Statement on the Threatened Sinking of the S.S. "Iroquois."

After thorough discussion at the meeting of the Cabinet, and because it is felt that there is no reason for withholding the following facts from the public, this information is given out:

Yesterday the head of the German Navy, Grand Admiral Raeder, officially informed the American Government, through the United States Naval Attaché in Berlin, that according to information on which he relied, an American ship, the Iroquois, is to be sunk when it nears our American east coast. The sinking of the Iroquois, Admiral Raeder said, would be accomplished through a repetition of circumstances which marked the loss of the steamship Athenia.

The S.S. Iroquois, formerly in our coastwise trade, was chartered by the Maritime Commission recently to go to Ireland to bring back Americans who had been caught in Europe at the outbreak of the war. The Iroquois sailed from Ireland on October second with a full list of American passengers.

This was the chief tenor of the official note sent to us by the head of the German Navy.

As a purely precautionary measure, a Coast Guard vessel and several Navy ships from the patrol will meet the Iroquois at sea and will accompany her to an American port. Furthermore, the Captain of the Iroquois has been informed of this official note from the German Admiralty and has been asked to make careful search for any possible explosives on board his ship.

The whole of this information has also been conveyed to the British and French Admiralties.