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The Soon Coming Judgment Of God Upon America and How To Escape It 228
not be taken as a prize and so they were sunk. Both Germany and England followed these rules
and allowed the crews of unarmed enemy merchant vessels to board their lifeboats before the
ships were sunk. Churchill’s new orders were that crews of all merchant ships were to fight by
whatever means possible even by using the ship to ram a German submarine. It is also believed
that Churchill ordered that any German submarine crews taken prisoner were to be executed.
These orders insured the deaths of Britain’s own merchant crews. Further, the only
logical explanation for these orders is that Churchill intended to have his merchant ships sunk
with crews on board. This was with the expectation that a passenger ship would eventually be
sunk with the crews and passengers on board. Further, Churchill ordered that any ship “master
who surrendered his ship was to be prosecuted, and several were.”
888
The Germans intercepted Churchill’s orders and they warned that any merchant ship in
the war zone would be destroyed without warning. In spite of this, German U-boat (submarine)
commanders continued to allow British merchant crews to surrender under the Cruiser Rules.
889
Germans Seek To Warn Passengers of The Lusitania
The German embassy in Washington D.C. was well aware of the cargo regularly being
shipped on the Lusitania. The cargo was in violation of international neutrality treaties. It was
also illegal for Americans citizens to be aboard a ship carrying munitions or a ship that was
offensively armed for war. The German’s filed a formal complaint with the government of the
United States who only made official denials.
Germans in New York were concerned about the potential of a passenger ship being sunk
with Americans on board so they determined to do something about it. They authorized George
Viereck to place ads in the travel section of 50 East Coast newspapers warning citizens not to
take passage on British passenger ships headed for the war zone. The advertising department of
the German paper The Fatherland sent the ad out to the 50 papers selected by Viereck along with
a check for payment of the ad. The ads were to appear one week before the Lusitania was to
depart. The ad read:
NOTICE!
TRAVELLERS intending to embark on the Atlantic voyage are reminded
that a state of war exists between Germany and her allies and Great Britain and
her allies; that the zone of war includes the waters adjacent to the British Isles;
that, in accordance with formal notice given by the Imperial German Government,
vessels flying the flag of Great Britain, or of any of her allies, are liable to
destruction in those waters and that travelers sailing in the war zone on ships of
Great Britain or her allies do so at their own risk.
The ad was squashed by a United Press announcement that the Sun had been contacted by
the US State Department and been advised not to run the ad without authorization from the State
Department. This was not true; the State Department had merely advised the Sun to verify the
source of the ad. A Sun staff writer had smelled a story and requested United Press to make the
announcement so he wouldn’t be scooped. The only newspaper to print the ad was the Des
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