The Washington times., 1915-03-11
THE ElTEL FRIEDRICH

The converted German cruiser
Prinz Eitel Friedrich limps into port
to announce that, among eight mer-
chant ships which she has sent to
the bottom of the ocean in the last
few weeks, was one American. This
vessel, the sailing ship William, P.
Frye, was captured while en- route
from Seattle to Queenstown carry
ing over 5000 tons Of wheat. She
was sent to the bottom after her
crew had been taken off. It was
held that her cargo was contraband
of war.
The question promptly arises,
what will the United States do about
it? The case is nowise parallel to
that which would be presented if
German submarine had poked her
head out of the South Atlantic and
sent the ship to the bottom with all
on board. That is what the German
admiral has threatened US with; it is
what may happen at any time; but
it is not at all what happened in
the case of the William P. Frye.
Sailing from Seattle, the Frye car
ried her cargo to Queenstown "for
ORDERS" That is, under a very COM
mon practice Of shipping houses, she
was sent to a port from which, on
her arrival, she might be diverted
to wherever the market was most at
tractive. Queenstown is the door to
the whole coast of Europe. 1t takes
months for a sailing ship to go
thither from Seattle. BY the time
she should arrive, conditions might
utterly have changed. The people
making the voyage were specializing
on the long period that would be
required to deliver their wheat, on
the possibilities of the war closing
some of their possible markets, and
on the chance of having their cargo
seized or sent to the bottom, as
happened.
The question is, for what market
was that wheat really intended? II
it was in fact destined for the allies
or any one of them, the German
cruiser had the right to destroy the
wheat. but not the ship. The shiT
being an American, under the Ameri
can flag, it might not be sent to thu
bottom without assuming response
bility for it. So the German captain
, set out. first. to shovel the whea'
overheard, thinking thus To destro!
it and then turn loose the vessel
. The proceeding of shoveling s0,00(
bushels Of wheat overheard took to,
much time: the German got impa
tient, fearing that hostile cruise
might come along and interfere will
=, his amusement; so to save time tn
crew was taken off and the Fry
sent to the bottom. Doing that, tn
!, German captain assumed, for hi
y government, responsibility to pa.
the American owners for the sunke
ship; but not for the grain, unles
= it can be proved in prize court tina
" the grain was not contraband; tina
is, was not destined to one of tn
;. enemy countries of Germany.
lei The case is not a pleasant one
:. but on the other hand it is not q
. unusual one. There is every indies
" ton that the German commander di
the right thing at every tLrn.
he did the wrong thing, his govern
ment will pay the bill; and in theor,
r. SO long as lives are not sacrificed, an
IS pecuniary damage may be mad
~ good by pecuniary compensation.
g. 1t is hardly to be presumed thu
is the Eitel Friedrich will get out {
10 Hampton Roads again during IL
ed war. If she tries to 60 out she wi
or be seat immediately to the bottor
" With her accounted for, the Karl
IS, ruhe is the only one of the gre,
We German commerce-destroying for,
left on the high seas; and it may |
SIX that she, too, is gone by this tim
ed The second navy in the world W,
s- Germany's, on the day the W,
r. opened; and it was scattered exact
re where Germany wanted it for ";