"WITHOUT A TRACE"

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 64, 8 December 1917, Page 6

"WITHOUT A TRACE"

MISSING SHIPS NOT IN WEEKLY LOSSES. Lloyd's' underwriters are taking special steps to havo an informal inquiry made into the cause of the loss of vessels posted as "missing" and an arbitration to decide on the payment ot the' insurance. In peace time, when no news is received of a ship after a ren.Hona.ble time, there is presumption that the vessel has foundered by perils of the seas and the underwriters aio liable to pay on their policies. A ring of the Lutino bell 'and u brief announcement that the ship has not been hea;d of is tho event on which Lloyd's pays. Every year before the war a few vessels were thus written off as lost, but this year it has been a frequent occurrence for vessels to bo posted "missing." Sometimes half a dozen or more have been posted in a day, and tho reason for the incrcaso is not difficult to discover in view of the "sink without trace" cipher message of the German Minister in tho Argentine. "Missing" boats do not find a place in tho weekly lists of shipping losses issued by the Admiralty, nor can they be expected to when no ono can say with certainty that any individual vossel which has not been heard of has met her fato from war perils, but in a good many cases deductions can bo made. If a large steamer disappears between, say, London and any Scandinavian port and there is no record of bad weather in the North Sea it is fair to infer that the loss is duo to enemy agency, notwithstanding legal presumptions, and arbitrators aro specially appointed to decide between tho conflicting interests whore tho loss shall fall. Many steamers which havo been posted this year as missing havo represented over £250,000 each.—"Daily Mail."