Memorials to Captain Charles Fryatt and civilians killed by the Germans, English Convent, Bruges, Belgium, September 1923

Lantern slide, World War One (1914-1918).

Charles Algernon Fryatt (1872-1916) was a British Merchant Navy Captain, commanding the SS Brussels. Fryatt, who had survived a number of U-boat attacks, attempted to ram an attacking German U-Boat on 28 March 1915. Fryatt was later captured by the Germans in June 1916. As a non-combatant involved in a hostile action, he was tried and immediately executed by firing squad in Bruges, on 27 July 1916. His execution caused an international outcry and was widely regarded as an act of state murder.