded. The final inspection of every it en was done personally by either Hr. Murphy or Kr. Torrens, who were on the dock. until after. every day, including Sunday. ery detailed report of their operations dateday was forwarded to the DCIune by tho Commissioner of Customs and is included in the file on this case.
The great variety of careo, including automobiles, smoked herring, barbed wire, canned lard, canned beer, centrifuges, ice cream freezers, and so forth, made the task of opening andery complicated one. Crated goods were actually opened and inspected, and aateriala packed in bags, such as fertilizers and grains, were tested for metal content with the aidine detector borrowed froa the Army at Fort Buchannan. One ofofficers waa present at all times tc watch the handling of the open cases.
In addition to the Customs' inspection of every item consigned to Kingston and Puerto Parrios, all open spaces on the ship, such as chain lockers, shaft alleys, ship stores,ere searched for any unmanlfeated items, and in the necessary shifting of cargo destined for otherlose look was kept for any obviously Mislabeled Items. Drums of lubricating oil for the ship's motors carried on deck were opened and probed with rods to make sure nothing was secreted there.
The Captain of the SS, Peter Paul Koeller, had apparently become resigned to the situation by therrived. He did say that he waa going toawyer. The Curacao rsproaentative of KMSM, one Ryseen, had come to San Juan and was reported to haveto the home office snd obtained approval of the insoeetion. Captain Jams D. Grant,ee plannlnc toeller and the First Officer out to njs nousorink. Grant had discovered that he and Hoeller were both' submarine commanders in World War II and thought he might be able to obtain some interesting information from him. The most disturbed person on board seems toutchman named Hljnheer Harinus Schaannan, traveling as supercargo representing
A local German, named Arthur Fiebcrger has been very inquisitive about the whole operation. He has told various stories about his business connections in San Juan, none of which seen to hold together very well, and although he lives there, ha gives his addressnd Street, College Point, Long Island, New York. Our people intend to pick him up for questioning.
5. Doth
9. 3of
his staff, were Host enthusiasticje of they had received from ether Government representatives in San Juan. tlcularly mentioned Captain Grant,ho had gone out of his way to send search planes out from Puerto Rico before the ship arrived. The Signal Corps provided very helpful assistance in quickly photostating certain of the manifests during the noon hour when not needed for cargo checking. In addition, the friendly and understanding attitude of the Customs Agents and their complete cooperation was most appreciated.
certain amount of local publicity actually resulted fromof so many people and the discharging of the cargo intowarehouse. Attached are two articles from the San Juanl.'iU, with translations.
suspicious cargo was uncovered and from the manifests it
has been Impossible to identify? kilos referred to in ewore generalhas been usedbe authorized in Anerican -manifests, but the items wererelated to justify their listing The work has been carriedand securely, with only regular Customs personnelthe warehouse, wherecrates wore opened and then at all tinas,and supervision of Customs Inspectors. This was necessarythe cargo from pilferring by stevedores and unauthorizedcertain amount of miner breakage, such aa crushed lard tins,resulted fromarge operation, but it appears to ba
12. This operation will undoubtedly prove to hayd been an expensive undertaking, tho cost or which will beo irregularities io the manifest JtoraftH-found. The cargo manifested for Kinpston and Puerto Sarrios alonearehouse floor roughly 3o' wide' long. For thetevedores were working two shiftsvt. until 11 These men wereer man per shift, with overtime on Sundays, while the foremen of the pangser shift. In addition, the hire ofustoms personnel cnployed to open and rosea! crates and packages, numerous guards around the area,ill all have to be included in the expense involved in the search.
egarding theons offloaded atitra, it is entiraly possiblenail amount of ar-as might have been included therein. Also, arras -tight have been transshipped at sea. There are reported to> thirty thousand native sloops sailing the Caribbean, all of whose operators have be>sn experts at srmiggling for generations. It would be utterly impossible to find out where these many sloops had been at any given moment while the *'Jl!lFSB"!COK was entering Caribbean waters.
Caotain Grant
Hi. Captain Grant, tha Districtrsaarksd
thath ?Javal District has oniyTthe InJuan, sndths cables from Washington weren't clear as to what action he was expected to take, he acted as hs thought best and brought ths Dcninlcan Republic and Cuba into the act to assist him in spotting ths WVLKSHtOOK.
15. eft San Juan on the noon non-stop flight to New York on Saturday,ay (NBi This wan the day on which the JUJUBE Arrived In Puerto Barrios with tho anu wo woro looking for.)
jCE umu Chief Econordc Warfare
C-PP/KON/HGLlnl
Distributiont Orlg. -
I
Original document.
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