Extract from U.S. Federal Reporter Volume 228 - February 1, 1916

Transcript

xtract from U.S. Federal Reporter Volume 228 page 946 and particularly [ms illegible: 1 wd] 953. District Court D. Massachusetts. February 1, 1916. No. 1069. In Admiralty. Libel by the Guaranty Trust Company of New York against the steamship Kronprinzessin Cecile, claimed by the North German Lloyd. Libel dismissed. “Captain Polack, the master of the steamship, testified that he had followed the sea since 1875; he had been in the North German Lloyd service since 1886; he had been a master since 1900, and in command of this steamship since May, 1913. When he took command of the ship, he was given a sealed package, and was instructed to open the package at any time in the future in case he received a message, signed "Siegfried" and relating to some disease. On July 31st, at 10 o’clock in the evening, ship’s time (11.45 Greenwich time), a wireless message was brought to him on the bridge by the chief officer. The message was in German, and it related that somebody had fallen sick; it was signed "Siegfried". Upon opening the sealed package, he found a code which enabled him to translate the wireless message as follows: ‘War has broken out with England, France, and Russia. Return to New York.’ (extract from testimony of Capt. Polack.) The name Siegfried meant "the board of directors of the North German Lloyd." After he had opened and read the message, the captain testifies, he immediately gave orders to turn the ship around toward the west. he had kept in touch with the situation before sailing, and knew in a general way how critically events had been developing, and while on the water, he had felt anxiety as to receiving some message informing him of present conditions.