In June 1941, the US realised the tropical Atlantic had become dangerous for unescorted American as well as British ships. On May 21, , an American vessel carrying no military supplies, was stopped by west of Freetown, Sierra Leone. After its passengers and crew were allowed thirty minutes to board lifeboats, "U-69" torpedoed, shelled, and sank the ship. The survivors then drifted without rescue or detection for up to eighteen days. When news of the sinking reached the US, few shipping companies felt truly safe anywhere. As "Time" magazine noted in June 1941, "if such sinkings continue, U.S. ships bound for other places remote from fighting fronts, will be in danger. Henceforth the U.S. would either have to recall its ships from the ocean or enforce its right to the free use of the seas."