THE MASTERY OF THE SEA

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2604, 28 October 1915, Page 4

THE MASTERY OF THE SEA

The oriminal methods of German submarine warfare against mercantile shipping which have resulted in a large number of British trading and passenger vessels being sent to tho bottom have perhaps given an exaggerated impression of the effectiveness of this part of the German campaign. As a matter of fact, despite the ruthless unconcern of tho German pirates for the liven of the innoccnt non-combatant men, women, and 'children, they have murdered in cold blood, the total record of the mercantile shipping losses of belligerents sincc the outbreak of tho war is by no means in favour of Germany. In September last an official return was issued dealing with the work of the Prize Court and the part played by 'the different 'nations in the prosecution of the war on the high seas. This showed that the total gross tonnage of ships of all nationalities captured, detained, sunk, or damaged from the outbreak of hostilities until tho end of July, 1915, amounted to over 3,000,000 tons, and the greatest individual sufferer was Germany. The figures showing the losses of tfie different nations are striking. They are as follow: — Ships. Tonnago. German 521 1,113,2J8 British 476 980,775 Neutral 418 593,820 Austrian 75 254,282 Allied—French, Russian, Belgian -82 128,177 Turkish 56 18,508 ' Total 1,628 3,088,858 The total of the German vesseJs is made up as under: Ships, Tonnage. Detained in United Kingdom and overseas British ports 146 315,181 Captured in German colonial ports 21 43,367 Captured and sunk by British 8 29,424 Captured by British 75 186,765 Detained in Egyptian ports 18 86,038 Detained in Belgian ports.... 89 136,920 Detained in French and Russian ports : 95 112,945 Detained in Italian ports 36 153,876 Captured and sunk by Allies 4 3,822 Captured by Allies 25 37,985 Sunk or damaged by submarines, mines, or explosions 4 6,975 Totals. 521 1,113,298 At the outbreak of the war Germany's total mercantile navy consisted of a little under 5000 vessels of all sizes, of a total tonnage of about 3,300,000 tons, so that according to tho figures of the Prize'- Court up to the end of July she had lost about one-third of the tonnage of her mercantile fleet. It is well that when we hear of the depredations of German submarines amongst our trading and passenger fleet we should not lose sight of the fact that, though our own Navy may be handicapped by its rcspect for the lives of non-combatants, we yet have been able to inflict on our a-roh-enemy far heavier losses in mercantile shipping than we have suffered; and this despite the fact that German shipping has been for many mouths practically _ swept off the fate 'of the sea, while our own vessels' continue to trade as usual.