Page "Baralong Incidents" Paragraph 11

Herbert sent Baralongs twelve Royal Marines, under the command of a Corporal Collins, to find the surviving German sailors aboard Nicosian.

As they departed, Herbert told Collins, " Take no prisoners.

" The Germans were discovered in the engine room and shot on sight.

According to Sub-Lieutenant Gordon Steele: " Wegener ran to a cabin on the upper deck -- I later found out it was Manning's bathroom.

The marines broke down the door with the butts of their rifles, but Wegener squeezes through a scuttle and dropped into the sea.

He still had his life-jacket on and put up his arms in surrender.

Corporal Collins, however, took aim and shot him through the head.

" Corporal Collins later recalled that, after Wegener's death, Herbert threw a revolver in the German captain's face and screamed, " What about the Lusitania, you bastard!

" An alternative account says that the Germans who boarded Nicosian were killed by the freighter's engine room staff ; this report apparently came from the officer in command of the muleteers.