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INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION OF INQUIRY

REPORTS


GERMANY -  NETHERLANDS
Tubantia Inquiry

Inquiry:  March 30, 1921
First Session:  January 18, 1922
Closing Session:  February 27, 1922
Date of the Report:  February 27, 1922
Commissioners:  Hoffmann, Surie, Ravn, Unger, Gayer
On March 30, 1921 governments of Germany and the Netherlands agreed to submit to a commission of inquiry a  question of the cause of sinking of the Netherlands' steamship Tubantia on March 16, 1916. Each party chose a member of the commission, the Danish and Swedish governments were asked to choose one member each, and the Swiss Government was asked to choose a jurist as a president of the commission. The procedure of the commission took place in accordance with applicable provisions of the Hague Convention of 1907; four of its meetings were not to be public and the protocols were not to be published; but the final report has been read in public session and published. Memorial were deposited by the parties with the International Bureau of the Permanent Court of Arbitration. The commission opened its meetings at the The Hague on January 18, 1922; both witnesses and experts were heard. In its report of February 17, 1922, the commission reached the conclusion that the Tubantia was sunk by the explosion of a torpedo launched by a German submarine, and on the basis of this report a settlement was reached by the German and The Netherlands governments.