British Ships "Neutral" in December '41????

Greetings all...and a Happy New Year!!

I started a new career and took my boat out on it's shakedown out of Lorient. I was a couple days from home when I came across a lone freighter. So, eager for an easy kill I snuck in and picked out the British flag waving in the breeze.

At that point I sent two eels her way. One missed and the other caught her slighty forward of her screws. I finished her off with the deck gun then sailed home to Lorient.

When I ended the patrol it said that I sank a "NEUTRAL"!! How's a BRITISH coastal freighter neutral in December of '41????