On March 1, 1916, the unarmed French passenger steamer _Patria_, carrying a number of American citizens, was attacked without warning. On March 9 the Norwegian bark _Silius_, riding at anchor in Havre Roads, was torpedoed by an unseen submarine and one of the seven Americans on board was injured. On March 16 the Dutch passenger steamer _Tubantia_ was sunk in the North Sea by a torpedo. On March 16 the British steamer _Berwindale_ was torpedoed without warning off Bantry Island with four Americans on board. On March 24 the British unarmed steamer _Englishman_ was, after a chase, torpedoed and sunk by the submarine _U-19_, as a result of which one American on board perished. On March 24 the unarmed French cross-Channel steamer _Sussex_ was torpedoed without warning, several of the twenty-four American passengers being injured. On March 27 the unarmed British liner _Manchester Engineer_ was sunk by an explosion without prior warning, with Americans on board, and on March 28 the British steamer _Eagle Point_, carrying a Hotchkiss gun, which she did not use, was chased, overtaken, and sunk by a torpedo after the persons on board had taken to the boats. [Sidenote: America will hold Germany responsible.] The American note of February 10, 1915, stated that should German vessels of war "destroy on the high seas an American vessel or the lives of American citizens it would be difficult for the Government of the United States to view the act in any other light than an indefensible violation of neutral rights which it would be very hard, indeed, to reconcile with the friendly relations so happily subsisting between the two Governments," and that if such a deplorable situation should arise, "the Government of the United States would be constrained to hold the Imperial Government to a strict accountability for such acts of their naval authorities." In the American note of May 13, 1915, the Government stated: "The imperial Government will not expect the Government of the United States to omit any word or act necessary to the performance of its sacred duty of maintaining the rights of the United States and its citizens and in safeguarding their free exercise and enjoyment." In the note of July 21, 1915, the United States Government said that-- "Repetition by the commanders of German naval vessels of acts in contravention of those rights must be regarded by the Government of the United States, when they affect American citizens, as deliberately unfriendly." In a communication of April 18, 1916, the American Government said: [Sidenote: The United States insists on regard for international law.]