The Black Flag
Germany Sinks British Hospital Ships
The British Admiralty issued a statement on April 23 [1917], announcing
the sinking of the two hospital steamships Donegal and
Lanfranc without warning by submarines; nineteen British and
fifteen wounded German officers were drowned. In their statement the
British authorities denied the German charge that hospital ships were
employed to transport troops and military supplies. . . . Germany was notified
that, if her course was persisted in, reprisals would follow, yet the
British hospital ship Asturias was torpedoed without warning on the night
of March 20. The ship was steaming with all navigation lights burning
and the proper Red Cross signs brilliantly illuminated. . . . On the night
of March 30-31 the hospital ship Gloucester Castle met with a similar
fate. On this occasion the Berlin official wireless message again published
a notification that she was torpedoed by a U-boat, thus removing
any possible doubt in the matter.
—The New York Times Current History.
