Guarantees having been provided, the following instructions were handed to the German Commission regarding the carrying out of inspections under the terms of the armistice:--
1. The Allied Naval Commission shall be received on board each mercantile vessel to be inspected by officers of approximately equivalent rank and conducted through the vessel, visiting such places and compartments as the Allied Commission may wish.
2. All compartments are to be adequately lighted.
3. All vessels shall be cleared of men before and during the inspection, with the exception of those necessary to open up machinery, doors, hatches, etc.
4. If guns are mounted they are to be uncovered, and all explosives removed from the vessel.
The Allied inspection parties were instructed as follows:--
(_a_) To satisfy themselves that all Allied vessels are bunkered, ballasted, and sufficiently manned for the passage to the Tyne, in the case of British and Belgian vessels, and to Dunkerque, in the case of French vessels.
(_b_) To ensure that the necessary repairs and dry docking of unseaworthy ships are carried out by the German authorities.
(_c_) To ascertain that sufficient deck and engine stores are provided for the passage.
(_d_) That all ships' papers, including Log Book and Register, confiscated on internment are returned.
(_e_) That ammunition and explosives are landed from the vessels which have been used for war purposes.
The arrival of the lists of embargo and prize ships showed them to be scattered about among a large number of ports on both the North Sea and the Baltic. As lack of time precluded the possibility of visiting Danzig or any other Baltic ports east of Kiel, it was arranged that all seaworthy ships in these ports should proceed to Kiel for inspection. After completing the inspection of the five ships in Wilhelmshaven (two of which were found to have machinery defects which made it impossible to deliver them without extensive repairs), the Shipping Board departed by train for Hamburg and Bremerhaven, where the greater part of their work was to be done. Before they rejoined the _Hercules_ three days later at Kiel over thirty British ships had been inspected and the preliminary steps taken for their return to the Tyne.