SURROUNDING THE PANAMA CANAL
63
Shortly thereafter the Japanese millionaire appeared at
Mana
gua with his expensive camera and headed straight for the
military zone. Thirty minutes after he arrived (8:00 A.M. of
October 7, 1937), he was in a Nicaraguan jail charged with sus
pected espionage and with taking pictures in prohibited areas.
I mention this incident because the luxurious boat was
regis
tered under the
Panamanian
flag
and immediately began a
series
of actions so peculiar that the Republic of Panama canceled
the Panamanian registry. The "Amano" promptly left for Puntarenas, Costa Rica, north of the Canal,
enough
which has a harbor big
to take care of almost all the fleets in the world.
Many
of the Japanese ships went there, sounding lines and all, when
alien fishing was prohibited in Panamanian waters. Today the
"Amano Maru" is a mystery
ship haunting Puntarenas and the
waters between Costa Rica and Panama and occasionally vanish
ing out to sea with her wireless crackling constantly.
Some
seventy fishing vessels operating out of San Diego, Cali
fornia, fly the American flag. San Diego is of great importance
to a potential enemy because it is a naval as well as an air base.
Of
these seventy vessels flying the
partially or entirely
Let
me
illustrate
On March
9,
American
flag,
manned by Japanese.
how boats fly the American
1937, the S.S.
ten are either
flag:
was registered as an
of registry No. 235,912,
"Columbus"
American
fishing vessel under certificate
issued at Los Angeles. The vessel is owned by the Columbus
Fishing Company of Los Angeles. The captain, R. I. Suenaga,
is
a twenty-six-year-old Japanese, born in Hawaii and a
full-
fledged American citizen. The navigator and one sailor are also
Japanese, born in Hawaii but American citizens. The crew of
ten consists entirely of Japanese born in Japan.
The ten boats which fly the American flag but are manned by
Japanese crews are:
"Alert,"
"Asama,"
"Columbus,"
"Flying