A wolf at a man's door is none the less dangerous because the wolf is lying in wait for the appearance of an inmate of the man's house and not for the man himself. Informal intimations persuaded Germany that she could not safely repeat the experiment of carrying the war to America's door.
The innovation, even in its most innocuous form, was contrary to good international usage. Great Britain had previously offended in this respect by permitting her patrolling cruisers to intercept and examine merchant vessels off the port of New York. She desisted at Washington's request. But a waiting cruiser, plain to the eye, interfering with shipping to prevent communication with Germany, was a mild offender compared with an unseen submarine crossing the paths of ships and liable to err in its indiscriminate destructiveness.
Fortunately, no American lives were lost. But this was not the fault of the submarine. No question could be raised of its behavior in sinking four of the five ships, namely, the _Strathdene_ (British freighter), bound from New York to Bordeaux; the _West Point_ (British freighter), bound from London to Newport News; the _Bloomersdijk_ (Dutch freighter), bound from New York to Rotterdam; and the _Christian Knudsen_ (Norwegian freighter), bound from New York to London. The danger, happily averted, to American-German relations lay in the sinking of the fifth vessel, the _Stephano_, a British passenger liner plying regularly between New York, Halifax, N. S., and St. John's, Newfoundland. Among the _Stephano's_ passengers were a number of Americans, who, like their companions in misfortune, had to seek the doubtful safety of small boats miles offshore.
The situation was saved by the presence of American destroyers in the vicinity. Their commanders and crews were actual witnesses of the sinking, and afterward interposed as life savers of the shipwrecked victims. The _Balch_ rescued the passengers and crew of the _Stephano_, numbering 140, and other destroyers took on board the crews of the four freighters. The American navy in saving Germany's victims had saved Germany from facing the consequences of her behavior in jeopardizing the lives of Americans on board the _Stephano_. German diplomacy was even capable of pointing to the fact that the prompt relief afforded the _Stephano's_ passengers by American destroyers was proof that the submarine commander had safeguarded their lives by relying upon the American navy as a rescuer. The irony of such a contention lay in the implication that if American destroyers had not been on the scene the vessels might have been spared.