The steamer carried a crew of 95 and 147 passengers, including seven women, a total of 242 persons; and it was quite impossible to transfer this number of people to the boats in the twenty minutes that elapsed between the submarine's warning and the sinking of the ship. While the boats were being launched at top speed, the falls of one boat slipped, the falls of another jammed, some boats were dashed against the side of the ship, and one was seriously injured by the explosion of the torpedo. The result was that 104 lives were lost, 138 being saved. This heavy loss of life was quite unnecessary, and would never have occurred if the German commander had allowed the master a reasonable time in which to abandon ship. We are entitled to claim that the sinking of the _Falaba_, carried out as it was, amounted to nothing less than an act of murder. This is true, because the safety of the U-boat did not depend upon the immediate sinking of the steamer, which could have been destroyed just as effectually without the loss of a single life. On the 1st June, 1915, at about 4.30 p.m., the trawler _Victoria_ endeavoured to escape from a submarine; but after being badly damaged and losing one of her crew by shell-fire, the vessel was hove to. The submarine was only 200 yards away, but she continued to fire, killing five men and wounding a sixth, although the trawler had surrendered. The spirit of the German submariner is here illustrated. Because a vessel, very naturally, tries to escape, she is submitted to shell-fire after giving in, and unnecessary loss of life is inflicted. The German commander apparently derived satisfaction from this shelling of an unarmed craft while stationary, but to ordinary men his action will seem inhuman and cruel. At 2.15 p.m. on the 9th July, 1915, a shot was fired at the s.s. _Meadowfield_ by a submarine. Immediately afterwards, while the master was looking round to see from whence the shot had come, a second was fired and the man at the wheel fell dead. The engines were stopped at once, but the submarine kept on firing, hitting the vessel several times. Amongst the passengers on board were two women and two children, and when it was seen that the Germans were scrutinising the ship through glasses, the children were held up so that they might be seen. Meanwhile the boats were lowered, the mate and 14 hands getting into the port boat, while the master, eight hands and the five passengers entered the starboard boat. The position was 42 miles from land, and the boats were picked up at 9.15 p.m. that night. The fact that only one man was killed can hardly be attributed to the humanity of the Germans, who continued to shell the ship after she was hove to, and even when they knew that there were women and children on board.