On the 28th March, 1915, the s.s. Falaba, of 4,806 tons, was overhauled after a short chase by an enemy submarine about 60 miles west of St. Ann’s Head. The submarine hailed the ship through a megaphone to “take to the boats, as they were going to sink the ship in five minutes.” This was at noon, and ten minutes later the submarine fired a torpedo from a distance of about 100 yards. The Falaba took a list to starboard and sank in 8 minutes.
The steamer carried a crew of 95 and 147 passengers, including seven women, a total of 242 persons; and it was quite impossible to transfer this number of people to the boats in the twenty minutes that elapsed between the submarine’s warning and the sinking of the ship. While the boats were being launched at top speed, the falls of one boat slipped, the falls of another jammed, some boats were dashed against the side of the ship, and one was seriously injured by the explosion of the torpedo. The result was that 104 lives were lost, 138 being saved.
This heavy loss of life was quite unnecessary, and would never have occurred if the German commander had allowed the master a reasonable time in which to abandon ship. We are entitled to claim that the sinking of the Falaba, carried out as it was, amounted to nothing less than an act of murder. This is true, because the safety of the U-boat did not depend upon the immediate sinking of the steamer, which could have been destroyed just as effectually without the loss of a single life.
On the 1st June, 1915, at about 4.30 p.m., the trawler Victoria endeavoured to escape from a submarine; but after being badly damaged and losing one of her crew by shell-fire, the vessel was hove to. The submarine was only 200 yards away, but she continued to fire, killing five men and wounding a sixth, although the trawler had surrendered.
The spirit of the German submariner is here illustrated. Because a vessel, very naturally, tries to escape, she is submitted to shell-fire after giving in, and unnecessary loss of life is inflicted. The German commander apparently derived satisfaction from this shelling of an unarmed craft while stationary, but to ordinary men his action will seem inhuman and cruel.
At 2.15 p.m. on the 9th July, 1915, a shot was fired at the s.s. Meadowfield by a submarine. Immediately afterwards, while the master was looking round to see from whence the shot had come, a second was fired and the man at the wheel fell dead. The engines were stopped at once, but the submarine kept on firing, hitting the vessel several times. Amongst the passengers on board were two women and two children, and when it was seen that the Germans were scrutinising the ship through glasses, the children were held up so that they might be seen. Meanwhile the boats were lowered, the mate and 14 hands getting into the port boat, while the master, eight hands and the five passengers entered the starboard boat. The position was 42 miles from land, and the boats were picked up at 9.15 p.m. that night.
The fact that only one man was killed can hardly be attributed to the humanity of the Germans, who continued to shell the ship after she was hove to, and even when they knew that there were women and children on board.
The s.s. Glenby was overhauled by a submarine and told to abandon ship at 4.15 p.m. on the 17th August, 1915. While the crew were lowering their boats the submarine opened fire, seriously wounding one man and slightly wounding another. The shots also damaged the port life-boat, besides severing her falls. The crew in two boats were picked up at 7.15 the same evening, when it was found that two men were missing.
On the 4th September, 1915, at 12.30 a.m., the s.s. Cymbeline came under fire from a submarine, which torpedoed the steamer while her crew of 37 hands were getting into their boats. The explosion destroyed one boat, causing the loss of six men. The survivors were taken into the other boat, which then contained 31 men, four of whom were seriously wounded. They were afloat for 16 hours before they fell in with a sailing vessel, which towed them to within three miles of the coast. They did not reach land, however, until 11 o’clock next morning. The position of the ship when torpedoed was 80 miles from land.
At 8.20 a.m. on the 30th November, 1915, the s.s. Middleton was shelled by a submarine while endeavouring to escape, one man being killed and several dangerously wounded. The crew took to the boats. The submarine ignored the boats, and returned no answer to an appeal for bandages for the wounded. It was not until ten hours afterwards that the boats were picked up, and in the meantime two of the wounded men had died. Another man died on board the ship which picked them up. There were three other wounded men, who survived.