New Yorl Times,November 6,1
-».g + . i
CITY OF FLINT
The month-long odyssey of the City
of Flint, with its unexpected climax in
Norway, has all the elements of first-
rate fiction. Perhaps that Is why this
sea-saga of mystery, dramatic surprise
and sudden reverses has overshadowed
in the American mind even the shock-
ing' tragedy of the Athenia, in which
the Flint played her part as Good
Samaritan.
Safe for. the moment in Bergen Har-
bor and freed of her German captors,
this one vessel has left in its wake
ripples of international complications j
which washed the shores of half the I
western world and involved five great j
nations. Judging by the violent con- j
troversy between Germany and Nor-
way, they are by no means yet stilled.
Meanwhile our grinning crew has been
painting back the big American flag
which the Nazis blacked out and think-
ing of home again after an involuntary
exploration of the Arctic and a taste of
extremely dubious Russian hospitality
at Murmansk. But there are few grins
on the faces of the German prize crew
interned at Haugesund, and the Ger-
man frown at Norway is portentous.
These Norwegians, who apparently
acted with punctilious regard for The
Hague covenants governing war prizes
in neutral ports, nevertheless displayed
a good deal of what Americans would
describe as spunk. Germany's wrath,
and especially her chagrin, is not to be
lightly incurred by small neighbors,
but Norway seems to feel she is reason-
ably safe from retaliation.
Now that the ship has come safely
through so many alarms and dangers,
every one of generous instincts will t
hope the voyage of the Flint ends hap- j
plly. Perhaps second thought will sug-
gest to Germany that it would have
been better if the Deutschland had never
captured her. She proved a "hot" prize
from that moment Her visit to Mur-
mansk scarcely improved Russian-
American relations. It even seemed to
put a strain on the Hitler-Stalin.' axis.
Nor did her subsequent stealthy prog-
ress down the Norwegian coast almost
to the Skagerrak, with British cruisers
j lurking just outside territorial waters,
I support Germany's boast of an eventual
blockade of Britain?**