DEPARTMENT OF STATE.

260 SUBMARINE WARFARE.
File No. 841.857M331/51.
OhargS Grew to the Secretary of State.
[Telegram.]
No. 4654. AMERICAN EMBASSY,
Berlin, November 27, 1916.
The following note relative to the sinking of the
Marina has just been received:
"FOREIGN OFFICE,
"Berlin, November 25, 1916.
"The undersigned has the honor to inform Mr. Joseph
Clark Grew, Charge d'Affairs of the United States of
America, in supplement to his note of the third instant
and in reply to the esteemed note of the second instant,
Foreign Office Number 13985, that the investigation of
the sinking of the British steamer Marina conducted by
the German Government has led to the following results:
"At four fifty o'clock on the afternoon of October
28th last, a German submarine encountered a steamer
about twenty nautical miles from the Skelligs in sight of
land; steamer was painted gray, displayed no flag, and
had wooden super-structure on deck for transporting
horses. The commander of the submarine considered
this steamer, which was identical with the Marina, a
horse transport ship in the service of the British Government
which he could attack forthwith according to international
law as an auxiliary war ship. He was strengthened
in this view by his activity in the Mediterranean
where he had often observed ships of this kind and
ascertained that they were used as British transport
steamers in the Dardanelles operations. In these circumstances
he saw nothing objectionable in torpedoing
the Marina without warning.
"The assumption of the commander that he was concerned
with an enemy transport seems correct since the
Marina, as is known to the German Government from
reliable sources, was actually used as a horse transport
steamer in the service of the British Government.
Should this assumption prove however to be a wrong
one according to the investigations of the American
Government, the. action of the commander would be
attributable to a regrettable mistake and not have been
in accordance with his instructions; in this event the
German Government would not hesitate to draw the
appropriate consequences. The American Government
is therefore requested further to communicate the result
of its official investigations in this direction.
"The undersigned requests the Charg6 d'Affaires to
bring the above to the knowledge of the American Government
and avails himself et cetera,
'' (Signed) ZIMMERMANN. "
Pile No. 8.41.857M331/51.
GREW.
The Secretary of State to Ambassador W. H. Page.
[Telegram—Paraphrase. ]
No. 4116.! DEPARTMENT OF STATE,
Washington, December 2, 1916.
Mr. Page is informed that the German Government's
report on the sinking of the vessel Marina, received by
the Department, states that the Marina displayed no