The Danish vessel _Lars Kruse_ was a Belgian Relief steamer, which in February, 1917, was carrying a cargo of grain from Buenos Ayres to Rotterdam for the Belgian Relief Commission. She bore the neutral Commission's flags and markings, as described in the case of the _Euphrates_; and it must also be remembered that the German authorities in the United States had stated specifically that they did not mean to interfere with Relief ships. Nevertheless, at 10 p.m. on the 3rd February, when 16 miles off Ushant, the _Lars Kruse_ was torpedoed without warning, her crew of 18 being all drowned, except the chief engineer. On the 27th March, 1917, the British steamer _Thracia_ was 10 miles N.N.E. of Belle Isle, travelling at a speed of 7 knots, the time being 8.15 p.m. She was suddenly torpedoed without warning by a German submarine, being struck forward of the stokehold. The explosion burst her boilers, killing an engineer, a greaser, and two firemen. Immediately after the explosion the steamer went down by the head to starboard before any attempt could be made to lower the boats. Her crew of 38 all perished, except two men, one of whom, Douglas V. Duff, acting fourth officer, has described his experiences. Duff went down with the ship, and on coming to the surface, swam to an upturned boat--the starboard life-boat, which had had her stern blown off. Seven other men clambered on to her, two of whom had been severely wounded. Both these men were soon washed off the boat. Three of the remaining six slipped back into the sea, in order to swim to a steamer which was visible about a mile away; but a few minutes afterwards the steamer went away. The three men did not return. There were now two other men on the boat besides Duff, and although he did not actually see them go, there is no doubt that they were both washed away by the sea. At about 11 p.m. a black object came into view, and Duff was hailed in English by the German commander, who asked what ship he had sunk, where she was from, and what was her destination. Duff answered all the questions. The commander then said, "I am going to shoot you." Duff told him to shoot away; but the commander replied that he would not waste powder on a pig of an Englishman, and added, "Drown, you swine! Drown!" The submarine then disappeared. At 10.30 next morning Duff was picked up by a French fishing-boat, and afterwards transferred to a French torpedo-boat. The only other survivor was picked up by a Norwegian steamer, the _Nordborg_, and landed at Barry. In the evening of the 17th April the hospital ship _Lanfranc_ and s.s. _Donegal_ were transporting wounded across the Channel. The _Lanfranc_ carried 234 wounded British officers and men, 167 wounded German prisoners, a medical personnel of 52, and a crew of 123. The s.s. _Donegal_ carried a number of slightly wounded, all of whom were British. Between 7 and 8 p.m. both ships were torpedoed without warning.