DOES THE BRITISH NAVY TAKE PRISONERS? The Secretary of the Admiralty makes the following announcement: The Admiralty, on the 6th November, issued a statement as to the circumstances of the destruction of the German submarine U. 41 on the 24th September, 1915. This was a plain account of the facts, intentionally as brief as possible, as it was not supposed that any reasonable person would pay attention to obviously absurd embellishments of the story as published in the German Press. The result has, however, been that the German Government have issued a further statement in which it is alleged that " The Admiralty by its eloquent silence indirectly admits that the rest of the German report is true on all points." In order to make it absolutely clear that the embellishments referred to are pure fiction, the Commanding Officer of H.M. Ship which sank the U. 41 has been called on for a report on the German allegations, and his statement is appended. It is also necessary to advert to the extraordinary statement that the Admiralty have " morally corroborated " the German allegation " that there exists an order of the British Admiralty according to which it is not necessary to rescue survivors of the crews of German submarines." The first denial of this allegation was contained in the British Note of the 5th February, 1916, on the Baralong case, and was to the following effect: " The German Government are in error . . . It is not true that the British Admiralty have ever desired to retaliate by refusing mercy to an enemy who has been put out of action . . . nor do they now propose to vary their methods of warfare." This was apparently not explicit enough for the German Government, and, accordingly, the British communique of the 6th November contains the following passage:" The statement that the Admiralty had ever issued orders that survivors of German submarines need not be rescued is an absolute lie." As this seems to be still lacking in lucidity or definiteness for German comprehension, the Admiralty affirm that it is directly, explicitly, and completely (9629) 2 untrue to allege that there exists, or ever has existed, an Admiralty order that it is not necessary to rescue survivors of the crews of German submarines. STATEMENT OF THE COMMANDING OFFICER OF H.M. SHIP WHICH SANK U. 41 ON THE 24th SEP-TEMBER, 1915. . . . H.M. Ship under my command was not headed towards the boat in which were the two survivors. On approaching this boat, finding that the ship had too much weigh on, I reversed engines, at the same time putting the helm hard a'port. The boat was not struck by the ship and came past along the port side. The prisoners, however, when the boat in which they were was some 20 yards from my bows, both dived overboard. The boat was in no way damaged, in fact I towed her astern some 120 miles to port, where she arrived safely, although on account of the weather another of the ship's lifeboats which was also towing astern was lost. The two prisoners again climbed into the boat, which by this time was about 30 yards from my port quarter, and I endeavoured to come astern in order to pick them up out of the boat. On account of the direction of sea and wind, and also the fact that my ship was single screwed, I could not prevent the stern flying up into the wind, and had in consequence to back right away and come ahead again to pick them up, which was successfully done about 10 minutes later, No Surgeon was borne, and the wounded prisoner was treated with as great care as possible, his wounds washed and bandaged to the best of the ability and appliances available. The prisoners were not confined in any close space but were kept in the poop, where comfortable beds with mattresses, pillows, and plenty of blankets were made down for them in two large, open-fronted lockers. The dimensions of these would be, roughly, 12 feet long by 5 feet broad and 5 feet high, closed in at the ends, top, and one side, with the other side open. The weather was fine and mild. The open side had a canvas cover which could be brought down if required; the prisoners, however, as far as I could make out from them, were perfectly 3 comfortable and satisfied with their accommodation. They were both in a state in which their chief requirement was to be left alone in bed and not disturbed, for which purpose the places described were eminently suitable and " airy" without being in any way cold or unprotected. Medical aid was given to the wounded prisoner on arrival in port, about 1 a.m. on the following day, the 25th September, by a Doctor who came on board with the Senior Naval Officer, immediately we anchored. The prisoners were kept on board for two days until the completion of arrangements for their disposal. During this period, the unwounded prisoner was kept in an empty store-room under the poop, 15 feet by 20 feet by 10 feet, which had a scuttle, bedding, and a seat. The man, apparently, had no complaint with this accommodation. The Officer being confined to bed still remained as described, in the poop, the Fleet Surgeon in charge of him medically considering it quite suitable and comfortable. The prisoners were supplied with dry clothing immediately they got on board, and were given from the ship's stores flannels, socks, drawers, and boots. The boots supplied them, which were the largest size procurable, i.e., the largest size in the Service, in the case of the seaman were too small and hurt him. I believe he preferred most of the time to go without them. There could be no cause for complaint on the above head, the Paymaster having my full permission to supply all they asked for, which he did. The Petty Officer was evidently pleased with his treatment, as he always smiled when spoken to and said in broken English, " No more fighting." The Officer was surly, but this was probably due to the seriousness of his wounds. Both the prisoners when originally rescued were in a highly nervous and excited state, and were not in a position to judge what was being done for them. Two days after being rescued the Officer told me, before one of my ship's Officers, that he had no recollection how he got out of the submarine or what he did subsequently. Printed in Great Britain by Darling & Son, Ltd.
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DOES THE BRITISH NAVY TAKE PRISONERS? The Secretary of the Admiralty makes the following announcement: The Admiralty, on the 6th November, issued a statement as to the circumstances of the destruction of the German submarine U. 41 on the 24th September, 1915. This was a plain account of the facts, intentionally as brief as possible, as it was not supposed that any reasonable person would pay attention to obviously absurd embellishments of the story as published in the German Press. The result has, however, been that the German Government have issued a further statement in which it is alleged that " The Admiralty by its eloquent silence indirectly admits that the rest of the German report is true on all points." In order to make it absolutely clear that the embellishments referred to are pure fiction, the Commanding Officer of H.M. Ship which sank the U. 41 has been called on for a report on the German allegations, and his statement is appended. It is also necessary to advert to the extraordinary statement that the Admiralty have " morally corroborated " the German allegation " that there exists an order of the British Admiralty according to which it is not necessary to rescue survivors of the crews of German submarines." The first denial of this allegation was contained in the British Note of the 5th February, 1916, on the Baralong case, and was to the following effect: " The German Government are in error . . . It is not true that the British Admiralty have ever desired to retaliate by refusing mercy to an enemy who has been put out of action . . . nor do they now propose to vary their methods of warfare." This was apparently not explicit enough for the German Government, and, accordingly, the British communique of the 6th November contains the following passage:" The statement that the Admiralty had ever issued orders that survivors of German submarines need not be rescued is an absolute lie." As this seems to be still lacking in lucidity or definiteness for German comprehension, the Admiralty affirm that it is directly, explicitly, and completely (9629) 2 untrue to allege that there exists, or ever has existed, an Admiralty order that it is not necessary to rescue survivors of the crews of German submarines. STATEMENT OF THE COMMANDING OFFICER OF H.M. SHIP WHICH SANK U. 41 ON THE 24th SEP-TEMBER, 1915. . . . H.M. Ship under my command was not headed towards the boat in which were the two survivors. On approaching this boat, finding that the ship had too much weigh on, I reversed engines, at the same time putting the helm hard a'port. The boat was not struck by the ship and came past along the port side. The prisoners, however, when the boat in which they were was some 20 yards from my bows, both dived overboard. The boat was in no way damaged, in fact I towed her astern some 120 miles to port, where she arrived safely, although on account of the weather another of the ship's lifeboats which was also towing astern was lost. The two prisoners again climbed into the boat, which by this time was about 30 yards from my port quarter, and I endeavoured to come astern in order to pick them up out of the boat. On account of the direction of sea and wind, and also the fact that my ship was single screwed, I could not prevent the stern flying up into the wind, and had in consequence to back right away and come ahead again to pick them up, which was successfully done about 10 minutes later, No Surgeon was borne, and the wounded prisoner was treated with as great care as possible, his wounds washed and bandaged to the best of the ability and appliances available. The prisoners were not confined in any close space but were kept in the poop, where comfortable beds with mattresses, pillows, and plenty of blankets were made down for them in two large, open-fronted lockers. The dimensions of these would be, roughly, 12 feet long by 5 feet broad and 5 feet high, closed in at the ends, top, and one side, with the other side open. The weather was fine and mild. The open side had a canvas cover which could be brought down if required; the prisoners, however, as far as I could make out from them, were perfectly 3 comfortable and satisfied with their accommodation. They were both in a state in which their chief requirement was to be left alone in bed and not disturbed, for which purpose the places described were eminently suitable and " airy" without being in any way cold or unprotected. Medical aid was given to the wounded prisoner on arrival in port, about 1 a.m. on the following day, the 25th September, by a Doctor who came on board with the Senior Naval Officer, immediately we anchored. The prisoners were kept on board for two days until the completion of arrangements for their disposal. During this period, the unwounded prisoner was kept in an empty store-room under the poop, 15 feet by 20 feet by 10 feet, which had a scuttle, bedding, and a seat. The man, apparently, had no complaint with this accommodation. The Officer being confined to bed still remained as described, in the poop, the Fleet Surgeon in charge of him medically considering it quite suitable and comfortable. The prisoners were supplied with dry clothing immediately they got on board, and were given from the ship's stores flannels, socks, drawers, and boots. The boots supplied them, which were the largest size procurable, i.e., the largest size in the Service, in the case of the seaman were too small and hurt him. I believe he preferred most of the time to go without them. There could be no cause for complaint on the above head, the Paymaster having my full permission to supply all they asked for, which he did. The Petty Officer was evidently pleased with his treatment, as he always smiled when spoken to and said in broken English, " No more fighting." The Officer was surly, but this was probably due to the seriousness of his wounds. Both the prisoners when originally rescued were in a highly nervous and excited state, and were not in a position to judge what was being done for them. Two days after being rescued the Officer told me, before one of my ship's Officers, that he had no recollection how he got out of the submarine or what he did subsequently. Printed in Great Britain by Darling & Son, Ltd.
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