Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1917-09-11

9 marines had been sunk and that ~
. in fact the report said one Of the %
. submarines probably had been .
Q o Q . 0 @ O Q . 8 6 O Q g . o .
Washington, Sept IA typograph
ical error in a cablegram reporting a
submarine attack on a convoy OF mer-
chant ships off the coast Of France
on Sept. 3 led Secretary Daniels to
announce today that six submarines
probably had been sunk in the battle
when in reality the probabilities are
only one was destroyed
The mistake was not discovered un-
til several hours after the country
had been electrified by the report Of
wholesale sinking of German u
boats
This statement was issued by Sec
rotary Daniels.
MY attention has just been called
to serious error made in TRANSCRIPT
ing the report of the attack made on
the WestwegO and other vessels,
gave the report TO the press this
morning exactly as ii was presented
to me. stating that two of the steam
ers attacked were sunk and probably
an of the submarines were lost The
cablegram I now find stated that one
OF the submarines probably was lost.
The true version, it appears, is that
the merchant ships OF which the West
wego was one. were attacked By sub
marines in force off the coast OF
France on Sept e and that in the
fight two Of the merchant ships were
lost and probably one Of the subma-
rines sunk The ships were conveyed.
presumably by American destroyers
or other warships
Some statement probably viii he
made later 10 show where the typo
graphical error was made which led
the navy department to announce the
probable loss of six submarines
The uncorrected dispatch as given
out was as follows
Washington, Sept. American de-
stroyers are believed 70 have sunk six
hostile submarines of the coast on
France. Sept g. while conveying
feet of merchantmen from the United
States Two of the merchant ships
were lost but. il is reported, without
loss OF life. Meager reports 10 the
navy department today give briet
account Of the fight, transmitted from
the American steamer Westweg0, one
of the ships which survived the at
tack.
Westwego was one. was enroute to
Europe from the United States when
attacked. The vessels were under
convoy but no details of the >zht were
included in reports received No loss
of life was reported nor were the
names OF fine two ships sunk included
i'm the dispatch 1t is not even known
whether they were American ships or
not The navy department has cabled
for additional information.
The Westwego, an oil tank steamer,
was of 3,059 tons net and carried a
crew Of AZ men Latest reports show
she was i'm an American port Aug. 8
and later sailed on transatlantic
voyage, commanded by Captain Null
coy
Statement ISSUED.
The navy departments only InGor-
nation was made public In the follow
ing statement
THE navy department has received
q report from Paris which states that
the steamer WcstweEo reports on
Sept s. that while cruising with sew
era1 other ships, was attacked nv
Wassad force Of six submarines off the
coast Of France on Sept 3 The result
of this ettack being that two Of the
steamers attacked were sunk and
probably all Of the submarines were
lost
While this does not actually state
that American destroyers we're con
vay.ag the ships. that is The belief
here
Big Feat Of War.
II detailed reports bear out The irst
dispatch they VIII sigualize the most
notable action against submarines
since the war began. In no other case
has such a wholesale destruction of
I-boats been reported n also will