The Thrasher incident, as it became known in U.S. media, nearly became the start of America's involvement in World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

. On March 28, 1915, the British steamship was torpedoed and sunk by German U-boat

U-boat

U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...

 . In the incident, 104 people were killed, including one American passenger — Leon Chester Thrasher, a 31-year-old mining engineer from Massachusetts.

Background

After the issuance of captured British orders, all merchant vessels were directed to paint over their names and ports of call and to fly under the flag of a neutral nation. They were instructed not to stop when challenged by a submarine but instead to open fire at once or, if unarmed, to attempt to ram the sub. In response, German orders came from Kaiser Wilhelm who declared that as of February 18, 1915, the waters surrounding England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, including the Channel

English Channel

The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...

, were a war zone. Any merchant ship found in that zone would be immediately destroyed without first determining if the ship were neutral.

British Order in Council

In response, the British issued an Order in Council proclaiming a complete embargo on trade with Germany, denying her not only munitions but all other goods. The American government, led by President Woodrow Wilson

Woodrow Wilson

Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...

 and Secretary of State

United States Secretary of State

The United States Secretary of State is the head of the United States Department of State, concerned with foreign affairs. The Secretary is a member of the Cabinet and the highest-ranking cabinet secretary both in line of succession and order of precedence...

 William Jennings Bryan

William Jennings Bryan

William Jennings Bryan was an American politician in the late-19th and early-20th centuries. He was a dominant force in the liberal wing of the Democratic Party, standing three times as its candidate for President of the United States...

, responded with a protest to the British government; they saw no need to starve Germans. Americans were not yet prepared to enter the war.

Pressure on America

Intense media scrutiny and public pressure mounted, demanding American response after the sinking of the Falaba, which was widely reported as nothing short of a massacre of innocent civilians without warning. A Note was prepared by President Wilson to Germany, though he knew that the implications would likely lead to a declaration of war.

After persistent requests by Secretary of State Bryan, documents detailing witness statements from the sinking of the Falaba offered proof that the captain of U-28 gave adequate warnings and time for the Falaba to offload passengers. Instead, the crew of the Falaba had used that time to radio the position of the submarine to nearby armed British patrol ships. As the warship approached, the submarine fired at the last minute — and detonated nearly thirteen tons of contraband high explosives in the Falabas cargo. This discovery allowed a diplomatic delay in the American response and the decision of whether to go to war.