States due to a lack of the proper material evidence, the Imperial and Royal Government in consideration of the humanely deeply deplorable incident and guided by the desire of again manifesting to the Government of the United States its friendly sentiments, would be readily willing to overlook this gap in the evidence and to extend the indemnity also to those injuries the direct cause of which could not be ascertained. While the Imperial and Royal Government may well regard the Ancona case as cleared up by the foregoing representations it, at the same time, reserves to itself for a future time the discussion of the difficult questions of international law in connection with submarine warfare. The undersigned has the honor to have recourse to the kindness of His Excellency the Ambassador of the United States of America with the most respectful request that he be good enough to communicate the foregoing to the Government of the United States and at the same time avails himself, etc. BURIAN. PENFIELD. The Secretary of State to Ambassador Penfield. [Telegram-Paraphrase.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, April 17, 1916. Mr. Lansing informs Mr. Penfield that the Department has been informed that the Russian bark Imperator while bound from Gulfport, Miss., to Marseille, France, with a lumber cargo, was destroyed by an Austrian submarine off the Spanish coast of the Mediterranean near the Columbretes Islands on April 11. There were two American citizens on board the vessel, one of whom was wounded during the attack. Mr. Penfield is instructed to lay the above facts before the Foreign Office and to state that a prompt report is expected from the Austrian Govern ment. Ambassador Penfield to the Secretary of State [Telegram-Paraphrase.] AMERICAN EMBASSY, Vienna, May 3, 1916. Mr. Penfield reports statement by the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the effect that an Austrian submarine on the morning of April 11, 1916, stopped a schooner bark about 27 nautical miles east of the Columbretes Islands by a warning shot fired across the schooner's bow at about 5,000 meters distance. In answer to the signal "Show your flag" the Russian flag was displayed, and in reply to the signal "Quit the ship immediately" it was observed that no attempt was made to launch boats nor was any sail removed. When it was seen that no preparation was being made to quit the ship the Austrian submarine approached quite slowly to a distance of 400 meters and, after waiting at that distance for some time, fired a second shot through the rigging of the schooner. There elapsed between the first and the second shot the space of at least half an hour. The crew left the ship immediately after the second shot, rowing toward the submarine in two boats. There were in the boats two men who were slightly wounded, evidently by wood splinters or by pieces from shell. One of these men, according to his statement, a Norwegian, with a slight head wound and with the first joint of his right thumb torn off, and another, a Russian Finn, with a slight flesh wound in the upper thigh, were treated on board the submarine and then returned to their boats, which the submarine took in tow because of their smallness and towed toward the Columbretes Islands in a westerly direction until the Barendrecht, a Dutch tank steamer en route to Barcelona was sighted about 3 p. m. and asked to take the men on board. There was, according to the ship's papers, only one American citizen, viz, Eineraxel Swenson, on board. The commander of the submarine boat has no knowledge of his being wounded, but, if, to the regret of the Austro-Hungarian authorities, this should prove to be the fact, it can only be explained by the fact that the bark failed to comply with the submarine's challenge to stop when ordered. The Secretary of State to Ambassador Penfield. [Telegram.] DEFARTMENT OF STATE, Evidence obtained from the captain and members of crew of the steamer Petrolite, and from examination made of the vessel under direction of the Navy Department, convinces this Government that the Austro-Hungarian Government has obtained an incorrect report of the attack on the steamer. With particular reference to the explanation made by the Foreign Office, the following information, briefly stated, has been obtained from sworn statements of the captain and members of crew: No shot was fired across the bow of the steamer as a signal to stop. When the first shot was fired the captain was under the impression that an explosion had taken place in the engine room. Not until the second shot was fired did the captain and crew sight the submarine, which was astern of the steamer and therefore they positively assert that neither the first nor the second shot was fired across the bow of the vessel. The steamer did not swing around in a course directed toward the submarine as alleged in the report obtained by the Austro-Hungarian Government, but the captain at once stopped the engines and swung the vessel broadside to the submarine and at right angles to the course of the vessel, in order to show its neutral markings, which was manifestly the reasonable and proper course to follow, and it ceased to make any headway. On the steamer was painted its name in letters approximately 6 feet long, and the name of the hailing port, and, as has previously been made known to Austro-Hungarian Government, the steamer carried two large flags some distance above the water line which it is positively stated by the officers and crew were flying before the first shot was fired, and were not hoisted after the first shot, as stated by the submarine commander. The submarine commander admits that the steamer stopped her engines. The captain of the Petrolite denies that the vessel was ever headed toward the submarine, and the examination of the steamer made by an American naval constructor corroborates this statement, because, as he states, the shell which took effect on vessel, striking the deck-house which surrounds the smokestack, was fired from a point 45 degrees on the starboard bow. This was one of the last shots fired and indicates that ship was not headed toward the submarine even up to the time when the submarine ceased firing. The captain states that the submarine appeared to be maneuvering so as to direct her shots from ahead of the steamer. The submarine fired approximately 12 shots. The majority of the shots were fired after the ship had stopped and had swung broadside, and while, even as the commander of submarine admits, the steamer was flying the American flag. The captain of the steamer denies that he advised the commander of the submarine that the damage to the steamer was insignificant. He states that he advised him that steamer had been damaged, but that he not then had an opportunity to ascertain the extent of the damage. The seaman who was struck by a fragment of shell sustained severe flesh wounds. If the ship had intended to ram the submarine, she would not have stopped her engines and this must have been evident to the submarine commander. Naval authorities here agree that there could have been no danger of the ship ramming the submarine until it was headed straight for the submarine and was under power, and even then the submarine could have so maneuvered as to avoid collision. The Petrolite was 2 miles away from the submarine. The engines and funnel of the Petrolite were at the stern, and from the general appearance of the ship no experienced naval officer could have believed that it had opportunity or sufficient speed to attack even if it had been steaming directly toward the submarine. The conduct of the submarine commander showed lack of judgment, self-control, or wilful intent amounting to utter disregard of the rights of a neutral. According to the sworn statements of the captain of the steamer and a seaman who accompanied him to the submarine, the commander of the latter stated that he mistook the steamer for a cruiser. This statement is at variance with the statement in the Austro-Hungarian Government's note that the captain of the submarine asserted a false maneuver on the part of the steamer prompted the submarine to continue to fire. The captain of the steamer swears that he informed the commander of the submarine that he had only sufficient provisions to reach the port of Algiers, and that he would deliver provisions only under compulsion. He states positively in his affidavit and in conversation with officials of the Department that he did not give provisions readily nor did he say it was the duty of one seaman to help another, and that he refused payment because he felt that he was being compelled to deliver food in violation of law. The statement of the captain of the Petrolite is entirely at variance with the report of the submarine commander. The correctness of the captain's opinion that the wounded seaman was held as a hostage to guarantee the delivery of food seems clear. Obviously the commander of the submarine had no right to order the seaman to remain on board. The fact that this order was given showed that the commander insisted that food was to be delivered to him, otherwise the seaman would naturally have accompanied the captain back to his vessel. The outrageous conduct of the submarine commander and all the circumstances of the attack on the Petrolite warranted the captain in regarding himself as being compelled in order to avoid further violence to deliver food to the commander of the submarine. In the absence of other and more satisfactory explanation of the attack on the steamer than that contained in the note addressed to you by the Foreign Office, the Government of the United States is compelled to regard the conduct of the commander of the submarine in attacking the Petrolite and in coercing the captain as a deliberate insult to the flag of the United States and an invasion of the rights of American citizens for which this Government requests that an apology be made; that the commander of the submarine be punished; and that reparation be made for the injuries sustained, by the payment of a suitable indemnity. Please communicate with Foreign Office in sense of foregoing. You may add that this Government believes that the Austro-Hungarian Government will promptly comply with these requests, in view of their manifest justness and the high sense of honor of that Government which would not, it is believed, permit an indignity to be offered to the flag of a friendly power or wrongs to its nationals by an Austro-Hungarian naval officer without making immediate and ample amends. LANSING. |