William P. Frye.

This is coolbert:

Before there was Lusitania there was William P. Frye.

Further naval outrage and indignation from that era of the Great War.

American merchant vessel [William P. Frye] stopped on the high seas and found to be carrying contraband material, sunk by a German surface warship.

The United States for more than two full years further not committed to the war effort.

"Germans sink American merchant ship"

"The William P. Frye, a four-masted steel barque . . . on its way to England with a cargo of wheat. On January 27 [1915], it was intercepted by a German cruiser in the South Atlantic Ocean off the Brazilian coast and ordered to jettison its cargo as contraband. When the American ship's crew failed to fulfill these orders completely by the next day, the German captain ordered the destruction of the ship."

Bulk cargo such as the wheat difficult to quickly jettison? That merchant crew had only shovels, quick and full compliance with orders NOT POSSIBLE ANYHOW?

coolbert.