On the Sea

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXI, Issue 86, 8 November 1916, Page 5

On the Sea

- -if* otni b'i* i ■■ ■ '•• l EfoiJ !?;• AMAZING GERMAN STORY. tot oonn •!:'•• ; '--•-; ALLEGED BRITISH BRUTALITY. , Press Association—Coi.|yrigJbt, Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. London, "November 7. The German Government's wireless news service to neutrals alleges that the U4l purposes to- search for the stopped steamer "whfiih was flyfrig the ; American flag at tho Skillies on September. peared to be stopping, ostensibly to , lower a boat, and iihe. submarine approached to within a distance of 300 yards, when the siteamer suddenly opened, concealed, pcirts and fired two jiflej, '. The American flag w&sj,flying.,the* whole time. . The mm "tally hit, and the who wans severely wounded, aW} the of the-j hatch, before; the submarine foundered. They were the sole survivors. Both swa:tn and entered an empty boat that was adrift. The steamer then wenU at full speed with the intention of ntot saving the men. but of ramming th te boat. Shortly before the boat wa; j rammed, the two men sprang into t he sea and clung to some wreckage fou half-an-hour when the stealer returned, picking them up, but instead of giving medical care to the lieutenant, who suffered from a double fracture of the jaw and was shot in the left I»mple, besides having losp an eye a*s the result of the shelling of the srabmarine, was confined with his comrade in a deck compartment of one by two metres. The door was fastens d by iron bars, and they remained tlaere until Falmouth was reached on 1 ihe 25th, where they received their fir: jt medical aid. They were sent to Plymouth Hospital in October, imprisoned at York Castle on, NovemJber 6, transferred to Dyffrynalled in 3 December. Later, a medical officer there proposed to transfer them to Switzerland, the lieutenant's other eye being endangered, and a committee body, agreed to , the transfer, which the general medical officer vetoed. The lieutenant then vainly endeavoured to send a report to Berlifo, via the American Embassy, but tfcbe English Government, unable to get rid of the lieut- . enant by death from wounds, attempted to prevent him obtaining publicity during "the war.

BRITISH ADMIRALTY'S REPLY.

QUITE ANOTHER STORY.

f LEGITIMATE RUSE DE GUERRE.

fm I Assn.—Copyright—Australian Kd N.Z. Cable Assn., and Reuter. W (Received 9.30 a.m.) London, November 7. The Admiralty states: The German press is attempting to make capital'but of what they describe as a second Baralong case. One. object is the incitement of American opinion against Britain, and another.is the finding of arguments P favour of unrestrained submarine campaign. The facts are perfectly simple. On the morning of 24th September, 1915, in the Western Channel, the

TJ4I was engaged in sinking a British merchanmap. Meanwhile, a converted merchantman'"commissioned as an auxiliary ship approached; her. character was' immediately recognised, and lest the submarine should submerge pefore she was within range, she hoisted Neutral colours, which is a perfectly legitimate ruse de guerre. She hoisted when within range the White Ensign,' as British warships ar,e required to do, and fired on and sank the submarine. The commander's immediate pre-occupation was the rescue of the British steamer's «rew,.,who,.hacj,been compelled to. take to the boats, then being, fifty miles from the nearest port. The auxiliary ship then closed on one of the sunken steamer's boats, which had broken adrift, and in which were found two of the submarine's survivors. These were rescued in the same way, but after their victims. | The use of a Neutral flag in. order, to approach wfthin . range of the enemy is a recognised naval practice, which has been repeatedly adopted by the Germans; indeed, the majority of the Moewe's victims were secured by this method. It is difficult to believe that anybody except a German would base on these facts an accusation of brutality, on the ground that the English and not the German survivors were saved first by a few minutes. The allegation that the Admiralty never issued orders , that survivors from submarines need not' be rescued is an absolute lie and as such explicitly denied in the Note of 25 th February on the Baralong case.

WARSHIPS AT ZEEBRUCGE.

Amsterdam, November 6,

Twenty German warships are baaed at Zeebrugge and the Bruges Canah The sailors are in mourning for their* comrades on the two destroyers which failed to return from the Channel raid.