ELEVEN BRITISH MERCHANT SHIPS SUNK

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2290, 26 October 1914, Page 5

ELEVEN BRITISH MERCHANT SHIPS SUNK

GERMAN CRUISER AT WORK SEVENTY WARSHIPS SEEKING -NINE GERMAN SHIPS _____ TenCrlfTO, Ocrtob'er 23. The crews of eleven steamers, sunk by the German oruiser Karlsruhe, fcaTe been landed. The steamers were mostly caught in the Atlantio. ' The steamers are the following Maple Branch, 4338 tonß, built 1905, Nautilus Steam Shipping Company, Snndorland. Highland Hope, 5150 tons, built Nelson Line, Liverpool. Indrani, either Donaldson liner, 3640 tons, built 1888, or the Indra liner, 5706 tons, built 1912. Rio Igassu, 3817 tons, built 1898, European anH Brazil Shipping Company, London. i ■ Farn, 4393 tons, built 1910, Fargrove Steam Navigation Company, Ltd., London. Maria de Larrinaga, 4018 tons, built 1898, Lamnaga and Company, Liverpool. _ , Cervantes, 4635 tons, built 1895, Liverpool, Brazil, and River Plate Steam Navigation Company. • • Cornish City, 3816 tons, built 1906, Instow S.S. Company, Ltd., Bideford. Pruth, 4408 tons, built 1905, Meroantile S.S. Company, Ltd., London. Condor, 3053 tons, built 1893, New York and Pacific S.S. Company, Ltd.j London. ■ ■ . Lyniowan, 3384 tons, built 1907, Liver S.S. Company, Ltd., Liverpool.

DAMAGE TOTALS £1,000,000. (Reo. October 25, 3.25 p.m.) London, Ootober 24. The cargoes and hulls of the vessels sunk by. the Karlsruhe are valued at £1,000,000. 'A' TWELFTH VESSEL' SUNK, 1 (Reo. Ootober 26, 0.5 a.m.}' Tenerlfie, October 24. b Twelve steamers were sunk by the Karlsruhe, and they aggregated fifty thousand tons' The German steamer Oreveld brought in the' crews, who numbered four hundred, INDIAN SEA ROUTES SAFE, (Reo. Ootober 26, 0.5 a.m.) Bombay, October 24. It'is offioially announced that all the sea routes are now reasonably safe. •FIFTEEN COLLIERS AT MANILA!, (Reo. October 26, 1.20 a.m.) Sydney, October 25. Passengers by the Taiyuan Teport that when the vessel departed from Manila on October 6 fifteen coal-laden steamers were ''there awaiting a chance to slip out, presumably to coal German warships. 1 • ■ A few days previously two colliers, the Posig and the Tunnerberes, each with 6000 tons .of coal, had been captured by a British auxiliary cruiser. ' Tho business is mostly conducted by German or Filipino firms. One sent three shipments to German warships, and it is an open seoret that he coaled the Emdon. The Governor (Mr. Harrison) was remonstrated, with, .and■ guarantees have been given that coal and frozen meat will not be re-exported from the Philippines. ■ STATEMENT BY THE'ADMIRALTY, ; The Prima Minister has received the following message from the High Commissioner:— ' - , London, October' 24. . Official,—The Admiralty announces that eight or nine German cruisers are believed to be at largo in the Atlantio, Pacifio, and Indian Oceans. Searching and working in concert under vario us commanders-in-chief are upwards of 70 British (including Australian), .Japanese; French, and Russian cruisers, not including auxiliary cruisers. Among these are a number of the fastest British 7 cruisers. The vast expanses of sea and ocean, and many thousands of islands and archipelagos, offer an almost infinite choice of movement for tho enemy's ships. In spite of every effort to cut it off, the enemy's coal supply has hitherto been maintained in the face of increasing difficulties. The discovery and destruction of these few enemy cruisers is therefore largely a matter of time, patience, and good luck. The public should have confidence in the comman-der-in-chief and the experienced captains:-who aro _doing';.all that is possible and taking the best steps to bring the enemy to action; and are also occupied in very serious and .important convoy duty. This work has_ somewhat lessened the number of searching cruisers, but these are being continually augmented. Meanwhile merchant ships must observe the Admiralty instructions, which it is obviously impossible to specify, and take all the precautions suggested. Where these instructions have been followed they have proved effective. Where they have been disregarded captures have been made. The same vastness of sea which enabled the German cruisers to avoid capture will protect our .trade, lie only alternative to the methods now adopted would De the marshalling of merchantmen in regular convoys at 6tated intervals. ' lb is not thought necessary to hamper trade by enforcing such a system. The percentage of loss has been much less than was reckoned before the war. Of 4000 British ships engaged, in foreign trade, only thirty-nine have been sunk by the enemy, besides seven now overdue in Atlantio waters. Tho [rate of insurance on cargoes, which, at the outbreak was fixed at 6 guineas, has now been reduced to 2 guineas'without injury to the solvency of the fund. For the hulls, apart from the cargoes, the insurance has also been considerably reduced. Over 9000 foreign voyages have been undertaken to and from *he United Kingdom ports, and less than 5 per thousand have been interfered with, and. of these losses a large number have beea caused by merchant vessels taking everything for granted and proceeding without precautions. -. _ , , The German oversea trade has practicality ceased to exist. Their fast ships iVhich oould have been used as'auxiliary cruisers, were promptly penned up in neutral h&rboure or took refuge in their own. Among tie comparatively few German ships' 1 which put to 6ea, 133 have been captured, or nearly four times the number of those lost bv the British mercantile marine. There is no occasion for < anxiety and no excuse for complaint. The more fully the facts concerning the oversea trado protection by the Royal Navy can be disclosed and the more attentively they can be studied;' the greater will be the confidence and satisfaction with which the situation is viewed. Three German warships are reported as at large in tho. Atlantio. They are tho Karlsruhe, Dresden, and Strassburg. They are all third-class cruisers and carry nothing heavier than 4.linch guns. The speed of each is put at twenty-seven knots an hour. Their measurements and > armaments- follow: Dresden, displacement, 3544; length, 364; armament, twelve 4.1-inch, four 2.1inch, and <onr machine guns; two submerged torpedo tubes. Karlsruhe, displacement, 4820; length, 456; armament, twelve 4.1-inch, and two machine guns; two submerged torpedo tubes. Strassburg, displacement, 4500; length, 4461; armament, twelve 4.1-inch and two machine guns; two submerged torpedo tubes. The other German warships reported in extra-European waters are the first-class armoured oruisers Scharnorst and Gneisenau, tlhe third-class cruisers Nurnberg and Leipzig, and the old cruiser Geier, all of which were at latest advices' in this Pacific, the Emden in the China Sea, and the Konigsberg in the Indian Ocean.