PZ 1070/40(2) ‘Transmission of F.O. secret packets to & from Consulates etc. abroad’ [‎81r] (162/835)

(70860-2) W!. 8019/227 ( 10,500 4/45 Hw. G.338/10.
A.F.O. P.305/45
P.305.— B.R. 835 (43)—Security of Shipping Information—Amendment No. 1.
(C.N.A.C. 20/2/45.—26 Apr. 1945.)
Note .—This amendment is being distributed to official holders of B.R. 835 (43) in advance but
^^the relaxations are not to be brought into force, nor are they to be disclosed unnecessarily until a fixed
late for their introduction has been made known.
It has been decided that some of the restrictions which it has been necessary to impose on shipping
communications, documents, etc., can be relaxed after the cessation of hostilities with Germany.
2. Certain areas have been designated non-combat areas and it is within these areas alone that
the relaxations specified will operate. In the combat area the existing security restrictions will remain
in full force.
3. The non-combat areas are as follows :—
North Atlantic Ocean, including Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico.
Arctic Ocean, Baltic and North Seas.
Mediterranean, Black and Red Seas.
South Atlantic Ocean East of 74° West to Longitude of Capetown.
North and South Pacific East of 82° West.
All other Seas constitute the combat area. [See map attached.) (A.F.O. P. Series Diagram
17/45.)
The ports of Capetown, Aden and Balboa are considered as being in the combat area.
4. Troop Transports. —In both the combat area and the non-combat areas security arrangements
in regard to vessels employed as troop transports remain in all respects as at present.
5. In the Non-Combat Areas the existing security restrictions for shipping (other than Troop
Transports) within those areas may be relaxed as follows :—
(a) Ships’ names may be mentioned in all forms of communication and on passenger tickets,
embarkation notices, passengers’ baggage, sailing cards, etc.
* (b) Exact dates of arrival and departure may be mentioned in telegrams relating to ship's
business, but as arrivals and departures of ocean-going shipping will continue to be reported
through Naval channels, telegrams from Masters of vessels which merely give this
information are unnecessary and should not be sent. (See paragraphs 9 and 21 of B.R.
835 (43).
(c) The position of a shij? may be mentioned in telegrams as well as in documents in conjunction
with a specific date.
(d) Telegrams may be addressed to ships by name at a port in the non-combat area even though
the ship has not arrived.
(e) Communications relating to tankers and refrigerator ships need not be treated differently
from those relating to other ocean-going ships.
(/) Future bunkering arrangements may be mentioned.
6. Log Books and Records, etc. —The keeping of secret logs and the custody of such by the Ministry
of War Transport may be discontinued where these logs refer exclusively to passages made through
the non-combat areas. Ships proceeding into the combat area are to commence keeping their secret
logs at or on passing the terminal port of entry into the combat area (Capetown, Aden or Balboa)
and are to continue to forward such logs to the Ministry of War Transport in accordance with existing
instructions. (See paragraph 37 of B.R. 835 (43).)
7. Ship’s Boxes, etc .—The instructions contained in paragraphs 38 to 41 of B.R. 835 (43) regarding
ship’s boxes and the transmission of important letters and documents remain in force for the present
for all ships sailing for or arriving from countries outside the British Empire.
8. General.—The greatest discretion should still be exercised in all matters connected with the
movements of shipping where the combat area is involved directly or indirectly. Owners and others
in both the combat and non-combat areas should continue to mark all shipping messages " by cable
only ” or " Fil ” before handing them in at a Telegraph Office.