Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1917-03-16
TOLL OF AMERICAN LIVES TAKEN
IN GERMAN SUBMARINE WAR ARE
More Than 200 Lives of United States Citizens Lost Up % Time
Diplomatic Relations Were Severed-Revew Of the IT.
tacks on Unarmed Merchantmen Which Stirred 4
the Government to Action.


The German commander not only
gave the Leelanaw crew all the time
they required to take to their boats.
but after sinking their ship by shot
and torpedo, took the crew on board
the submarine and towed their boats
toward the Orkney mainland. The
men reached Kirkwall the next morn
ing.
On August 10. 1915, came the cele-
brated case of the Nicosian of the Ley
land line. and the British patrol boat
Baralong. The Nicosian, with mules
from New Orleans to Avonmouth, was
stopped by a submarine OF the coast
of Ireland, and her crew. including 80
Americans, took to the boats. While
the submarine was making ready to
destroy the Nicosian, the Baralong ap-
peared and destroyed the submarine
by gunfire, took on the Nicosian's
crew, and towed the ship to safety.
The next crisis came on, August 10,
1915, when the Arabic OF the White
Star line, from Liverpool to New York,
was torpedOed without warning near
the Lusitania's grave and sunk in
about ten minutes. Out of 375 pas
sengers and crew 48 were lost. Thirty
Americans were on board and all but
two were saved.
The German government contended
the submarine commander thought the
Arabic was about to ram him, and
fired In self-defense, but disavowed
the act, expressed regret and gave ad-
ditional assurances for the future
safety Of passenger ships.
A Denial From Berlin.
One American of the crew Of the
Hesperian Of the Allan line was lost
on September 4, 1915, when the ship.
returning from Liverpool to Montreal
was torpedoed and sunk without warn
ing off the southern coast of Ireland.
The German admiralty contended no
German submarine was in that vicin-
ity, but a piece of German torpedo
had been picked up on the Hesperian's
deck.
Austria's first submarine operations
Of consequence, and those which
brought Germany's closest ally into the
situation, began with the destruction
of the Italian steamship Ancona. in
the Mediterranean on November z,
1915. With hundreds Of passengers,
many of them women and children,
from Naples to New York, the Ancona
was chased and stopped by an Aus
TRAN submarine. Twelve Americans
were on board and nine were lost. Ital-
ian official figures say 3OS passengers
were lost out Of 507 on board. It was
one of the heaviest submarine disas-
| tiers.
Some of the American survivors
swore the Austrian submarine even
shelled the lifeboats as the passengers
were getting into them.
On December 5, 1915, a submarine,
presumably an Austrian, attacked the
American oil steamship Petrolite off
the coast of Tripon. A sailor was in
jured by a shot into the PetrOlite's en-
CINE room, and the submarine contin-
ued firing after the Petrolite had
swung broadside so the submarine
commander could see her name painted
on her side and the American flag fly
ing between her masts.
The submarine commander finally
permitted the Petrolite to proceed after
he had taken some Of her stores.
New Crisis Appears.
A new crisis, and the first suspicion
that German submarines were operat-
ing in the Mediterranean, or that Aus
TRAN submarines were being manned
by German officers and crews, was de-
veloped by the destruction Of the Brit
ish steamship Persia on December 80
1915, southeast Of Crete, while on her
way to the Orient.
Mr.. McNeeley, American consul, on
his way to his post at Alden, was among
the 335 persons who lost their lives
Of whom two or more were Americans
The wake of a torpedo was seen, but
no submarine was visible. Germany
Austria and Turkey denied RESPONSE.
bility. The United States again made
representations, and assurances were
given for what Germany termed "crui