Despite the events of 5 September having been easily visible from shore, the authorities attempted to cover up the fact that "Pathfinder" had been sunk by a torpedo, insisting instead that it had struck a mine. The reason for this is unclear, but probably has to do with the Admiralty's position that submarines — a still new and largely untested weapons platform — lacked the capacity to sink a surface warship with a torpedo. A local paper, however, "The Scotsman", published an eye-witness account by an Eyemouth fisherman, who had assisted in the rescue, that confirmed rumors that a submarine had been responsible. (However "The Scotsman" also reported that "Pathfinder" had been attacked by two U-boats and had accounted for the second one in her death throes. Admiralty intelligence later claimed that cruisers had cornered the U-boat responsible and shelled it to oblivion.) The sinking of "Pathfinder" by a submarine made both sides aware of the potential vulnerability of large ships to attack by submarines.