President Roosevelt later stated in a message to Congress regarding the sinking that the survivors were "accidentally discovered and rescued by friendly vessels. This chance rescue does not lessen the brutality of casting the boats adrift in mid-ocean." Senator Theodore F. Green (D-RI) stated "I don't think the sinking will have any more effect than the sinking of "The Panay" by Japan. An act of war is bilateral, not unilateral." Also speaking about the Panay incident, Representative Melvin J. Maas (R-MN) said "Japan... not only failed to rescue survivors but machine-gunned them afterward and we didn't go to war."