Note 4 — Chapter XIV · COMMERCIAL VENTURES
Reading edition
The captain added: "The sinking of the Adriatic" (by which he meant the Arabic, which had been sunk without warning on August 19, with a loss of sixteen lives, two of them American), "may be the last straw for the sake of our cause. I hope the matter will blow over." On October 5 the German Government, consistent with its assurance of September 1 that no more ships would be sunk without warning, disavowed the sinking of the Arabic, and offered to pay indemnities. So the matter "blew over."