^ Yes... L 19 and the 'King Stephen'. Not an incident to boast about
It is said [sic] that the Captain of the 'King Stephen' was afraid to take all those enemies aboard, for fear of losing his ship. Back in port 'it is said' he immediately alarmed the authorities and (it is said that) some Navy ships put out to sea and looked for the survivors, but this was of course too late (if it happened..)
It is also said that the captain regretted what he had done .. but for whatever cause, the whole crew of the L 19 perished.
The incident became known to Germany because of a drift bottle, put to sea by one of the L 30's Crew. It was of course used for german propaganda ..
On the other hand, Entente propagada had painted the usual picture of the dastardly hun, crucifying canadian soldiers, bayonnetting belgien babies, and german airships were the 'baby killers', on the big Propaganda posters.
The fear of those murderous german madmen painted by propaganda, has sure 'helped' the captain in his decision.
The truth was a bit different. Zeppelins of Course DID bomb England's ground including London, but:
"... when it comes to the business of making munitions in London, no hand could be spared, for from the spring of 1915 London had begun to transform itself into one of the greatest killing machines in human history." (Jerry White, Zeppelin nights - London in the First World War, 2014, p. 92)
A bit OT:
Regarding the U-boat war Germany indeed never really led an unrestricted U-boat war (and i can prove that), and mostly (very few exceptions) used the prize regulation against neutral shipping, and merchantmen. Military troop transports though, were a completely other thing..
British propaganda certainly painted another picture, as did everyone in the war when it came to the enemy's bedeviling..
A lot of british seamen from sunk fishing boats were towed to the next coast by the very U-boat that sank them, some of the crews saw their enemies 2-3 times, and were towed to the coast as often. By order of the british authorities they were not allowed to speak about it, with draconian threats and even death penalty, it would have undermined the Propaganda effort and was thus rated as treason (speaking the truth is often rated as such..)
But I mention this to explain why the captain of the 'King Stephen' probably did, what he did.
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B.t.w. the L 30 mentioned in this thread was never shot down, and survived the war. A lot of ist vital parts were sent to Brussels after the war, and can be visited in Brussel's Aviation Museum.
L 30 in flight:
L 30 landing:
L 30 rear Gondola, in Brussles:
L 30 and Hangar:
The mooring mast as seen in the above pictures of Deutschmark is from another decade though, 1930ies .. but i still like it all
Greetings,
Catfish