nded to all
submarine enterprises which took place on the day in question, 24th
March, in the Channel anywhere on the course between Folkestone
and Dieppe.

"In this area on the 24th March, in the middle of the English Channel,
a long, black vessel, flying no flags, with a gray funnel, small gray
superstructure and two high masts was hit by a German submarine.
The German captain was definitely convinced that she was a ship of
war, and indeed a mine-layer of the newly-built English _Arabic_
class. He was led to this conviction:

"1. By the flush deck of the ship.

"2. By the shape of the stern, which sloped outwards.

"3. By the paintwork, which was that of a ship of war.

"4. By the high speed of about eighteen knots which the ship developed,

"5. By the fact that the ship was not steering the course north
of the light buoys between Dungeness and Beachy Head within which
frequent observation had led the German submarines to keep a look
out for merchant shipping, but was in mid-Channel, heading almost
for Le Havre.

"Consequently, the submarine fired a torpedo at 3.55 p.m. Central
European time, 1-1/2 knots southeast of the Bull Rock. The torpedo
struck, and so heavy an explosion occurred that the whole of the
ship forward of the bridge broke away. The unusually heavy explosion
leaves no doubt that there were large stores of ammunition on board.

"The German captain has prepared a sketch of the ship he attacked,
of which two copies are sent herewith. The two copies of pictures
of the _Sussex_, also enclosed, were photographed from the English
newspaper _The Daily Graphic_, of the 27th inst. A comparison of
the sketches and the photograph shows that the vessel attacked
is not identical with the _Sussex_; particularly striking is the
difference in the position of the funnel and the shape of the stern.
No other attack was made by a German submarine on the course between
Folkestone and Dieppe at the time of the _Sussex_ incident.

"From this the German Government are obliged to assume that the
sinking of the _Sussex_ is to be set down to other causes than attack
by a German submarine. Some light may be thrown on the incident by
the fact that on the 1st and 2nd April alone no less than twenty-six
English mines were destroyed in the Channel by German naval forces.
In general the whole of that area is rendered dangerous by drifting
mines and not torpedoes. Off the English coast the Channel is also
made increasingly