Captain Charles Fryatt, master of the Great Eastern Railway's steamer Brussels, which was captured by German warships on June 23, 1916, and taken to Zeebrugge, was tried by German courtmartial at Bruges, July 27, condemned to death by shooting, and executed immediately. The charge against him was that of attempting to ram the German submarine U-33.

His Majesty's Government find it difficult to believe that a master of a merchant vessel who, after German submarines adopted the practice of sinking merchant vessels without warning and without regard for the lives of passengers or crew, took a step which appeared to afford the only chance of saving not only his vessel, but the lives of all on board, can have been deliberately shot in cold blood for this action.

British Foreign Office.