WHILE THEY TALK PEACE
U-Boat Officer: "We have done for their ship. Now fire quick into their life-boats!"
The degree of savagery which the Germans have attained in their submarine policy of sinking merchant-ships at sight would appear to have reached its climax in the sinking of the British steam-ship Westminster, proceeding in ballast from Torre dell' Annunziata to Port Said. On December 14 this vessel was attacked by a German submarine, without warning, when 180 miles from the nearest land, and struck by two torpedoes in quick succession, which killed four men. She sank in four minutes.
This ruthless disregard of the rules of international law was followed by a deliberate attempt to murder the survivors. The officers and crew, while effecting their escape from the sinking ship in boats, were shelled by the submarine at a range of three thousand yards. The master and chief engineer were killed outright and their boat sunk. The second and third engineers and three of the crew were not picked up, and are presumed to have been drowned.
Great Britain, in common with all other civilised nations, regards the sinking without warning of merchant-ships with detestation.
British Admiralty Report,
December 19, 1916.
