"That they did not do so clearly created a situation in which it was not possible for His Majesty's Gov. ernment to refrain from the immediate action which in the circumstances, they felt themselves fully entitled to take for the liberation of the prisoners.
"N any further justification had been needed, it would have been found in the general conduct by the Germans of the war at sea, in total disregard of the rights of neutrals and the dictates of humanity.
"Appropriate orders were accordingly given, as already stated, to His Majesty's ships, which acted with the full approval of His Majesty's Government.
"The past history of the Altmark, and the circumstances in which she entered Norwegian waters, and in particular the port of Bergen, were such as, in the view of His Majesty's Government, to impose on the Norwegian Government the duty of making a thorough enquiry into ber status and the object of her visit. She was commonly believed to be offend sively armed, and in view of the notorious part played by her in assisting the depredations of the Graf Spee, there can be little doubt she ought to have been regarded as a fleet auxiliary, if not a warship.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.