THE BOMBING OF THE SPRINGFJOR

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00001R000100250003-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 11, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 16, 1999
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: April 9, 1967
• Content Type: NSPR

IHT
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C:PYRGH1
-:Front STEPHEN BARBER
1954, the British "freighter
Springfjord (3,500 tons) was
lying off the Pacific coast of?-., ~-k4`'?
her cargo of cotton itito barges.
,
Suddenly a twin-boomed P38
aircraft appeared and, without
warning, dive-bombed the ship..
The first bomb-a 500-pounder-
landed on the deck a few feet
from most of the crew but did
not explode. Nor did the second.
The third did. Miraculously; none
,of the crew was injured, but the
ship was driven ashore and written
To this day, not a penny of
damages or compensation has
.b:cn paid to the owners, the'
Sprin'well Shipping Company. All.
they 1tave recovered is #180.000
from London underwriters for the
'loss of the hull. which was insured
a_-iinst war risk.
And yet the circumstances of
the wholly unprovoked attack on
this unarmed and innocent ship
are well known. Questions have...
been asked in the House of
Commons. diplomatic and other
Government action promised-all
to no avail.
For seven years the `chairmant
of the Springwei; Company, Capt.
Peter Longton. s;.u;gled to obtain
restitution. ite gave up-
until last year, :?-ncn, in a series
of articles pub,;hed b Tho'
epot outside the .city. Another.
ajor Ferdinand Frederick
chupp, bombed the Springfjord.
As a whole, the coup was a suc-
ess. Indeed American officials cite
I as a highlight of the C.I.A.'s
reer.
Mr. Richard Bissell, then Direc.
r? of Plans,-.who was later dis-
issed by President Kennedy after
e Cuban invasion fiasco in 1963,
pcnly admits this. Others have
Ikcd, too.
But the (rankest account of the
pringfjord raid was given by
e,ior Rudolfo Mendoza, a ring.
ader in, the 'Castillo-Armaz
dventure, who flew as Major
chupp's wing-man'on the fateful
ay., He is now Director of Avia-
on In Guatemala. ,
ington, where he learnt that the
files on the case had been passed
by Mr. Lawrence Houston, the
General Counsel for the C.I.A..
to the State Department. An
appointment was arranged for him
with Mr. Ernest Kerley, Assistant
"'`~^~a`(u4 +.rG Legal Director, Inernational
Above: Capt. Peter Longton, - Claims, at the State Department.
owner of the Springfjord. Topt , At this interview Capt. Long,
the ship before and after the 'ton told the American official that
bombing. he did not wish to make an
Said he in a tcle-recorded'
terview, which 'was granted an
merican broadcasting company
ut has never, intriguingly enough,
can shown: ?
Sunday Tcl ra;;h about 'the: O.K. So we had this news at
America;. Central Intelligence ?!'lbe base, that an English ship was
ship had been wrecked.
The story behind the affair is',,
this. In the early summer of 1954
it was decided in Washington that
action must be taken to secure the
overthrow of Guatemala's Left-
wing President, v Jacob Arbenz:
Guzman. There was reason to
believe that arms from behind the
Iron Curtain were on their way to
the rep,-hue, and that clans were
g
p
tons belief( l had questioned
afoot ?to make it a full-fledged Ole, it went right through, Same ing up the wrong tree. We . tried' o,_'__? ,_ ,_ ._A..
In view of :he threat this posed
to neighbouring Central American.
?, defence, the C.I.A. was assigned .?
;? the task of ousting Arbenz. Full
support was therefore given to an
American - trained exile, Col.
C0411) d'elat.
An "instant airforce" of war-
surplus fighter-bombers operating..
unseemly fuss or embarrass an
ally, but that he did want the
S
i
a
pr
ngwell company sent
British
Q.C., Mr. Rafael Valls, to Guate- story look ed;-in n_ .H t,submitted
rce bpitnres ana .pilots to, it. Valls was cordially received by the Then, having heard nothing for
"So we saidThe'best'thing President and invited to dinner at' three 'weeks, he sought a second
o do is sink the ship.'' his palace. The next morning he meeting, which was granted. At
"So we take on the 'ship with was handed a letter at his hotel. -this he was informed by Mr. Ker-
-
ordering him to quit Guatemala ?? ley that, while U.S. responsibility
he:P38 with three bombs. One ;
as ?a 1,000-pounder, two were by'that evening. was not explicitly denied, he, Capt.
00s. Longton, would have to produce
Further efforts to obtain redress .. affidavit proof " that the incident
Schupp, in the first dive he :were no more successful. As
i had taken place.
ade at the ship, : the , bomb Capt. Longton put it last week:
" My associates and I were bark- : : In the meantime, on Capt. Long.
dn't ex
lode but it made a bi
,,,.?. "-looking elsewhere:'" 'Company of East Hartford, Con-
"Then I saw the crew -soma mecticut.
of fast -boats and got away. 'As time went on, the amount i Mr. Bissell agreed that in a
here was only one bomb left. In question grew.. The claim-for recent television interview he had
"Schupp dived in close to the 'loss of trading earnings, Interest .`referred to the Guatemalan coup.
hip and the bomb exploded .. , on the capital loss over 13 years, which had been under. his opera-
nd blew some of the elevators' repatriation..for the crew, Insur. ,'tional control, but he hedecd on
If his airplane. ..:' ance premiums, legal fees and the
like, which was drawn, up with .the subject of the Springfjord.
It turned out, of course, that' 'the advice of the Board of Trade In the Interview I referred to
he Springfjord was carrying no ' -all this amounted to over an Incident that certainly went
pitfires.. As a matter of fact. she #1,100,000, beyond the limits of established
as under tlmc?charter to the' When, finally,' Capt. Langton policy," he said, "I do not know
merican Grace Line and operat-' read rho Sundarf Trlecraph's arti- ? I referred to the Springfjord. I
ng in the Inter-American' coastal cles on the C.I.A., he immediately think other' people have con-
rode for which she, had been'; got in touch' with Lamorte
Burns nected the two up.
,
pc0ially . find cxpca;ivoly fitted' Et co? llj; firm's" rcpresontativea , As you, probably know, she
cenaries flew these planes. One of
thorn, lorry d3 Larm, carried out
raids on the capital, knocking out
the Shell Comw'ny's oil atoraga
law firm of Cichanowski & Callan
had been in touch with the C.I.A.
and the U.S. State Department In
Washington, and were prepared to
:handle the claim on the basis of
a 30 per cent, cut of the proceeds
for themselves.