DEPARTMENT OF STATE.

270 SUBMARINE WABFABE.
empty wooden superstructures on her deck, appeared to
have delivered there horses, i. e., absolute contraband.
On account of the difficulty of having a boat sent across in
such a sea the commander of the submarine dispensed
with the examination of the papers, signalled to the
steamer " You are released" and left her travelling on the
surface. The steamer resumed her old course.
Soon afterwards it was reported to the commander of
the submarine from his wireless station that since emerging
wireless messages of the American steamer had been
intercepted containing in open English, in addition to
the distress signal S. O. S., reports concerning the submarine,
such as "Submarine cruising around us" and
the position of the submarine at the time, "Position so
and so." These wireless messages caused the commander
to turn about and stop the steamer a second
time. Notwithstanding the sea and the wind had become
still heavier, he succeeded in overhauling the
Columbian, which was making off, and forcing her by
means of signals to follow the submarine and to use her
wireless apparatus at a lower intensity only and solely
for communication with the submarine.
The submarine then traveled during the night in a
westward direction with the Columbian and the Norwegian
steamer Balto, which had been stopped previously
and furnished with a prize crew, and examined
the ship's papers of the Columbian the next morning,
the weather being better. After the examination the
commander decided to sink the ship for unneutral service.
The crew was taken over in its own boats to the
steamer Balto and later put on board the Norwegian
steamer Varingen, together with the crew of the Balto.
The Varingen received orders to take all the crews into
the Spanish port of Camarinas, and executed these
orders. The commander of the submarine kept the
captain of the Columbian with him on board for the
time being, but sent him ashore on November 10th, in
the Bay of Camarinas.
According to the ascertainment of the facts as given
above, the action of the commander of the submarine
appears completely justified. For, by means of her
wireless reports as to the position of the submarine,
which were plainly intended to attract enemy naval
forces, the Columbian had voluntarily placed herself
in the service of the submarine-defense forces of the
enemy and had, in so doing, taken direct part in hostilities.
Such an act was bound to clothe the vessel
with the character of an enemy merchantman, pursuant
to the principles of international law (See also article 46,
paragraph 1, number 1, of the Declaration of London),
so that she could be captured and sunk as such a vessel.
The sinking itself took place after the ship's papers had
been secured and the human lives saved.
For the rest, if the Government of the United States
asserts in its instructions to the Embassy at Berlin that
the Columbian was traveling in ballast, it is plainly incorrectly
informed. The report of Captain Curtis, in
the London Times of November 15th, states that the
vessel had a cargo of 9,000 tons when she encountered
the submarine.
The German commander then ascertained, upon examining
the ship's papers, that the Columbian was
carrying 4,900 tons of steel plates and in addition a
small cargo of other goods, including copper, potash,
soda, motor-cycles, and parts of machines. According
to the captain's version, the steel plates consisted of
steel for shells, were therefore intermediate products for
the manufacture of shells, and thus absolute contraband,
pursuant to Article 21, number 2, of the German prize