illed
expectations. The United States was informed that the admiralty had
subjected the affair to the fullest investigation, with this
results--that no German submarine attacked the _Sussex,_ but that one
torpedoed another vessel, about the same time in the same vicinity,
with the same result. A sketch the submarine commander made of the
vessel he struck was submitted to show that it was not the _Sussex_,
as the sketch differed from the published pictures of that ship. The
submarine commander, the German note said, had been led to attack the
"unknown" vessel in the belief that it was a warship, that is, "a mine
layer of the recently built _Arabic_ class." A violent explosion
occurred in the fore part of the ship after the torpedo had been
fired, which "warrants the certain conclusion that great amounts of
ammunitions were on board." The German note proceeded:

"No other attack whatever by German submarines at the time in question
for the _Sussex_ upon the route between Folkestone and Dieppe
occurred. The German Government must therefore assume that the injury
to the _Sussex_ is attributable to another cause than an attack by a
German submarine.

"For an explanation of the case the fact may perhaps be serviceable
that no less than twenty-six English mines were exploded by shots by
German naval forces in the channel on the 1st and 2nd of April alone.
The entire sea in that vicinity is, in fact, endangered by floating
mines and by torpedoes that have not sunk. Off the English coast it is
further endangered in an increasing degree through German mines which
have been laid against enemy naval forces.

"Should the American Government have at its disposal further material
for a conclusion upon the case of the _Sussex_ the German Government
would ask that it be communicated, in order to subject this material
also to an investigation.

[Illustration: British sailors and officers boarding the captured U-C-5
German mine-laying submarine. The open grating shows one of the
openings through which mines are laid.]

"In the event that differences of opinion should develop hereby
between the two Governments, the German Government now declares itself
ready to have the facts of the case established through mixed
commissions of investigation, in accordance with the third title of
'The Hague agreement for the peaceful settlement of international
conflicts, November 18, 1907.'"

In explanation of the sinking of the _Manchester Engine