Ruthlessness in the North Sea
We have become accustomed to the knowledge that Germans from set policy have discarded all law and all humanity in their attacks by sea and air. What end are their methods intended to serve? From the start vessels of any nationality have been attacked by U-boats without warning. The sea has been indiscriminately sown with mines. Vessels are bombed from the air. But that is not all. Not merely are fishing-boats bombed, but the crews seeking safety in the boats have been murdered by machine- gunning from the air. Up till recently lightships at least have been immune, but they, too, have become the objects of attack. On Monday the East Dudgeon Light Vessel was bombed and machine-gunned, and of the crew of eight all but one lost their lives. Amongst larger vessels the prin- cipal sufferers now are neutrals. Norway last week lost six ships and 70 sailors, and the Swedish grain-ship Pajala,' bound for Sweden from Buenos Aires—that is to say, from one neutral port to another—was sunk by a U-boat. The objecr of German policy is becoming clear ; it is an indis- criminate campaign against all shipping using British east coast ports. This is the menace against which our naval forces and coastal patrol aeroplanes are ceaselessly—and successfully—contending.
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