New Britain herald., 1916-03-03
ENGLAND'S REPLY 70 GERMANY'S CHARGES
Captains of Ships Not Ordered to
 Attack Submarines

London, March 3-The British Ad- miralty last night officially made pub lie the Admiralty orders to armed | merchantmen, given Oct. 2, 1915.
 The orders say that the armament | Of such vessels must be used solely l for resisting an attack by an armed vessel and for no other purpose AS l British submarines and aircraft are 1 ordered not to approach merchant ; men, the orders say, the approach to 1 a British merchantmen of a Subma- ] rine is to be regarded as done with a hostile intention.
 l The official statement reads as fol- 1 lows:
 In view of the recent issue by the l German government of a memoran- 1 dunn on the treatment of armed mer- chant ships, the Admiralty has de- cided to make public the instructions actually governing the actions of British merchant vessels armed for self-defense:
 1 Instructions, dated 2Oth of October, | 1915, in re the status of armed mer- | chant ships:
 l. The right of the crew of a merchant vessel to forcibly resist visit | and search and fight in self-defense
 
 l law and expressly admitted by the :! German prize regulations in. an ad- dendum issued June, 1914, at a time when it was known that numerous 1 merchant vessels were being armed for self f-defense.
 2. Armament is supplied solely for the purpose of resisting attack by an armed enemy. vessel and must not be used for any other purpose l whatsoever.
 1 8, An armed merchant vessel, l therefore, must not in any circum- stances interfere with or obstruct l the free passage of other merchant vessels or fishing craft, whether these 1 are friendly, neutral, or hostile. 4. The status of a British armed merchant vessel cannot be changed upon the high seas.
 | Rules to be observed in the eXer- else Of the right of self-defense: 1 1. The master or officer in com mand is responsible for opening and ceasing fire.
 2. Participation in armed resist 1 ance must be confined to persons act 1 ing under the orders of the master l or the officer in command. l 3. Before opening fire the British colors must be hoisted.
 4. Fire must not be opened or continued from a vessel which has 1 stopped hauled down her flag, Or l otherwise indicated her intention to | surrender.
 | 5. The expression armament in 1 cludes not only cannon. but also rifles and machine guns in cases { where. these have been supplied.
 6. The ammunition used in rifles m N Article XXIII., Hague Convention, ] 1907, that is buleet must be cased ill nickel or other hard substance and must not e split or cut in such a way
 as to cause them to expand or g et 1 upon striking a man. The use Of
 explosive bullets is forbidden.
 Circumstances Under Which Arma-
 ment Should be Employed
 1. The armament is supplied for the purpose of defense only. The { object of the master should be to : avoid action whenever possible.
 7. Experience has shown that hostile submarines and aircraft have
 frequently attacked merchant vessels without warning. It is important,
 therefore, that craft of this descrip- tion should be allowed to approach to short range. at which torpedo
 or bomb launched without notice would almost certainly be effective. British and allied submarines and
 aircraft have orders not to approach merchant vessels. Consequently it , may be presumed that any subma-
 rine or aircraft which deliberatelyap-
 breaches or pursues a merchant ves- sel does so with hostile intention In such cases fire may be opened in self
 defense in order to prevent the hos tile craft from closing to a range at ] which resistance to a, sudden attack with bomb or torpedo would be inn possible.
 3. An armed merchant vessel pro-
 ceeding to render assistance to the
 crew of a vessel in distress must not
 seek action with any hostile craft. ; l though if she herself is attacked, { while doing so fire may be opened in self-defense.
 i. It should be remembered that
 the flag is no guide to nationality | German submarines and armed mer-
 chant vessels have frequently em- l 1 ployed the British, Allied neutra ,, colors to approach undetected
 Though, however, the use of disguise