Eight of the _Clan Macleod's_ crew were killed by German gun-fire after the ship had been hove to. This loss of life was, of course, unnecessary, and was deliberately caused by the Germans after the signal of surrender had been run up. It is true that the submarine crew bound up the wounds of the master and an apprentice; but why were the wounds ever inflicted? Very similar was the fate of the _Commodore_, which involved another cowardly attack upon men who were taking to their boats. On this occasion the Germans deliberately refused lint for the wounded, although the submarine came alongside the boats. Even worse was the conduct of the submariners who attacked the _Orteric_. They waited until her boats were half a mile astern of the steamer, and then deliberately fired at the boat of the chief engineer. It is idle for anyone to pretend that these shots were intended for the ship; they were aimed at an open boat, and each one of the four shots very nearly hit her. Only bad shooting prevented the murder of this boat-load of defenceless seamen. Finally, we have the sinking of the _Van Stirum_ on Christmas Day, attended by the deliberate murder of two men. A torpedo was fired under one of the ship's boats while two men were coming down the falls, and the explosion killed them both. In a few more minutes these men would have been safe, and those on board the submarine, which was only 200 yards away, must have known this perfectly well. They would not wait a couple of minutes, but preferred to murder the men in cold blood. Here, as in other cases, the utter uselessness of the deed must strike any unprejudiced mind. The U-boats' mission is to sink this or that ship, but the U-boat commander appears to delight in adding murder to his daily programme. The French Channel packet _Sussex_ carried over 380 passengers, including about 270 women and children and 20 Americans, when, at 4.35 p.m. on the 24th March, 1916, she was torpedoed without warning. There were 50 casualties; but, although her bows were blown to pieces, the vessel was towed inside Boulogne breakwater and beached. The Germans tried to evade the responsibility for this outrage by suggesting that the _Sussex_ had been sunk by a British mine. They admitted sinking a ship at the time, and in the position where the _Sussex_ was sunk, but declared that it was a war vessel which they had torpedoed. That the German contentions were false was eventually proved beyond doubt, as the following evidence will show. The American Consul at Boulogne sent this message to the Secretary of State, Washington: "_Sussex_ torpedoed by German submarine incontestably proved by piece of torpedo found on board _Sussex_ by Balincourt, French Commandant, le front de Mere, Boulogne."