India, was torpedoed and sunk on September 19, 1915, in the Aegean Sea.
Out of about 1,000 men on board some 300 were landed at Malta. The
levy which she had aboard consisted of Sikhs and Gurkhas. The sea was
new to these men, drawn from interior provinces, and they had embarked
upon their first voyage with all the misgivings which usually
accompany that experience. The panic among them when the _Ramazan_ was
hit may well be imagined. Hints of it crept into the British press,
but it was said that after a few wild minutes the officers got their
men in hand and all died together with true British fortitude.

One of the few announcements made by Germany concerning lost
submarines was given out on September 27, 1915, whether for diplomatic
reasons or otherwise it would be difficult to say. The _U-27_, it was
said, had not been heard from since August 10, 1915, and was deemed to
have been sunk or captured. Berlin concluded with the observation that
the _U-27_ might have been destroyed after sinking the _Arabic_,
inasmuch as none of her commanders had reported the torpedoing of the
liner up to that date. It was Germany's plea at the time that she knew
nothing officially of the _Arabic's_ loss. The disappearance of the
_U-27_, a new and fast submarine having seventeen knots speed on the
surface, therefore, was a matter of diplomatic importance. The puzzle
never was answered.

For some unexplained reason Great Britain never resorted to submarine
attacks upon German shipping in the Baltic Sea until the fall of 1915.
While her own vessels were being sunk she spared those of her enemy,
either because the navy had not been prepared to undertake an
expedition into the Baltic, or because it had been looked upon as a
small issue in the face of graver problems. This situation was changed
by the German threat against Riga, Russia's important Baltic port,
following the fall of Libau and the progress of German troops in
Courland within cannon range almost of Riga.

It was determined to send a squadron of submarines into the Baltic as
a means of assisting Russia and for the purpose of stopping supplies
being sent to Germany from Sweden. Commanders of the undersea boats
were specifically directed to see that all passengers and crews were
taken off merchant ships before they were sunk. These orders were
carried out in detail, not a single noncombatant having lost his life
as a result of the operations that ensued.

The _E-13_, with sev