In defiance of the judgment of civilisation, this dastardly act was hailed in Germany as a proud triumph. The _Kolnische Volkszeitung_ of May 10th, 1915, stated “The sinking of the _Lusitania_ is a success for our submarines which must be placed beside the greatest achievements in this naval war.... The sinking of the great British steamer is a success, the moral significance of which is still greater than the material success. With joyful pride we contemplate this latest deed of our Navy, and it will not be the last.” In the _Cologne Gazette_, of five days later, it was stated that “the news will be received by the German people with unanimous satisfaction, since it proves to England and the whole world that Germany is quite in earnest with regard to her submarine warfare.” In the _Neue Freie Presse_ of the same date it was remarked, “We rejoice over this new success of the German Navy.” The City of Magdeburg immediately proposed to honour the officers and men who had slaughtered so many hundreds of defenceless men, helpless women, and innocent children and brought the anguish of bereavement on so many hundreds of homes on both sides of the Atlantic. And to crown this achievement, which stands in isolation in the annals of the human race, a medal was struck in Munich commemorating this exploit of the German Fleet, which was afterwards to be surrendered and, then, to be scuttled by its own officers in Scapa Flow. [Illustration: IN VIEW OF THE FATE OF SO MANY HOSPITAL SHIPS, BOAT DRILL WAS REGULARLY CARRIED OUT ON THE GREAT CUNARDERS] CHAPTER V The Toll of the Submarines _But some came not with break of light, Nor looked upon the saffron dawn; They keep the watch of endless night, On the soft breast of Ocean borne. O waking England, rise and pray For sons who guard thee night and day!_ CECIL ROBERTS. We have dealt at length in the previous Chapter with the loss of the _Lusitania_ not only because, as we have said, her torpedoing marked an epoch in the history of crime at sea, and was perhaps the determining factor in the entrance of America into the war, but because the Cunard Company was thus identified with this world-tragedy, and its servants exemplified then, as always, the noblest traditions of the British Mercantile Marine. Unhappily the _Lusitania_, although the circumstances of her loss brought her, from so many points of view, into the limelight of publicity was, as we have already seen, by no means the only one of the Cunard vessels to be lost at sea in the service of this country, and in the present chapter it is proposed to deal briefly with some other of the Cunard Company’s vessels that fell victims, many of them after the bravest resistance, to the submarine menace. It will, perhaps, be the more convenient, for purposes of after reference, to deal with these alphabetically, rather than chronologically.