Page - 680 - in THE FIRST WORLD WAR - and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918

680 The Writing on the Wall detailed alternative account. It was not until 29 December 1915 that Burián could hand a note to the American Ambassador in Vienna, in which the incident was depicted in such a way that the Ancona had attempted to flee, that the lifeboats had been let down into the water, but that, clearly, the crew had abandoned the ship before the passengers. After about an hour, and in light of the fact that a steamer was travelling towards the Ancona at full speed, the Ancona had been torpedoed, but in such a way that it sank slowly, and allowing sufficient time for the passengers who had perhaps not yet been able to reach the lifeboats. The steamer had not sunk until a further 45 minutes had passed.1546 However, Austria declared itself willing to pay compensation to the relatives of those American citizens who had died. Scarcely had it seemed that this problem had been plausibly explained, when the next incidents occurred. As first publicised in January 1916, a ship belonging to the Standard Oil Company, the Petrolite, had been stopped by an Imperial and Royal sub- marine, and several shots had been fired. When the captain of the Petrolite came aboard the submarine and his papers were found to be in order, the captain of the submarine demanded that he sell him fresh meat and eggs. The Americans then delivered the goods requested without asking for payment. However, on their return to New Jersey, they informed the State Department about what had happened, describing the inci- dent as an act of piracy. The Austrian portrayal of events was given no credibility, since most of the American media, as well as very many authorities and individuals, were against the Central Powers, and made no further attempt at differentiation.1547 The matter dragged on over months.1548 And once again, an incident occurred that high- lighted the problems associated with the deception use of flags and identifications. On 30 December 1915, the U 38 under the command of Max Valentiner sank the British ocean liner Persia off the coast of Crete. 343 people died. Since the American Consul in Aden had been on board, in the USA, hostility towards the Central Powers reached new heights. However, Germany and Austria denied responsibility for the sinking of the Persia.1549 Then a Russian freighter, the Imperator, was sunk close to the Spanish coast, and an American was injured. Ambassador Penfield was a constant visitor to the Foreign Ministry. He also complained that in Austria-Hungary’s newspapers, criticism of the USA had intensified while the censors stood by and watched.1550 Here, the fact was overlooked that conversely, almost all reports published in the USA were hostile to Austria-Hungary, and that organisations were freely permitted to be in favour of the destruction of the Monarchy. However, the Allies had their equal share of problems, too, in differentiating be- tween ships that were serving military purposes and those used to carry innocent civil- ians. During the course of 1916, a whole series of Austro-Hungarian ships were sunk, including the hospital ship Electra on 18 March 1916. Most of these ships, which were sunk by Italian and French submarines, were torpedoed without prior warning. In