A FOUL CRIME.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16256, 5 July 1918, Page 8

A FOUL CRIME.

GERMANY'S LATEST : OUTRAGE SINKING OP LLANDOVERY CASTLE. Cable.—Press -Association.—Copyright.' . (Australian and N.Z. Cable Association.; * (Router's Telegrams.) LONDON, July 1. The British hospital ship Llanu. very Castle was torpedoeu at 10.0 o'clock on ttie night ot Juno 27th, llu miles south-west of i'.istnet, and sank in ten minutes. tike was homeward bound from Canada, and therefore iiad no sick or wounded aboard. Tiio crew consisted of 164, and the ship also carried 80 Canadian Army medical men and .fourteen female nurses—a total of 258. One boatload of twenty-Jour naa been landed. There is a bare possibility that there are other survivors. It must be noted in this, as in all othor instances, that the German submarine had a perfect right to stop and search the hospital ship under The Hague. Convention. It prof erred, however, to torpedo the ship, which showod all navigating and regulation hospital lights. Tho following is a list of hospital ships which have been sunk by enemy submarines or mined. In the case of tho Braemar Cnstle tho evidence, though not conclusive, pointed strongly to a torpedo:,— 'March 30, _ 1916—Portugal (Russ'an), sunk without warning, in the Black Sea; 85 lives lost. July, 1916—Vperiode (Russian), sunk without warning; 7 lives lost. Novembor 21, 1916—Britannic (British), sunk in iEgean Sea; 31 lives lost. • Novombor 24, 1916—Braemar Castle (British), mined or torpedoed with-

out warning in i'Egean Sea. March 30, 1917—Gloucester Castle (British), torpedoed without warning; no lives lost: March 26, 1917 Asturias (British), stink without warning. Sccond at-

tempt on this vessel; 43 persons killed, 39 injured. April 10. 1917—Salta (British), mined in English Channel; 52 lives lost, including 9 nursing sisters. April 17, 1917—Donegal (British), sunk without warning; 41 lives lost. April 17, 1917—La France (Brtish), sunk without warning; 23 British and 15 Germans killed. May 26. 1917—Dover Castle, twice torpedoed at intervals of two hotfrs and a-half, in Mediterranean, sunk second attack; 6 of crew lost. January 4, 1918 —Rewa, torpedoed in Bristol Channel. 3 of crew lost. February 26, 1918 G'pnart. Costlo, torpedoed in British Channel; 164 lives lost. June 27. 1918— Llandovery Castle, topedoed off Fastnetj 200 missing. DETAILS OF THE TRAGEDY. "LONDON, July 1. The Press Bureau states:— "Germany's awful debt to the world continues to grow. Another hospital ship has been torpedoed, this time 170 miles from the nearest land, her people being turned adrift in boats to sink or swim, and though, as it happened, she was a Canadian hospital ship returning from Halifax w'ith no wounded on board, the tale of the crime reveals wanton deliberation on the part of the submarine commander, almost suggesting that he hoped to find her full of helpless and injured men. ' "The Llandovery Castle was chartered by the Canadian Government to convoy sick and wounded from England _ to Halifax, and had on board at the time 80 members of the Medical Corps, including seven officers. She was steaming at 14 knols, with the usual navigation lights and the regulation • hospital ship lights, under an overcast sky. She •wag plainly visible, and unmistakable for anything but what she was, a ship immune by every law : of war and peace from-attack or molestation. "No one on board saw the wake of the torpedo. The first intimation, that a submarine was in the vicinity was the jar antl roar of the explosion; from aft. Then the lights went out, and everything after that occurred in the darkness, except for a dim light provided by the emergency dynamo, .until just' before the ship foundered. The engines were immediately rung to stop, then full speed astern, but from the engine-room came no answer. The ship's rehearsed routine, however, held good, for with the Germans one must be prepared for every such emergency. Along, the darkened' decks the crew groped their way to the boat stations and stood by for orders to leave. The oaptain megaphoned from the bridge: 'Hold on till the way is off the ship.' ,The carpenter went aft and examined the damage. The Marconi operator remained in his cabin, vainly striving to transmit the ship's position, but gamed no response. The carpenter reported that the hold oft; had been blown in, and the ship could not remain afloat, and the order was given to lower the boats and abtmdon the ship. The officer commanding the . Canadian Medical Corps reported that all his people were out*. This important, inasmuch as only the captain's boat has been picked up. Except for any of the ship's company or the engine-room crew, being Killed by the torpedo, it is clear that everyone- had got away. The captain and the second officer entered the last boat, and got clear'just in time to avoid being sucked under as the vessel's Htern went down. One boiler seemed to explode as the water reached it. The ship sank in ten minutes from the time she was torpedoed. The captain's boat ■ rescued . eleven from the wreckage." When the submarine was seen she hailed the boat in English: "Come alongside 1" The second officer replied: HWe are picking up a drowning man." A voice from the submarine replied: "Come alongside I"

• The boat held on its course, but two revolver shots were fired over it, the commander on the submarine shouting: "Come alongside, or I will shoot my big gunl"

The boat obeyed, and the captain was ordered on board the submarine and questioned regarding the name of the ship. The commander of the U-boat did not appear surprised when told ihat it was a hospital ship. Ho said: ."You were carrying eight American flying officers " This the captain denied, stating that he had seven Canadian medical officers on board. The ship was chartered by the Canadian

Government to carry Canadian sick and wounUed. Replying to the commander's reiterated statement that the vessel was carrying American flying officers, the captain gave his word 01 honour that the steamer carried onJy patients, medical officers, nursing sisters, and crew. The commander then ordered one of the Canadian medical officers on boardHe was roughly handled by the Germans, and had a small bone of his foot broken. He was interrogated, and protested that he was a medical officer. He was then ordered back into the boat .vith the captain. The submarine ciried round the wreckage, and again topped the boat and questioned the wond and fourth officers. The Gerlans thon invented a new excuse, statig that the_ vessel must have been car- ! zing munitions owing to the big exi .osion aft. The second officer explained that the explosion was due to the boiler. They were allowed to return to the boat. The submarine bog:m firing at an unseen target, possibly at other boats. The captain decided to make for tho Irish coast, and had proceeded 70 miles when ho was picked up by a destroyer and Brought to Queenstpwn. ATTEMPT TO LEAVE NO TRACE. LONDON, July 2. The survivors from tho Llandovery Castle believe that the German submarine chargod amidst the wreckage, trying to sink the boats, in order that no tva°e of tho outrage shoulc} remain. The submarine only missed the surviving boat on two occasions by two feet. The survivors say that it was evident that the German commander's aim was to ram the boat and down the lot. The wireless operator did everything to send out "S.O.S.',' messages, but even the emergency dynamo became use.ess. The operator to his post to the end and was drowned.

ANGER IN BRITAIN. (Australian and N.Z. Cable Association.) (Received June 4th, 4 p.m.) LONDON, July 2. The Admiralty reports:— "The area between the spot where the Llandovery Castle was sunk and the south-western coast of Ireland was thoroughly searched by two groups of warships, in addition to the Tysander. Only a little wreckage and one empty boat was found, therefore it is assumed that there are no more survivors." The Llandovery Castle outrage is causing a violent outburst of indignation, accompanied in some quarters by demands for most vigorous air reprisals on German towns, and the wholesale internment of alien enemies*. In response to tiie latter demand, Mr Bonar Law, in the House of Commons, promised that an opportunity would be given of discussing Government control of aliens next week. Mr Bonar Law, addressing tho International Parliamentary Conference, said we might have thought there was nothing new in Germany's horrible war methods, but the sinking of the Llandovery Castle was contrary to the principles which the enemy professed, and constituted another unspeakable outrage. All the evidence showed that the attempt to sink the vessel was in accordance with the famous telegram that a ship must disappear "without leaving any trace," but nothing would be gained by talking. "A wild beast is at large," Air Bonar Law said, "and it is no use arguing or attempting to reason with it: we must destroy it. We must set-our teeth until this end is achieved." Mr Havelock Wilson, in an interview, said that in consequence of Germany's latest crime, the British seamen's boycott of Germany /after the war had been extended to six years. The rising tide of feeling'against the Germans is unparalleled since the outbreak following the Lusitania outrage, when mobs wrecked the alien quarter. I

It is suggested that the-recall of Sir George Cave (Home Secretary) is in connexion with far-reaching internment measures. . A Government committee of five members from the House of Commons is examining the subject, and will report in a few days.

Several municipal and other councils passed■ resolutions calling on the Government to strip the honours from aliens born in Germany and intern them all.

Meanwhile a round-up has begun .in Belfast and the North of Ireland. Alien enemies are forbidden to reside in prohibited areas, or within 10 miles of the coast.

Six hundred m'embers of the Liverpool Sailors' Union passed a resolution demanding that Mr Havelock Wilson should add a further five years to .the boycott of' Germany, in consequence of the diabolical murders on board the Llandovery Castle. PEELING IN~AUSTRALIA. (Received July 4th, 4 p.m.) SYDNEY, July 4. Seamen express the greatest indignation at Germany's outrages, and maintain that every enemy 'alien, naturalised or not, should be interned. . The Seamen's latest motto is "Remember our torpedoed brothers."