Charles Fryatt - Court Martial

Court Martial

Fryatt and his crew were sent to the civilian internment camp at Ruhleben, near Berlin. On 16 July 1916, it was reported in the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf that Fryatt had been charged with sinking a German submarine. The Germans knew that U-33 had not been sunk. At the time of the trial she was on active service as part of the Constantinople Flotilla. The basis for the charge was the inscriptions on his watches. Fryatt was tried at a Court Martial on 27 July 1916. The Court Martial was held at Bruges Town Hall. He was found guilty of being a franc-tireur and sentenced to death. The sentence was confirmed by the Kaiser. At 19:00, Fryatt was executed by firing squad and was buried in a small cemetery just outside Bruges that the Germans used for burying Belgian "traitors". The grave was later visited by diplomat Sir Walter Townley (British Ambassador to the Netherlands from 1917 to 1919.) and his wife.

An execution notice was published in Dutch, French and German announcing the death of Fryatt. It was signed by Admiral Ludwig von Schröder. A translation of the execution notice reads as follows:

NOTICE. The English captain of the Mercantile Marine, Charles Fryatt, of Southampton, though he did not belong to the armed forces of the enemy, attempted on March 28th, 1915, to destroy a German submarine by running it down. This is the reason why he has been condemned to death by judgment this day of the War Council of the Marine Corps and has been executed. A perverse action has thus received its punishment, tardy but just. Signed VON SCHRODER, Admiral Commandant of the Corps de Marine, Bruges, July 27th, 1916.