ks.

In order to encourage resistance on the part of crews of British
vessels attacked by German submarines, the British Government rewarded
the crew of the steamship _Vosges_. It was announced on April 9,
1915, that the captain had been given a commission as a lieutenant
in the Royal Naval Reserve and the Distinguished Service Cross;
the remaining officers were given gold watches, and the crew were
given $15 per man.

Rumors had reached the outside world that the German submarines
were using hidden spots to store fuel and provisions so that they
might go about their raiding without having to return to German
ports for reprovisioning. Neutral nations, such as the Netherlands
and Norway, found it necessary, to maintain their neutrality, to
keep watch for such action. On the 9th of April, 1915, Norwegian
airmen reported to their Government that such a cache had been
discovered by them behind the cliffs in Bergen Bay. Submarines
found there were ordered to intern or to leave immediately, and
chose to do the latter.

Certain acts of the commanders of German submarines seemed to make it
evident that their intention was to sink ships of every description,
no matter where found, in order to make the "war zone" a reality,
and to make it shunned by neutral as well as belligerent ships.
Thus the Dutch steamship _Katwyk_, which lay at anchor seven miles
west of the North Hinder Lightship off the Dutch coast, was sunk.
This lightship was maintained by the Netherlands Government and
stood at the mouth of the River Scheldt, forty-five miles northwest
of Flushing. The _Katwyk_ was stationary there on the night of
April 14, 1915, when the crew felt a great shock and saw that their
ship was rapidly taking water. They managed to reach the lightship
in their lifeboats just as their vessel sank. The same submarine
sank the British steamer _Ptarmigan_ only a few hours later.

Among victims flying the flags of neutral nations the next ship
was of American register. This was the tank steamship _Gulflight_,
which was torpedoed off the Scilly Islands on the 29th of May,
1915. The hole made in her hull was not large enough to cause her
to sink, and she was able to get to port. But during the excitement
of the attack her captain died of heart failure and two of her
crew jumped into the sea and were drowned. Three days later the
French steamship _Europe_ and the British ship _Fulgent_ were sent
to the bottom, probably by the same submarine.