DEPARTMENT OF STATE.

238 SUBMARINE "WARFARE.
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. ,
File No. 861.857Im7/4.
Consul General Hurst to the Secretary of State.
[Extract.]
No. 180.] AMERICAN CONSULATE GENERAL,
Barcelona, May 24, 1916.
SIR: I have the honor to report that the American seamen
Gustave Olson and Einer A. D. Swensson, whose
relief and transportation the Department provided for
by its telegram of April 27 * to this Consulate General, are
returning to the United States on the Spanish line passenger
steamer Montserrat, which leaves Barcelona on
May 25 for New York. Gustave Olson spent about five
weeks in a hospital here and is still unable to work. The
two sailors made declarations before me as to the circumstances
regarding the Russian barkentine Imperator,
bound from Gulfport, Mississippi, for Marseille, France,
on which they were employed at the time when, in the
Mediterranean off the Spanish coast, it was attacked by
a submarine. I enclose herewith copies of their affidavits
for the Department's information and possible use.
I have, etc.,
[Inclosure.]
Affidavit of Gustave Olson.
CARL BAILEY HURST.
CITY OF BARCELONA, KINGDOM OF SPAIN,
Consulate General of the United States of America.
Gustave Olson, of Minneapolis, Minnesota, being duly
sworn according to law, deposes and says: I embarked as
seaman on the Russian sailing ship •• Imyerator at Gulfport,
Mississippi, which sailed February 23, 1916, for
Marseilles, France, with a cargo of timber. About 11
o'clock in the morning on April 11, 1916, in the Mediterranean
off the east Spanish coast, I heard a shot. I was
on deck and when I heard the shot I turned and ran
back and there I met the Captain. We looked all around
and all we seen was a Norwegian steamer behind us.
Then we heard another shot. We looked around again
and finally we saw a submarine about a mile and a half
off. She came toward us till even with us, a half a mile
off. The Captain raised the Russian flag and I started
to the front to get my clothes. I got within three or
four feet of the forecastle when they fired again, and
this shot hit us and I remember I was hit and fell down
somewhere all doubled up. I must have gone away
up in the air, because when I got up I was on the other
1 Not printed.