DEPARTMENT OF STATE.

ATTACK ON THE AMERICAN STEAM­
SHIP "PETROLITE" BY AN AUSTRIAN
SUBMARINE.
File No. 300.115P44/2.
Consul Mason to the Secretary of State.
[Telegram.]
AMERICAN CONSULATE,
Algiers, (Received) December 10, 1915.
American steamer Petroliie arrived Algiers seven a. m.,
December 10th. Captain reports vessel attacked nineteen
hours from Alexandria by submarine flying Austrian
flag. One seaman wounded by shell. After examination
papers and forcibly taking provisions vessel allowed
to proceed.
MASON.
Pile No. 300.115P44/7a.
The Secretary of State to Minister Egan.
[Telegram—Paraphrase.]
No. 71.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE,
Washington, January 24, 1916.
Mr. Egan is directed to obtain statements from the
officers of the American vessel Petrolite, which is due to
arrive at Copenhagen about the twenty-fifth of January,
covering the details of the stopping of the Petrolite in the
Mediterranean by a submarine, and to ascertain if the
captain of the Petrolite made a vigorous protest against
food being taken from the vessel, if the food was paid for,
if the Petrolite as it swung broadside to the submarine
stopped her headway, if the submarine continued shelling
after the Petrolite stopped, and if the shell which wounded
-a sailor of the Petrolite was fired after the vessel stopped
or was among the first fired.
File No. 300.115P44/14.
Minister Egan to the Secretary of State.
No. 904.] AMERICAN LEGATION,
Copenhagen, February 2, 1916.
SIR: With reference to the Department's telegraphic
instructions No. 71 of January 24, 1916, and to the Legation's
No. 213 1 of January 26, 1916, in reply thereto, I
have the honor herewith to transmit to the Department a
copy of the statement made by Captain Thompson, master
of the Petrolite, together with an attest made by the
chief engineer, W. H. Oorschot, as to the amount of
damage done to the ship, and a questionnaire prepared
1 Not printed.
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