Again I was put off.
In the meantime and in spite of the official assurance given
to me certain men in Germany, in a position to know, warned me
that the government intended to resume ruthless submarine war.
Ludendorf, they said, had declared in favour of this war and,
according to them, that meant its adoption.
At first I thought that Germany would approach the resumption of
ruthless submarine war _via_ the armed merchantman issue.
The case of the _Yarrowdale_ prisoners seemed to bear out
this theory. A German raider captured and sunk a number of enemy
vessels and sent one of the captured boats, the _Yarrowdale_,
with a prize crew to Swinemunde. On board, held as prisoners,
were a number of the crews of the captured vessels; and among
those men I learned "under the rose," were some Americans. The
arrival of the _Yarrowdale_ was kept secret for some time,
but as soon as I received information of its arrival, I sent
note after note to the Foreign Office demanding to know if there
were any Americans among the prisoner crews.
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