The Germans attempted to evade responsibility for the deed. On the 17th March Berlin sent this message to the German Embassy at Washington: "English mines, on account of their construction, frequently get loose and float, and, that being so, _Tubantia_ most certainly struck and destroyed by English mine." Unfortunately for Berlin, pieces of metal were found in two of the steamer's boats, and these, the German Government were bound to admit, belonged to a German torpedo. A new official story was accordingly concocted by Berlin. In June the _North German Gazette_ published the result of the German official investigation into the sinking of the _Tubantia_. The gist of the finding was that the _Tubantia_ had been sunk by a floating German torpedo, which had been fired at and missed a British destroyer 10 days before. To make this yarn more plausible, it was stated that the British destroyer had three funnels, that she was in company with two other destroyers, and that there was a British submarine in the neighbourhood. To explain away the illegal use of torpedoes which float for 10 days after being discharged, it was pointed out that this might happen through some flaw in construction. Out of this cock-and-bull story one fact at least emerged clearly enough, namely, that the Dutch steamer had been destroyed by a German torpedo. A Court of Enquiry was held in Holland, at which the evidence was carefully sifted. At this court both the fourth mate and the man in the crow's nest swore to having seen the track of a torpedo coming towards the ship before she was struck. The court's verdict was: "The evidence given by the said witnesses and experts, considered in all its bearings, proves that the explosion was caused by a torpedo, which at some distance, under an angle of six points, was launched by a torpedo-boat or a submarine, without any previous warning. This torpedo appears to have been a bronze Schwarzkopf torpedo, and was aimed at the _Tubantia_, there being no other ship near." The fact that the wake of a torpedo approaching the ship was seen by two men in the steamer proves that the German explanation about a floating torpedo was false. A floating torpedo would, of course, make no track in the water. The whole case is a further exposure of German methods. On the 3rd February the Norwegian sailing vessel _Tamara_ fell in with a German submarine at 9.30 a.m. Although flying the Norwegian colours and bearing the name of the ship and her country painted on her side, this vessel was sunk by the U-boat. Before sinking her, the Germans searched the ship and carried away everything portable, including the clothes of the crew. The boats were picked up at 10 p.m. by a patrol vessel. The Norwegian steamer _Solbakken_ was sunk by a German submarine off Finisterre on the 4th February, 1917. One man was drowned and one died of the cold. Thirteen survivors were landed at Gijon.