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which permits a country to first protect the rights of its own citizens 'n local property before permitting it to be taken out of the jurisdiction for administration in favor of those residing beyond their borders.

The judgment of the Circuit Court of Milwaukee County entered upon the remittitur from the Supreme Court of Wisconsin is

Affirmed.

CASE OF THE APPAM1

Supreme Court of the United States
Nos. 650 and 722-OCTOBER TERM, 1916

Hans Berg, Prize Master in Charge of the
Prize Ship Appam, and L. M. von
Schilling, Vice-Consul of the German
Empire. Appellants,

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Appeals from the Dis-
trict Court of the
United States for the
Eastern District of
Virginia.

Mr. Justice Day delivered the opinion of the Court.

These are appeals from the District Court of the United States for the Eastern District of Virginia, in two admiralty cases. No. 650 was brought by the British & African Steam Navigation Company,

ed war of the British steamship Appam, to recover possession of that vessel. No 722 was a suit by the master of the Appam to WIE PREVson of the cargo. in each of the cases the decree was favor of the Bean

The facts are not in spete and from them it appears: That during the exstence of the present war between Great Britain and Germany. on the 15th day of January, 1916, the steamship Appom was captured

Print of the Reporter of the Supreme Court of the United States.

on the high seas by the German cruiser Moewe. The Appam was a ship under the British flag, registered as an English vessel, and is a modern cargo and passenger steamship of 7,800 tons burden. At the time of her capture she was returning from the West Coast of Africa to Liverpool, carrying a general cargo of cocoa beans, palm oil, kernels, tin, maize, sixteen boxes of specie, and some other articles. At the West African port she took on 170 passengers, eight of whom mere military prisoners of the English Government. She had a crew of 160 or thereabouts, and carried a three-pound gun at the stern. The Appam was brought to by a shot across her bows from the Moewe, when about a hundred yards away, and was boarded without resistance by an armed crew from the Moewe. This crew brought with them two bombs, one of which was slung over the bow and the other over the stern of the Appam. An officer from the Moewe said to the captain of the Appam that he was sorry he had to take his ship, asked him how many passengers he had, what cargo, whether he had any specie, and how much coal. When the shot was fired across the bows of the Appam, the captain instructed the wireless operator not to touch the wireless instrument, and his officers not to let any one touch the gun on board. The officers and crew of the Appam, with the exception of the engine-room force, thirty-five in number, and the second officer, were ordered on board the Moewe. The captain, officers and crew of the Appam were sent below, where they were held until the evening of the 17th of January, when they and about 150 others, officers and crews of certain vessels previously sunk by the Moewe, were ordered back to the Appam and kept there as prisoners. At the time of the capture, the senior officer of the boarding party told the chief engineer of the Appam he was now a member of the German navy; if he did not obey orders his brains would be blown out, but if he obeyed, not a hair of his head should be touched. The Appam's officer was instructed to tell his staff the same thing, and if they did not obey orders they would be brought to the German officer and shot. Inquiries were made by the German officer in command of the Appam as to revolutions of the engines, the quantity of coal on hand and the coal consumption for different speeds, and instructions were given that steam be kept up handy, and afterwards the engineer was directed to set the engines at the revolutions required, and the ship got under way.

Lieutenant Berg, who was the German officer in command of the Appam after its capture, told the engineer on the second morning that he was then in charge of the ship, asked of him information as to fuel consumption, and said that he expected the engineer to help him all he could, and the more he did for him the better it would be for everybody on the ship. The engineer said he would, and did so. The engines were operated with a bomb secured to the port main injector valve, and a German sailor stationed alongside the bomb with a revolver. There was a guard below of four or five armed Germans, who were relieved from time to time, but did not interfere with the working of the ship. The German officer, Lieutenant Berg, gave directions as to working the engines, and was the only officer on board who wore a uniform.

On the night of the capture, the specie in the specie-room was taken on board the Moewe. After Lieutenant Berg took charge of the Appam, bombs were slung over her bow and stern, one large bomb, said to contain about two hundred pounds of explosive, was placed on the bridge, and several smaller ones in the chart room. Lieutenant Berg informed the captain of the Appam, pointing to one of the bombs. "That is a bomb; if there is any trouble, mutiny, or attempt to take the ship. I have orders to blow up the ship instantly." He also said. “There are other bombs about the ship; I do not want to use them, but I shall be compelled to if there is any trouble." The bombs were kept in the positions stated until the ship arrived at the Virginia Capes, when they were removed. Lieutenant Berg, on reaching Hampton Roads, asked the crew of the Appam to drop the anchor, as he had not men to do it.

During the trip to the westward, the officers and crew of the Appam were not allowed to see the ship's compass to ascertain her course, and all lights were obscured during the voyage. The German prisoners, with the exception of two who went on board the Moewe, were armed and placed over the passengers and crew of the Appam as a guard all the way across. For two days after the capture, the Appam remained in the vicinity of the Moete, and then was started westward. Her course for the first two or three days was southwesterly, and afterwards westerly, and was continued until her arrival at the Virginia Capes on the 31st of January. The engine-room staff of the Appam was on duty operating the vessel across to the United States;

the deck crew of the Appam kept the ship clean, and the navigation was conducted entirely by the Germans, the lookouts being mostly German prisoners.

At the time of the capture, the Appam was approximately distant 1,590 miles from Emden, the nearest German port; from the nearest available port, namely, Punchello, in the Madeiras, 130 miles; from Liverpool, 1,450 miles; and from Hampton Roads, 3,051 miles. The Appam was found to be in first class order, seaworthy, with plenty of provisions, both when captured and at the time of her arrival in Hampton Roads.

The order or commission delivered to Lieutenant Berg by the commander of the Moewe is as follows:

Information for the American Authorities. The bearer of this, Lieutenant of the Naval Reserve, Berg, is appointed by me to the command of the captured English steamer Appam and has orders to bring the ship into the nearest American harbor and there to lay up. Kommando S. M. H. Moewe. Count Zu Dohna, Cruiser Captain and Commander. (Imperial Navy Stamp.) Kommando S. M. S. Moerve.

Upon arrival in Hampton Roads, Lieutenant Berg reported his arrival to the Collector, and filed a copy of his instructions to bring the Appam into the nearest American port and there to lay up.

On February 2nd, His Excellency, The German Ambassador, informed the State Department of the intention, under alleged treaty rights, to stay in an American port until further notice, and requested that the crew of the Appam be detained in the United States for the remainder of the war.

The prisoners brought in by the Appam were released by order of the American Government.

On February 16th, and sixteen days after the arrival of the Appam in Hampton Roads, the owner of the 4ppam filed the libel in case No. 650, to which answer was filed on March 3rd. On March 7th, by leave of court, an amended libel was filed, by which the libellant sought to recover the Appam upon the claim that holding and detaining the vessel in American waters was in violation of the law of nations and the laws of the United States and of the neutrality of the United States. The answer of the respondents to the amended libel alleged that the Appam was brought in as a prize by a prize master,

in reliance upon the Treaty of 1799 between the United States and Prussia; that by the general principles of international law the prize master was entitled to bring his ship into the neutral port under these circumstances, and that the length of stay was not a matter for judicial determination; and that proceedings had been instituted in a proper prize court of competent jurisdiction in Germany for the condemnation of the Appam as a prize of war; and averred that the American court had no jurisdiction.

The libel against the Appam's cargo was filed on March 13th, 1916. and answer filed on March 31st. During the progress of the case, libellant moved the court to sell a part of the cargo as perishable; on motion the court appointed surveyors, who examined the cargo and reported that the parts so designated as perishable should be sold: upon their report orders of sale were entered, under which such perishable parts were sold, and the proceeds of that sale, amounting tɔ over $600,000, are now in the registry of the court, and the unsold. portions of the cargo are now in the custody of the marshal of the Eastern District of Virginia.

The argument in this case has taken wide range, and orally and in printed briefs counsel have discussed many questions which we do not consider necessary to decide in determining the rights involved in these appeals.

From the facts which we have stated, we think the decisive questions resolve themselves into three: First, was the use of an American port, under the circumstances shown, a breach of this Nation's neutrality under the principles of international law. Second, was such use of an American port justified by the existing treaties between the German Government and our own. Third, was there jurisdiction and right to condemn the Appam and her cargo in a court of admiralty of the United States.

It is familiar international law that the usual course after the capture of the Appam would have been to take her into a German port, where a prize court of that Nation might have adjudicated her status. and, if it so determined, condemned the vessel as a prize of war. Instead of that, the vessel was neither taken to a German port, nor to the nearest port accessible of a neutral power, but was ordered to, and did, proceed over a distance of more than three thousand miles, with a view to laying up the captured ship in an American port.

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