File No. 865.857An2/24

The Consul at Algiers ( Mason ) to the Secretary of State

[Telegram]

Cecille Grelle [Greil] intelligent impartial witness. Deposition not conclusive as to whether any effort was made to escape by Ancona.2 First intimation danger when she was in dining saloon, disturbance on deck, stoppage or slowing of engine, followed shortly by shot, which struck vessel. Testimony precise that bombardment lasted 45 minutes and was continued after vessel had stopped, killing and wounding many persons. She saw destruction vessel by torpedo; saw red and white flag and six cannon on submarine; knows nothing as to other Americans. Information secured admiralties Algiers and Bizerta considered to demonstrate conclusively that 13 vessels were sunk from 3d to 7th November by submarines going from Gibraltar towards Ancona.

Mason
  1. This deposition, together with ten other affidavits and statements on the case, as forwarded by the Consul at Naples December 6, is printed in Diplomatic Correspondence with Belligerent Governments relating to Neutral Rights and Duties (Department of State, European War No. 4, May 18, 1918), pp. 148–74; reprinted in the American Journal of International Law, vol. 11, Special Supplement, pp. 156–85.