As I mentioned in another topic: there was a case in which a German u-boat sunk an American destroyer or something of the sorts, before the US joined the war. As tat501, they were warned that such things could happen.
A lone merchant, carrying goods for the enemy is not such a big deal. Worse things have happened during the war. For example, the sinking of the Athenia (correct me if I got the name wrong). A civilian passenger ship got sunk by a u-boat. The captain thought it was carrying troops. And because the Kriegsmarine didn't like putting their own captains on trial, as tat501 said, they falsified reports and logs to cover it all up.
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