The right of citizens to purchase foreign-made vessels abroad involves
the right to the protection of those vessels. A vessel cannot sail the
high seas without registration and a flag; for if she does she is liable
to seizure as a pirate. Hence the ceremony of transfer in such a case
must be attended to by the consul.
Ordinarily this does not imply any great responsibility, but while a war
is in progress it is a very different thing, no matter whether we are
neutrals or belligerents. To illustrate: Suppose during the recent war
the owner of an American vessel wished to put it out of danger by
putting it under a neutral flag. This he might do by a pretended sale to
a citizen of a foreign country through the connivance of a consul. It is
the consul’s duty, therefore, to prevent such fraudulent sales, to take
all possible pains to satisfy himself that the sale is or is not a
genuine transaction.