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ee se ee ee ee Nearly One Thousand Merchant Ships Desnovad in 17 Months of Hostilities Submarines Cause 55 Per Cent of Loss Te European war up to Jan. 1, 1916, has caused the loss of 990 merchant vessels of all classes, with an approximate gross tonnage of 1,878,003 tons. This estimate is prob- ably below the actual loss as the ton- nage of some of the ships sunk could not be learned. The accompanying compilation was prepared by The Jour- nal of Commerce and supplements the data published in The Marine Review, August, 1915. The table showing ves- sels lost includes those destroyed be- tween June 30 and Dec. 31, 1915. The ships. sunk previously were shown in the former article. World’s Tonnage and Ship Losses The following table shows the num- ber, tonnage and nationality of steam and sailing vessels déstroyed in op- erations directly or indirectly resulting from war operations during the first 17 months, and shows also the num- ber and tonnage of vessels owned in each country. The tonnage given in “tonnage owned by nations” is gross for the steam vessels and net for the sailing vessels: Steam and Sailing Gross Tons Vessels of Sail and Owned Accord- Steam Ves- ing to Lloyd’s_ sels Destroyed Register Book, in War 1915-1916. (17 Months). tee 2 : No. : ae ea No. Tons. Un. Kingdom . 9,285 19,541,364 British Colonies 2,068 1,732,700 § 602 1,192,551 *United States. 2,580 3,522,913 ii 14,087 Austro-Hungary ee 1,018,210 6 13,240 i 83 Danish sos 6 854,966 29 33,293 DUTCH ee yece O09 S22.547— 221 36,843 Meench vec ties 1,539 2,285,728 54 125,978 German’. 33, 2,166 4,706,027 65 161,888 Mtaliany 8 artes W772 157 86,545- 294 60,217 jJapanese ..... 1,155 1,826,029 3 16,415 Norwegian .... 2,174 2,529,188 77 103,023 RuagSstath sf 2.03 15256: 1.054.762 Sl 34,193 Spanish axe: 642 pL RA 1) i seach Sm met erie han Swedish ....... 1,462 —1,122,883' °° 35 32,667 *Excluding vessels trading on the Great Lakes of North America. , . tJapanese_ sailing vessels are not inserted in Lloyd’s Register Year Book, and are there- fore not included in these tables. England’s Losses 1,192,551 Gross Tons England’s merchant marine agere- gated 21,274,064 gross tons on June 30, 1914, according to the last official fig- ures given by Lloyd’s. Without refer- ence to the number or tonnage of enemy vessels held or captured by the respective belligerents, England’s gross tonnage in the first 17 months of the war had been reduced by about 1,192,- 551 tons. A total of approximately 602 vessels flying the Union Jack has been destroyed by submarines, mines, cruisers or from other. war operations. The British tonnage losses were divided about as follows: 338 merchant steam- ers and 264 trawlers, fishing smacks, steam drifters and sailing vessels. Germany’s merchant tonnage at the last official reckoning aggregated 4,706,- 027 gross tons. Up to the close of 1915, or in 17 months of the war, close search ‘of all available records shows that this gross tonnage had been reduced, through actual destruction of about 65 vessels of all classes, by approximately 161,838 tons. This comparatively small loss of tonnage through destruction, against the total losses of England, results largely from German and Austrian ves- sels rushing into shelter at all ports of the world when the war broke out. The detailed tabulations of the mer- chant tonnage losses by the different nations indicate, in striking manner, the power of the submarine in destroying commerce. Considerably over 55 per cent of the vessels given in tne lists has been destroyed by such _ instru- ments of warfare. The serious. danger to shipping in war time from mines is also evident. Neutral tonnage of the Scandinavian countries, adjacent to Germany, being exposed to mine _ haz- ards to the greatest extent, have suffered extremely heavy losses from _ such weapons of war, although in the more recent instances of neutral ship losses, attacks by hostile submarines have also occurred. Losses by Nations How the various nations have suffered in the loss of tonnage as the result of the war, is shown in the following table, showing the number of vessels and their aggregate known gross _ton- nages: No. of Ships Gross Country Lost Tons. England, inc. 320 merchant steamers, and 264 trawl- ers, sailing vessels, etc. . 602 1,192,551 Germany, vessels of all types 65 161,888 Norway, vessels of all types 77 103,023 France, vessels of all types 54 125,978 Denmark, vessels of all types 29 33,293 Sweden, vessels of all types 35 32,667 Holland, vessels of all types 21 36,843 Russia, vessels of all types. 31 34,193 Greece, Spain and Japan, all VESSELS Cc een 15 39,662 Italy, vessels of all types. . 24 60,217 Turkey, vessels of all types 18 18,150 Belgium, vessels of all types 6 12.211 a fdesiealns ABA vessels of : al MDGS ears re 6 United States, vessels of dais SU: AV G66) sak tei ee eg 7 14,087 OWE cee Poke owe 990 1,878,003 Fifty Large Steamers Lost Among the large steamers that have been destroyed as a result of the war 112 SS SS cc. SS SS con ‘was taken of the 33 German steamers are those which have been listed in the following table: oe Gross tons, Lusitania: CBr.) sscsissteikeepe een ee 30,396 Cap. Ttatalear (Ger) 0 ee 18,710 Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse (Ger.).... 13,952 Oceanic “(Bti) 2 eee 17,274 Vandyck3.CBr)s, $5. scos Aeneas oe ane ee eae 10,328 La “Correntina “CBr.)i ieee ee 8,250 Elsinore’ > (Bre) 6. nc ce ee 6,542 Hesperian | CBr.)') sce sc ee 9,599 Urbius:< CBr.) 5c. ee ees eee ‘ ; Marquette CBr.) sc eee 7,087 23 Caltfornian “(Brs) seks ee 6,223 umina CBr). cave te ee es eee 6,218 Commodore (Br. 23 Ge. esa ee ee - 5,858 Bloride:: (Bri) ii cs00) steaes oie cece eeee i Guatemala (Pr. 4s. ee : Yunnan CF rn)? ise te eeu er oe 6,474 Navarra (Ger) si ee 5,974 City. of) Winchester (Br). 44. 3 ee 6,601 Baden (Ger) 0 ise ye 7,676 Kaipara (Br) sae, eae ale eee ee 7,392 Cormorant: (Br) se ee 7,595 Highland. Brae) (Br.)i. ik. ss ee , Eovat CBr) i Be ee 6,102. San Walitt de (Bh) 7.52. 35 6,458 Troilus CB) ie eee 7,652 Princess. [iene:(Br).. 20 ea ee 6,00¢ India (Brij 3s ee 7,94C Royal Edwird. CBr.) wo. 11,117 Therian 3¢Bry ka ee 5,208 Armenian. (Br) 020.6 sec ae 8,825 Arabic: CBr) esate sels we le ea 15,801 Windsor: (Bir) ssc. ee 6,055 Baron Erskine (Br). (2.0 5,585 Amiral Hamelin (Fr) 3.2.20 5,051 Ancona’: (ital) :::55 82 sn aoe ane ee 8,210 Porto (Said ee a eal ee ee 5,167 Yasukini. Maru ap.) 2.3.2.3... 5,118 Yasaka Maru’ (Jap.)% 3... Poe ee 8,297 Maryland (Dany oaks a ee 5,136 Konigin. Emma (Dutch). ....2.2 20) 9,181 Eemdyk: (Dutch)? 2. ee 6,180 Rechid: Pasha -(hurk.) =... 8,000 Orteric (Bret. ee ae 6,535 Persia sCBeriy eres oe ee 7,974 eye ae ; bo Ge Rs ee ae ei eae 9,395 ante ighiers Citak) 222 9,754 Ville’ dela ‘Crotat: (Brd.c io: ee ; DaglaCEr ei. se ee 5,600 In making up the lists, no account which were destroyed when the Belgians and British evacuated Antwerp. These steamers aggregated in gross tonnage 109,280 tons, and nearly all of them had valuable cargoes. Taking the lists given herewith as a whole, however, it is interesting to note that an official German statement issued by wireless from Berlin under date of Dec. 20, 1915, states that from the beginning of the war up to the close of November, 1915, 734 enemy ships with a gross ton- nage of 1,447,628 tons had been des- troyed by the Teutonic allies, and of the ships destroyed 424, with 1,231,944 gross tons, were British. This represents a loss of slightly under 6 per cent of the total British tonnage. In many instances the identity of a vessel has not been stated, the official announcement merely saying that ‘ steamer” of a specifically stated gross — tonnage has been lost, and in only few instances can the gross tonnage of the trawlers be shown officially, although these for the most part average in gross tons between 50 and 100 tons.